Charles Minthorn Murphy

"I was asked to give an opinion of the quality and relative speed of various prominent riders of the time", Murphy recalled.

"By chance," he said, "I met Hal Fullerton, special agent of the Long Island Rail Road at Howes Roadhouse.

The party arrived in Babylon, New York, at 5:00 pm on June 21, 1899, mounted the train and watched.

Fullerton had spread a two-mile carpet of boards from Babylon to Farmingdale and built 11-foot side-wings and a small roof to the platform on the last carriage.

Its weight made the wooden track sink and rise and Murphy was forced to ride a wave.

On the final, successful run, Murphy held the pacing compartment until he'd got his bicycle rolling and Fullerton told Sam Booth, the driver, to open the regulator.

"With eyes glued upon the vertical strip of white on back of the car… I experienced an entirely different feeling compared with my previous ride", Murphy recalled.

"Within five seconds the rate of speed was terrific; I was riding in a maelstrom of swirling dust, hot cinders, paper and other particles of matter.

"Wobbling to and fro, but still gaining, the dust, the odour of burning rubber… The car was crowded with men who had been used to seeing any and all things that were dangerous, but the howling and screaming of sturdy officials and newspaper men from all over the United States that stood on the platform put all on edge.

I expected to go off the track, travelling faster than the train, with the terrible storm of dust, pebbles, hot rubber and cinders.

Fullerton caught one arm and a man called Joseph H. Cummin the other and they pulled both bike and rider to the platform.

One man fainted and another went into hysterics, while I remained speechless on my back, ashen in colour and sore all over," Murphy said.

Seconds after shutting off steam he reached the end of the racing track and thought Murphy had piled into unprotected ties (UK: sleepers) between the rails.

The final one happened on September 3, 1916, breaking a leg in three places after a collision with an automobile on Manhattan Bridge.