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WONDERS OF THE WHEEL
FIGHTING MOCK DUELS ON BICY¬
CLES A NEW SPORT IN EUROPE.
It Demands Expert Hiding— Combatants 1
Must Be Absolute Masters of the
Wheel to Win Hatties—A Father and
< Five Sons Who ltkle on One Wheel.
Wheelmen of England and France
bow fight mock duels on bicycles. It
is not a mere imitation, but a genuine
contest with the foils, which calls for
as much skill as the combats which
took place on foot. The first qualifi¬
cation for a duellist of this sort is to
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MB. VOM SCHEIDT AND HIS FIVE BOYS ON A BICYCLE.
be an expert cyclist. Whoever at¬
tempts one of these combats on wheels
must be able to perfectly manage liis
machine without the assistance of his
hands. One of the first principles of
exercise with the foils is to keep con¬
stant watch on one’s opponent. The
slightest negligence of this sort may
give a fencer tremendous advantage.
If his wheel distracts his mind from
the object he is trying to attain he
gives his opponent just so much ad¬
vantage which he otherwise would not
have. So what it really amounts to
is that the man who wishes to fight his
duel on a bicycle must leave the man¬
agement of his wheel to his feet and
knees.
The combatants in a mock duel of
this nature are dressed in the ordinary
outing costume of the cyclist. Their
hands are clothed in gauntlets. The
stockings worn are usually faced with
a very fine quality of chamois skins.
The Shoes are of the regulation bicycle
fashion, with rubber soles.
Ou the inner side of the trousers,
just above the point where.the leggings
and the bottoms of the trousers meet,
is a round piece of rubber About an
eighth of an inch thick and seven and
one-half inches in circumference. The
object of this rubber is to give the
rider a firm pressure upon the ma¬
chine, just as the rubber soles of bis
shoes act as a safeguard against his
feet slipping on the pedals.
Each duelist wears a mask which
has over each eye a projection of wire,
similar in form to a small inverted
tea cup. This gives absolute freedom
of vision.
A short time ago I was fortunate
enough to witness a contest with foils
b&tween two of the most expert riders
in the United Kingdom. Both were
mounted on American wheels, twenty-
eight pounds each. The folding wheels were
of what is called the new pat¬
tern. That is, the frame is so con¬
structed that it is possible to fold the
wheels so that they come side by side,
the centre of the frame working on a
hinge. It is claimed that a wheel of
this sort enables the rider to turn more
quickly, and thus forms the best pos¬
sible wheel for the mock duellist.
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FIGHTING DUELS ON BICYCLES—A NEW SPORT IX EUROPE.
Each man took up a position about
fifteen feet from his antagonist. At a
given signal both mounted their
steeds of steel and slowly circled about
one another, just as we have seen men
fighting with knives seek an open¬
ing in which to make an attack.
The left hand rests lightly on the
handle bar. The right baud grasps
firmly the foil, held at an angle of forty-
five degrees. Slowly the two circle
about, until suddenly one ridder
dashes forward as if from a catapult;
there is a clash, clash of steel, and
the first passes are over. The circling
movement is contined by both men,
who grow more and more wary as the
circle narrows. the director.
“Look out!” calls
“Gentlemen, no foul, if you please.”
This makes the duellist more wary,
for‘a foul by either means the loss of
the honor of the conflict.
tt 5 Ware!” cries one of the combat¬
ants, and a thrust is aimed at his op¬
ponent’s helmet with a force that
would seem sufficient to throw him
from the saddle. He sustains the
shock gallantly, P.nd the sparks fly as
the foils beat upon one another.
Neither cyclist has lost his equili-
brium for a moment. The bicycles
seem almost endowed with life.
The riders evidently have forgotten
that they are not on steeds of flesh
and blood.
Parry and thrust, clever defence,
blows that seem powerful enough to
cleave the mask in twain—all these oc¬
cur with lightning-like rapidity.
Then like a flash of light one cyclist
whirls and circles about the other,
and before the latter can fairly place
himself in a position of defence the
more active wheelman has touched his
antagonist over the heart with the but¬
ton thot protects the point of his
weapon. The cyclist who is thus
touched is forced to dismount his
wheel, and liis opponent has scored a
point. This is the method that is
generally followed, and, as may be
seen from the description given, is ex¬
citing in the extreme.
One interesting result in France is
that it is likely to become something
more serious than mere pastime.
Duelling is the vogue there, At the
same time a duel about which there is
a novelty, is something to be culti¬
vated. Therefore, the mock duel on
wheels, which the fencing exercise is
called, has suggested to the volatile
Frenchman a chance to furnish wheel-
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CHEIF NUMA TTPLE AND HIS WHEEL.
men with a method of kis own for re¬
senting insult.
SIX O N ONE B ICYCLE.
How a Fornl Buffalo Father Takes His
Five Sons Wheeling-*
Mr. Vom Scheldt, of Bufialo, has
five boys and a bicycle. As the bicycle
is an ordinary wheel intended for the
use of one person, aud as- tire boys are
all of them too small to stride the
paternal machine, it is difficult at first
to imagine the connection between Mr.
Vom Scheldt’s six possessions. A
glance at the illustration, which we
reproduce from the columns of the
Buffalo Express, will, however, show
that there is something in common to
all, and that there is something very
vital to the enjoyment of the Vom
Soheidt youngsters. Mr. Vom Scheidt
The spectacle of his
and hi? family enjoying a spin upon
bicycle must be edifying indeed, espec¬
ially when the family tackle a sharp
kill* oil a warm day. At this distance
from Buffalo, says the New York Her¬
ald, we can almost hear the paternal
muscles groau and see great drops of
perspiration rolling down the Vom
Scheidt brow.
The boy in front of the family group
is twelve years old, and so is the boy
in the rear. No. 2 on the wheel is
the latest Vom Scheidt to enter this
world of sin and wheeling. He is
about six months old. The boy seated
just behind the baby is five years old.
The next is seven.
Mr. Vom Scheidt is »3 muscular as
he is kind hearted. He has wheeled
himself and his five sons hundreds of
miles. Ho has even taken them on
several occasions to Niagara Falls and
back. It can readily be believed that,
ns a contemporary remarks, “This bi¬
cycle load is the centre of observation
wherever it goes.”
An Iiiiliim Chief Who Bides a Wheel.
This Indian chieftain is on his first
visit to San FVancmoo, and is the guest
of T. H. B. Varney. He is a graduate
of the Carson Indian School, being
now employed by the Government He as
an interpreter and naval officer. C.
was taught to ride last year by C.
Hopkins, and is an excellent bicyclist.
SLAVONIAN LAUNDERINC.
Mangle Consists of a Clumsy Hog and
Hollers, Propelled by Frail Women,
Slavonia is in Austria, or rather in
the extreme south of Hungary, but its
people are nearly all Servian. Its
plains stretch for miles in an endless
expanse of perfectly flat country. Its
mud is fathomless, its women’s daily
task of scouring and fighting against
the dirt that the “men folks” bring in
from out of doors on their shoes is
never done. Between times there is
the mangle.
This is a stout plank about seven
feet long, raised to a height of two
feet upon rough hewn logs. The mid-
die of the plank is gripped by a frame¬
work rising from the floor to a height
of five feet, with three great beams
running across it, the whole fastened
together with pegs. Upon the plank
are laid two rollers, and on these rests
a half log of wood just fitting between
the sides of the frame. This weight is
smooth on its under surface, rough
hewn above, and is provided at each
end with three pegs which serve as
handles.
The ironer, when ready to begin,
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A SLAVONIAN- WOMAN IRONING.
takes a sheet, for instance, winds it
tightly around one of the rollers and
puts au old ironing cloth around the
outside. Then, lifting one end of the
log aud placing the roller under it,
she works the weight to and fro, until
the wrinkles are all presumably
smoothed away. Then the sheet is re¬
moved, folded and put away, and the
next ‘ ‘ironing”—perhaps another half sheet
or three or four tow-els, or a dozen
handkerchiefs—substituted. The sec¬
ond roller acts merely to balance the
log, although two ironers can work the
machine, one at each end.
The woman who irons is as pic¬
turesque as her tools, when she
wears the Slavonian peasant cos-
tume. Her shoes are flat and heelless;
she has no stockings, but winds linen
about her lower limbs and binds it in
place with thongs, leaving a space of
two inches or so bare below the edge
of her kilted skirt of.coarse, undyed
linen. Her yellow, sheepish jacket is
ornamented with patches of red and
purple leather, quilted on with bright
yarns, and her head is covered with a
gaudy kerchief. Almost as often, how¬
ever, she is stripped of her finery, ex¬
cept on Sundays, and wears at her
work bedraggled clothing of western
Europe’s unattractive work-a-day pat¬
tern.
The original log of Captain Cook, of
the ship Discovery, in which he dis¬
covered the Hawaiian Islands, has
been found among the British archives
at London. The log was taken to
Kamtchatka after Cook’s death by a
Russian warship, thence to St. Peters¬
burg, aud from there to London.
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“Father if I had a neck as long
] that I could reach u p to the top shelf
j in the jam closet.”
FED TO A STARVING LION.
Frightful I’linlfthmtfnt of nn AsbuhsIu In
Zanzibar.
The punishment dealt out to one of
the persons concerned in the recent
murder of the Italian Consul in Zanzi¬
bar, has at last become known by
means of a private letter which an
Italian officer wrote to n friend in
Medeua. The officer says that “in or¬
der to strike horror into the hearts of
the natives it was decided to enact a
form of punishment that the ancient
Romans used to apply in extreme
oases.
“The culprit, a Somali soldier, was
brought before the Consulate, and
there, in the presence of natives and
soldiers, both his hands were chopped
oil' with a hatchet. After that the peo¬
ple were bidden to mount the roofs
amljwalls looking out upon the inclosed
court yard of the official residence. As
soon as they had taken their stands the
bleeding Somali was thrust into the
open space and the gate was closed be¬
hind him. After a little while a cage
was pushed into the enclosure—a cage ■
containing a giant lion, the pride of
the late Signor Cechi’s collection of
ferocious beasts.
“The front door of the cage was un¬
locked and, as the animal smelled
blood, he easily pushed it open with a
stroke of his paw, then leaped forward
witli a tremendous bound.
“A cry of terror arose at this mo-
’ ment from hundreds of throats,
con-
tiuues the letter, “but above all Icould
j | distinguish the plaintive voice of the
Somali imploring mercy. In this piti-
ful state the poor victim of a gruesome
law shouted to his God for a speedy
deliverance, and again asked his
executioners for speedy death by a
bullet. The suspense lasted a minute
or two, while the lion, who had been
fasting for several days, walked around
the miserable bundle of humanity of
which he was,to make his meal. In
doing so his eyes were aflame and his
tail was whizzing viciously through
the air, his foaming mouth stirring up
the sand on the ground.
“Then he withdrew to the cage,
about fifty feet away, and stood still,
eyeing his victim, his mane raised and
trembling. He remained in that posi¬
tion ten or fifteen seconds, then leaped
with unerring judgment upon the
Somali-, who was chasing frantically
around in the yard, trying in vain
doors ond'wiiidows.
“The Taurus lauded square on the
native’s shoulders, and the next mo¬
ment the poor fellow was on his face,
while the animal was tearing his
clothes and flesh in tatters and bury¬
ing. his teeth in his neck.
“The native audience had meanwhile
grown- frantic with excitement, See-
ing that the king; of beasts was about
to-kill their friend and thus abruptly
stop- ‘the sport,’ they hurled knives
and. daggers at the lion and actually
succeeded iu arresting his attention
for a. while,, for he raised his head
streaming with blood and shot a defi¬
ant glance,, white- roaring with rage
and holding; down with one front paw
the quivering form of the man.
“Now- a dagger struck him in the
forehead, which, caused him to bellow
with pain and renew his attack upon
the-body. But the missies fell thick
and furious, and- to- escape them the
lion: dragged liis victim, who was still
alive, as the action; of his avms and
feet showed, behind an outhouse,
where he tore the- Somali to pieces and
then devoured the body ravenously.
The execution lasted fully ten min¬
utes.”
What Street Railway Cost.
The cost of construction and equip¬
ment of each of the street railways of
Philadelphia must be- reported from
time to time under oath, to public offi¬
cials there. From- these reports it ap-
pears that the entire cost of the 447
miles of track in that city in 1896 was
reported by the companies themselves
at only $56,300 a. mile- aside from pav¬
ing Now the pawing in Chicago on
the 390 miles, other than cable, be¬
longing to the three- main systems,
does not ayerage over-To cents a square
yard, or about $3500' a mite. This
paying is almost entirely wooden
block,. cobble stone an-d macadam. As
for the -paying, chiefly of granite block,
of the eighty-tw.o. miles of cable track,
the superintendent of the Chicago City
Railway, Me:. Bowen, declared before
the recent convention of street railway
engineers in- St.. Louis, that the cost
was $12;.708i per mile of double track,
or $6354 per-mile of single track, more
than- for- wooden block. A general
average of file cost of all kinds of pav¬
ing done- on the Chicago street rail¬
ways is about $4500 a mile of single
track. This, added to the $56,300,
returned; by the Philadelphia compa¬
nies,. would give $60,800. To be sure,
there- is not quite as large a percent¬
age of expensive cable track iu Phila¬
delphia as in Chicago, but, on the other
hand, the fall in the price of all street
railway material has been so great
the last five years that doubtless the
Philadelphia roads could be duplicated
to-day for much less than their cost.—
Chicago Record.
Rise of the Astors.
More than one hundred years ago,
in 1789, John Jacob Astor the first
started the family on its way to its
present position as the greatest landed!
proprietor on two continents. H®
bought a lot in the Bowery, then
known as Bowery lane,, near Elizabeth
street. From time to time he addled
to his real estate holdings and twenty-
one years after his initial purchase he
was the largest owner ot real estate on
Manhattan Island, No one li*s yet
arisen to take that proud place from
the Astors, and the ambition, if any
still- cherish it, is almost hopeless. His
descendants, William Waldorf and
•John Jacob Astor, together own nine
per eent. of the $2,000,000,000 oi real
estate in New York, and each year the
Increment added is sufficient to pro-
vide many men with large fortunes,—
New York Herald.
THIRD TRIAL OE THE OLD MAN
ENDS IN VERDICT OF GUILTY.
SENTENCED TO HANG JULY 30.
Th© Yenrtirt Approved By Citizens of Pike.
Delk’s Attorney Make Appeal For
New Trial.
The third trial of Taylor Delk for
the murder of Sheriff Guinn of Pike
county, G»., was ended at Zebulon
Thursday night when the jury again
brought in a verdict of guilty, aud
Judge Beck sentenced Delk to be
hanged on July 30th.
The jury remained out little more
than an hour in deliberating on the
case when a verdict to the effect that
Delk is guilty, as charged with the
murder of the sheriff, was reached.
The jury did not even recommend
the old man to the mercy of the court,
a® wa® confidently expected by the de¬
fense.
The third trial was a repetition of
the two former ones and the evidence
was practically the same. The wit¬
nesses who testified in the former
casea were again put on the stand and
they re-told the familiar story about
the attempt of Sheriff Guinn and bis
posse to arrest the Delks and the kill-
ing of the officers in cold blood. They
swore that old man Delk was in the
Delk house aud a participant in the
crime with his son and Tom Lang¬
ford.
Delk set 1 up the plea that he was not
in the house at the time the sheriff
wgs shot down-in-the yard by someone
in the house, but he has not been able
to establish his assertion of an alibi.
Three juries have refused to believe
his story and despite his gray locks
and withering form-and plea for mercy
be lias again been held responsible for
the crime of murder and his life has
been demanded, that justice may be
upheld and a-dastardlycrime avenged.
Delk’s attorneys took exception to
the verdict, and they gave notice that
an application for a-new trial will be
made. The plea will be beard by
Judge Beck on June 25th.
According to report'the people of
Pike are satisfied with the verdict and
that they are firmly convinced of its
correctness. Delk was- given a fair
trial and adjudged guilty after full op-
portnnity to establish-Ms innooenoe, ,
say the people of his section.
j
GEORGIA POPULISTS |
Called to Meet In Convention In Atlanta |
On June c 3d.
Chairman Cunningham has issued
the following call to populists of
Georgia for a state convention: j
“At the request of a majority of the I
state executive committee, I hereby
call a convention of the People’s party j
to be held in Atlanta, at the state cap-
itol, at 12 o’clock June-22, 1897, to ;
consider the matter of selecting dele-
gates to the Nashville conference,
Each county will be entitled to tw ice
the number of votes it has in the leg-
islature-. ”
It is expected that the convention
will be a representative gathering of
the party. It is said that populists
in three-fourths of the states where
the party is organized are committed
to this middle-of-the-roid movement,
which is to culminate in the national
conference at Nashville on July 4th;
SUGAR IN THE SENATE.
The Debate on That Most Important
Schedule Begins, I
m, The senate, t mu Thursday, a defeated a e the „ ;
Cannon amendment giving an expoit
bounty on agricultural products by
yeas 10, nays 59
The sugar schedu e of the tariff; bill-
wastaken up at 1:10 p. m.
sugar schedule. He said there should
be a single rata on raw and refined:
sugar giving one-eighth of a cent: ad-
ditional viik-li- would make the rat®-
plain. oemolwded 3:10 amdi j
Mr. Jones- at
Mr. Vest took the floor to spaalt oo
the sugar schedule;
The house passed tw-o comparative-ly
unimportant resolutions and; then- ad¬
journed until Monday.
INYESMWSATING A It IDT.
Carolina Caiuib of Inquiry Gets Under
Way.
The court of inquiry is investigating
the recent riot on the campus of the
South Carolina State University.
A good many students- an-J Profes¬
sors Davis, Colcock and Woodard have
been examined at length. Professor
Davis is. the member of the faculty
who was struck iu the head The evi¬
dence at Friday’s session was purely
cumulative.
The testimony so far has been averse
to the, militia, showing that there was
room enough on the college green for
the ball game and the military inspec¬
tion at the same time.
MAY GIVE UP THESSALY.
Sultan will Now .. , “ , . y rBW
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Advices from . Constantinople _ , state.
that since the conference between tore
ambassadors, of the powers and le\v
Pasha, the Turkish mmistei of oi oign
affairs, the Ottoman officials liiai e en
more conciliatory on the subjec o
Thessaly and it is now believed ha
Turkey will yield on that pom ana
agree to withdraw her troops.
I * This change of front is said to be
due to counsels from abroad.
WOMEN KILLED AND CREMATED.
Neal Kills Wife am! Grandmother and
Fires the House.
A story of an atrocious crime has
been received from a remote section of
Chester county, S. C.
A few weeks ago Thomas Neal sus¬
pected his young wife, Matilda, of in¬
fidelity, and she left his home, going
to her grandmother, Mary Jenkins,
who lived near by.
The husband spied on his wife’s
movements, and Wednesday night,
seeing some one enter the Jenkins
house, broke down the door with an ax.
The first person he met was his wife,
and he buried the blade of the ax in
her head, killing her.
The only man in the bowse was the
aged grandfather, Eli Jenkins, who
got out of the house unobserved and
hid beneath it.
Mary Jenkins attempted So escape
by the back door,, hut was overtaken by
Neal and felled with the ax.
Neal then poured a quantity of ker¬
osene oil over the two bodies, set the
clothing on fire and took a seat iu the
yard.
Just as Jenkins was about to face
the murderer’s pistol raaslier than stay
under the fire, a party of men came by
and be ran out to them.
They arrested Neal, biti he escaped
and has not been recaptured.
10WA HAS CYCLONE.
A. Number of Fives Keportftd Host and’
Much Property Destroyed.
Reports of extensive- damage aud
* of hfe , cyclone , along , the .,
ss a
lowa-Minnesota state lino- Ibursday
been received.
A* L le instantly #
y one person was-
killed and twenty people injured,eight
°* whom may die. Many buildings-
were totally destroyed and resulted a; heavier had
loss of life would have
not the storm suddenly veered to the
sewth.
Reports from outside the city are to
the effect that six persons were killled
and ten badly injured. Several per-
f°“ 8 are ^ported missing horn their
Kernses a number of additions to
death list are expected. The »vork
of rescue is being rapidly pushed,
Couriers from the rich ‘arming
country to the south of Lyle- report
, damage , along , the ,, path .. of , the
twister, which was in places half a
mile wide. Cattle and grain were
swept away by the hundred and’ a.
heavy loss of human life is feared.
TROOPS AT HUNTSVILLE.
Governor Makes An Effort to Save Vftn-
oners From » Mob.
Governor Johnston, of Alabama,-re-
oeived a telegram Thursday morning
from Sheriff Fulhum, of Huntsville,
Ala., stating that a mob of 200 man
had captured a freight train at Deca¬
tur the night before and started to
Huntsville to lynch the two Decatur
negroes, Lewis Moore and Claude
Nevill, who are charged with' crimi-
nally assaulting Nellie Law-ton, .white,
aged 13, and sent to Huntsville for
safe keeping.
The governor wired Sheriff Fulhum
to-protect the prisoners at all hazards,
and ordered troops sent on at once,
The Madison county jail, in which
the negroes are confined, is almost
impregnable except on the immediate
front. It is guarded by a twelve-foot;
fence, which can be broken by notkitig-
less than a battering ram. A dozen
brawe- men could hold the jail against
an regiment,
DR. KILPATRICK RELEASED.
Dl»«faarg?<l for Want of Evidence aad-
Prosecution.
Ait the preliminary hearing at Mid-
-riHe, Ga., Thursday, Dr. Jas. J. Kil-
patrick charged with the murder of
Joe Sprinz, was discharged for. want of
evidence, and prosecution.
The state was not represented by
counsel, nor was any evidence intro-
dmeed, the counsel for the proaecu-
^ H D . D . Twiggs, being in Sa-
claiming that four day. was-
uot su ffl cient ti m 6 to secure witnesses,
Mid prepare the case.
-pbe court house was crowded, and;
w ben Justices Sandiford and- Jones.
w.****.
411 °' a lo
Collapse of a Strike;
The strike at Jones & Laughlin-’S
American works at Pittsburgy Pa., has
been declared off by the strikers’ com-
m ittee and all the old meniwent back
to work Thursday. About* 500 non-
union men have been taken on,.and
probably that, many union men who
quit will be compelled 1». seek work
elsewhere.
STARTLING DISCREPANCIES
Sliown In Taia Returns OL7Georgi«,,Iian<2gk,
1,50<M)00 Acres Short.
The Georgia legislature investigat¬
ing committee continues to find prop¬
erty unreturned, and the indications
are that work on that line lias just be¬
gun. Ill; the single item of capitation
tax unretau'-ned by prsesidenta-of banks,
railroads, telegraph companies ami ex-
press companies, it is estimatad that
the investigation will save the state
$20,000; Counties taken at random
show discrepancies of 6,000 to 22,000
acres between tho-actual area, and the
land returned for taxation. In the
whole state the iiscrepancy is 1,500,-
000 acres.
SYNDICATE MAY BUY.
Capitalists ln$|ectinf th© Tomuessee Cea-
eral Railroad..
Captain Ben Reynolds, of Chicago,
and F w . Crawford and’ J. W. Cramy,
Q j representatives of a St.
j j0 uis syndicate* are at Harrinyin,
Xenn., to inspects the Tennessee Oen-
fral railroad, with a view to purehas-
j nf , p when it is placed on sale at
Croaaville, Tenn,, June 24th.
The syndicate is composed of men
capital, who have pledged sufficient
p, f, H y aiic i complete the road,
