Page:The fastest bicycle rider in the world - 1928 - Taylor.djvu/52

 restaurant at Union Station. After several meals at this location the restaurant manager very rudely informed me that I would not be welcome henceforth and so instructed the head waiter who was one of my own color. This, however, the waiter refused to do and was promptly discharged for that reason.

Smarting under this shameful treatment I had about made up my mind to pack my racing bicycle and make tracks for my home in Worcester, Mass. It was while I was pondering the question that Mr. Dunlop, the bicycle race promoter from Cape Girardeau, appeared on the scene. He stated he sympathized with me in the rough treatment that I had received in St. Louis at the hands of the hotel and restaurant men. He told me he was proprietor of a hotel in Cape Girardeau and he promised me faithfully that I would receive the same treatment and attentions in his hotel as the rest of my fellow racers. Spurred on by that offer and still bent upon winning the championship, which I felt was at stake in the Cape Girardeau meet, I reluctantly signed an entry blank for that fixture, but upon arriving in Cape Girardeau, I found Mr. Dunlop had made a complete turnabout toward me. All of the racers went to his hotel, signed the register and were alloted rooms. When it came my turn to affix my signature Mr. Dunlop stated he was sorry, but had to inform me that he had made arrangements for me to stay elsewhere. He had arranged that I would stay with a colored family in the neighborhood during my stay at Cape Girardeau. When I informed him that this was not in accordance wth our gentleman's agreement he again stated he was sorry but the new arrangement would have to stand. With recollections of the inconveniences that I suffered at St. Louis a few days prior still fresh in my mind I did not welcome a second encounter with the color line. In order to avoid any argument at the hotel I made my way to the house designated by Mr. Dunlop and was most royally entertained by my colored host and hostess. However, I felt that since Mr. Dunlop had broken faith with me first that I was under no further obligation to participate in his championship races the next day. Early that morning I made my way to Union Station and purchased a ticket for Worcester, Mass. As I waited on the platform for the train to start, Mr. Dunlop, several of the racers and one of the N. C. A. officials approached me. They told me that if I failed to ride in the races that afternoon they would see to it that I was barred forever from the racing tracks of the country. I replied I was not interested in the future but was deeply concerned with the present, and since Mr. Dunlop had not lived up to his agreement with me I felt free to absent myself from the championship meet that afternoon and was going to do so regardless of consequences.