The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-08-14
FERROUS BICYCLE FEATs.
Men Who Have Ridden Down the Steps
 of the Capitol.

Men Who Have Ridden Down the Steps
 of the Capitol.
 The feat of riding a bicycle down the
 steps of the Capitol has been accom- plished several times in the past, and will doubtless continue to be performed d at times by expert and enthusiastic cyclists who delight in astonishing the public by their foolhardy ventures. The risk incurred Is very great, and the man who makes the attempt virtually takes his life in his hands. The feat has only been performed when the Cap 1 itol policemen were out of the way. It is needless to say that the daring ride requires a steady brain, expert knowl- edge of the wheel and a certain dash of recklessness.
 Two of the men who have ridden down the steps are William Shields and William T. Robinson. Shields has ac- quired a wide reputation throughout the country as a trick rider. He trav- els under the name of "Rube" and | dresses in the conventional stage fash l ion of "hayseeds. His countrified clothes, however, do not interfere in their awkwardness with the marvellous agility of their wearer It was down 1 the steps of the west front of the Capi- tol that Shields rode the flight that faces the entrance to the Botanic Gar dens. These steps are seventy-four In number, broken at intervals by land ings, the middle landing being twenty feet wide and the other two ten feet wide each. In order to get some prac- tice before attempting his astonishing feat, Shields went to another govern ment building and rode down it's steep flisht finding the task easy on account of the absence of landings, which might pitch him off his wheel. Then, on April i, 1S97 accompanied by few friends and photographer, he prepared to descend the steps of the Capitol.
 Watching his opportunity when the watchmen and visitors were out of the way, the rider sprang Into his saddle. his bicycle resting on the edge of the upper step. While coming down the topmost flight he lost his pedals, and, unable to recover them, he gripped his handlebars fast, and kept his eyes fixed on the steps before him. He came down with inconceivable rapidity, and when he reached the last landing his wheel had acquired such momentum that 1t leaped over the final sixteen steps at one bound without touching one of them. Both rider and wheel fell in a heap at the foot of the steps, and the spectators thought Shields was killed. But he had escaped without bruise and not bolt of the wheel was loosened, the only injury being a twisted handlebar
 In 1885 Robertson made his famous descent of the east steps of the Capitol on an old fashioned Star" machine Robertson was at the time champion rider of the District, and he determined to ride down the east side steps which number forty-two, each ten inches wide and eight inches deep. The wheelman applied to the authorities for permis- sion, but was refused on account of the great risk involved. The feat, there fore, had to be performed clandestinely, and in the dull light of the early morn- ing, when few were stirring, and the watchmen were elsewhere engaged the event came off. When the news was circulated astonishment was general and many people said that such feat was impossible But that it actually was done is sufficiently attested.