Accounts of Some Early Roller Coasters

The Approaching Schuetzen Festival.

The Approaching Schuetzenfest.

The Schuetzen Festival

The Schuetzen Festival.

Roller Coasting
A New South Side Amusement

The Council

A Crashed Railway.

Committee Reports.

The World's Fair.
Unpleasant Experiences of a Party of Chicago School-Teachers in the Crescent City.
People Who Desire to See Anything Should Stay Away for at Least a Month Longer.
Southern Courtesy Exhibited in the Street-Cars--A Dismal Day for a Party of Pleasure-Seekers.

A Lonely Man at the Great Show

Among the saddest looking men in New Orleans is one who wears a blonde beard and an air of rebellious dejection as he goes scooping with interminable rattle and roar over the track of his own roller coaster. The enterprise at this writing is not a popular success. The track pursues its devious way on a circular series of stilts set in a marshy bit of ground near one of the entrances to the exposition. It is precisely similar to the coasters at Coney Island, but it is regarded here by visitors as something coarse, improper and uninteresting. Although huge placards inform the public that two rides can be enjoyed for the small sum of 5 cents, it would appear that the solitary man with the blonde beard is doomed to go tearing around on the track with never a soul for company for the rest of his stay. Natty visitors from the north pass the familiar structure with out a glance, loudly dressed men and women from the upper inland cities look at it uninterestedly, and southern observers see nothing in its din and uproar to attract.

At two minute intervals during the day the solemn man steps upon the car and pushes her off. He has traveled the route so much that the steep descents and sudden swerves have no effect whatever on his equilibrium, and he goes banging, bouncing, and rattling along with unrudied mien. If he happens to be paring his nails or reading a newspaper he goes right on with the occupation while the car is careening wildly about. He never smiles, but all day long through weather that is dismal or damp, as the case may be, he goes on his lonely way.

San Antonio
Accident--Judge Boone Dead--Suit Filed--Military Matters--Christmas Festivities, Ect.

It Needs Caution.

San Pedro Springs.
Ladies Exposition Society Give an Entertainment.

A Sunday Out.
Visits to the Resorts of Pleasure.

Peter Tracy on the Bluff.

Stabbed to the Heart.

Last Day of the Drill
End of a Brilliant Week at Houston

Bayou City Locals

The Roller-Coaster.
Phenomenal Success of the New Device at the Highland House.

Young ladies shout with delight as the coaster plunges around the course, and it is about as great a pleasure to watch them as to ride.

Apropos of the coaster, Mr. Frank Harff is to meet parties in New York to-day, in reference to purchasing the right for Coney Island. If it "catches on" there as it has done here, it means a fortune for its owners.

For Sale Cheap--3/4 interest in the Roller Coaster, situated on Tremont and beach, and patents protect'g same. H.W. Ensign, TelephoneEx.

Sunday By The Sea-Shore
The Beaches At Coney Island Thronged With Visitors

Summer On Coney Island

Coney Island Not Over-Crowded.

Shivering On Coney Island.

Yesterday at Coney Island

General Matters in the Courts

By the Sea
Sunday Visitors at Coney Island and Rockaway

Coney Island's Manifold Amusements

Enjoining a Circular Railroad
Judge Benedict on the Rights of a Coney Island Corporation

At the Sea Shore

Warm Even on Coney Island

A Fat Man's Fun
Exciting Enjoyment at Coney Island for an Alleged Trentonian

Mr. Oelschmitt came out of the water greatly refreshed, and after gazing at the merry-go-rounds and the canvas curiosities outside of the side shows, his attention became riveted upon the 'coaster.' This is the lately introduced invention which receives its name from the supposed resemblance it bears to a hand sled sliding down a hill. It goes with the velocity of lightning up and down a series of inclined planes, and is the nearest approach to perpetual motion yet discovered. Mr. Oelschmitt was fascinated by it and was soon sitting on the sled between two pretty girls. As the machine ran down the steep incline with a whir, the gentleman from Trenton became alarmed at its great speed and sprang to his feet. The pretty girls screamed with terror and the sled rocked from side to side. Mr. Oelschmitt lost his balance and fell over the railing. Fortunately, he landed in a pile of sand, and after being carried into Paul Bauer's he soon recovered...

Coasting At Coney Island
A Tumultuous Experience For A Paltry Nickel.
Cholly, Tessie, a Freckled Youth, a Fourth Ward Girl, and a Litterateur Make an Exciting Trip Together--All the Rage.

The effects upon listeners is varied. Small boys are unable to stand still when they first come near a coaster in full blast, and small girls cling to their mothers' skirts and yearn. Lovers giggle and scream, and the proprietor of the coaster gathers in the five-cent pieces by the bushel. To him the snort of the coaster is sweet and joyous music.

The first requisite for the construction of a coaster is a varied and unlimited supply of stilts. The idea of the run was suggested by the immense structures at Montreal, where the Canadians go tobogganing. A trestlework about fifteen feet high, four feet broad, and fifty feet long is erected. It has a railroad on its upper surface. On the two rails run the sledges, which are nothing more nor less than long benches on flanged wheels which fit the track. The track is not level by any means. It is, indeed, quite the reverse. The sledge starts off an at altitude of fifteen or twenty feet, runs a few feet, and then starts on a down grade at the rate of about thirty-five miles an hour. It runs down a short distance and then the track dips at a perceptible curve to the level of the earth, and rises in another curve nearly to the fifteen or twenty foot level again. These curves in the track are something in the form of the letter S laid over on its front. Such was the original coaster at Coney Island. It reaped such a harvest that enterprise and capital began to erect rivals, and now the varieties in the forms of the coasters defy description. Some of them are circular, and make three or four dips before the journey is finished, and a very large one, which has just been erected near the water's edge at West Brighton, has two tracks that run side by side and at devious angles, curves, dips, and courses to a common finish. It is the custom here to start two cars off and once and watch the wild race. The cars start off easily, loaded with Coney Island excursionists, and glide gently along for a few feet. Then there is a yell as the car dips headlong on one of the curves and shoots almost vertically downward. Its momentum carries it up the next incline; it dips again, and gathers enough velocity to carry it slowly up grade until it comes nearly to the station whence it started. The noise is terrific.

The first ride on a coaster is apt to prove a novelty to the youth or maiden who has become blasé in the matter of scups, and whose appetite for merry-go-rounds has become jaded by too frequent indulgence. There are points about the ride that are unusual. It combined the effect of seasickness, imparted by the primeval swing, with the rush of a runaway ice wagon on a down grade; but besides all this there is a feeling of sailing through space which is elsewhere unattainable without the assistance of a balloon.

The writer ascended a steep flight of steps to the platform of the coaster directly in front of Cable's yesterday afternoon. He was moved thereto by a loud-voiced man, who wore a beaver hat very much over his left eye, and discoursed somewhat in the following strain:

"Five cents fur f'teen sickonds of dee-lee-tious joy, gents, is cheap to a paw-pur. Take my advice, and as-cend to the sky fur a flight through the air fur five cents!"

At the top of the stairs was a rotund man, who smiled reassuringly over a barricade of nickels and dimes.

"There ain't a bit o' danger," he said, as though repeating a lesson, as he nonchalantly handed back the change., "the structure is safe--the trip refreshing--turn to your right--thanks."

There were four persons waiting for the car, which was run forward and placed in position by the attendants. A small, freckled boy, with unnecessarily long legs and the usual lavish complement of feet, stood gazing down the precipitous run, while his companions, two young women and a young man, talked excitedly. The young man wore a dainty, juvenile straw hat with a real nice blue ribbon, and low shoes, with polka-dot hose. His attire was in the now familiar Coney Island swell fashion, and he smoked a big cigar.

"Dear me," he said, with excitement; "I'm sure I don't know what on earth will become of us if we go down that terrible place. Ain't you afraid, Tessie?"

"Orful, Cholly," answered Tessie, whose jersey and white skirt made her look very much like three thousand other girls on the beach that day; "but I'm in fur it now, an' it all goes."

The other girl had appealing eyes, plump arms, and a trustful smile. "I wonder will we be killed?" she murmured in the soft accent and quaint vernacular possessed only by hereditary Fourth warders.

The attendant pushed the car into place and hastily stowed the party in. In this instance the car was an ordinary park bench on wheels, running lengthwise. The passengers thus sailed with their right sides foremost.

"Cholly," who had become silent and over-awed, took his seat at the fore, with "Tessie" by his side. She, too, dropped conventionality and clung to the left lapel of his coat, while the freckled boy grabbed Tessie with both arms. The big-eyed girl sat next, with The Sun reporter on the tail end. Both felt isolated. Both were from New York.

The car started slowly, with a creak and a grind, and then rolled rapidly downward, emiting a sound like that of a steam stone crusher. Then it tipped downward suddenly, and the freckled-face boy bounded into his sister's lap, while she seized her escort with a desperate grip. The Fourth ward girl stretched out her hand to grasp the back of the seat. So did the reporter. Their hands met. The girl gasped

"Axcuse---"

"Cert--"

Bang! Down went the car, and the whole line shot forward upon the youth at the forward end. Every one clung and yelled. The car shot ahead like a bullet, and a few seconds later arrived safe and sound near the starting point.

The youth in the dainty hat had swallowed half of his cigar and was gasping for breath, while he held Tessie and the freckled boy in various positions on his lap. Pressing him hard on the left side were the Fourth ward girl and The Sun reporter. They disengaged themselves, and the big-eyed girl gasped:

"I'm much obliged to you, sur, fur the use av yer arm. I'm feared I discommoded you?"

"B-by no means. Will you take another trip?"

"Not this avenin'."

With this she tripped down the stairs and took the arm of a Bowery boy who weighed 200 pounds, and had a jaw that was well thrust forward. His small but expressive eye was fixed aloft on The Sun reporter, who remained where he was for a reasonable time, and then came back to town on the cars.

Coney Island Astonished

Sunday Spoiled By Rain

Yesterday by the Sea
Scenes and Incidents at Coney Island

These mock railroads are largely patronized, although the race is run and the five cents fare gone almost before the passengers get a second breath, and nobody seems to have any apprehension of the consequences of jumping the track while on the descent. This confidence is possibly inspired by the fact that, as has been suggested should be done on railroads of another sort, a director is always on the train; but it is worth noting that neither the tracks nor the car wheels are examined as often as they might be. Standing for an hour by the side of one, it was observable that it was used as often as, say, twice a minute, and each time the car was run on the descending track without the slightest examination of its condition after the journey just ended; and the thought was naturally suggested that if a wheel or axle should break in the furious descent, the car with all on it would probably be hurled through or over the surrounding fence work. On the steam roads they test the wheels at given points but how often do they test them here? One of the men running one of these switchback roads was asked the question, and answered indifferently that they were tested often enough, and if the road wasn't safe he wouldn't go down on it. But if the public could be assured of this fact by witnessing frequent inspections, say of the car after a trip, there would be a more general feeling of security, and consequently more passengers every day; for it is a wild ride and highly exciting.

On the Sands

By the Waves

Photography at Coney Island

Furious Wind

The Bank Holiday

Foresters' Fete at the Crystal Palace.

Crystal Palace.

The Circular Railroad.

Sliding Up Hill

A circular railway has been built at Ponce de Leon Springs. The new railway is a wooden structure forming a circle, being 4 feet wide, 500 feet long, inside of which is laid the track for the cars, and is so graded that the cars run themselves, the highest point above the ground being 22 feet 6 inches, and the lowest point touching the ground. Mr. Wood, at one time a poor carpenter of Toledo, Ohio, is the inventor of the circular railroad, having conceived the idea from witnessing children slide down the hills on their slide-boards, he arguing that if they could slide down hill they could slide up hill, a demonstration of which is witnessed in the circular railway.

The Circular Road In Court.
The Manager Not Guilty of Violating the City Ordinances.

The Circular Railroad

Phenomenal Success of the New Device.

The coaster will certainly be the most attractive place in the city, as the one just started in Minneapolis, and another at Lake Calhoun, are entertaining between 5,000 and 10,000 ladies and gentlemen every evening.

Young ladies shout with delight as the Coaster plunges around the course, and it is a great pleasure to watch them as well as to ride.

The stockholders of the company are business men, and shall see that every one is pleased and that the Coaster is first class in particular. Although the admission on East is twenty-five cents, the directors are going to charge no admission, and will only charge for two rides five cents.

Something New Under the Sun.

A Roller Coaster.

An Unique Amusement.

Philadelphia Points
December sports in August -- How one with a vivid imagination joined to the swaying power of a nickel can enjoy a sleigh ride under the reign of the Dog Star -- Our correspondent takes a trip upon a gravity road and moralizes upon its ups and downs as applied to life.

A person walking along through that part of Fairmount Park skirted by the boundaries of Twenty-sixth street and Fairmount avenue will upon any clear day or evening be suddenly startled by a quick, harsh, humming noise, that begins way down in the scale, rises abruptly to a deafening height and then gradually links off into a dead silence, -- only to repeat itself the next moment in all its varying inflections. If they will turn their eyes in a northerly direction they will see just beyond the Reading railroad tracks a peculiar cluster of frame buildings and scaffoldings surrounded by a neat picket fence and everything about dressed in a fresh, clean, cheerful and inviting coat of paint. The entire structure has a solid, substantial, genuine appearance, and the keenest eye cannot detect a single cheap or tawdry feature to mar the stability of the curious fabric. After the eyes have taken in a general view of the affair they will naturally halt for a few moments upon an attractive sign which tells them in three-feet letters that here one can have a

Sled Ride Down Hill
Without Snow.
For Five Cents.

Additional signs tell them that this is the "Wonderful Roller Coaster." After sitting down in the shade of the park for a few minutes to meditate upon the eccentricity of an enterprise that thus forces the sports of mid-winter into the very jaws of the dog-stars, it is natural for them to want to go further and see something more of this queer affair. We will gather up our skirts and go with them. We pay our five cents at the ticket-office, get a little red ticket in exchange and pass through the gate and on upstairs to the starting station of the Wonderful Roller Coaster. Upon looking around and asking a few questions we learn that some wideawake individual has here carried out a plan to entrap runaway five-cent pieces by building and conducting what is neither more nor less than a Gravity Railroad. The road describes a somewhat irregular circle and measures five hundred feet from start to finish with, an extreme elevation of twenty-eight feet. Three long, narrow benches with supporting backs and neatly upholstered set each upon four iron wheels, two at either end, with an automatic brake and fitted to a track about fourteen inches wide constitute the cars. They run down and around through a sort of wooden trough about three feet wide and two and a half feet deep, and it is their journey over this gravity road which makes the humming that attracted our attention at the opening of this letter. Sometimes when a large party collects at one time two or all three of the cars are coupled together and then the fun runs high. Having gotten to the starting point and being provided with the necessary ticket the next best thing for us to do is to get aboard the car and take the circular trip. When eight or ten of us have gotten seated an attendant cautions us to keep our feet upon the foot-board and to sit steady, then with the parting salute of "All Aboard," starts us slowly off. Gradually we move to the first marked incline. Gradually we feel the earth moving from under us, and before we know it away we go like the wind down a grade on to a short level stretch, leaving our breath and the beat of our hearts behind us. Before we can recover the one or restore the other, we reach the second incline, and it being a sharper one than the first, we fairly shoot down it like a ball from a cannon and our faces set in a rigid stare of dread and uncertainty. And now when we have almost lost consciousness comes the final and most terrific plunge. We seem to actually drop down through space with the intense rapidity of the lightning's stroke and then we begin to swiftly rise and a second later are at our journey's end, having accomplished the five hundred feet in eleven seconds. Everything is a blank during the third descent and it is not until the car is well in home that we regain our lost breath and the regular beat of our hearts.

[moralizing omitted]

Mrs. Pilsen

Good Work at the Southern Home for Destitute Children.

A New Association

Removed.

Plunged into a Pond.
An Accident at the Roller Coaster Rink Last Night-Six Persons Injured by the Car Leaving the Track

Last night quite a crowd collected to see the sport, and Manager O. S. Mowe made a run around the track to show them that it was perfectly safe. He noticed that the car jolted somewhat as it neared the starting point and investigated the line, but found nothing wrong. Two successful trips were made, and when the car started on the third fully sixteen passengers were aboard. It ran down the incline at a fearful speed, and when about sixty feet from the starting point jumped the track, crashing though the side of the rink and plunging into a pond about ten feet below.

The Coaster Attached

About the Courts

Summer Amusements
Supplying Kansas City's Wants
Arrangements Completed and Inaugurated - Summer Opera Houses - Fair Grounds and Drives - The Natatorium - Excellent Prospect for the Future

Storming the Lower Grounds.

Old Orchard Beach.

The Great Fair

The Great Fair.

A Mile in a Minute.

Society

Nantasket Beach

The Roller Coaster.
Inauguration of the New Amusement.

The Roller Coaster.

A Dizzy Whirl.
An Enthusiastic Crowd on the Roller Coaster.

A Circular Railway

Miscellaneous Matters.

Injured While Coasting.

Succeeds like Success.
The Exposition Booming in a Way Never Seen before in Its History

Oakland Matters

D. B. Smith

The Deadly Roller Coaster.
The Fall of a Platform Precipitates a Crowd of Children to the Ground and Injures Several.

The patrol wagon was sent for, and it, with the assistance of people called to the place, carried the wounded boys to their houses. It is a difficult matter to learn who was seriously injured, and what the extent of their injuries were, but as far as can be ascertained the following were quite seriously hurt, the injuries ranging from mashed faces to broken backs: George Waldvogel, Ed. Cockrill, Samuel Jordan, James Wallack, Rob Albrecht and a boy named Cotter who is said to be fatally hurt. Many others were bruised and sprained.

The proprietor of the roller coaster, Alanson Wood, states to a Blade reporter that he was testing his machinery to see how much gas was consumed by the engine he uses to carry the cars over the top of the track to give them another start, and he says the children came into the grounds without his consent. They crowded upon the platform notwithstanding his warning, and the weight was too much for the frame work, which being made with a view of its portability, is very light. The cause of the accident, he says, was the slipping of a clevis in one of the central uprights, and this created a panic, which was followed by the fall of the floor. Another man, who was an eye-witness, alleges that no precautions whatever were taken to keep the children away, and that Mr. Woods was more anxious regarding the damage to his machinery than he was of the welfare of the children. There are so many contradictory reports it is difficult to get at the bottom facts. This is known, however, a very serious accident occurred, several children were badly, if not fatally, hurt and probably crippled for life. It is hoped that their condition is not as bad as at first reported, and that extra precautions will be taken to prevent a recurrence of the catastrophe.

The patrol wagon took two of the wounded boys to their homes, Sam Jordan, hurt internally, to No. 60 John street, and Henry Butz, with face cut and bruised, to his home on Oak, near Water.

Roller Coaster Accident.
Three Boys Badly Injured by the Breaking Down of a Platform.

For a few moments there was the most intense excitement, and the proprietor and his assistants were paralyzed with horror, for they feared that a number of the children must be killed. The section of the platform was quickly lifted off by some of the bystanders, and it was found that nearly all of the victims had escaped with slight bruises, although all of them were beside themselves with fright. The patrol wagon came in response to a summons, and conveyed two of the injured ones to their homes, while others were assisted home by their friends.

Mr. Wood states that the coaster was not yet ready for business, and he had done his utmost to keep the children off from the track and platform. One or two ran up, and the rest followed like a flock of sheep. He was greatly agitated on account of the accident, and said that before he opened the gates to the public he intended to have every support tested and strengthened so as to make an accident of this kind impossible. The boys who were present corroborated his statement that he tried to keep them away. Two little girls were among those who fell, but they were uninjured.

[...]

... Considering the distance of the fall, the condition of the ground and the large number who fell, it is certainly a wonder that so few were badly hurt. It seems miraculous that many were not killed outright.

Children Injured

While a party of school children were gathered to-day upon the platform of a new roller coaster, the cars of which were being tried for the first time, the floor gave away precipitating the entire party about 25 in number to the ground, a distance of 20 feet, a portion of the structure falling on them. Three boys were seriously injured, one it is feared fatally, and eight more or less hurt.

--Under a New Management--
Grand Opening of the Salt Wells Park, Evansville, Ind.
Sunday Afternoon, May 3.
Just Erected at Great Expense an Improved Safety
Roller Coaster.

A New Amusement.

The Roller Coaster.

Roller Coaster Improvement.

A Smash-Up.
A Woman's Arm Broken--A Man Gets an Ugly Cut.

Roller Coaster Accident.

Excursion to Chippewa Lake

Chippewa Lake

Fire of Unknown Origin Destroys the Hotel at Minnehaha with a loss of $10,000.

City Council

Roller Coaster

Summer Resorts.
Watering Places in Wisconsin Still Crowded.

Novel Sport on the South Side.
A "Roller Slide" to Be Built in National Park

The sled or boat is mounted by the coaster, and being given a start at the top, shoots down the incline on its rollers and the iron track like an ordinary sled on an icy hill. The start given the concern, together with the momentum gathered in the descent of the first inline, carries it up the opposite ascent and back to the place of starting. By giving the contrivance another gentle push, the trip may be repeated. The "roller slide" is a favorite sporting appliance in Europe, but is little known in the United States, the one to be erected at National park being the first of the kind to be built in the west.

The National Park.
Pavilion, Roller-Coaster Race Track and Ball Ground Together.

At National Park.
Costly and Attractive Improvements Now in Progress at the Resort.

Sunday at National Park.

Conneaut Lake Notes

Conneaut Lake

Conneaut Lake
All the Important News from the Popular Resort Neatly Paragraphed

In Camp At Conneaut.
What the Soldier Boys are Doing.
Amusements at Camp Gallagher.
The Roller Coaster--Games of Chance--The Great Inspection--Dress Parade.

The scheme of the Roller Coaster, I mentioned in my last letter. I have examined the construction, and find that it consists of a circular track on trestle work. The cars start from a platform, down an enclosed inclined plane and run on a narrow track with two roads. The momentum carries the cars back to the place of starting. The track is 1/8 of a mile, and the circuit is made in 15 seconds, or at the rate of a mile a minute. Six persons can ride on a car, and from 8 in the morning, until 9 at night, it appears to be well patronized. Of course it costs quite a sum of money to construct the track but as a permanent institution, as it is here, all the season it is a money making one, as almost every person desired to try a ride and are so well satisfied they venture the second or third time.

The Roller Coaster.

Tom's Trip.
A Boy Painfully Injured on the Roller Coaster.

... About 3 o'clock yesterday afternoon, he got on a car of the roller-coaster for a ride. He was on the front end of a car; and as it came to the last jump going down, he slipped off. The back of the car runs within about three inches of a plank guard, twelve inches high, intended to keep the centrifugal force from throwing the car off the track. His right leg was caught between this guard and the car, and he was dragged thus until the car stopped. ...

Where Breezes Blow
Savin Rock and the Season.

Anomalous Savin Rock.
Little Sailing or Bathing.

No End to the Style
Around Salty Savin Rock.

'Round Cool West Shore
Idlers' Life at Savin Rock.

Saturday at the Shore
First Hop at Savin Rock.

Many People at Savin Rock

The Card-Foot Bonds

Coasting

Brighton Beach Hotel.
A New Summer Resort to Be Opened Below Sandwich.

A Forger's Chickens Come Home to Roost

That Roller-Coaster

At the Summer Resorts.
Opening of the Vacation Season.

Children at the Pines

A Chance to Coast.
Denver People Invited to Indulge in a New Amusement This Evening in the Shape of a Roller Coaster.

All the respectable people of Denver are invited to attend on this and succeeding evenings and enjoy the new sport. The coaster is located at Twenty-third and Welton streets. Courteous treatment extended to all visitors and patrons.

Splendid Sliding.
Great Crowds Enjoy Rides on the New Roller Coaster Last Evening-A New Sport.

Children are especially delighted with the new sport, and the managers assure the public that the coaster is perfectly safe and that the sport exceeds anything in the line of flying horses whirligigs or other contrivances, and is fully equal to tobbagganning, the great Canadian sport, while it has the advantage over all ordinary coasting that it can be enjoyed in warm weather without overcoats or mufflers. Rides are only 5 cents.

The coaster was in full running order last evening. There was a vast crowd of spectators and a still larger crowd to enjoy the sport. Arrangements have been made for a grand roller coaster matinee for ladies and children this afternoon.

A Lineman's Mistake.

The Roar of the Roller.

The Roller Coaster Nuisance Left to the Care Of the Building Inspector and The Police Committee.

Were Standing Vacant

on account of this nuisance, the roller coaster.

President Darrow said that he had been informed that the building inspector had condemned the coaster and he did not think it best for the board to take any hasty action.

A New License Bill

The Roller Coaster.

A Bad Day For Humanity

Chautauqua

Chautauqua

Guarding A "Roller Coaster."

Portland, Maine.
A City with Attractive Surroundings--a Novelty Which Jack Tars Appreciated

Report of Number Two Committee.

Boys' Foolishness.

Witnesses Broken Down.
They Could Not Describe the Fearful Noise of the "Roller Coaster."

Mr. Billigheimer admits the presence of a roller coaster on the Bellevue grounds. It was constructed at an expense of $4,000 and can be used for no other purpose than that to which it is now applied. It furnishes innocent amusement to a large number of people, and the small fare which is charged is an important source of revenue to him. He alleges that while the track was being constructed some of the plaintiffs talked with him in regard to it, and they all knew what was being erected, but no complaint or protest was made.

The testimony was entertaining. Counsel for the defense tried to keep out statements by the witnesses as to the effect of the noise upon them, but were unsuccessful. The witnesses all broke down in trying to describe the noise of the coaster--it was so unlike any other noise, and strong words were needed to do it justice. With the starting of the car, which at times is every few minutes, there is a loud noise from the friction of the wheels upon the rails, which grows rapidly louder as the car descends, and is reinforced by the screaming of the excited passengers. It was the experience of the witnesses that babies are woke up by the noise, all conversation has to be stopped for the moment, people who are reading or otherwise engaged have their attention diverted, the sick and nervous people are greatly annoyed, and distressing fear is continually excited by the screaming of the passengers that the car has left the track and people are being dreadfully hurt.

Buckeye Topics.
What Our Cincinnati Correspondent Has to Tell This Week.

"Zoo" Concert To-Day.

Roller Coasting

A Roller Coaster in Court.

Squelched by a Decision.
Concluding Chapter in the History of the United States Gravity Railroad.

The railroad was familiarly known as the "roller coaster." Its original proprietor determined to run it upon Sundays, but Salem sentiment and the City Fathers frowned upon such an idea. One attempt was made to defy the powers that were and to run the railroad on the seventh day. It resulted in inglorious failure. When brought to the bar the proprietor declared that he was running a railroad--the United States Gravity Railroad--the cars going down one side of the coaster and up the other, thus connecting two points which were within eight feet of each other at the top, but still two points, as was gravely argued to the Court. Being a railroad, it was urged by the defense that it was not amenable to that Court, that it came under the control of the Railroad Commissioners, and that it had the same right to run its cars as any other railroad on Sundays. Though the defense was unique, Judge Safford failed to see it in any such light, and effectually laid an embargo as good as a permanent injunction on the road and its cars by imposing a penalty.

The United States Gravity Railroad went out of business, and its plant has been slowly dropping to pieces, abandoned and unused from that day to this. There was no intercession by the Railroad Commissioners that anybody heard of.

Exhibition Notes.

Extending Exhibition Park

The Switchback.

The Exhibition Opened

Over 40,000 At The Fair

Albert Palace, Battersea

Albert Palace.

Coasting on Rollers.

Arkansas.
Collecting Debts with a Fish Pole--Penitentiary--No Pennies--Sunday Laws.

The national affliction has struck this city in full force--two roller skating rinks in full blast, also a roller coaster, or "hold me closer," is well patronized night and day, but particularly at night when the moon is in the shade, a ride for five cents and a "hold me closer" thrown in; "Oh would I were a boy again!" This is exclusively for the amusement of the "white trash;" the colored folks are having one built for their especial benefit, "no white folks need apply."

The Fair Opens.

A Novel Attraction

No Roller Coaster
A Stock Company Organized to Build One, but it goes to Pieces on the Start.

The City's Pleasure Ground.
What Was Done by the Park Committee on Superintendence Yesterday.

Rink and Rollers

The Social World