El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1899-07-07
VUNNtXNUNNNN


Elaborate preparations were made to
assure accuracy of records. In the car
were Bob" Stoll of the New York
Athletic club, Charles Dieges of the
Pastime Athletic club, v. 81. Robert
son, Sam See and Sheriff Frank D
Dreamer, each with q split second
watch and facing to the right of the
train, where the distance flags were.
The two newspaper men and the rail.
that the riding was "straig hit"
The engine was No. "a, one OF the
best on the road, and the engineer was
Sam Booth, regarded as the best on the
line, with Ed Howell, q chosen man, as
fireman. Everything in front was in
tune. Back behind the car Murphy
looked over the outfit quietly, and did
not seem to be wasting q pulse beat.
DR.. Holly of Brooklyn, who is his
reported his pulse rs to the minute.
temperature SO Us, and heart action
normal. Engine and man were In
thoroughly good condition and capable
of doing their best.
The start was made at $40 precise
ly. Murphy WAS there at the rear
platform holding the handles OF his
wheel, his fingers extended and partly
closed over the rubber buffer along
he had kicked his pedals ] o or IL times
then he let go, stuck his head down,
fastened his eyes on the "trip of pine
plank before him and began his work.
Nobody who WAS in that ride can tell
much about IL. Inside the car it was
a rush, roar and a slide, and the sud
den appearance of Murphy being
brought in at the back door actually
demented for moment. Outside
r ho i,1Sf wh nd nd
cloud of dust. AS Murphy whirled
by in the wake of the car he looked
like q part of the mass of dust hitched
on to the rear platform. No eye could
folio the strokes of his legs on the
pedals. He and his bicycle seemed to
be part OF the train AID working with
it.
His wife, sitting on the drag just
opposite the finish mark, saw him for
the frsotion of second as he whizzed
by, and laughed. She knew he had
done his work. Then she looked along
the track after him and saw q marvel
lous thing-the only man In the history
of the world who has ever boarded 8
train in motion at more than a mile
minute. The big man and agile man
of the Long leland force had leaned to-
gether over the rear railing of the
platform aud lifted Murphy from his
the whirlinR machine was lifted with
him, coming to sudden stop, but q
third man leaned over and caught the
wheel and rescued 1t.
Murphy was carried into the car face
downward. A cot had been placed IN
q corner forward, aud he was stretched
on it. HE fret utterance wac: Garry
me back to where my wife ia" Either
he had caught gliM pee of her as he
" " W
Then somebody said to him that he
had fallen back several time in the
mile. Eyes" said Murphy, in q mat
ter-of-fact way, ''you see, ( had to do
that to get out of the way of the track,
tearing all to pieces and flying up. He
believed then that the plank track that
he bad been flying over had gone to
pieces under him.
As the train slowed down and was
run back he recovered his senses. But
In the first five minutes after he was
lifted from his wheel he was as bsreft
of his reason as any man who ever went
TO an asylum. He did not seem to be
surprised or particularly gratified
when the timers, after some comparison
aud brief discussion, announced these
figures. First quarter, Is seconds; half
mile. % q 5 seconds; three quarters, "A
seconds: mile. 81 40 seconds. The
but the best of them registered these
figures, and they were agreed on as Of.
fetal.
The men on the back platform be-
| lieve that if the engine could have
done three seconds better Murphy
could have finished with it. Six times
he literally tried to run over the train,
drove his wheel against the rubber
| buffer behind With such force that he
| fell back several feet. 1t is supposed
that these bumps gave him the idea
that the track was flying up around
him as he pounded desperately on his
pedals, and concentrated his whole
soul and thought on following the fast
flying strip of pine in front of him.
All he said during the ride was when
one of the men in the rear platform
leanedover and asked him who he was.
81 can't see.''
Even after he had rested in the car
and had heard the time announced and
received congratulations, about all that
could be gotten from him was: "Boys.
I've always believed could do it. Now
have done it. I'm satisfied, and so are
many Others"
DIR. Holly examined him soon after
he Was taken from his wheel and found
his pulse "a, temperature 99t and heart
action healthy. Murphy WAS given an
enthusiastic reception by the Kings
County Wheelmen, of which he ia q
member, and was promptly proclsime ed
to be the champion fast bicycle rider
of the world.
Murphy rode 2S-inch wheel, gear.
ed to 12O, six and half crank hangers,