Evening star., 1901-12-14
So-Oalled big Bicycle Races" Present
Most Revolving Spectacles.
WOMEN, HOWEVER, ARE ATTRACTED
They Are Among the Most Enthu-
u.
siastic of the ans"
QUESTION AS TO BETTING
Special Correspondence Of The Evening Star.


NEW YORK, December II, 1901.
Nothing could more clearly demonstrate
the old contention that the underlying spirit
OF any great urban populace Is essentially
cruel than the enthusiasm and noisy gusto
characterizing the conduct of the thousands
OF New Workers who flock daily and nightly
TO the miserable spectacle which comes to
an end at Madison Square Garden tomor-
row night. There couldn't well be, from
any point OF view a more unlovely affair
than one OF these, six-day bike races, nor
could there possibly be any sort of contest Of
strength, endurance or speed that really
goes TO prove less after the grind Is all over
ana the names of the members Of the win
nins team are hung up. 1t Is never even
certain at the finish that the best team has
won. Unquestionably the freshest and
speed1est team at the wind-up of last years
race was the French pair, Gougoltz and
Slmar, and yet, because unfair discrimina-
tion was used against this team, the mem
pers OF which were not allowed lap lost
py accident as laps similarly lost were al
lowed to other teams, an American team
captured first money in what the horsemen
call nose finish.
Frequently, since the Inauguration OF
these six-day bicycle races in New York,
leading teams that apparently had every
chance to bag first prize have withdrawn
from the contests as the result of exceed
lngiy hshy-looking accidents, leaving more
OF less rank outsiders, scarcely nibbled at
on the bookmakers' Sheets to come on and
win. For 1t must be distinctly understood
that these affairs have come to be great
clean-ups for the same lot Of professional
pookmakers who occupy stools at the race
tracks during the horse-racing season.
Prices are laid by these shrewd persons on
or against the contestants in the same
manner as they are laid on or against the
entries in horse race.
BOokmakers Hold the Advantage.
1t does not require very discerning eye
to perceive that the bookmakers have far
greater edge" on the situation in making
book on one Of these bike races in which
more or less needy human beings are en-
gagged, than in arranging states on races
between horses. Mo- matter how carefully
the result of horse race may be cooked
IN advance by interested parties, the ele-
ment of chance is always bound to enter
into the affair. The jockey who is to
snatch the favorite at the behest of the
interested parties may find his task impos-
slble owing to the strong-headednes of the
animal, or, even If he succeed in taking
care of the favorite, there is always the
chance of some horse that has been heavily
played at long price coming along and
winning from the animal that has been
inquired to win by the parties in interest
But the booknakerS take few chances
In making up their states on these six-day
bike races. 1t is the easiest thing in life
for one of the members of the favorite team
to be taken sick or to give himself a no.
lite but disabling" fall from his wheel at
critical juncture Of the race. For example,
foreign team that ruled a strong second
choice in the first betting on the result of
the present race withdrew after about
twenty-four hours of racing on account of
the announced illness Of one of the mem
bers of the team. Thousands of dollars had
oeen bet on this team winning the race, and
OF course the bookmakers keep all of this
money. There are many skepticaI New
Workers who in former years have been
badly bitten by betting on these affairs
Whlle stlll under the impression that they
were honestly run who are predicting that
the Wind-up OF this present contest is GO
ing to be sorrowful dump for the bet
ting public.
Sickening Sight at Best.
But, leaving aside all considerations of
betting and the chances for fraudulent
practices in these affairs, a six-day bicycle
race, particularly during the final three
days thereof, is about as sickening and de-
pressing spectacle as could be imagined.
Fifteen or twenty gaunt, bandaged. half
delirlous men, most Of them with abnor-
mally developed legs and emaciated torsos
go whizzing around track that is astonish
lngly banked at either end, their haggard
features drawn taut as snare drums their
eyes starting out of their heads their
heads wagging from side to side like those
of manikins, their poor racked aching
bodies twitching, and most of them mutt
tering crazily to themselves-this is NOT q
pleasing thing to see, If one is bothered by.
the possession of heart. Most of the
contestants are notoriously piled with
strong muscle-stimulating drugs, such as
arsenic and strychnine, when they begin
TO TO WaDole and lose heart, so that in the
more than gibbering imbeciles, and after
the race Is over they have to be yery care
fully tapered Off in the use Of these drugs.
Inc way the riders are bounded and NAL
treated by their trainers is difficult to exag
gerate. The trainers may, as they claim.
DO acting In accordance with explicit and
solemn advance instruction Of their nrinci-
pals, but there is nevertheless something
distinctly repulsive in the sight of a train
er kicking and punching and strap-lather-
ing sleepy, worn-out. dog-tired moor
wretch Of six-day rider. who is almost
too far gone to respond even to this kind
Of treatment, and whose mind has been so
clouded by drugs that he barely knows
what is required Of him. The trainer lifts
the half-unconscious rider, who is as stiff
as four-inch plank, onto the saddle Of his
wheel. gives the wheel shove. and the
rider. not yet sufficiently awake to even
mechanically grope around with his feet for
the pedals, falls off with sickenine bumn
and lies like torpid alligator just where
he fell, until his handler picks him m
the riders on the track meanwhile MAKING
detour to get around the fallen one.
Hammered by the Trainer.
Then the trainer hammers and siugs the
prone man some more, again lifts him onto
his wheel. and shoves him along again
This performance is often repeated four or
five times before the riders mind gets to
working and he vaguely begins to annre-
hend what is wanted OF him. Then he at
length finds the pedals slowly Jogs ahead.
while you can almost Near the creaking Of
the poor wretch'sp dry raw muscles, and
after creeping for mile or SO around the
track. the drug that has been forced into
him upon his awakening begins to act. and
gins to shoot around with the flying bunch
like a mad man. while his hollow-eyed
upon bunk like A NAB mortally wounded
In battle. sh
The sights neeessarily attending the
training of athletes and more particularly
letes pushed to the very last verge of hu-
man endurance. as are. these six-day like
the general public rSfuUh less for tho .,x-ae