446 
THE HERALD AUTOMOBILE’S COMEDY RUN. 
towed into Syracuse. Crew feeling somewhat depressed. 
July 22.—Decided to wait at Syracuse for new cylinder from 
the factory. 
July 26.—Hurrah ! New cylinder here at last, but the men 
at the factory forgot to bore hole in it. 
July 28.—Finished drilling the hole. 
July 29.—Hole too small. Cylinder grew hot every few 
minutes and stalled the automobile. Made poor time. 
July 31.—New nuts on inlet valve persisted in falling off. 
Stopped at Palmyra for new ones. Spindle in rear valve broke 
again. Two hours repairing it. Laid up at Rochester and had 
inlet valves and spindles made heavier. 
August 1.—Jumped ditch, ran into stone flagging and bent 
forward axle. Country blacksmith worked all day and all night 
to straighten axle. Automobile wabbles badly. Seems to be 
getting groggy. 
August 2.—Grounded fast near Bergen for want of gasolene. 
Special train arrived with one quart. Started again. Frenzied 
newspaper reporter stepped on tailboard and broke it. Put him 
off at Buffalo. 
August 3.—Fixing tailboard at Buffalo. 
Little remains of the original outfit beyond Mr. and Mrs. 
Davis, the roof and cushions. With such an appalling array of 
disasters in less than five hundred miles, the question arises: 
How many automobiles will Mr. Davis consume before reach¬ 
ing San Francisco ? Time is another important question. By 
winding wagon road the distance from Buffalo, where they put 
the reporter off the broken tailboard, to San Francisco is all of 
3500 miles. 
No preparations have yet been made to welcome the auto- 
mobilists, either by the paper interested or the managers of the 
Old People’s Home. There is time enough. 
Charles Dryden. 
P. S.—Since the above was in type we learn that the fiasco 
was abandoned at Cleveland, Ohio. 
Dr. C. D. McMurdo, 10th Cavalry, U. S. Army, who has 
been stationed in Santiago Province, Cuba, is at home in Shad- 
well, Va., on a four months’ furlough for the purpose of recu¬ 
peration. Dr. McMurdo is an enthusiastic army veterinarian, 
with the elevation of the standard of the service steadily in 
view. He recently passed the army examination, and expects 
to attend the veterinary “Jubilee” in New York. 
