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AUTHOR ON TRAIL OF FAMED ALTON CYCLIST
The Telegraph (Alton, Illinios)
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News
April 1, 2013 Monday
by Kathie Bassett, The Telegraph, Alton, Ill.
April 01--ALTON -- Standing in front of a quaint Middletown Victorian
home, it's hard to imagine that an intrepid adventurer who was
celebrated worldwide for his bravery grew up there.
But in the last decade of the 19th century and first half of the 20th,
bicyclist Will Sachtleben's "daring deeds" as an early globe-trotting
journalist made him a "popular hero in Alton, known to everyone," wrote
Paul Cousley in 1952, following a surprise visit to the then-editor
of the Alton Evening Telegraph.
The son of a wealthy Alton clothier, Sachtleben lived with his family
in the home on the corner of Seventh and Langdon before he entered
Smith Academy in St. Louis and then Washington University, where he
met his close friend and future cycling partner Thomas Allen Jr. of
Kirkwood, Mo.
Sachtleben and Allen made national headlines in 1893 when they became
the first men to bike 18,000 miles across Europe, Asia and North
America, circling the globe on "safety" bicycles, prototypes of the
modern machine that succeeded the older-style "high-wheeler."
Author David V. Herlihy first chronicled Sachtleben and Allen's
harrowing later adventure to find fellow cyclist Frank Lenz in
"The Lost Cyclist: The Epic Tale of an American Adventurer and His
Mysterious Disappearance," published in 2010. Hired as a correspondent
for "Outing" magazine, Lenz had suddenly vanished near a Turkish
river in 1894 amid a wave of Armenian massacres.
"I've always had an interest in the Sachtleben and Allen tour," said
Herlihy, who has also authored "Bicycle: The History." "But when I
started out to write the book on Lenz, I didn't appreciate how big
a role Sachtleben would have in the story."
In the book, Herlihy weaves together diaries, letters, newspaper
clippings and witness testimonies to tell the tale of two separate
journeys -- that of Lenz's solo trip that took him from the United
States through Japan, China, Burma, India and Persia before becoming
lost in Turkey and of Sachtleben's unsuccessful quest to find him.
Herlihy, who lives in Boston, stopped in Alton Friday to share the
rare nitrite negative images taken by Sachtleben on an early Kodak No.
2 camera on his history-making 1890-1893 trek.
On their first trip, the pair hoped to make names for themselves as
journalists by sending photos and reports to London's popular weekly
Penny Illustrated Paper, but the paper's underwriting was withdrawn
about the time they reached Athens. With sufficient financial support
still in place, the cyclists resolved to forge ahead.
Many of these photos, along with Sachtleben's bicycle and camera,
are now in the collection of the UCLA Library.
With these 400-plus images now digitized, Herlihy is collaborating
on the organization of an exhibit of the photos taken by Sachtleben,
primarily between Athens and Tashkent in Uzbekistan. Herlihy hopes
that the exhibit will tour the country, stopping in Alton if possible.
"I think Sachtleben had a good sense of where technology was heading
-- you see that both with the bike and the camera," Herlihy said. "He
recognized that the new 'safety' bicycle (with a lighter frame and
pneumatic wheels) was going to alter the world and so was the new
portable Kodak camera that used film instead of plates, making it
ideal for cycling."
Images include the adventuresome duo posing with their bicycles atop
toppled Greek columns on the Acropolis, looking out over vast desolate
plains and visiting crowded marketplaces.
To prepare for their trip, Herlihy said the pair had to enlist the
help of another native Illinoisan, Robert Todd Lincoln, who was then
serving as the American minister in London.
When the duo informed Lincoln of their intentions, he pointedly
asked them: "Do your fathers know what you're up to?" The exasperated
minister relented and finally gave them a letter of introduction to
the Chinese minister requesting his cooperation on their travels,
but telling the pair he would "rather not have written it."
At times needing to hire bodyguards to make the ride safely, the men
were rewarded for their travails when they arrived back in the United
States, becoming instant celebrities. Their newfound fame prompted
them to write a book about their daring adventures, "Across Asia on
a Bicycle: The Journey of Two American Students from Constantinople
to Peking," republished in 2003.
After Sachtleben returned home to Alton, he gave talks for a while
before being asked to join an expedition to the North Pole. But
instead of a return to adventure, he pulled out of the trip at the
last minute out of respect for his fiancee's wish to settle down.
After marrying, Sachtleben relocated to Houston, where he managed
the Majestic Theater for many years.
"Sachtleben was a brave and resourceful man full of noble intentions,"
Herlihy said. "(Like Lenz), he too deserved a better fate."
And perhaps through the exhibit, he will receive just that.
From: A. Papazian
The Telegraph (Alton, Illinios)
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News
April 1, 2013 Monday
by Kathie Bassett, The Telegraph, Alton, Ill.
April 01--ALTON -- Standing in front of a quaint Middletown Victorian
home, it's hard to imagine that an intrepid adventurer who was
celebrated worldwide for his bravery grew up there.
But in the last decade of the 19th century and first half of the 20th,
bicyclist Will Sachtleben's "daring deeds" as an early globe-trotting
journalist made him a "popular hero in Alton, known to everyone," wrote
Paul Cousley in 1952, following a surprise visit to the then-editor
of the Alton Evening Telegraph.
The son of a wealthy Alton clothier, Sachtleben lived with his family
in the home on the corner of Seventh and Langdon before he entered
Smith Academy in St. Louis and then Washington University, where he
met his close friend and future cycling partner Thomas Allen Jr. of
Kirkwood, Mo.
Sachtleben and Allen made national headlines in 1893 when they became
the first men to bike 18,000 miles across Europe, Asia and North
America, circling the globe on "safety" bicycles, prototypes of the
modern machine that succeeded the older-style "high-wheeler."
Author David V. Herlihy first chronicled Sachtleben and Allen's
harrowing later adventure to find fellow cyclist Frank Lenz in
"The Lost Cyclist: The Epic Tale of an American Adventurer and His
Mysterious Disappearance," published in 2010. Hired as a correspondent
for "Outing" magazine, Lenz had suddenly vanished near a Turkish
river in 1894 amid a wave of Armenian massacres.
"I've always had an interest in the Sachtleben and Allen tour," said
Herlihy, who has also authored "Bicycle: The History." "But when I
started out to write the book on Lenz, I didn't appreciate how big
a role Sachtleben would have in the story."
In the book, Herlihy weaves together diaries, letters, newspaper
clippings and witness testimonies to tell the tale of two separate
journeys -- that of Lenz's solo trip that took him from the United
States through Japan, China, Burma, India and Persia before becoming
lost in Turkey and of Sachtleben's unsuccessful quest to find him.
Herlihy, who lives in Boston, stopped in Alton Friday to share the
rare nitrite negative images taken by Sachtleben on an early Kodak No.
2 camera on his history-making 1890-1893 trek.
On their first trip, the pair hoped to make names for themselves as
journalists by sending photos and reports to London's popular weekly
Penny Illustrated Paper, but the paper's underwriting was withdrawn
about the time they reached Athens. With sufficient financial support
still in place, the cyclists resolved to forge ahead.
Many of these photos, along with Sachtleben's bicycle and camera,
are now in the collection of the UCLA Library.
With these 400-plus images now digitized, Herlihy is collaborating
on the organization of an exhibit of the photos taken by Sachtleben,
primarily between Athens and Tashkent in Uzbekistan. Herlihy hopes
that the exhibit will tour the country, stopping in Alton if possible.
"I think Sachtleben had a good sense of where technology was heading
-- you see that both with the bike and the camera," Herlihy said. "He
recognized that the new 'safety' bicycle (with a lighter frame and
pneumatic wheels) was going to alter the world and so was the new
portable Kodak camera that used film instead of plates, making it
ideal for cycling."
Images include the adventuresome duo posing with their bicycles atop
toppled Greek columns on the Acropolis, looking out over vast desolate
plains and visiting crowded marketplaces.
To prepare for their trip, Herlihy said the pair had to enlist the
help of another native Illinoisan, Robert Todd Lincoln, who was then
serving as the American minister in London.
When the duo informed Lincoln of their intentions, he pointedly
asked them: "Do your fathers know what you're up to?" The exasperated
minister relented and finally gave them a letter of introduction to
the Chinese minister requesting his cooperation on their travels,
but telling the pair he would "rather not have written it."
At times needing to hire bodyguards to make the ride safely, the men
were rewarded for their travails when they arrived back in the United
States, becoming instant celebrities. Their newfound fame prompted
them to write a book about their daring adventures, "Across Asia on
a Bicycle: The Journey of Two American Students from Constantinople
to Peking," republished in 2003.
After Sachtleben returned home to Alton, he gave talks for a while
before being asked to join an expedition to the North Pole. But
instead of a return to adventure, he pulled out of the trip at the
last minute out of respect for his fiancee's wish to settle down.
After marrying, Sachtleben relocated to Houston, where he managed
the Majestic Theater for many years.
"Sachtleben was a brave and resourceful man full of noble intentions,"
Herlihy said. "(Like Lenz), he too deserved a better fate."
And perhaps through the exhibit, he will receive just that.
From: A. Papazian