The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-11-08
amount Of routine business. The senator
will be at home in the Portland this win
ter in Washington.
sDARE DEVIL oLDFIELD.
for Him to Smash Automo-
bile Observation-Disclosures Fast Riding.
Washington Star.

W l0A
Barney oldfeld, who in Denver last
Thursday broke all former rec
ords,N making IA for the five, 9.321b for
the ten and 1421 for the fifteen miles, has
clearly established himself as the most dar-
ing OF all machine drivers. The figures
quoted above he promises to lower.
Oldfeld possesses all the daring spirit
that characteriZes the desperate. He is
of good Indiana birth, but his early life on
a farm did not strike him as being suited
to his tastes. He despised the hoe. frowned
upon cornfields, got sick when harvest time
came along and left home when he was
asked 10 feed the hogs.
Tha was about the time when the bicycle
craze struck the country with murderous
force. Arriving at Detroit, where he still
makes his home, his first money went TO
procure a wheel. he rode 1t, too, and i'm
also rode in contests in Chicago, New York.
Cleveland and New Orleans.
1t was always his ambition 10 attain
speed. lie tried nearly every make Of wheel
on the market that he might be Americas
champion. He took his exercise daily. never
hating and never perturbed by bad weather.
He tried firing on express trains that he
might experience celebrating effects OF
rapid locomotion. When his engine began
making telegraph poles like a fine tooth
comb a light would come In his eyes and a
smile spread over his countenance, for then
he was supremely happy.
The spirit of dare-devilry is in his blood.
when a Dicyclist ne was most happy when
riding down forty degree planes. When
his engine was delayed on some siding he
would SIT on the end of a cross-tie and look
gloomily into the distance, conversing with
no one and not caring TO do so. As soon as
the great piece OF machinery got In motion
his heart beat faster.
He is a professional driver of automobiles
II he were possessed OF wealth il is prob
able he would have a barn filled wifi the
fastest automoones that money could buy.
The ones he has been driving for the past
three years have been petted and stroked
by him as IL they were human things
When the nights have been dreariest ha has
silent in them. No mother axar hoI -
passion for her first born than this Western
er Destows upon these bloodless machines
he Is an awe-inspiring piece OF animal
HE when out Tor a record-breaking run.
He has impatiently waited for the moment
a lighted cigar has been in his mouth for
hours before he takes his seat. Food he
meal. There Is neither parleying nor fd.
6ling for the start At the word he is OF
He sits low In his carriage. the ton NJ ,ha
hind wheels extending higher than his head.
II the road Is d~ustless, he does NOT wear
goggles His keen black eyes shine like
nre. His hair Is long. and IL IS given 10
the winds TO play with as he makes the
throbbing, pulsating machinery move as
with the swittness OF light. There are no
grandstand PLAYS for him. The shoutino
multitude that splits the air with vociferonS
hurrahs as he passes might have remained
at home so far as he cafes. He neither
{ the first quarter he settles down into
running. When other drivers reach sharn
ahu uanseIous curves lnNoluntarily they
ease tnelr speed. Oidheld Increases IL IL he
can. Then on another stretch the restless
eye sees only a moving streak. Neither
man nor machine can be outlined. Again
comes the turn; the inner wheels stir nm
the dirt and there Is a cloud of dust which
Tor a second only obscures the object and
thence II leaps into the open again.
He drives with an un.it cigar between h,s
teeth. His hands are as steady as The disI
OF a clock. The belching vibrations of the
surcharged machine thriil him; the noise OF
the wheels SOOfne his cars " n. -.
around he occasionally will speak as AZ
he were driving a horse. Steady now
cluck-clucki Faster there as N the auto
its commands.
When he has finished he mechanically re-
ceives the congratulations OF his friends.
He is not TO be long detained from his
hotel or home. Gee" ne saws. hreakine
away. II am as hungry as a wotfes,