68 



RECREATION. 



card. Tandem handicaps are especially ex- 

 citing, for the scratch men must, as a rule, 

 ride well inside of 2 minutes to the mile 

 to win, and ample opportunity is offered 

 for numerous fast sprints. In past seasons 

 we have had a few good tandem races, 

 but most of them have been held in Bos- 

 ton; and, last season, it was almost impos- 

 sible to gather together a respectable field 

 for the only tandem championship provid- 

 ed for by the League of American Wheel- 

 men, which was a 2-mile event run at 

 Reading, Pa., and won by Bald and Church. 

 The first tandem event of importance sched- 

 uled for this season was the handicap at 

 Woodside Park track, Philadelphia, May 

 28, for which a $300 purse was offered, for 

 the express purpose of drawing representa- 

 tive tandem teams from all parts of the 

 country. There are a number of fast tan- 

 dem teams in this country now, some of 

 which belong to the big pacing aggrega- 

 tions, and rivalry between them is keen. 

 Among the teams which may be expected 

 to show well in front are Gougoltz and 

 Lamberjack, the Frenchmen; McLeod 

 and McCarthy, and MacEachern and 

 Tompson, Canadian record-holding teams; 

 Gardiner and Kaser, American and Ger- 

 man; Stampenburg and Iten, the Dano- 

 Swiss team; Boulay and Cavallay, of 

 France; Kiser and Mertens, Swanborough 

 and Sager, and other American teams, and 

 the Jallu brothers, of France, who greatly 

 disappointed the racing enthusiasts of this 

 country by leaving their electric-pacing 

 machine at home when they came over last 

 spring. 



AN INTERESTING LEGAL QUESTION. 



The eyes of all wheelmen are turned upon 

 Washington, where an interesting case, 

 arising from the city ordinance passed by 

 the commissioners last fall, which prohibits 

 the use of handlebars having grips dropped 

 more than 4 inches below the centre of the 

 saddle, is going through the courts. One 

 Fred W. Moore was arrested and charged 

 with the violation of this police regulation, 

 and judgment was entered against him in 

 the police court. Moore then took the case 

 up to the court of appeals, on a writ of error 

 from the police court, and the decision of 

 the lower court was reversed, and a new 

 trial ordered. 



Of course wheelmen, the country over, 

 are deeply interested in the case, as having 

 weight in possible similar legislation in 

 other cities, which cyclists consider an in- 

 fringement of their rights, and an unwar- 

 ranted oppression. Therefore, the opinion 

 of Chief Justice Alvey will be read with in- 

 terest. 



He states that the commissioners are 

 authorized to enforce usual and reasonable 

 police regulations, and, among other 

 things, to regulate the movement of vehi- 

 cles, and to make provision for the protec- 



tion of lives and limbs of persons. He 

 holds that there is no ground for objection 

 on constitutionality, but says the question 

 as to whether the regulation is unreason- 

 able and oppressive to the citizens is more 

 or less one of fact, and therefore susceptible 

 of proof. The bicycle, he says, is a vehicle 

 in the meaning of the law. 



" It is a vehicle of comparatively recent 

 use, and is of various construction. Its 

 safe use may depend greatly upon the ex-* 

 pertness of the rider, as well as upon the 

 construction of the vehicle. If a vehicle, 

 such as that which the defendant is accused 

 of riding, is ordinarily safe to persons trav- 

 elling, when used by persons of ordinary 

 care and skill in riding, then there would 

 seem to be no necessity for excluding the 

 use of such vehicles, and the regulation by 

 which they are excluded may be said to be 

 unreasonable, and to operate to deprive the 

 defendant of the lawful use of his prop- 

 erty." 



In the lower court Moore introduced 

 testimony to show that, as applied to his 

 bicycle, the regulation was both unreason^ 

 able and unnecessary; but this evidence was 

 thrown out by the police judge, and not 

 considered, whereas the chief justice of the 

 court of appeals holds that the lower court 

 erred, since the evidence was competent. 

 If, upon rehearing, the defendant is acquit- 

 ted, and the regulation held to be unreason- 

 able and oppressive, the decision will have 

 an effect upon that more general ordinance 

 which prohibits riding "hands off" in so 

 many cities, and every defendant will have 

 the right to prove that he is expert enough 

 to make the rule unnecessary, and, in cer- 

 tain cases, oppressive. 



CONFLICTING LAWS. 



The bicycle offers such a ready and 

 tempting means of straying beyond the 

 confines of one's own hamlet that club runs 

 to neighboring towns, within a radius of 50 

 to 100 miles, are a regular diversion of all 

 cycling organizations. The cycling regu- 

 lations of no 2 adjacent communities are ex- 

 actly similar, however, and ignorance of the 

 laws frequently works hardship on riders 

 when away from home. In one town the 

 wheelmen may be required to ring a bell on 

 approaching every crossing; in another he 

 must not ride with dropped bars; in a third 

 he must not ride " hands off "; in a fourth 

 he must not coast; in a fifth he must not 

 carry a child on the handlebars. And, as 

 for speed limits, they vary all the way from 

 4 miles an hour to anything the rider is 

 capable of. Uniformity in the laws is be- 

 coming more and more imperative, and the 

 only way to secure this seems to be through 

 legislation enacted by the States. West 

 Virginia was the first to pass a State law 

 governing the use of bicycles, and such a 

 law was passed by both branches of the 

 New York legislature last spring:. It pro- 



