BICYCLE MATCH ENDS IN A BONFIRE.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXI, Issue 292, 8 December 1900, Page 5 (Supplement)

BICYCLE MATCH ENDS IN A BONFIRE.

Thero was a typically French little how-d'ye-do at the Pare dcs Princes cycling track at Auteuil a day or two ago. when a big crowd assembled to see a 20 mile race between the French sprinter Jacr'uelin and the American stayer MacI'arlnntl. .It was a wot day and the cement track was slippery. The American asked for a postponement of a quarter of an hour, but was told if he did not start at the pistol shot, .Tacquelin would walk over. Then Maicfarland's petroleum tandem pacemakers tried the track for themselves and after a,bad side-slip, were satisfied that sprinting on tho dripping cement Avould bo nearly equivalent to suividtl. Macfarland was well aware that unless he made the pace from the word "go," he wouldn't stand a dog's chance, as if he tried a waiting game, Jacquelin could always jump past him at the precise psychological moment. Word soon went round that the America?! absolutely declined to start, and the crowd determined to make things hot for him. As a preliminary, they broke down the railings round the course and kindled a blazing bonfire, round which the baffled spectators danced a wild cancan. Then perceiving Macfarland still standing on the course they made a Avild dash for him, whether with the intention of consigning him to the flames or not will never be known, for the American made tho best sprint of his life, and sought safety in his dressing room, which he locked and barricaded. He had no sooner "sported his oak" than the irate "sports" were battering at his door. The siege lasted half an hour, and was finally raised, not by the police, but by a drenching shower, which quenched the flames of veugeance in the breasts of his besieg-