DEATH RACE 1800

His first two shots killed a couple riding a tandem. Next, he popped off a pair of rolling gents. A bicycling boy was the last to go—but only because the shooter was arrested while taking aim at a sixth victim from atop his coach. Andrew Weiss’s Central Park massacre of April 1883 was an extreme case of road rage, which was just as common in the 1800s as it is today. Like other horse-driven kings of the road—namely cabbies and teamsters—Weiss felt threatened by bicyclists. An 1883 edition of The Wheelman noted that drivers had developed the “playful custom” of plowing through bicycle parades—even the fancy costume divisions, like the one pictured here. This was in addition to the daily wagon-versus-bicycle jousting that often ended in skull fractures, broken legs and death. The violence was so prevalent that 15 years after the Weiss incident, Sears, Roebuck, and Co. advertised a collapsible “bicycle rifle” that could fire as needed. This photograph is part of the Picture Collection at the New York Public Library’s Mid-Manhattan Branch, and may be viewed online at digitalgallery.nypl.org. (455 Fifth Ave at 42nd St, 212-340-0878)

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