"A man frequents the park who is in the habit of cutting them about the ankles with a whip."
Bicycling became a huge craze in America during the 1890s. It was a healthy fad that was good for hearts, lungs and mayhem–lots of mayhem. A few brief stories of bike-related turmoil from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle follow.
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“Recent Events” (September 29, 1894): “Chicago women who ride bicycles in bloomers in Washington park have complained to the police that a man frequents the park who is in the habit of cutting them about the ankles with a whip when they pass him.”
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“Don’t Ride in Long Island City” (August 25, 1892): “The hardships a bicycle rider is likely to encounter in Long Island City beside bad roads was fully ventillated in the police court of that city yesterday. George A. Phail is superintendent of the Danier dynamo works, at Steinway. He lives at Winfield and, until two weeks ago, enjoyed great pleasure and exercise in riding across the country roads, a distance of about three miles, to and from his work. On August 8, Phail on his way home through Newtown avenue on his bicycle, encountered Cerl Springer and Gustav Zeigler on the roadway. Springer didn’t fancy the style Phail was putting on and Zeigler does not like bicycles anyway. Zeigler refused to get out of the way to let Phail pass and the latter, in attempting to turn out of Zeigler’s way, was precipitated down an embankment, bicycle and all. Phail gathered himself up the best he could under such circumstances and the irate Germans both told him it served him right, as he had no business riding there. Smarting under his injuries Phail talked back to the Germans and in an instant Springer and Phail were clinching. Zeigler went to his companion’s assistance and soon the prostrate form of the bicycle rider lay in the roadway and was being made a foot ball by the German.
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“A Bicycler’s Arrest” (June 8, 1896): “Some of the new New York policemen are as over busy as their predecessors were neglectful. One of them notified a young woman on a bicycle that her lamp was out. The young woman dismounted and lit her lamp. Then the policeman arrested her. She was carried away in a patrol wagon, locked up in a cell, in the company of riff-raff gathered from the streets on Saturday nights, who insulted and jeered at her, and the sergeant in charge was as officious and ill mannered as his underling. Her relatives finally learned of the arrest and secured her release on bail. At the court Magistrate Simms roundly lectured the policeman and gave an honorable discharge to the young woman, as he considered that by lighting her lamp, when warned to do so, she had complied with the law.”
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“Max Miller’s Wedding Postponed” (September 11, 1893): “Max Miller, a bicycle machinist and expert bicycle rider, employed near the park entrance, was to have been married Saturday evening. Instead of a happy bridegroom he was escorted to a cell in the Flabush station house, charged by his employer with stealing some $200 worth of bicycle goods. His intended bride was allowed to visit him in his cell yesterday afternoon.”
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“Broadsword Fight Awheel” (May 10, 1897): “An unusual sight greeted many cyclists at the Lynwood track yesterday, where ‘Colonel’ Nicholas Hartmann, the broadsword fighter, was practicing his profession, mounted on the front seat of a tandem bicycle. The swordsman was incased in his fighting armor and withstanding the assaults of his trainer in clever style.”
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Bicycle trick riding, 1899: