The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1904-10-11
800 MILE RACE
CONTINUED from First Page.)

Heith, Ed. Hawley, Werner. Paul Sar-
tori, Maurice Bernin, Albert Clement,
Tarte. Teste. Charles Schmidt, Frank
Croker, Luttgen and William Wallace.
After the first a was off promptly
at 6 a. m. the others followed at two
minute intervals. The Vanderbilt car
was out OF order when it came time to
start and it was more than two hours
later that it was ready. A flying start
in violation of the rules was made, but
the a kept on. 1t was officially barr
ed, however.
THE first accident of the day occurred
when car No. 10, driven by Wallace,
stopped for repairs at Hampstead. The
machiniSt, Antonio Bonderi, was under
the vehicle when it started without
warning, and the rear wheels passed
over his body. His injuries are not
serious, however.
The machine owned by E. R. Thomas
and driven by ,Hawley, while making
one OF the turns, swerved from the road,
ran upon the grass along the road and
narrowly missed crashing into a tree.
spectators were panic stricken, but the
danger soon passed. Later the Thomas
machine broke down n retired from
the race.
Frank Croker's daring driving was
a feature that brought spectators to
their feet. After the fourth time around
the 30-mile triangle, however, his ma
chine had sustained INJURIES that put it
out of the running.
There was a continuous bursting of
tires at one point in the course that
aroused suspicion, and investigation
showed that a quantity of sharp nails
and broken glass had been thrown on
the roadway. To this was due the re-
tirement of a number of the machines
early in the race.
OF the eighteen starters but eight
remained in the race at the fifth round
of the triangle or when the race was
half over. Heath covered the last lap
of thirty miles at the~rate of seventy
two miles an hour His average speed
during the ten laps was ffty-two miles
an hour.
The four remaining in the race, and
who We're from two to three laps behind
at the finish were called off without
being allowed to finish because of its
being found impossible to keep the
crowd IN longer under control after
the exciting ace between Heath and
Clement.
The frst'rea1 excitement that brought
the crowd in the grand stand to it's feet
was when Clement and Croker were
coming to the line On the second round
at a crashing speed, with but a second
between them. AS they dashed OF past
In JoN0N NoA AK
the roadway scurried into the stands,
the people in the stand rose and cheer
ed. It was on the next round that Gro
ker p~unctured a tire and retired.
Campbell, in an S0-horse power ma
chine, was the first to cross the white
band across the roadway at the start.
He was followed two minutes later by
Gabriel, who held the lead for sixty
miles or through the second round. His
Not &iDon u-oc ~ roinr,fnc IA Coonp6c On
a rate Of siXty-two miles an hour.
Heath passed Queens in the second
round in second place, having jumped
from seventh to fourth place in the first
round and to second place in the second
round. At the third round Heath fin
ished Z minutes and IS seconds ahead
of Gabriel.
At $50 o'clock Teste was first, Heath
second, Clement third and Gabriel
fourth. Heath, however, finished the
fourth round in the lead Is to actual
time. Hawley quit al the end of this
round.
Heath continued to lead until the
eighth lap when he was delayed by
touble with his tire. Clement was driv-
as it passed the stand there was a flash
of a big hulk, a whiZZing of wheels,
and a rush of vino and the Frenchman
with his machine was out of sight.
At the 150-mile point or the end Of
the fifth round the standing was:
Heath, first: Gabriel. second; Clement,
third; Lyttle. fourth; Tarte, fifth.
Heath's average speed in the first half
was 63 miles an hour.
Heath, after the delay, finished his
eighth lap and entered On the ninth at
terrific speed. Clement, who started
later than Heath, was now three min
utes in the lead, official time. The ex-
element in the grand stand began to
increase. Clement had only a lead Of
1 minute and As seconds entering on the
last lap according to the official an
nouncement. Heath had gained a min
ute on him, but 1t did not seem that
he would wipe out the two minutes
remaining.
On the two men came to the finish
line. the crowds cheering and yellins,
throwing hats into the air, and waving
handkerchiefS, coats and canes. On
came the ponderous machines, putting.
cheering n snorting like juggernauts
there was silence in the crowd, the
machines whizzed and then one flashed
across the line-it vas Heath. followed
1 minute and q seconds later by Gle
ment and Americas first big race for
automobiles had been run.
The official lapsed time for the entire
course of three hundred miles is:
Heath s hour. 20 minutes, As seconds.
Clement, 5 hours, Is minutes. Is sec
onds.