The Washington herald., 1906-12-17
The SIX-DAY RIDERS
Tales Told of Bikers in Races
of Former Years.
DOPE WAS WRONG ON MILLER
winner of 1897 Race Was Told by
Physicians that He Would Not Live
Six Months Longer, but Miller Is
Alive and Stronger than Ever.
Riders Crazed for Want Of Sleep.

tors all over the country that six-day
contests are brutal and extremely in
furious to the riders In 1897, when
Charlie Miller, who was known as the
man of iron" won the six-day grind at
Madison Square Garden. setting a record
Of 2.Os31z miles. with only four hours
sleep in six days. he was told by
committee of physicians from the board
of health of New York City that he would
not live over six months. That was
nine years ago. To-day Miller is alive
and stronger than he ever was, and
weighs 20 pounds.
Miller was superstitiOus. and always
wanted number seven. He had the num-
Der in most OF his races, and when he
went to Paris In 1885 he was given this
number In the great Roubet road race.
In 1900 through some misunderstanding
with the management Of the six-day race,
he did not enter until two days before
the race. He asked for number seven,
but was told that Aronson had f. He
was given number eleven. He looked up
ArOnsOn before the race started, and tried
TO swap numbers. but Aronson wouldn't
swap. Miller won the race with the
help of hts team-mate. Frank Waller
! making record OF 2.7331k miles, that
stands to-day. ArOnsOn ran into a box
on the Fourth avenue side Of the Garden,
and was killed. In his races after that
Miller asked for number eleven.
Rice, Of Wilkesbarre, Pa, who finished
| second to Miller in the 81 race. was one
Of the crazlest riders in the race. The
/ second day Of the contest he became so
1 crazed by lack Of sleep that his trainers
had 10 resort TO morphine and strychnine.
On the fourth day he complained of the
/ loss OF both eyes, and wanted tissue pa
I per to put IN the sockets. Later he
/ thought that one side OF his face was
I falling of. and threatened 10 quit riding
\ If his trainer did not tie Il on A large
/ bandage was tied around his head. and
l he was satisfied. He went out on the
/ track and rode Ike a demon and finished
/ second.
Johnny Fisher. the Chicago boy who
/ teamed with Jimmy Bowler in the 1904
race, was another rider that became
crazed by the need Of sleep On Friday
morning he surprised his trainer. John
West, by getting of his wheel and com
ing into the training quarters. exclaiming
that ne was Sandow. He strutted around
showing the muscles in his arms. when
Frank Kramer said 10 him why.
Johnny. you don't use your arms while
riding; lets see the muscles on your legs"
| Fisher replied: I don't use my arns2
That's ali you know about IT, I push my
wheel along; I don't ride il. 1 haven't
ridden since Wednesday"
! West coaxed him 10 go back on the
track, which he did for two hours. Then
he got of his wheel and went into his
/ tent, picked up his cot and told West that
l he was going down 10 sleep with the
I horse. West thought the best thing to do
was 10 humOr him. so ne fixed his cot in
one Of the horses stalls There was 4
large ventilator In the stall. blowing in a
cold wind that would freeze beefsteak.
Johnny stayed there about ten minutes
and then came up on the track feeling
stronger than ever. The cold air was the
best thing that could have been given
him.
Fred Schineer was one Of the most per-
sistent of riders in his training. About a
month before the six-day race that was
held IN Tattersalrs In 1896 he wondered
whether he would be able to stand the
strain OF the grind. As a test he worked
At hts trade OF electrical engineering six
days and nights without one minute of
sleep. Later he used 10 run up the stairs
In the Masonic Temple, which is twenty
one stories high. six TO eight times a day.
With this vigorous training he was able
TO defeat his greatest rival. Miller. and
win the only six-day race that ever was
held in Chicago.
King and Samuelson, two young riders
from Salt Lake City. first came into
prominence in 1902. They were unknown
outside Of their native burg. but they
thought they could win the six-day race
that was to be held in Madison Square
Garden. They had little money. not
enough 10 pay their railroad fare To New
York, so they decided TO ride their wheels
across the continent, figuring that il
| would also be good training stunt They
rode for months and finally arrived at
Albany, half starved and with both their
wheels out of business on account of
punctured tires. They beat their way to
New York City on freight trains. arriv-
ing two days before the big race. They
didn't have enough money to pay their
entry fee. Somehow their story crept
into the papers and they became hot
favoTites. P. T. Powers. the manager of
the race, gave them some money and
wheels. They started in the race and
landed third prize. Since that time they
have been known as the hobo" team.
George Leander, who was killed q few
years ago in a race in Paris, was perhaps
the speediest rider that ever took up the
siX-day game. He possessed a combina-
ton Of speed and endurance that was re-
markable. In the 1902 race at New York.
had he had a better partner than Floyd
Krebs. the record of 2,733 miles held by
Miller and Waller surely would have been
shattered
Leander was practical joker. A week
before the 1902 race started Eddie McFar-
land secured a room at the Waldorf
Astoria. He invited a dozen OF more OF
the riders to visit him on a Saturday
night When they arrived they found the
room was so small that some of them
could not get in. Mcfarland. however,
thought he had a grand scheme, so he
took the large brass bed apart and stacked
Il in one corner of the room. Then a large
white sheet was spread on the floor and
soon a craps game started. Leander was
the first to go broke so he excused him.
self, saying that he was going back to his
hotel to sleep He walked down the han
and espied large pitcher of water. Get
ting chair he went back to McFarland's
room, and through a transom he poured
the contents Of the pitcher down on the
riders.
When Leander first went to Paris he
knew nothing about the French language
nor the value Of French money. He was
passing a cigar store one day and he
thought he would buy n cigar for his
r,,nrnc-ar lack PRINCE ho,,e-La Z. e..