The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-01-08
BY A WHEELS LENGTH
TWENTY-FOUR-HOU BICYCLE RACE
WON By LOUIS GIMM.
Covered $50 Miles, Seven Less than
the RecOrd-Pierce Second, Turvine
Third and Fredericks Fourth.

NEW YORK, Jan. Louis Gimm, of
Pittsburg, won the NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. BIZ
cycle race that ended at 10 o'clock tonight.
There were eighteen starters and eight fin
ished. They We're: Louis Gimm, of Pitts
burg; Burns w. Pierce, of Boston; Charles
Turylle, of Philadelphia; "Fredericks," of
Switzerland; John Lawson, of Chicago; Os-
car Julius, of New York. T. Hale, Earl D.
Stevens and Charles w. Miller.
The final score was: Fredericks, $50 miles;
Pierce 450 miles Turville, 450 miles; Gmm,
$50 miles; Lawson, 449 miles six laps; julius,
497 miles six laps; Hale, 433 miles four laps;
Miller, 422 miles six laps. Gimm was first
by a wheels length; Pierce, second; Tur-
vile, third; Fredericks, fourth and Lawson.
fifth. The record for the distance is 457
miles one lap, by Pierce
The attendance in the garden at the close
of the race was ten thousand. The finish
was sensational. To give the FIVE men who
had a chance to win a free field three of
the other competitors who had survived the
struggle were asked 10 retire from the track
fifteen minutes before the day had expired.
When this was done John Lawson made a
desperate effort to make up the three laps
that separated him from the leaders, sue
ceeded in catching them mapping and gained
lap. He tried to repeat it, but the others
were after him, and he failed.
The race was Misunderstanding from the
start. Fredericks, Pierce, Turville and
Gimm never left their saddles for a mo-
ment They even refused to take noursh-
ment and stimulants when the sprint was
on. Waller who was one of the favorites,
lost a lap through an accident to his tire
Friday night, and for fifteen hours he made
hT,xy
So it was all through the day-a succession
of desperate sprints in which the riders took
long chances and even risked their necks
to gain a lap on one another. Most of the
men were in apparent agony all through the
evening, the exceptions being Gimm and
FrederickS.
Pilkington and Albert retired early in the
race, the result of severe falls Hicks quit
at o'clock in the morning for the same
cause Nawn, the Irishman, retired an hour
and a half later, because the alternating
fast and slow pace had broken his heart.
although he had gone through the recent
fortune to carry No. 13 upon his back.
trailed along painfully at the tail end of
the line through the morning. He was evil
IDENTIFY suffering and was declared out of the
race. Aronson also had enough early in
the morning.
Eddie McDuffe and Harry Elkes came
on the track for a practice spin, and some
of the fastest men in the long race tackled
on in the hope of gaining a lap. Their ef-
forts were useless until Miller, the Six-day
champion, who had fallen to the rear be-
cause of stomach trouble, stole two laps
on the fast bunch.
Miller was the first of the eleven leaders
to leave the track. But the fast bunch
soon dwindled to eight Later in the day
Chapman Barnaby retired and Waller al
though he had fair chance in case Of ac-
cident. retired also. John Lawson sue
cumbed to the terrible strain at 3 o'clock
Fredericks, the foreigner, was apparently
the freshest man in the race. and early in
the evening his repeated attempt to get
away from the leaders by d sudden sneak
ing sprint, caused his rivals great anxiety.
Little Stevens was the next Of the leaders
to fall by the wayside. The boy had been
in every sprint from the beginning of the
race, and was a favorite with the crowd.
There was no question about his being a
fast sprinter, and he was ready to show his
speed when any one chose to start it, but
two minutes after Z, after having been in
the saddle twenty-one hours, he was forced
to leave the track The pace had been so
irregular-at times a sprint race, at others
a loaf-that the record was only eclipsed at
times. One hour the leader would be few
yards ahead of the record. the next one
half mile behind it. But from the moment
that Stevens retired and left but four men
tied for first position, a steady, fast and
killing pace was maintained.