Item, Raton (NM) Reporter, July 27, 1895.
“She Gone From Us,” Daily Optic, July 29, 1895, 4.
Item, Raton (NM) Reporter, July 30, 1895.
Item, Trinidad (CO) Daily News, July 30, 1895.
Items (2), Trinidad (CO) Daily News, July 31, 1895.
“Woman Globe Bicycler,” Eddy (NM) Weekly, August 1, 1895, 5.
“Miss Anna Londonderry,” Raton (NM) Range, August 1, 1895.
“Miss Anna Londonderry,” Raton (NM) Reporter, August 1, 1895, 2.
“Miss Londonderry,” Raton (NM) Reporter, August 1, 1895, 3.
“Arrives at Trinidad,” Rocky Mountain News, August 1, 1895.
Item, Trinidad (CO) Daily News, August 1, 1895.
“Miss Londonderry,” Trinidad (CO) Weekly Advertiser, August 1, 1895, 1.
Item, Arizona Republican, August 1, 1895, 5.
Item, Santa Fe Daily New Mexican, August 1, 1895, 2.
Item, Santa Fe Daily New Mexican, August 2, 1895, 1.
Item, Trinidad (CO) Daily News, August 2, 1895.
“Wheeling ’Round the World,” Trinidad (CO) Daily News, August 2, 1895.
Item, Santa Fe Daily New Mexican, August 5, 1895, 4.
“Editor Kelly’s Complaint,” Santa Fe Daily New Mexican, August 5, 1895, 2.
Item, Las Cruces (NM) Rio Grande Republican, August 6, 1895, 1.
Item, Castle Rock (CO) Journal, August 7, 1895, 2.
“The Current Cases,” Las Cruces (NM) Rio Grande Republican, August 9, 1895, 1.
Item, La Junta (CO) Semi-Weekly Tribune, August 10, 1895.
“Courageous Woman Cyclist,” Colorado Springs Gazette, August 10, 1895.
“Annie Londonderry To-Day,” Rocky Mountain News, August 12, 1895, 3.
Advertisement for Londonderry Lithia Spring Water Company: “Miss Londonderry in Denver,” Rocky Mountain News, August 12, 1895, 3.
“Around the World on a Wager,” Rocky Mountain News, August 13, 1895.
“Editor Kelly Makes His Point,” Las Cruces (NM) Independent Democrat, August 14, 1895.
“Two Journalistic Types,” Las Cruces (NM) Independent Democrat, August 14, 1895.
Item, Las Cruces (NM) Independent Democrat, August 14, 1895.
Item, El Paso Daily Herald, August 16, 1895.
Item, Cheyenne Daily Sun Leader, August 20, 1895.
Item, Boston Globe, August 20, 1895, 4.
Item, Nevada (IA) Representative, August 21, 1895.
Item, Las Cruces (NM) Rio Grande Republican, August 23, 1895, 1.
“A Bicycle Globe Trotter,” Fremont (NE) Daily Tribune, August 24, 1895, 1.
“A Whirl ’Round the World,” Omaha World Herald, August 25, 1895, 5.
“Tells Large Stories,” South Sioux City (NE) Star, August 25, 1895, 3.
“A Charming Lecture,” Omaha World Herald, August 26, 1895, 8.
“A Benefit for Miss Londonderry,” Omaha World Herald, August 26, 1895, 2.
Advertisement for Boston Store, Omaha: “Greatest Lady Bicycle Rider,” Omaha Evening Bee, August 26, 1895, 8.
“For Her Benefit,” Omaha World Herald, August 28, 1895, 2.
Item, Columbus (NE) Journal, August 28, 1895, 3.
Item, Omaha World Herald, August 31, 1895, 1.
“Plays and Players,” Boston Globe, September 1, 1895, 17.
Item, Davenport (IA) Daily Leader, September 3, 1895, 6.
“Circling the Globe,” Marshalltown (IA) Evening Times Republican, September 4, 1895.
“Around the World,” Missouri Valley (IA) Times, September 5, 1895.
Item, Deming (NM) Headlight, September 6, 1895.
“In the City,” Cedar Rapids Evening Gazette, September 7, 1895.
“’Round the World,” Clinton (IA) Herald, September 10, 1895.
“Miss Londonderry on Her Wheel,” Dallas Morning News, September 10, 1895, 2.
“Another Round-the-World Wager,” Fort Wayne (IN) News, September 10, 1895.
“She is Nearly Home,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, September 10, 1895, 5.
“On Her Way Home,” Wheeling (WV) Register, September 10, 1895, 1.
“Miss Londonderry Heard From,” Santa Fe Daily New Mexican, September 11, 1895, 1.
Item, Decatur (IL) Republican, September 12, 1895.
“Her Task Is Finished,” Chicago Times Herald, September 13, 1895.
“Has Circled the Globe,” Rochelle (IL) Register, September 13, 1895, 1.
“Circled the Globe on a Bicycle,” New York Herald, September 13, 1895, 12.
“Miss Londonderry Wins,” Omaha World Herald, September 14, 1895, 1.
Sketch, Chicago Sunday Times Herald, September 15, 1895.
“A Woman Globe-Trotter,” Chicago Saturday Blade, September 21, 1895, 5.
“Bikeology: Messrs. Upton and Rumble with Miss Londonderry,” Clinton (IA) Semi-Weekly Age, September 17, 1895.
“A Globe Rider,” Rochester (NY) Democrat and Chronicle, September 18, 1895, 1.
“Miss Londonderry Coming Back,” New York Times, September 19, 1895, 6.
“A Woman’s Long Ride,” Auburn (NY) Bulletin, September 19, 1895, 3.
Item, The American Wheelman, September 19, 1895, 23.
Item, Tama (IA) Free Press, September 19, 1895, 5.
“Londonderry is Back,” The Bearings, September 19, 1895.
“A World Girdler,” American Cycling, September 20, 1895.
“Female World Girdler,” Fort Wayne (IN) Times-Post, September 20, 1895, 1.
“Londonderry Has Returned,” Syracuse Standard, September 22, 1895.
Item, Pittsburgh Press, September 23, 1895.
“Won a $10,000 Purse: A Woman Girdles the Globe on Her Wheel,” Oswego (NY) Daily Palladium, September 24, 1895.
“Has Ridden Around the World,” Brooklyn Eagle, September 24, 1895, 5.
“Won a $10,000 Purse: A Woman Girdles the Globe on Her Wheel,” Newark (OH) Daily Advocate, September 25, 1895, 5.
“Miss Londonderry’s Trip Ended,” New York Times, September 25, 1895, 6.
Item, Arizona Republican, September 25, 1895, 5.
“Feat of a Bloomer Girl,” San Francisco Call, September 26, 1895, 2.
“Around the World on a Bicycle,” Elyria (OH) Lorian County Reporter, September 28, 1895, 2.
“Won a $10,000 Purse: A Woman Girdles the Globe on Her Wheel,” New York Recorder, September 29, 1895.
“Won a $10,000 Purse: A Woman Girdles the Globe on a Wheel,” Marion (OH) Daily Star, September 30, 1895.
“Woman ‘Globe Trotter,’” Davenport (IA) Daily Leader, October 1, 1895.
“Woman ‘Globe Trotter,’” Davenport (IA) Weekly Leader, October 2, 1895, 2.
Items (2) El Paso Daily Herald, October 2, 1895, 1.
“Miss Annie Londonderry,” The Wheeler (Bolton, Lancashire, UK), October 9, 1895, 448.
“Miss Annie Londonderry’s Tour of the World,” Hawaiian Gazette, October 18, 1895.
“Around the World on a Bicycle,” New York Sunday World, October 20, 1895, 29.
“Won a $10,000 Purse: A Woman Girdles the Globe on a Wheel,” Warren (PA) Evening Democrat, October 22, 1895.
“Il Viaggio di Miss Londonderry,” Il Ciclista (Milan), October 31, 1895.
“Miss Annie Londonderry,” La Bicicletta (Milan), November 3, 1895.
“Around the World on Wheels for the Inter Ocean,” Chicago Sunday Inter Ocean, December 29, 1895, 16.
Item, Watertown (NY) Daily Times, September 15, 1896.
“Around the World on a Wheel,” Delphos (OH) Daily Herald, October 26, 1897.
“Around the World on a Wheel,” Cato (NY) Citizen, November 13, 1897.
Item, Omaha World Herald, November 14, 1897, 24.
Notes
Prologue
“elite of the French nation” Unidentified Marseilles newspaper clipping in scrapbook owned by Annie Londonderry’s granddaughter, Mary Goldiner, hereinafter referred to as “Goldiner Scrapbook.” Locating hundreds of contempor
aneous newspaper and journal accounts of Annie’s journey required reliance on many different people and methods. In some cases, I relied on local librarians or hired local researchers both in the U.S. and abroad. Copies were not always entirely legible, depending on the quality of microfilm, and page numbers were not always noted or available. Many articles from the French press, and a few from U.S. newspapers, were located in the Goldiner Scrapbook. In most cases Miss Londonderry did not note the name of the newspaper, the date, page number, or the city of publication, though the city of publication was often discernible from the text itself. In a few cases, I was able to locate other copies of these stories and to source them completely. Where I have page numbers I have cited them, but it would be a Herculean task to recover every one.
“captured the hearts” “Les Aventures de Miss Londonderry,” Le Petit Marsaillais, 16 January 1895.
“inventive genius” “She’s Gone From Us,” Las Vegas (NM) Daily Optic, 29 July 1895, 4.
Chapter One: Going Woman
“Going Woman” (chapter title) Boston Post, 26 June 1894. Kapchowsky is a misspelling.
“the event lost something” “Emulating ‘Paul Jones,’” Boston Evening Transcript, 25 June 1894, 8.
“Her face was unmistakably Polish” “Going Woman,” Boston Post, 26 June 1894.
“a State dignitary” “Emulating ‘Paul Jones,’” Boston Evening Transcript, 25 June 1894, 8.
“the same chances as men” The short piece of dialogue and descriptions that follow has been reconstructed from “Emulating ‘Paul Jones,’” Boston Evening Transcript, 25 June 1894, 8; “Will Journey on a Wheel,” Boston Journal, 26 June 1894; “Going Woman,” Boston Post, 26 June 1894; “Female Paul Jones on a Wheel,” Boston Daily Globe, 26 June 1894, 2.
“the advertising man” “Mrs. Kapchowsky [sic] Has a Big Contract,” Chicago Daily Inter Ocean, 26 June 1894, 1.
“didn’t come up to say goodbye” “Going Woman,” Boston Post, 26 June 1894.
Bennett may have thought Annie’s younger sister, Rosa, was also present at the State House according to the Boston Post.
“like a kite” “Emulating ‘Paul Jones,’” Boston Evening Transcript, 25 June 1894, 8.
“one of the most novel wagers” “’Round the World,” Clinton (IA) Herald, 10 September 1895.
$20,000 to $10,000 The terms of the wager were described repeatedly in newspaper accounts of Annie’s journey, though not always with consistency. While most reports said the bet was $20,000 to $10,000 that Annie would not succeed, some news accounts reported the wager to be $10,000 a side (see, e.g., “Wheeling Around the World,” Cambridge (OH) Jeffersonian, 19 July 1894, and “Will Soon Reach Syracuse,” Syracuse Daily Journal, 2 November 1894, 6); or simply $10,000 (see, e.g., “Around the World on a Wheel,” Chicago Daily Inter Ocean, 25 September 1894); or some simply $30,000 (see, e.g., “Mlle. Londonderry en Route,” Syracuse Standard, 6 November 1894, 8). One French cycling journal put the wager at $10,000 “against” $5,000 (“Miss Londonderry,” La Bicyclette, 25 January 1895, 4249.) Regardless, a lot of money was at stake. Some newspapers reported Annie was required to ride a minimum of 15,000 miles on her bicycle (see, e.g., “Round the World,” Buffalo Express, 1 November 1894); a few newspapers said the minimum was 10,000 miles (see, e.g., ‘She Is Nearly Home,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 10 September 1895, 5.). One newspaper reported Annie had to cover a minimum of “15,000 miles on foot or on a bicycle (see “An American Lady on Tramp,” Galignani Messenger [Paris], 10 December 1894.) Most never mentioned a minimum. Some reports suggested Annie was allowed 500 miles by train across the American desert (see, e.g., “She Arrives!” Albuquerque Daily Citizen, 15 July 1895, and Item, Tucson Daily Star, 21 June 1895); another that train travel was prohibited “where the earth’s surface is to be traversed” (“A Girl Girdling the Globe,” San Bernardino Daily Sun, 30 May 1895), and yet another that she could travel 2,200 miles by train or boat (see, “Miss Londonderry in Town,” Utica Daily Press, 12 November 1894, and Item, Canajoharie (NY) Courier, 13 November 1894). The last seems preposterous since short of riding over the North Pole Annie would have to cover more than 2,200 miles by sea unless she had figured out how to ride a bicycle on water (something she just might have claimed to have done). The San Bernardino Daily Sun reported that the wager permitted Annie no train travel “where the earth’s surface is to be traversed,” and on water Annie was required to book “the highest priced cabin passage.” Also there were to be “[n]o lodging houses, or cheap hotels or staying with friends, but the best hotel in the town, and no accepting free entertainment at the hand of big hearted landlords.” While on land, said the Daily Sun, Annie was required “every day” to “report…and send her net receipts, after deducting expenses, to Boston, certified by some club man, or hotel keeper, or banker, and then start for the next place empty handed. Therefore, at every new town she arrives dead broke and must earn enough money at least to pay her expenses. If she can’t make terms with the best hotel and can’t earn enough money to pay board and lodging, she sleeps out of doors. Frequently, I have been obliged to do this,” Annie told the Daily Sun. (“A Girl Girdling the Globe,” 30 May 1895). One French newspaper reported that the wager required Annie to make the journey in one outfit. (“Le Tour du Monde à Bicyclette,” Journal de Valence, 7–8 January 1895, 2.) Many French newspapers and cycling journals reported that Annie had 16 months to make the circuit (see. e.g., “Le Tour du Monde avec 5 Centimes,” Le Véloce-Sport, 3 January 1895, 18, and Item, L’Abeille de Fontainebleau, 4 January 1895, 1.) A Colorado newspaper reported that Annie could “carry no more than five cents from any one town or city, but what money she earns must be forwarded to a Boston paper.” (“Miss Londonderry,” Trinidad [CO] Weekly Advertiser, 1 August 1895, 1.)
the formidable sum There is no simple way to determine the current value of an 1895 dollar. Some calculations suggest that $1 in 1895 would be $15 dollars today. But other calculations suggest a dollar in 1895 would be worth $80 or more today. For perspective, the average annual salary for a working American in 1895 was about $1,000. $5,000 was a daunting sum, and the wager stakes were quite substantial, to say the least.
If she succeeded See, e.g., “Miss Londonderry,” Buffalo Courier, 1 November 1894.
Talking to reporters “Around the World on a Bicycle,” New York Sunday World, 20 October 1895, 29. See also, “Around the World,” San Jose Daily Mercury, 19 April 1895, and “A Lady Cyclist,” Salinas Weekly Index, 2 May 1895.
earning money as a journalist “Around the World on a Bicycle,” New York Sunday World, 20 October 1895, 29.
“must dispatch a postal card” Item, New York Daily Tribune, 27 July 1894.
prohibited her from contracting matrimony “A Tramp to Strauss,” El Paso Daily Herald, 26 June 1895, 1.
the West End I am grateful to Ellen Smith of Brandeis University for sharing her knowledge of the history of Boston’s West End with me. This description of life in the West End is also drawn from Jonathan D. Sarna and Ellen Smith, eds., The Jews of Boston (Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston, 1995), 71–90.
“Anybody who knows Boston” Mary Antin, The Promised Land (Penguin, 1997), 145–146.
“No one in the tenements” Gail Collins, America’s Women: 400 Years of Dolls, Drudges, Helpmates, and Heroines (William Morrow, 2003), 264.
“what America was all about” Jonathan Sarna, American Judaism: A History (Yale University Press, 2004), 158.
when she was just sixteen The precise date of Annie’s birth is uncertain. The weight of the evidence suggests she was born in 1870 or 1871.
“a baby under my apron” This according to Annie’s granddaughter, Mary Levy Goldiner. (Interview with Mary Levy Goldiner, 6 November 2003.) Late in her life Annie did on occasion acknowledge some guilt about how her children had grown up, but never any regret about her bicycle trip.
“a heaven-born talent” “Boston’s Globe Trotter,” Atlanta Constitution, 19 July 1894, 5.
“I have studied medicine” “Wheel Around the World,” New York Herald, 3 July 1894. Annie’s claim to have studied medicine, a claim she would repeat at various points on her journey, was dubious.
“a man named Kapchowsky” This is one of the last references I could find to Annie by either her maiden or married name for most of the duration of her trip. The last reference to her by a name other than Londonderry was a reprint of this article that appeared in the Hagerstown (MD) Herald and Torch Light on 23 August 1894 and in the Trinidad (CO) Daily News more than a year later on 2 August 1895. After the trip, she was again identified as Mrs. Kapshowsky [sic] in the September 19, 1895, edition of The American Wheelman.
“the world will see” “Wheel Around the World,” New York Herald, 3 July 1894.
the first truly global news story Simon Winchester, Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded: August 27, 1883 (HarperCollins, 2003), 194.
excavation of a canal David McCullough, The Path Between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal 1870–1914 (Simon & Schuster, 1977).
Thomas Stevens Stevens wrote an exhaustive account of his trip, recently republished in 2001. Thomas Stevens, Around the World on a Bicycle, (Stackpole Books, 2001).
a hero’s welcome See. e.g., Brooke Kroeger, Nellie Bly: Daredevil, Reporter, Feminist (Time Books, 1994). 139–84.
the cycling craze The cycling craze and the woman’s movement, two of the most powerful social trends of the 1890s, are discussed in more detail in chapter 2.
“on to Honolulu” “Wheel Around the World,” New York Herald, 3 July 1894.
208 East Broadway This address pops up in news stories and on correspondence just after the end of her trip, too, for she stayed with the same friends when she returned to New York in September 1895. Efforts to identify the residents at that address through the 1900 and 1910 censuses were of no avail, however.
“I must have something different” “Wheel Around the World,” New York Herald, 3 July 1894.
“dark blue Henrietta cloth” “Boston’s Globe Trotter,” Atlanta Constitution, 19 July 1894, 5. Henrietta cloth is a fine, wide wooled fabric often used for women’s dresses.
Around the World on Two Wheels Page 24