The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-11-12
TEMPTING DEATH IN
 THRILLING RIDE
Man Who Loops the Loop
 Talks About Himself
THE STRAIN IS TERRIFIC
Matthiessen Comes Out of the Loop Exhausted and Has Many Narrow Escapes-Fascinated
 By His Calling.

When the band stops playing, and thous- ands of hearts stop beating, in dread or what may happen to the daring athlete who risks his life twice a day for the amusement of others, what are his thoughts? asks the Boston Herald.
 You see the great spiral, the man on the bicycle carefully poised ready for flight at the rate of seventy-six miles an hour. He's off-off like the wind-down, up, around, head down, around again; then the hearts resume their beating and thousands cheer Justify with recovered breath.
 Dangerous! No doubt of it. of all the men who have ridden a spiral on bicycle G. Fred Matthiessen is the only one who has survived He has fallen many times, been picked up unconscious day after day; he has spent weeks in hospitals with broken bones, and yet this strange occu- patton has a fascination for him which makes it almost irresistible. And for this great risk Matthiessen gets large sums Of money He never starts without having guarantee equal to at least $lOO a sec ond.
 | Standing 5 feet inches in his street clothes, the most noticeable thing about him is his chest This is broad, and gives the effect of being well put up. His face is clean-shaven, and he has mass or yellow hair which he parts in the mid dle His eyes, of steel blue, determined and soul-piercing have strained, un- natural expression His voice is soft and pleasant; his whole manner enthusiastic, yet self-poised. and he is absolute mas ter of himself-a man who knows no Tear.
 Fearful Feats He Performs.
 From an incline 40 feet from the ground he rides down a narrow 30-inch way Tor 100 feet, and then enters the spiral 2i | feet high, whose widest running surface ! is feet inches, through which he dashes at a speed of 45 miles an hour, coming out on an open runway.
 As he takes the first incline Of the spiral his speed is 76 miles an hour. The rush up the coil checks this somewhat, and as he reaches the center of the loop l the pressure which he encounters Is re- | duced from 1500 pounds, which he encount- CTS on entering the loop, to absolutely nothing, and then as he compasseS this difficult task it increases again to l5 | pounds, and then as he rushes out on to the runway it becomes 800 pounds. All in all, he travels 130 feet in direct dis tance, and, including the spiral, 1t takes him only from 4Ha to seconds.
 Through the spiral runs a black mark one foot wide and on this the daredevil rider seeks to keep his weel while cours- ing through the loop. The strain incident to this feat is terrific. When the man leaps from his wheel after rushing out on to the runway he is pufting and trem- bling like a leaf, and 1t is in this runway that he is usually knocked unconscious, for from the boards of the loop for per haps 50 feet are strips of canvas, and this canvas may cover a multitude of ob- stacles such as stones. wheel ruts, chains, or even twigs, the striking of which, at the terrific speed at which he is going is sufficient to throw him from his weel.
 Twice a day this man has performed this feat, regardless of whether he has been knocked unconscious on the first ride not. And each time he mounts the 40-foot stand from which the long incline extends with nerves unshaken and courage undaunted.
 Tt Is curious how I happened to think of this scheme of riding a bicycle through the loop" he said 'I was at Coney Island with aparty of friends one night. loop ing the loop in one of their cars, when it occurred to me that the thing could be done on a wheel. Several friends who were with me laughed at such an idea, and asked me If 1 was crazy.
 But l was a great devotee of bicycle riding and felt sure that I could do it, so made a bet, very small as far as money is concerned, before 1t was recognized 1t was really a challenge to my grit. Naturally I was determined to succeed.
 ''At that time I was the chief electrician in a factory in New York, and during the evening after I had finished with my work in the factory, went down to the island and arranged to have a loop-the- loop apparatus put up in a pavilion there on which I could practice.
 "Of course I didn't know what sort of a bicycle I needed, and so I took one of the ordinary road wheels. but I of course knew enough to remove the pedals.
 First Attempt Nearly Fatal. "When the thing was all ready for me to make my first trial l went up to the stand to which the incline led and mount | ed my wheel. l was not the least fright ened; indeed, the fact that my sand had | been questioned probably was the means | of making me forget the risk that l, a green hand, ran in making such a ride Tn went down the incline all right. | and as l struck the upshoot of the spiral l felt as though l had run head first into a brick wall, so terrific was the pressure. But somehow or other 1 kept going until | l was directly on top of the loop; then