The first long stage of the world race was completed by the American entry Tuesday afternoon, when Driver Montague Roberts of the Thomas "flyer" pulled up in front of the Chicago Automobile club house at 4:30 o'clock, a day or more in advance of the French and Italian cars.  The trip from New York to Chicago consumed just thirteen days.  After a day or two of rest Roberts and his party will push on for San Francisco, they being loath to let the foreign cars catch up the advantage they gained on the other entries during the run from New York.  From San Francisco it is said that the American car will be shipped by boat to Valdez.

The trip from Chesterton to Hobart was made in record breaking time by the Thomas car, the fifteen miles being covered in a few minutes over an hour, which, when it is remembered that the machine ran over railroad ties and switches all the way is remarkable time.  A brief halt for refreshments and repairs was made at Hobart and at 12:30 the party was again on the way for Chicago with the representatives of the Chicago automobile clubs leading the way.  The trip into Chicago from Hobart was made in good time, the roads having been especially prepared for the machines.

The Italian Zust and French DeDoin arrived in Michigan City Tuesday afternoon headed by the New York pilot car.  After a stop of several hours in that city for rest and refreshments the party departed for Chesterton in the evening.  Accompanying the three cars was the car of Paul Picard, the pilot from the Chicago Motor club, sent to Michigan City to meet the racers.  The caravan was augmented by the addition of the two teams of horses used in extricating the machines from deep drifts when they became blocked.

The Italian car was the first to arrive here, closely followed by the New York pilot car and the Chicago pilot car.  The French car was without teams to assist it, and consequently did not arrive here until an hour later.  The entire party halted for a cargo of gasoline, pancakes and ham and eggs, and when all had been refreshed and seven fresh teams secured, departed for Hobart.  The entire party stuck to the wagon road, preferring to fight the snow drifts than to take advantage of the Elgin, Joliet and Eastern tracks, and thereby eliminate a portion of the sport of the race.  Late Wednesday afternoon the party arrived in Hobart, where refreshments were againt partaken of and then the run to Chicago was taken up.

The man behind the snow shovel was the all important creature in the "mad flight" of the Thomas machine between Michigan City and Chesterton, with the "horse in front of the 'flyer,'" playing a close second for honors.  The Thomas party arrived at Michigan City shortly after 9 o'clock Sunday evening, after an all day trip from Rolling Prairie during which as many as ten teams and as many shovelers were pressed into service to break the road and aid the American machine along in the race to reach Chicago ahead of the foreign cars.

Michigan City reached, refreshments were partaken of, and at 1 o'clock Monday morning the party was again off for Chesterton with a fresh army of shovelers and towing teams.  In some manner the party left the Furnessville road and headed off towards Burdick through drifts that made any snow banks they had already encountered look like a warm June afternoon.  Six hours of plugging through these drifts brought the party to the home of Henry Ziemer, five miles southwest of Michigan City.  By that time the horses and men were nearly exhausted and a halt was made for breakfast  for both man and beast at the Ziemer home.  After an hour's rest the party resumed the battle against the snow drifts with Mr. Ziemer leading the way and directing the "mad flight" which by this time had resolved itself into a "maddening flight."  Two miles southeast of Burdick, near the George Pratt farm, the machine became entangled in a snow drift and after an hour of fruitless attempt to extricate the "flyer," it was decided that the escort with the exception of one team was to be sent back to Michigan City and that the tourists would come on to Chesterton and secure a stone boat and with fresh teams load the machine on the boat and sled it through to a point where it could be operated with its own power.

At 1 o'clock the automobilists had reached here in Mr. Ziemer's sled and within a short time the stone boat was under way of construction.  By 5 o'clock the party with fresh  shovelers and teams was again enroute to the Pratt farm to have another round with the "flyer."  At 9 o'clock that night the machine was dragged into Burdick.  There the teams were again discharged, the tourists having decided to tackle the Lake Shore road from that point west to the Elgin, Joliet and Eastern road in Chesterton.

Early Tuesday morning the party was astir again and during a lull in trains on the west bound track the machine was driven upon the right of way and headed west.  Good progress was made despite the fact that the traveling was decidedly rough and hazardous  and the party arrived here shortly after 9 o'clock.  No stop was made here, the machine continuing west to the Elgin, Joliet and Eastern crossing, where it left the Lake Shore tracks and took to the belt line, over which road the trip to Hobart was made.

When the Thomas car arrived here it was joined by the Locomobile pilot car sent out by the Chicago Motor club.  The pilot car was driven by Mr. Lizar, an expert driver from the Locomobile shops in Chicago.  He took his car down the Lake Shore tracks to the Elgin, Joliet and Eastern fearing to tackle the drifts between here and the glass factory which filled the road.  The two cars took their departure from Porter shortly before 11 o'clock, with a clear track before them and with little to hinder them in the trip to Hobart.

In telling of the trip to Chesterton from Michigan City a Chicago Tribune correspondent says:  "We got into Michigan City at 9 p. m.  You've been to Michigan City in the summer, maybe?  You ought to go there in winter.  You'll never go again.  We got dinner and felt a little less disgusted with life in general and snow drifts and motor cars in particular.  We decided to push on--that is Coey did.  "Excelsior," you say.  I say ----!  Coey had a hunch that the French car was leaving South Bend, and he wanted to keep his lead of a day and a half.  So he paid off our peasantry--the bill was something like $100 for this merry holiday--and hired a fresh--and foolish--bunch of peasants, more horses, and more bobs.  We started out from Michigan City at 1:30 Monday morning.

"Here's where I found out what Mr. Mechanic had been taken along for.  With a muttered curse or two he got out his jimmies and other tools and crawled under the car.  He kept tinkering away for two hours steadily, stopping at intervals to use more ungentlemanly language, and I wished it was light enough to get a few pictures.  One team drove four miles meanwhile on a scouting expedition, and came back with the joyful tidings that the roads couldn't be much worse ahead if they had deliberately tried.
"When we got the steering business fixed up we plowed slowly ahead.  The snow was so deep in some parts of the road that we cut the barb wire fences and removed the fence posts so as to find easier traveling in the fields.  These side journeys always were made more interesting by the overturning of the bobs or the motor car.  It was worse than Napoleon's retreat from Moscow.  If any Cossacks had appeared on our flanks we'd have eaten 'em alive, we were that savage.

"Twelve miles from Michigan City at 6:30 o'clock we struck a farm house and it was a welcome sight--no dogs.  The ten of us gave a whoop and after a little while the farmer appeared rubbing his eyes.  It was a little early even for a farmer, but this one was hospitable, for the sake of the American flag that decorated our motor car, and he woke up his wife.  A little later we were getting away with two kettles of steaming coffee and two heaping plates of bacon sandwiches.  Ever eat bacon that way?  It's all right.

"We started from the farm house at 8 a. m. and made pretty good time for five miles, due southwest and then north, en route to Chesterton, when we struck the drifts again.  We had abandoned the snow plow at Michigan City and it was dig and shovel and cuss to within seven miles of Chesterton.  We had to dig the horses out every few lengths--as well as digging out the machine.  We had to cut down more barb wire fences and chop down more posts.  There was not a telephone, nothing to drink and even the war correspondents, who wore fur overcoats, got peevish.

"The car was dragged two and one-half miles to the Lake Shore tracks and there a tarpaulin was placed over it and the crew went into Chesterton to get some food and sleep."

"We do not consider the Thomas car in the New York and Paris race.  They are making a spectacular start across this continent for advertising purposes.  St. Chaffrey received a telegram from Le Matin of Paris which said the Thomas car did not intend to leave this country, as the company had refused to help pay any money for gasoline storage tanks in Siberia.  That settles the whole matter.  We have known all along that they were not equipped for the Alaskan trip or the Siberian journey, but they can't keep up the bluff any longer.  We are in for a sportsman's race."

In talking of his trip Driver Roberts of the Thomas car said that last Saturday he had his first experience in driving a car over railroad ties and that the proposition had never occurred to him before.  Were it not for the fact that he is trying to beat the other cars into Chicago he would not have taken these chances, but when the other risks of the trip are taken into consideration he felt that he had accomplished but little.  Mr. Roberts stated that he was more than pleased with the hospitality of the Hoosiers and that he has yet to be refused assistance when it was asked for.  Everyone along the route is anxious to see the American car win and are willing to give their assistance in lending a helping hand.  The capabilities of Roberts as a driver were demonstrated in this run behind a street car over the interurban tracks between Goshen and South Bend.  At Brandywine, just this side of Dunlaps, a high trestle runs over the creek and here Roberts experienced some difficulty as a tie was missing on the bridge, leaving an opening through which the wheels would have sunk too deep to allow the car to pass on.  He proved himself equal to the occasion, however, and taking a couple of planks he laid them over the ties and was soon on his way again.  Two other trestle bridges were crossed on the trip, but other than to slacken his speed while going over the ties, Roberts paid no attention to them.  Occasionally the car would get to skidding along the rails, but Roberts would soon right it and would pull his machine out of difficult places without any serious trouble.  On several occasions the car slid from the railway tracks into the snow drifts at the side of the road and on one or two occasions it looked as if it would surely turn turtle, but  clever driving on the part of Roberts saved an accident of this kind.  It was rough riding over the ties and the occupants of the machine were considerably shaken up by the trip, but as the route did away with plowing through snow drifts, the occupants had no complaints to make.  The same could have been done between Laporte and Michigan City, but the party accepted the advice of people who told them the roads between Rolling Prairie and Michigan City were quite good and so they missed an opportunity of making considerable headway.

Everything from a lantern to a hand axe is carried aboard the Thomas flyer.  The equipment consists of several shovels, axes, blankets, lanterns and a number of leather bags containing clothing.  Two heavy planks are carried, attached to either side of the machine.  These will be used when muddy roads are encountered.  The lower portion of the car is so constructed that the body of the machine and the machinery are protected from the snow and mud.

Chesterton has not yet seen the last of the world girdlers, there being two more cars, the German entry, Protos, and the other French car, Mont Bloc, to pass this point within the next two or three days.  Both of these cars were hindered in their run to Chicago by serious accidents that held them back from one to two days, but as The Tribune goes to press they are reported to be making good headway, being in the vicinity of Elkhart and South Bend.  With fair weather and no accidents these two cars should pass Chesterton not later than Saturday and probably before that time.

Six days to a minute after the New York-Paris racers departed from the former city the Studebaker automobile started out from Governor's island for the dash to Fort Leavenworth.  Though the conditions that confronted the globe girdlers was the same as that which confronted the Studebaker machine, the latter overhauled the racers and Tuesday afternoon went into Chicago ahead of the leader in the world contest, the American entry, having passed that machine between Hobart and Chicago.

The Studebaker machine overhauled and passed all of the globe girdlers with the exception of the American entry before South Bend was reached.  From that city west the roads were all but impassable, but with dogged determination the Studebaker drivers stuck to the job and pulled into Michigan City Tuesday night.  A brief stop was made there and at 7 o'clock Tuesday morning the run to Chesterton was taken up.  "Wild" Jack Ruge was at the wheel and at his side was Driver M. G. Smith of South Bend, who had brought the machine from Kendalville to Michigan City.  Accompanying the party were two teams to aid in case the machine became stuck in a snow drift.

Four hours after the party left Michigan City it arrived here where a stop was made to get lunch and secure fresh horses to assist the machine to the Elgin, Joliet and Eastern tracks, down which it went to Hobart.  Once on the tracks Driver Ruge threw his engine wide open and the distance between here and Hobart was covered in less than an hour and a quarter.  Refreshments were again taken at Hobart, the couriers departing for Chicago with the American entry in the world race, but passing that machine before the windy city was reached.  At Chicago fresh drivers took charge of the car and the run from that city to Fort Leavenworth was taken up.

In accounting for the remarkable showing of the Studebaker car as compared with the time made by the Thomas car and other entries in the New York-Paris race automobile men say that the weight of the dispatch car had the most to do with it, with the fresh drivers every 200 miles or so also adding much to the successful dash of the dispatch car.

The car left New York Tuesday forenoon, February 18, at 10 o'clock, and reached Albany, N. Y., before midnight of the same day.  By 3 o'clock the next afternoon it had entered Syracuse, N. Y., and at 7:45 Thursday morning pushed into Rochester, that state.  In the run between Albany and Utica, N. Y., the car struck smooth ice and partially went over the bank of the Erie canal, the accident occurring at 4 o'clock in the morning.  Those in the car attempted to extricate it, but failed and were compelled to secure the assistance of a gang of men.  The car was quickly put on the road and was soon again on the journey, experiencing no difficulty whatever from the mishap.

When the car pulled into Buffalo Charles Hamman crouching behind the big wheel was half frozen by contact with the blinding blizzard he had faced at break-neck speed all the way from Rochester.  His companions took him into the hotel, dumped him into a hot bath, and at 1:30 in the afternoon he again took the wheel and started the machine on its westward journey.  At 7:30 that evening the car reached Erie, Pa., nearly 100 miles west of Buffalo.

At Erie, D. J. McIntosh of Cleveland, O., took the wheel, driving the car to Cleveland where it arrived early Friday morning.  Hamman again took the wheel and after a short stop the car left Cleveland at 9:10 o'clock arriving in Toledo, O., 125 miles away, in the afternoon at 2:38, covering the distance in five hours and thirty-five minutes.

In accordance with pre-arrangement McIntosh and Hamman will alternate at the helm until Fort Leavenworth shall have been reached.  McIntosh has gone into Chicago to take charge of the car when Hamman arrives.  After taking oil and gasoline in Toledo the car left at 4:08 in the afternoon and six hours later reached Bryan, O.  The run from Toledo to South Bend is 166 miles, and the departure from the latter place was made the next morning.  It passed the foreign cars at Rolling Prairie en route to Michigan City.

The more you study the hard road question, the more convinced you will be of the necessity of a wheel tax.  One automobile passing through the county over our macadam roads in the hands of one of those speed fiends, costs the taxpayers of the county more for repairs than fifty farm wagons do in a week.  The non-resident automobile pays no taxes, the farmer does.  Westchester stone roads are being utterly ruined by foreign automobile speed maniacs, who pay absolutely nothing for their construction or maintenance.

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Posted 16th August, 1999. Reposted 13th April, 2004, after being knocked off-line four years ago.