28 chapters
6 hour read
Selected Chapters
28 chapters
THE TOUR AT A GLANCE.
THE TOUR AT A GLANCE.
INTRODUCTORY. PAGES. Chicago Cyclists demonstrate their enthusiasm at the proposed World’s Tour awheel—Friends of the Inter Ocean endorse the project by giving the McIlraths letters to friends in foreign lands—The starting point left behind on April 10, 1895 5–7 CHAPTER I. Two and one-half days getting into Nebraska—Many friends made on the road—An unanswerable argument in favor of the “rational” costume for women—An encounter with the law at Melrose Park and what came of it
14 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
INTRODUCTORY.
INTRODUCTORY.
It had been intended for the tourists to depart from Chicago at 7 o’clock on the morning of April 10. After farewell receptions at the Illinois Cycling Club and the Lake View Cycling Club, it was decided, in view of the popular demand, that the hour for departure be changed until noon. So it was that as the clock in the Inter Ocean tower struck 12 on Saturday, April 1, the credentials and passport, which was signed by Secretary of State Gresham, were given to Mr. McIlrath, and in the midst of a
10 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER I.
CHAPTER I.
Hard riding, rain and the consequent exposure had got in its work upon me by the time we struck Marshalltown, but on the 19th, in spite of the advice of physicians, I started our party, being aided in the carrying of luggage by Mr. Ferguson, who remained with us. At 4:30 o’clock on the afternoon of April 19 we pedaled into Des Moines, the capital of Iowa. The dime museum man was on the alert for us, and we had been in the Kirk wood Hotel scarcely half an hour before my wife and I were offered $2
15 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER II.
CHAPTER II.
Pushing our snow-clogged wheels over an unbroken track we came to a log hut just back of the welcome sign, and there we discovered not a haven of rest and warmth, but a deserted house with its every door and window nailed. Poor Jim, with a hoarse cry, threw himself on the snow, and moaned like a child. Had we been lost in a desert, thousands of miles from aid, the situation could not have been more dramatic. Electricity now added its terrors to our discomforts, and with a sharp crackling sound e
16 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER III.
CHAPTER III.
UTAH’S STOCK OF LIZARDS AND SNAKES—“TOMMY ATKINS'” NARROW ESCAPE—AT “THE HERMITAGE” IN OGDEN CANYON. Utah I found to be full of snakes, lizards and swollen streams. Mrs. McIlrath, Duxbury and I had personal encounters in this direction and our escapes were thrilling. It was on our way to Thistle Junction Gap that Duxbury sprinted ahead, promising to meet us at the next railroad crossing. How he came to wind up on the side of a foaming torrent is beyond me to explain. I know only that when we cam
12 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER IV.
CHAPTER IV.
By looking at our cyclometers we ascertained that eighty-four miles had been covered on the Fourth of July. We had hard riding the next day, arriving at Lucin at 11 o’clock at night. For once in the life of somebody, a little intemperance served a good purpose. The section boss at Lucin lived alone in a neat cottage, with his Italian and Chinese laborers in quarters a couple of hundred yards away. The section boss, whose name is of no consequence here, had celebrated the Fourth too vigorously. T
11 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER V.
CHAPTER V.
On October 12 the telegraph message of three words, “We are off,” was flashed to the Inter Ocean office in Chicago. We had taken passage on the Occidental and Oriental Line steamer City of Pekin, bound for Yokohama, the chief city of the flowery kingdom of Japan. Everything for our accommodation that could be done on board the steamer was ordered, not the least of our favors being two seats at the table of Captain Trask, commanding officer of the vessel. Our fellow passengers were an interesting
13 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER VI.
CHAPTER VI.
I am glad to record that it is a mistaken impression that there exists in Japan a general feeling against Europeans and Americans. In any part of the Mikado’s realm the American is as safe as at home and the European is comparatively as secure. Why is this distinction of a degree made? During the late chastisement which Japan administered to China the action was so one-sided that it could scarcely be called war. As soon as the Russians interfered, threats were made by a few anarchistic extremist
15 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER VII.
CHAPTER VII.
For four hours we wandered through the dark alleyways and streets, passing through tunnels and archways that were filled with noxious vapors and used by the public for all manner of nuisances. We experienced no interference with our progression, the only hostile feeling being shown was by a few street arabs who pelted us with stones and fruit skins. This treatment would be accorded a Chinese by our own precious youth in the States and does little harm if no attention is paid to the offenders. Do
13 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER VIII.
CHAPTER VIII.
The afternoon of March 3 Mrs. McIlrath and I mounted our luggage-laden wheels, and, after shaking hands with friends, rolled out upon the broad Bund upon the third stage of our long ride. By March 6 we were a hundred miles from the civilized coast, and already we appreciated the fact that our journey across the walled empire would not be “a thing of beauty and a joy forever.” The cries of the natives as they caught sight of us silently gliding by on our wheels was strange. The first impression t
12 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER IX.
CHAPTER IX.
At Wu Sih we were the guests of Dr. Walters for several days before we departed for Ching Kiang. What few roads China possesses are mere foot paths, and in the Eastern districts, where clay is the principal superficial soil, six months of each year these paths are impassable save to foot passengers. Our appearance, therefore, upon bicycles on roads where the wheelbarrow is the only wheel ever seen, stirred the natives to the wildest pitch. The bicycle is an unknown quantity upon the Grand Canal,
15 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER X.
CHAPTER X.
At one of the villages we had passed before arriving at Hankow we fell in with a companion named Cunningham. His other name I do not remember, and it is just as well for his own sake that I do not, as I cannot help saying that Cunningham proved himself to be the most annoying part of our baggage. He was a good wheelman, but absolutely without “backbone,” and in the serious encounters which we had with the natives, many of them being out-and-out fist fights, Cunningham proved the exception to the
12 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XI.
CHAPTER XI.
“May 26, Mr McIlrath, opposite Shaze, dear friends: We are received a letter with you and happy to say to you we are Christian Chinese and hope so are you. We have got good Chinese house in Shaze and hope you will come see us. And man will direct you to the right road to travel this side, and hope you will be happy to receive you. We are all Christians and hope so you are. Respectfully, S. Kwei .” The evident hospitality conveyed in the note caused us to overlook its ludicrous wording, and follo
14 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XII.
CHAPTER XII.
DESERTED BY MUTINOUS COOLIES—DANGEROUS JOURNEY AFOOT TO CHUNG KING—THE MOST MYSTIFYING CONJURER OF THEM ALL. Once well under way, our rebellious gang traveled peaceably, making good time, possibly because we would not permit them to stop for rest or a few whiffs of opium in any of the larger villages, thus frustrating all attempts they would be certain to make in endeavoring to enlist the sympathy of their fellows. The miserable gang, however, went upon another strike when at dusk we halted in t
9 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XIII.
CHAPTER XIII.
It took much diligent inquiry for us to find the residence of Dr. J. H. McCartney, surgeon in charge of the American Methodist Hospital. We were a dirty, mud-stained pair when we at last ascended to the veranda of the doctor’s comfortable home, but the kindly surgeon had heard of the Inter Ocean’s enterprise, and he bade us enter before inspecting our condition. It would have made little difference had we been two-fold more dilapidated in appearance, for I never met a missionary surgeon in China
13 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XIV.
CHAPTER XIV.
In collecting curios we endeavor to select such of interest as we could conveniently carry without additional cost, but in Yunnan Foo we inspected a natural curio that I would pay any sum could I have transported it to America. The coveted marvel was Chang, the Yunnan giant. He was a better specimen of giant than his illustrious namesake who once toured the United States to his great profit. When only fifteen years old this junior Chang carried on his enormous feet six feet of manhood, and later
10 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XV.
CHAPTER XV.
As I looked back over the last eleven months, my recollections become almost kaleidoscopic in their variations. For eleven months we were the guests of the Mongolians, having them for companions both day and night; we had adopted their customs, ate, slept and journeyed with them for weeks isolated from a white face, and we felt on our arrival in Nampong that we were competent to judge as very few others the true character of the long-queued Orientals. Our trip from Shanghai had involved 4,200 mi
20 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XVI.
CHAPTER XVI.
With the advent of English rule in Burmah, native athletic sport degenerated, and became supplanted in time by horse races of most corrupt nature. When I state that the racing is corrupt I have but to cite two instances which occurred at the meeting of the Mandalay Club during our visit to that city. A captain in Her Majesty’s army placed 3,000 against 1,000 rupees that a certain horse, which we will designate as A, would win over the field presenting two horses, B and C. Of the latter, C was cl
17 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XVII.
CHAPTER XVII.
Their object in circling the world was simply to make the journey, selecting the shortest, most expeditious route, and arriving home as quickly as possible. Frazer was once a “journalist,” he informed me, but had deserted journalism to become an author, and write stories for a magazine called the “Golden Penny.” While I confessed knowledge to the existence of the Strand, Pall Mall and other magazines in England, I dropped another peg lower in the estimation of my friends because the “Golden Penn
10 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XVIII.
CHAPTER XVIII.
PATRIOTISM CURBED JUST IN TIME—BAD NIGHT WITH A FANCIED BITE FROM A COBRA—TWO AMERICAN INVALIDS TOGETHER IN LAHORE. From Karnaul we journeyed steadily north, head-winds baffling attempts at speed, and showers and sand storms retarding us for hours. In several instances, we were compelled to journey along the railway line, the rains having swollen the river to such an extent that the roads were flooded. Umballa, a large military station midway between Delhi and Lahore, we reached on the morning o
10 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XIX.
CHAPTER XIX.
I have already spoken of the risk a white person incurs in India by being exposed to the rain. Fever is almost certain to follow, and the morning after our arrival in Lahore, I found Mrs. McIlrath with a temperature of 104 degrees, and every symptom of malaria. Though I struggled through the day, caring for her, when I laid down at night, the ache in my muscles and joints, and the fire which raged internally, warned me I was a victim also, and for the next week we lay side by side, comparing tem
15 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XX.
CHAPTER XX.
We were in Kurrachee for a week, an attack of fever detaining me. Then began preparation for our trip through Beloochistan, a trip which we did not take. From Kurrachee there is a telegraph line which skirts the coast of Beloochistan and enters Persia. This was the route we had calculated upon since leaving Chicago, and with a view of assisting us to obtain information regarding the conditions of the road, the distances and supply stations, Mr. W. Flowers Hamilton, the United States consular age
11 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXI.
CHAPTER XXI.
We halted at Diriz on Oct. 12, having been on the road for twelve hours without food. The muleteers, for some reason, probably anxiety to fulfill their contract and be through with us, protested against the delay, urging that we could find neither food, water nor shelter in the place. I had learned by this time that the low caste Persians are born liars, and insisting upon the stop, we found, just as we had expected, both food and water. We refreshed ourselves, and two hours later proceeded at s
13 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXII.
CHAPTER XXII.
As a wild, precipitous descent lay between us and the village, and as nightfall was fast approaching, Mrs. McIlrath suggested that I leave her and the machine in the first gorge which afforded any shelter, and then hurry forward, find the village and send back men and horses for herself and the wheels. I did not entertain the thought for a moment, for I was too deeply impressed with the trying situation, though I did not let her know of our danger. For a time I succeeded in buoying up her spirit
11 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXIII.
CHAPTER XXIII.
We passed a miserable night Jan. 2, 1898, in the stables of the Post House in Hassinabad. Getting an early start we arrived at Kah-rizak , twenty-six miles north, in the afternoon. It was then but a short ride to the mosque and shrine called “Shah Abdullah Azim,” where we boarded a steam railway for Teheran, eight miles ahead. We were then in the capital of Persia, snow-bound and unable to proceed, even had weather permitted, on account of Mrs. McIlrath’s feet, but thankful, for Teheran afforded
11 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXIV.
CHAPTER XXIV.
We departed for Constantza, Roumania, Saturday, June 18, on one of the coasting steamers carrying mail and passengers to the Oriental express, bound for Paris via Buda-Pesth and Vienna. I would not attempt to fix the date when Roumania was populated, but during the ages when Romans required visitors to do as Romans did, the toga-clad nation utilized Roumania as a sort of ancient Australia, a dumping-ground for incorrigible criminals. Some of the hotel and restaurant keepers in Roumania at the pr
13 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXV.
CHAPTER XXV.
Though our arrival in the city was unannounced and detracted from by entrance on the conventional railway, the Buda-Pesth cyclists immediately accepted us as wandering members of a vast fraternity. Mr. Emil Philopivich, Mr. Otto Blathy and Mr. Joseph Erlich were active in our behalf, and if we do not know the principal sights of the Hungarian capital, the error is not with them. When we left Buda-Pesth on July 17, with Messrs. Erlich and Philopivich as pace-makers, we had in trail many cyclists
3 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
Corrections
Corrections
The following corrections have been applied to the text:...
2 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter