ON THE WHEEL

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XI, Issue 523, 27 December 1900, Page 5

ON THE WHEEL

BY

CYCLOS

In the final of the mile scratch at the Austral Meeting, in which Ben Goodson was pacer, Martin was the first to move, three-quarters of a lap from home, but Morgan was watching him closely. At the straight he caught up with the Amercan, and over the last hundred yards a great tussle took plnce Neither man gained an inch until about ten y rdB from the winning-post, when Morgan drove his machine ahead, and won by a wheel. For long past there has been no such scene of excitement at cycle racesas that which followed this race. The crowd burst into loud, spontaneous cheering, and this continued (says a local writer) as the vice-president of the club (Mr A. L. Pry de) invested Morgan with the blue riband of the M.8.C., and he rode slowly round the track. Many of the heats of the Austral Wheel Race were noticeable by the fact that they were won by men practically unknown to the public which habitually attends cycling meetings. A. 0. Coleman, who won the first heat, is a man who was tolerably promi ent a couple of seasons back, but who has since dropped into obscurity, relates the “ Aigus.” Major Taylor, the coloured rider, has won the year’s championship of the N.< ! .U (United States). There is much credit due to Taylor, for the white riders have always been down on him (says the New York correspondent of “Sporting Life ”). He entered the game in a peculiar way, for he was picked up several years ago on a certain memorable tour that the old time cracks made on one of ihe early Western circuits. He was then a waiter in a little restaurant at a one-night stand that the circuit riders made. His good nature recommended him to the riders, and when one of the tiainer’s assistants disappeared that day he choice of successor fell upon Taylor. He was playfully dubbed Major hy a rider, and has been known by that title ever since. At first he worked only as an attendant, but all that time he insisted that he could and would ride a wheel. One day he was permitted to try it as a lark in an idle moment. To the surprise of everybody present he in de good time, though he was awkward, and one of the men present delected in. the negro’s work promise of a fine sprint. After that Taylor practised on every track where the tourists stopped, and before the tour ended he was a fast rider. More than that, he was able to defeat one or two of his teachers at their own game. The next year he came out as a fullfledged racing man, and he has now reached the climax of his career. ’J here was a time, two years ago, when the Major lost his head under the influence of much money and repeated success, an i one day he got angry at not getting a seat at a table in the main diningroom of a Southern hotel, and refused to appear at a meet where he was scheduled as the main attraction that day. The whito riders had to club together and pay his expenses of the meet as the result of this, and their judgment fell h 1 avily upon the head of the Major. He was suspended for life, and was reinstated this year 1 only at the instance of one or two prominent racing officers for the good of the sport.