Los Angeles herald., 1910-03-20
AUTO AT NIGHT
BY FLASHLIGHT
PARTY ON GLIDDEN TOUR HAS
TRYING TRIP
MACHINE DRIVES THROUGH MUD
UP TO IT'S HUBS
Mitchell Ranger Car Has Very Rough
but Interesting Trip Across Ken
tucky-Move for Bet
ter Roads

II &c no fun to lie sprawled out on
- s,rard with every light out, and
bold : small pocket fiashlight over
oa az 1iouid earth as the car heaVes
ord hinges through it, sinking 10 the
1,,tbs TO light the way, but that IS
,,,hat happened as the Mitchell ranger
rocentlv rolled into Cave city, hy'' OUT
of Bardstown on its way over lne
cH5dpn route. The photographer ana
the log keeper DIVIDED tle elsIll IN, ,,3
of rl7ving human lighthouse, ana
when they fell off the machine they
looked as though they had been taxing
a mud bath. 1t took stream from
+be water spout of the railrod tank 10
get them clean. ,-l
The Kentucky leg Of the trip ended
at the state line just north of a niue
town called Mitchell, the lnhapllaHtS'
eigbt i'm all cheering as its namesake
Ranger flashed by. and mule gave
correct imitation of standing on us
ears And that Kentucky leg brought
with il a number of charming ac-
onaIntances, hospitality and expert
ences. The mere fact that valuable
robe was stolen from the car at
Georgetown on Sunday while the par
~ were at luncheon made FRANK
Zirbies, the pilot OF the NItgIeil
Ranger. declare that il was a goddess
thing to drive on that day and 1t was
n fitting punishm ent. So Sunday
travel has been eschewed in future.
The road from Cincinnati to Louis
willie is the famous Lexington pike as
far as Frankfort and on the whole
very good. although the Mitchell Rang
err covered it in a binding rain, which
washed away a foot of snow and many
culverts. There are three motor cars
in Frankfort, and the energetic citi-
zens are building a garage at this
point with a machine shop attached
so that the Gliddenites will feel that
they are among friends and not in the
wilderness.
The making Of the Kentucky leg Of
the tour by the Mitchell Ranger has
stirred up the controversy over the
good roads bill which Is before the
legislature. The editors of the various
papers in the towns and cities through
which the car has passed have assured
its occupants that a state law would
be passed, and the experiences of
Zirbies have pointed many an editorial
clamoring for good roads. So the seed
has started to germinate.
The Louisville Automobile club sent
some members as far as Shelbyville TO
meet the Mitchell Ranger, and natu-
rally missed them as three days were
spent off lines of railroads and tele-
graphs exploring three different roads
into Louisville. But when the party
arrived that live wire e. ]. Bohannon
assistant secretary of the club, called
at the Seelbach to extend a welcome
and offer the services and hospitality
of the club before the scouts had fairly
fallen to sleep.
When the Mitchell Ranger party
passed through New Haven, Ky. a
cali was made at the Echo office The
editor was out of town, but an eX-
cerpt from his letter to Zirbies will
show that the spirit of John J. Barry
is practically that of everybody whom
we have met. Mr. Barry says:
The country that you pass through
between New Haven and Muldraugh's
hill, seven miles from here, is the only
Kentucky home that Lincoln ever
knew. Without getting out of ones
machine he can see the place Lincoln
started in a fatboat on the Rolling
Fork river to Indiana; the schoolhOuse
where he learned his A b Cs, the
swimming hole in which he almost
drowned and the site Of the only home
he ever knew in Kentucky.
After getting on the top Of the hill
you pass directly by Camp Nelson,
which was possibly the most fatal to
the federals during the war with the
states of any in the country"
The Mitchell Ranger party and the
Glidden tourists to follow it owe much
TO the courtesy of Leonard Hume Of
Nashville, who is a veritable road map
of Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi
and Alabama. The tourists must un-
derstand that south of Kentucky
there are no road maps, and the
Mitchell Ranger is doing pioneer work
at the present time.
There are three routes from Nash
Vile to Memphis; the upper calls for
a wide dctour into Kentucky. with no
means Of crossing the river except bv
1tat-bottom ferryboat or running IN
to Cairo, Ill, to strike a bridge. The
most direct is across the center of the
state Via PerryVille But here the only
means of crossing the Tennessee river
is rope ferry, which can only carry "a
car at time and there are no hotel
accommodations. Tho third is via
Franklin, Columbia, Tenn south to
Florence and Tuscumbia Ala. the
river being bTdged at the latter place
through Iula and Coriuth, Miss. then
north To Memphis.
This is the only feasible route and
lhe one which the Mitchell Ranger
party is MAPPING. 1t is 276 miles this
way Ifom Nashville to Memphis, but
there are ample hotel accommodations
at Florence and Tuscumbia Ala
which are l30 miles from Nashville
Thls is the route which Mr.. Hume
strongly urged. So the Mitchell
RanSef party is logging il. having came
from Colum 2la over what is known ms
tht south Military road" which WAS
bullt by Andrew jackson when he
made his famous march south at tbe
mead of his Kentucky rinemen to Nev
Clieah5 causing much sorrow "a the