The Denver Jewish news., 1924-07-17
WINNER OF EXCITING SEV.
ENTY-DAY, BICYCLE RACE
FROM BERLIN TO JERUSA-
LEM COMES TO AMERICA.

Detained Thirty Eight Days on Ellis
Island Narrowly Escapes Being
Shot to Death as Spy in Turkey
and as Would-Be Assassin of King
i'm Belgrade.
Jacob Staroselski, professional BIZ
cycle racer, holder of several distance
championships in Russia and Ger
many, has just been released under a
$1,000 bond from thirty-eight days
detention on Ellis Island, upon the in
tervention of Congressman Sol Bloom
and John NJ. Chapman, Manager Of
the Chycle Racing Association, fol-
lowing a series Of thrilling adventures
which took him, as the result of a
wager, from Berlin to Jerusalem by
bicycle during which he narrowly es-
capped being shot to death, once as II
Greek spy in Turkey and again as a
suspected assassin of the King Of
Jugo-Slavia.
Barred from entering the Six Day
Bicycle race in Berlin, by the race
officials who openly declared that he
could not compete because he was a
Jew, Staroselski, angered at their in
suits, offered to ride from Berlin to
Jerusalem within seventy days on a
wager of $50 English pounds. The
race was arranged and won by
Staroselski who completed the trip
just within the allotted time. His
actual racing time was thirty-eight
days. The balance of the seventy
days was taken up by delays in Sc
curing passport visas, by his deten-
ton in a Turkish prison for almost
a week and by his refusal to ride
from sundown Friday to sundown Sat
urday because he is an observing
jew.
Immediately following his release
from Ellis Island, Staroselski came
to the headquarters of the Zionist
Organization and Palestine Founda-
ton Fund at ia Fifth avenue, upon
whose colonies he lived while in the
Holy Land and recounted his expert
ences His bond, which covers the six
months the immigration authorities
have permitted him to remain in the
United States, was furnished by his
aunt, Mrs. Gusha Markham, IA East
112th street, with whom he is stay
ing.
Il purposely made Jerusalem the
finish of the race" Staroselski said,
because it is the capital of the jew
ish Homeland and would therefore
make my triumph all the more COM
plete in case | won. And being a
Zionist, with Jerusalem as my goal, l
would have a far greater force driv-
ing me on than just merely RACING be-
tween two points.
81 covered 6,S00 kilometres, pass
ing through Germany, Czecho-Slo-
vakia, Hungary, Roumania, the Bal
kans, Turkey, Syria and Palestine. 1t
was the longest race ever held in the
history of cycling and | would have
made much better time but for the
endless delays in securing passport
visas. 1t required twenty-four visas
during the trip.
"The race was uneventful except for
two incidents which almost cost me my
life. Not once during the days and
nights | traversed the widest parts
of the Balkans was | molested. From
what I've heard of the bandits here,
I'd much prefer to spend my nights
along the lonely Balkan roads rather
than on the streets of New York.
"When l arrived on the outskirts of
Belgrade late one night, speeding as
fast as / could two soldiers yelled at
me to stop. l wanted to make time
and didn't pay any heed to them, un-
til bullet shattered my front spokes.
Then they arrested me, and when !
was taken before the authorities it de-
veloped that the soldiers took me for
a possible assassin of the King whose
marriage was being celebrated in Bel
grade that night. My papers, with
the Endorsements of cycle clubs along
the way, who were required by the
rules of the race to check up on my
trip convinced them of my innocence
and | was let off.
''At Ismid, Turkish soldiers arrest
cd me as Greek spy. I was thrown
into prison for almost a week and
finally condemned to be shot. The
French High Commissioner hearing of
my plight and knowing the details of
the race which had been widely com
mented upon in the European press,
interceded and secured my release,
also an apology from the Turkish
authorities. Mustapha Kemal Pasha
later received me at Angora."
When Starosclski arrived in Tel