Around the World on Two Wheels

by Peter Zheutlin

  “to capture the desperado” “Capture of a Very Novel ‘Wild Man,’” New York Sunday World, 3 November 1895, 36. In November 2003, I called the Athol Public Library looking for information about the wild man of 1895 and was referred to a local historian, Richard Chaisson, a retired journalist from the Worcester Telegram & Gazette. When I phoned Chaisson, he immediately recognized the story I was talking about. “Oh, yes!” he said, “The New York World even sent Nellie Bly up here to investigate.” When I explained that it wasn’t Nellie Bly but Annie Kopchovsky who had been sent by the World, Chaisson was astonished. We met a few days later at the Athol Public Library and drove up the road to Royalston to the vicinity where the search for the wild man took place.

  “One has a strange feeling” “Capture of a Very Novel ‘Wild Man,’” New York Sunday World, 3 November 1895, 36. All quotations from this point to the subsequent footnote are from this same source.

  “the difficulty in [the] situation” Item, Worcester West Chronicle, 31 October 1895.

  “There are…Royalston people” “Royalston’s Mystery,” Fitchburg Daily Sentinel, 25 October 1895.

  “the ‘Wild Man’ turns out” “Latest, the Boy Confesses,” Athol Transcript, 29 October 1895.

  after being questioned “sharply” “The Royalston Sensation,” Athol Transcript, 29 October 1895.

  “who early formed the opinion” “Richardson Was the ‘Wild Man,’” Fitchburg Daily Sentinel, 29 October 1895.

  “The Royalston ‘wild man’ “Fake Reporting,” Athol Transcript, 5 November 1895.

  “Received of A. Londenery” Handwritten note in Goldiner Scrapbook.

  “can’t you get” Telegram in Goldiner Scrapbook.

  a “brazen capacity” Brooke Kroeger, Nellie Bly: Daredevil, Reporter, Feminist (Times Books, 1994) 145.

  “Young Richardson was released” “Capture of a Very Novel ‘Wild Man,’” New York Sunday World, 3 November 1895, 36.

  article on women farmers “New York’s Tenement-House Farmers,” New York Sunday World, 27 October 1895.

  never charged with a crime “Capture of a Very Novel ‘Wild Man,’” New York World, 3 November 1895, 36. In March 2005, with the help of Richard Chaisson, I located Charley Richardson’s great-grandson, Jim Richardson, living in Royalston. He had never heard of the wild-man escapade, though he did report that he had heard his great-grandfather was “a little off.” We met in early April, and, with the help of family records, Jim Richardson provided this information about Charley Richardson’s later life.

  Epilogue

  “The moment she takes her seat” Quoted in Lynn Sherr, Failure Is Impossible: Susan B. Anthony in Her Own Words (Times Books, 1995), 277.

  “one of the biggest frauds” Item, Omaha World Herald, 14 November 1897, 24.

  or pushing wagons An excellent collection of photographs of some of these adventurers can be found at www.xoomer.virgilio.it/globetrotters/ (accessed on February 8, 2007). One was “The Man with the Iron Mask,” a walker wearing an iron mask attached to which was a sign saying “$21,000 wager.” The man was Harry Bensley of the United Kingdon and the wager was whether Bensley could walk around the world without being identified.

  “should meet with appreciation” “Plays and Players,” Boston Globe, 1 September 1895, 17. The Globe Trotter first premiered in Philadelphia in May 1894, the month before Annie’s trip began.

  “Theirs were the glow” Irving A. Leonard, When Bikehood Was in Flower (Seven Palms Press, 1983), 20.

  Margaret Valentine Le Long “From Chicago to San Francisco A Wheel,” Outing Magazine 31, no. 5 (February 1898), 497–501.

  “‘Every once in a while’” “Around-the-World Wagers,” Washington Post, 10 February 1901, 19.

  a self-proclaimed Messiah “A Modern Christ and His Flock,” New York Sunday World, 24 November 1895.

  a New York City matchmaker “Wellman’s Matrimonial Spider-Web,” New York Sunday World, 26 January 1896, 17.

  the New York mail train “A ‘New Woman’ Mail Clerk,” New York Sunday World, 10 January 1896, 36.

  women-only stock exchange “Private Rooms for Women Stock Gamblers,” New York Sunday World, 17 November 1895.

  among others See, e.g., “New York’s Tenement House Farmers,” New York Sunday World, 27 October 1895, 29. “Inside the Door of Hope Where Barbara Aub First Confessed,” New York Sunday World, 22 December 1895; and “The Poor Aid the Poor Sick,” New York Sunday World, 2 February 1896.

  three letters from the wife of Victor Sloan These letters are in the Goldiner Scrapbook.

  in a boarding house According to Annie’s granddaughter, Mary Levy Goldiner, Annie went to California to recuperate from a likely bout of tuberculosis.

  Afterword

  I first learned about my great-grandaunt My great-grandfather, Bennett Cohen, was the brother who did not come up to say goodbye to Annie the day she left the Massachusetts State House to begin her journey.

  date and place of birth Based on all the evidence I eventually uncovered, I believe Annie was born in 1870 or 1871 in or near Riga, Latvia.

  living, biological descendant Mary and Paul have two adopted children, Howard and Libby.

  all the girls Mount Saint Mary’s is now Marymount College. The school provided me with transcripts, complete with grades, for Annie and Max’s three daughters.

  Sister Thaddea Thaddea, derived from St. Jude Thaddeus, the patron saint of lost or impossible causes. Sion, or Zion, refers both to both Jerusalem and to the religious aspirations of the Jewish people.

  a profoundly bitter letter Though the letter begins “Dear Mollie,” Simon often uses the spelling “Molly” throughout the letter. To avoid any confusion, I have changed all spellings to “Mollie.”

  Why an American girl “Many Tributes to Sister Thaddea, New York Jewess Who Became Nun,” Saskatoon Star Phoenix, 29 November 1961, 16. Sister Thaddea’s doctoral thesis—she earned her Ph.D. from The University of Ottawa—was dedicated to “the sacred memory of my beloved Father, a true Israelite in whom there is no guile, who left this earth on May 9, 1946, and to my sorrowing mother…” Her thesis topic was “The Economic and Social Conditions in the Ghetto, Together with the Aspirations of the Jews as Described by Ghetto Writers.”

  the secret of their eldest daughter Ironically, though my mother knew nothing about Annie or her bicycle trip, she did know that her father, Harry, had a first cousin who had become a nun.

  Acknowledgments

  I could never have unearthed the story of my great-grandaunt, Annie Cohen Kopchovsky (a.k.a. Annie Londonderry), without the help, large and small, of countless people, many of whom I have never met but who helped nonetheless, typically with great enthusiasm.

  I met Annie’s granddaughter, Mary Levy Goldiner, my second cousin once removed, through this project. Mary was enthusiastic about my interest in Annie from the start. I can’t begin to express my gratitude to Mary, and her husband, Paul, for all they have done to make this book possible. I found Mary, and much else, with the indispensable help of genealogist Nancy Levin Arbeiter.

  David Herlihy, the author of Bicycle: The History (Yale, 2004), is one of the world’s foremost experts on the history of the bicycle. David helped me with invaluable research, especially in France, research I never could have undertaken on my own, and his encouragement and support were generous, continuous, and enthusiastic. I cannot overstate David’s contribution to this book.

  My editor, Danielle Chiotti, showed exceptional editorial instincts in her review of the manuscript and made this a better book than I could possibly have written on my own. I am very grateful to her and her colleagues at Citadel Press for bringing this book to life.

  My agents, Melissa Grella and Elisabeth Weed of Kneerim and Williams (Elisabeth has since moved on to another agency), loved Annie’s story from the start. Thanks also to Elaine Rogers and Patricia Nelson of Kneerim & Williams.

  Eva Murphy, a librarian at the Massachusetts State Library, has a keen memory,
and it was thanks to Eva that I encountered historian Dennis McCown of Austin, Texas, who was also on Annie’s trail. Dennis generously provided old newspaper articles he had collected about Annie as well as encouragement and insight throughout.

  I first heard about Annie from Michael Wells of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, who provided the first handful of articles I ever saw about her. John Weiss, another researcher on Annie’s trail, generously shared his finds with me and provided invaluable guidance, as well. I am indebted to them both.

  Gillian Klempner and Meghan Shea of Spokeswoman Productions are working to bring Annie to life in a documentary film. My thanks to them and to Mike Rogers and Ben Willman, their partners in crime and in life. Thanks to old-timey wheelman Gary Sanderson for leading us safely to New York from Boston on his high wheeler when Gillian and Meghan suggested we re-create the first leg of Annie’s journey.

  Sister Catherine Seeman of St. Mary’s Parish in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, helped me with a very important and stunning piece of the puzzle. I am deeply in her debt for her kindness.

  Bill Strickland of Bicycling magazine published my first piece about Annie in May 2005. It was the first account of her trip to appear since Annie’s first person account appeared in The World newspaper of New York on October 20, 1895. Thanks, too, to Linda Smith Rhoads and Louise E. Robbins of the New England Quarterly for publishing the piece I wrote about Annie’s search for the Massachusetts wild man, which became the last chapter of this book.

  Dick Rath brought an important part of Annie’s legacy to life when he restored for me an 1897 Sterling bicycle nearly identical to the 1894 Sterling Annie rode for most of her trip.

  I also owe thanks to Thomas LeBien, publisher at Hill and Wang. Although Thomas did not publish this book, he looked at the project early on and provided invaluable feedback and encouragement.

  Special thanks to the very patient staff of the Needham, Massachusetts, Public Library, especially April Asquith and Cathy Stetson, who probably thought my requests for interlibrary loans of microfilm would never cease. Public libraries—many of them are listed below—are often taken for granted, but they are the cornerstone of a society that values the free flow of information and freedom of thought.

  My sister-in-law, Ceci Ogden, helped enormously with research assistance on the California portion of Annie’s journey, and thanks to my brother-in-law, Andy, for running up to the National Archives in San Bruno to chase down a lead.

  Many thanks to the people behind USGenNet of Rio Vista, California, and the Livingston County History and Genealogical Project of Michigan. Together they compiled and hosted the 1895 U.S. Atlas online at www. livgenmi.com/1895/. This atlas was an invaluable resource. I found myself returning to the site repeatedly trying to locate information about various cities and towns as they existed in 1895 and for maps that helped me track Annie’s progress.

  Thanks to Glenn Rifkin and Eric Fettmann, longtime friends from Paramus, New Jersey, and David Minard who gave unstintingly of his time and talents as a graphic and web designer. David, thank you for everything.

  In no particular order I also want to acknowledge the veritable army of people who provided assistance of one kind or another along the way. With apologies to those I have inadvertently overlooked, my heartfelt thanks to my mother, Baila Zheutlin, and John Coleman and Robert Smith, my first cousin once removed and my second cousin once removed, respectively; Seth Bauer, who read and commented incisively on an early draft of this book (he said it was perfect as written); Sally Sims Stokes; Nancy Cott; Janet Edwards; Linda Lawrence Hunt; Clara Silverstein; Roger Kennedy, director emeritus of the Smithsonian Institution; Ellen Smith of Brandeis University; Kay Cahill Allison; Bill Pryor; Judy Safian-Demers; Ed Shaw; Monique Fischer and the staff of the Northeast Document Conservation Center in Andover, Massachusetts, for helping with the physical preservation of the artifacts of Annie’s life; The Jewish Cemetery Association of Massachusetts; Richard Chaisson of Athol, Massachusetts, for helping me explore a fascinating chapter in Annie’s journalistic life; Ken Fletcher, volunteer at the Carnegie Public Library, Trinidad, Colorado; Char Sidell, librarian at the Broadmeadow Elementary School in Needham, Massachusetts; Alison Barnet; Gail Hedges, president of the Foundation for Children’s Books; the Kenosha, Wisconsin Public Library; Karen K. Schmiege of the Albuquerque Public Library; Kevin Davey of the Chicago Public Library; Debbie Newman and Leslie Broughton of the Arizona Historical Society; Jennifer Albin of the Arizona State Library; Luke Jasprzebski of the University of Texas at El Paso Library; the Special Collections department of the Penmore Library, Colorado Springs, Colorado; Kristin Bickel, of the La Junta, Colorado Woodruff Memorial Library; Bob Ilfeld of Albuquerque, New Mexico; Robert Shindle of the University of Baltimore Educational Foundation Special Collections/Steamship Historical Society of America Collections; Duncan R. Jamieson, professor of history at Ashland University: Noreen Riffe, Special Collections Librarian, at the Pueblo, Colorado, Public Library; Jack Austin, genealogy volunteer at the El Paso Public Library; the staff of the Riverside Cemetery, Saddle Brook, New Jersey; Emelen Brown of the University Archives at New York University; Bob Sullivan of the Schenectady County Public Library, New York; Don Biecker of the Columbia Bicycle Co. of Westfield, Massachusetts; Paul Beck of the Kendallville, Indiana, Public Library; the Information Desk Staff of the Cedar Rapids Public Library, Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Betty Collicott of the Cozad, Nebraska, Public Library; Celine Stahlnecker of the Grand Island, Nebraska, Public Library; Marc Shectman of The Boston Globe library; Carl Hallberg, reference archivist at the Wyoming State Archives in Cheyenne; Julie Habjan Boisselle of the Mount Holyoke College library, South Hadley, Massachusetts; Mary Beth Sancomb-Moran, of the Sidney, Nebraska, Public Library; Vince Begley of Marymount College, Newburgh, New York; Sara Aden of the North Platte, Nebraska, Public Library; CarlF. Burgwardt of the Pedaling History Bicycle Museum, Orchard Park, New York, who answered many questions about bicycles of the 1890s; Tom Farley of West Sacramento, California, for helping me understand the state of the U.S. telephone system in the mid-1890s; David Siegenthaler, of the Elgin, Illinois, Area Historical Society; the staff of the Iowa City, Iowa, Public Library; Lorna Caulkins of the Grinnell, Iowa, Public Library; Wilma Parezek of the Tama County, Iowa, Historical Society; Claire McKibben of the Kearney, Nebraska, Public Library; Shirley Garrett of the Mount Vernon, New York, Public Library; Raymond Lum, librarian for Western languages at Harvard University’s Harvard-Yenching Library; Ross Petty of Babson College, Wellesley, Massachusetts, for his help with the history of women and cycling; Pryor Dodge, author, collector, and cycling historian of New York, New York; Gail Hall of the Lordsburg-Hidalgo Library in Lordsburg, New Mexico; Judy Behm of the Carroll, Iowa, Public Library; the staff of the Utica, New York, Public Library; the staff of the Silver City, New Mexico, Public Library; Judy Dominici of the Nashua, New Hampshire, Public Library; Larry Tye, author of Home Lands: Portraits of the New Jewish Diaspora; Jean Palmer of the Onondaga, New York, County Public Library; Ira Ward, volunteer at the Marshalltown, Iowa, Public Library; Professor Jonathan D. Sarna, Joseph H. and Belle R. Braun Professor of American Jewish History at Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts; Rachel Sagan and Karla Goldman of the Jewish Women’s Archive, Brookline, Massachusetts; Monica Staley; the staff of the Pottawattamie County Genealogical Society, Council Bluffs, Iowa; Dale Kreiter of the Santa Maria, California, Public Library; Ken Warfield of the Santa Barbara, California, Public Library; Ann Billesbach, Scott Argabright, and Matt Pierzol of the Nebraska State Historical Society, Lincoln, Nebraska; the staff of the Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, Massachusetts; Mary Grein of the Melrose, Massachusetts, Public Library; Bruce Epperson and Stephen Goddard for their expertise on the Pope Manufacturing Company; William Steele, professor of history at International Christian University in Tokyo; Beth Williams of the Nevada, Iowa Public Library; Drs. Tom Piemonte, Brooks Watt, and Lawrence Shields for helping to arrange access to the archives of the Algonquin Club, Boston, Mass
achusetts; Larry Adams, curator, Mamie Doud Eisenhower Birthplace, Boone, Iowa; Karen Ramos of the Stockton, California, Public Library; Sue Payne of the San Bernardino, California, Public Library; Judy Brown and Coi Drummond-Gehrig and the staff of the Denver, Colorado, Public Library; the Information Services staff of the Erie County Public Library, Erie, Pennsylvania; Jeanine Rhodes of the Elkhart, Indiana, Public Library; Kim Limond, reference librarian at the Clinton, Iowa, Public Library; the staff of the Canajoharie, New York Public Library; Pat Worthington of the El Paso County Historical Society, El Paso Texas; Pat O’Hanlon of the Truth or Consequences, New Mexico Public Library; the staff of the State Library of New York in Albany; Jennifer Lee of the Columbia University Library; Daryl Morrison, head of Special Collections at the University of California at Davis; Shan Sutton, head of Special Collections at the University of the Pacific Library, Stockton, California; Céline Hirsch, Archivist at the Nostra Signora di Sion in Rome, Italy; Ron Erickson; Beverly Sierpina; Dana McNair; M. Susan Barger; Michelle Kaminga, Eric Frere, Sharon Klempner, and Jennifer Pinto Safian and Chet Safian for French translations; Linda Grahn and Renate Franz for German translation; Lisa Mullins and David Leveille of Public Radio International’s The World; and the folks at Warehouse Picture Framing.

  Last, but most assuredly not least, heartfelt thanks to my wife, Judy Gelman, and my sons, Danny and Noah. I love them dearly.