Los Angeles herald., 1908-08-09

through the straw, sinking to the hub.
The Thomas began to slip into the
swamp and Schuster opened wide the
throttle to get the machine back into
the road The strain, however, was
too great, and cracked two teeth of
the driving gear, leaving the car un-
able to run. Schuster returned to Omsk
to see if he could trace the gear which
had been shipped to him, but being
unable to locate it, returned to Marie
novka, where he found that Miller, with
the assistance of the local blacksmith,
had repaired the gear so that the car
could proceed at a slow speed, arr1Y-
ing in Obansk Thursday, July 8.
Obansk is many miles off the route
of the Trans-Siberian railway, which
the car was supposed to follow, and
considerably to the north of the rail-
road. The car travelled about 703 miles
at an average of about 100 miles
day since leaving Marienovka. The
German Protos was left considerably
behind on the road between Omsk and
Obansk. Leaving Obansk the car raced
on to Viatka, where it was delayed five
days through the breakage of the gear
which had been repaired at .Omsk.
Schuster left for Kazan, 200 miles away,
on the main line of the Trans-S Siberian
railway, looking fer new gear, leaY-
ing Miller to try ,and repair the old
one. The Thomas at Viatka was about
800 miles east of st. Petersburg and
the Protos at Kazan, about l1OO miles
from st. Petersburg.
Leaving Kazan, the Protos had fine
run over the tracks of the Trars-Si-
berian railroad to Moscow, where 1t
arrived Saturday, July is, at p. m.
Leaving Moscow, the Protos raced on,
arriving in ST. Petersburg Monday, July
20, at 7:45 p. M, thereby winning the
lAxTf hp
perial Automobile club of Russia for
the first car arriving in st. Petersburg
irrespective of its position in the race.
In the meantime nothing had been
heard of the Thomas; the last report
of the car being from Viatka, stating
that the car was stalled owing to the
impossible condition of the roads ana
its broken gear. With the Protos seven
days ahead, the race seemed we'll nigh
hopeless for the Thomas.
Thomas at Moscow
On Tuesday. July 21, the Thomas
arrived at Moscow at a. IN. and
left In pursuit of the flying Germans
one hour later. The car had lost sew
eraI DAYS on the road, losing its way
through inability to make the Rus
slams understand the sign language
and though the German Protos had
left st. Petersburg for Berlin, Schus-
ter was hopeful of overtaking 1t be-
fore it reached Paris, and gave little
heed to the almost broken down con-
dition of the men with him, but with
an energy that brooked no Obstacles
he drove his machine mercilessly
through mud and over all but impas-
sable roads to st. Petersburg, where
he arrived Thursday, July 20, leaving
for Berlin at p. m. the same day.
Schuster states that the stretch be-
tween Moscow and St. Petersburg was
the worst he struck on the entire trip.
Once the car sank to its hubs in
mud hole and the crew had to walk
to the nearest village to obtain aid to
extricate it. They received the most
unfriendly treatment from the peas
ants-everywher sullen faces greeting
them. In some places straw had been
streWn over the road with broken bot
ties underneath, which cut the tires
fearfully, making long delays neces-
sary. Leaving st. Petersburg the
Thomas raced on after the Protos,
which was nearing Berlin, which 1t en-
tered July "a, leaving the same day for
Paris Just as the news arrived that
Thomas had crossed the German from
tier.
The German Protos reached the
French capital at 6:15 o'clock Sunday,
July 26, completing a remarkable run
from Vladivostok and winning the tro-
ply offered by Grand Duke Vladimir
of Russia to the car which should ar
rive in Paris first, the Thomas car ar
riving forty-eight hours ltaer
Besides the trophy offered by Grand
Duke Vladimir it is possible that Lieu
tenant Koeppen has won the $1,000 in
gold offered by Jefferson Demont
Thompson to the driver who should
first carry the American flag from