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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 ■s *1 '“IS tJR V . i!. m M m / m i m \\ >■■1 i <h i ’ ■ % % ■ I ! • v L Jf m 4s= 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. fj ■A S' SL A (>[ VI & s, i mm f/jf) ,-o (III(lit, I si 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- « wi/f lx X i Apr / t wk: m is iMxl 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, MiLi. Ifl 2 A V J h In fjp?- HI T o At H ■ ‘ l i/g. ( ”JS 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. IIo Kiwiod tlie GivatYe.^ ( iv: //' r-„ 2 k i. 7 4 fa 7F , A i t < //, • * $ “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 NW , * , . . 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,