Fashion Designer for American Eagle Gary Silverman

For today's podcast, I thought I would introduce the story with a curt interview that I did the other twenty-four hours with my brother, Gary Silverman.  Just coincidentally, I recorded this on the 119th anniversary of today'due south story.

Steve Silverman: Then why don't you lot tell us about the telephone call that our grandfather made to yous near xxx-five years ago.

Gary Silverman: Well, I was actually a freshman in college and he called me up and I was very excited because he told me that he had bought me some real estate.

My gramps on my mother'south side, Morton Washington Seligman (1901-1999) in the early on 1960s. He purchased pocket-size parcels of country for his children, their spouses, and his grandchildren.

Steve Silverman: And what can yous tell u.s.a. about this property? Was information technology a large parcel or a small bundle?

Gary Silverman: Well, on the chiliad scale I have to say it was extremely small, actually.

Steve Silverman: And what did it overlook? Was it a river, a beautiful piece of state? What did it overlook?

Gary Silverman: Specifically, information technology overlooked the Southern State Parkway, I believe.

Steve Silverman: Okay, so why don't you lot tell everybody what he really gave yous?

Gary Silverman: What he actually gave me was a burial plot. So I was seventeen years old and he decided that I should take my very own burial plot.

Steve Silverman: And, of course, I accept one besides. And he bought one for all his children: for his children and their spouses and, of course, his grandchildren.

Gary Silverman: Absolutely. You know it is the one gift that you lot tin truly say that "I tin truly wait to open up this one."

Steve Silverman: Yeah. It's not one that I'm looking forrard to really using. Then, as I retrieve it, basically he was a member of a lodge and they had purchased a lot of these plots out in cemeteries on Long Island and then the next generation didn't join the lodges, and so they were left with all these plots, so they were selling them at a vocal. I gauge he decided since they're so cheap to buy them for all his family members. Is that kind of how y'all retrieve it?

Gary Silverman: That's exactly how I remember it. He basically took advantage of the deep discount rates on burial plots.

Steve Silverman: Okay. And then we're all prepare in when it comes to that, although I take to say that my wife is non besides happy that nosotros're not going to be buried next to each other, so we may accept to deal with that at some bespeak. Hopefully, that'southward a few years off though.

Gary Silverman: Yes, indeed.

Steve Silverman: So both our parents are buried in that location. Of class, our grandfather purchased the plot, right?

Gary Silverman: Absolutely.

Steve Silverman: And I thought I would tell the story of mom, considering mom passed away first, and this is actually a pretty funny story. Y'all know, in the Jewish organized religion they practise an unveiling, which is, what, about a year subsequently, the after the person is buried. Is that correct?

Gary Silverman: Correct.

Steve Silverman: So, us non being very religious we weren't in that location at the year point to what see this, so my father merely started bugging us that nosotros needed to go down to Long Island to see mom'due south grave. Do you have to remember this, what happened?

Gary Silverman: I exercise remember it quite well. It was a very heavy traffic solar day and we made our way downwardly to Long Island amongst the many, many cemeteries and when we got to the gates of the cemetery…

Steve Silverman: Well, yous're really skipping over a couple of parts considering I left hither at like 4 in the morning because I alive upwards in Albany.

Gary Silverman: That's right.

Steve Silverman: I drove two hours to dad's house. You were already in the automobile. I didn't fifty-fifty become into the house. I just jumped into dad'south car and we collection in 3 hours to Long Island. Then, I was on the road for five hours directly.

And I cruel comatose and, I don't know, we were like iii or four exits away from the cemetery and I kind of come out of my daze and dad says to me, "You know, on the on the passenger side door in that location's a petty white pamphlet there. Can yous become that out and checked the get out? I think it'southward get out thirty-five."

And so, I pull information technology out and I say, "Yep, information technology is get out 35 but, dad, we got a problem."

He goes, "What?"

I go, "Today is Saturday."

And he goes, "So?"

And I said, "Well. Information technology'southward a Jewish cemetery."

And he goes, "And so?"

I said, "It is probably closed for the Sabbath."

Of class, which he said, "No way."

And what happened when nosotros got there?

Gary Silverman: Well, we got to the gates of the cemetery and they were locked and there was no sign of any living human being beings, and so we basically turned around and went back from where we came.

Steve Silverman: Yeah, we simply made a U-turn. He said he said, "Okay, we tried" and nosotros just drove away. And did he e'er go again?

Gary Silverman: No, I can honestly say we never went again.

Steve Silverman: Yeah. In fact nosotros didn't run across mom's grave until dad passed away, which was a few years later. This is a very funny story and very typical of our family, I recollect.

Gary Silverman: Yes. When it comes to funerals I think that nosotros take a very minimalist approach.

My parents are buried in the New Montefiore Cemetery facing the Southern State Parkway.

Steve Silverman: Then, today's story actually occurs right down the road from the cemetery and that's why I used information technology as a lead-in. So, I want to give thanks you for being on the podcast and adding a little humor to it.

Gary Silverman: My pleasance.

Steve Silverman: And I'll let yous go and I'm gonna keep with the story.

Gary Silverman: Alrighty. Cheers very much. Talk to you lot soon.

I should mention that these wonderful parcels of country that my grandfather purchased for united states are located in the New Montefiore Cemetery in West Babylon, NY. Now, if you head only i exit e on the Southern State Parkway, which is a fairly curt distance, you will pass nether a set of railroad tracks. Information technology was on these tracks on June 30, 1899, that a historic bicycle ride took place.

Equally I tell this story, keep in mind that this all takes place during the early days of what we consider to be modern biking. To put this in perspective, the chain-driven, rear-bike drive bike that we are and so familiar with had just been invented fourteen years before, which was followed by Dunlop's pneumatic tires iii years subsequently. The first recorded bicycle race in the United States occurred on May 24, 1878, in Beacon Park, which is located in Boston. And, as with any new invention, there was the desire to push the technology to its limits.

Simply how fast could a wheel go? No one knew for certain, but the all-time racer of his solar day, Charles Minthorn Tater, felt that there really was no limit. With the right combination of gears, tires, and riding surface, ane could theoretically go equally fast as ane wished. The master obstacle, in his opinion, would be air resistance.

While the vast majority of the earth'south population today uses the metric system, in the 1890's the Imperial organisation of anxiety, pounds, and gallons was all the rage. The magic number that Murphy wanted to beat on his bike was 60 miles/hr. Convert that to the metric organisation and you become 96.56 km/h, which simply doesn't roll off the tongue every bit nicely as one mile in ane minute.

Image of Charles Northward. Murphy from Flickr. Click on the image to encounter original source.

While the vast majority of the world'due south population today uses the metric system, in the 1890's the Regal system of anxiety, pounds, and gallons was all the rage. The magic number that Murphy wanted to beat on his bike was sixty miles/hr. Convert that to the metric organization and yous become 96.56 km/h, which simply doesn't roll off the tongue as nicely as one mile in one infinitesimal.

White potato's proposal was unproblematic: Lay down a polish surface for him to ride upon, utilize the fastest vehicle of its solar day – a steam locomotive – to set the pace, and build some sort of windscreen to reduce air friction. Most experts of the day believed that riding a bicycle one mile in 1 minute was virtually impossible, yet that wasn't going to stop Charlie Potato.

March 27, 1898 advertisement for the advent of Charles G. White potato at the Abraham and Strauss (A&S) store in New York. This advertizing appeared on folio 8 of the Brooklyn Daily Hawkeye.

He spent years trying to convince the various railroads to let him give it a try. It was reported on February viii, 1896, that Murphy was in talks with the Southern Pacific Railway to utilise a 1-½ mile (2.41-km) straight stretch of railbed near Santa Monica, California, only this was never to exist. This couldn't take come equally much of a surprise to Irish potato. Committing to such an effort involved nifty expense to any railroad that chose to do so. Not only would they need to provide a straight and level stretch of track, but few steam-powered trains of the day could attain a sustained speed of 60 mph for a full minute. In add-on, not only would they have to build a lengthy platform to Spud to bike upon, only it would also mean shutting downward a profitable track line for an extended menses of time. And, tin can you imagine the atrocious publicity that would be generated if he were to be severely injured or die while attempting to fix a speed record? You lot can see why railroads would be hesitant to get involved.

While Murphy didn't seem to exist able to convince anyone to take him upwards on his proposal, there was ane human who did. His name was Evan E. Anderson. On August 27, 1896, fully crediting Charles Potato with the coming up with the idea, Anderson pedaled behind a railroad train equally fast as humanly possible but came upward curt. He rode the mile in 1 minute, 3 seconds. This was quite a feat, considering that merely 2 years earlier no one had been able to ride a mile in under 2 minutes. Now Anderson was closing in on that magical mile in one infinitesimal marking, but would never endeavour to exercise so again.

Sketch of the proposed ride to be undertaken by EE Anderson. Note the box built in the back to reduce air resistance. From the July 19, 1896 outcome of the St Louis Dispatch on page 18.

For a while it looked like Spud'due south vision would forever be placed on concur. Not only had Due east.Eastward. Anderson been unable to reach his goal, simply Potato had been suspended for life from ever racing professionally over again. He had been defendant, along with 2 other racers, of conspiring to throw a bicycle race held in August 1895 in St. Louis. Charlie appealed the case, challenge no noesis of the fix, particularly since he had won the race, but officials at the League of American Wheelmen were not ownership information technology. Luckily, ane of the other two riders involved privately made statements that exonerated Potato and he was reinstated.

In 1887, the Long Island Rails Road hired a PR guy named Hal Fullerton to aid promote the line. Today Long Isle is ane of the most densely populated regions in the United States, but that wasn't the case in the 1890s. Fullerton spent the side by side thirty years of his career doing whatever he could to promote not only the railroad just Long Island every bit a whole. He was incredibly successful at this.

It was through a chance meeting that Charles Murphy met Hal Fullerton in 1899. Fullerton speedily realized that if Murphy could trounce the mile-per-minute mark, people all around the world would learn just how great the Long Island Track Route was. The contract was signed in May with the event planned for June, purposely timed to coincide with a nearby coming together of the League of American Wheelmen – the same national biking arrangement Spud had been disbarred from.

The chosen location for this homo vs. machine race would exist the key spur of the Long Island Rail Road, which ran between Farmingdale and Babylon. That track is still there today and is just a hop, skip, and a jump from where my parents are buried. Well, maybe that'southward a bit of an exaggeration. In the 1890s this area was covered with farmland and pastures – the perfect identify for future cemeteries – yet today you would probably get killed trying to walk that brusque altitude in a straight line.

At 1 indicate it was proposed that EE Anderson and Charlie White potato both race backside a train. This event would never occur. This image can be found on page 12 of the April 25, 1898 publication of the Boston Globe.

One cannot hands ride a wheel on rail ties, then a shine wooden pathway was synthetic. Information technology consisted of (5) x" (about 25-cm) wide boards attached down next to each other and ran a total length of 2-⅜ miles (iii.8-km). That allowed both Spud and the railroad train enough distance to become up to speed, run the total mile at tiptop speed, and then come to a condom stop.

An 11-foot (3.35-meter) long wooden hood was constructed on the rear of a passenger car, which not only covered its external observation platform but besides extended out far enough to completely shield Murphy from whatever air turbulence produced past the train equally it traveled. The sides of the box-like structure extended vertically downward earlier bending inward at a 40-degree angle and terminating just shy of the inner side of the track. A rubber roller was installed under the railroad train to make clean the rails as the machine barreled down the track. The goal was to keep as much debris away from Murphy equally possible.

Workers installing the riding platform. Notation the use of hand tools to install the decking. Epitome from the booklet "The Story of the Railroad and a Bicycle" by Charles One thousand. Tater.

A big fear was that the train could pause down and Potato would crash into the back of the train and be killed. To prevent this from happening, two different safety devices were installed. The first was a rubber buffer that was attached all around the observation platform. The 2d was a horizontal bar that extended from the platform to the bar supporting the handlebars. It was designed to allow the front tire to laissez passer right under and cease the wheel before the cycle ever touched the railroad train.

Equally Charlie rode, a thin white lath was installed vertically at the center of the platform. As long equally he kept his front tire aligned with this visual marker, he was assured to have his cycle centered on the wooden pathway at all times.

Charlie Murphy riding his bike on the wooden deck that had been installed. From the booklet "A Story of the Railroad and a Bicycle" past Charles G. Potato.

Everything was now in identify and Potato was set to go. On June 21st, he rode a mile in 64.eight seconds, which was slower than what E.E. Anderson had washed 3 years prior, yet the printing all the same declared this to exist a world record. In fact, all half dozen of his trials were a failure. It'southward not that Murphy couldn't keep upward with the train. That was non the problem. It was the train itself. The locomotive pulling that i track car was unable to maintain a speed of 60 mph for the entire length of its run.

What was needed was a more than powerful locomotive.

On Friday, June 30, 1899, 28-year-onetime Irish potato was once again all ready to make history. Sporting a light blue, long-sleeved jersey and woolen tights, he climbed aboard his state-of-the-art Tribune bicycle. Nicknamed the "Blue Streak," this teal blue bike wasn't anything similar what nosotros would consider a sleek racing machine. In fact, it was probably simpler than merely about any cheap bike made today. Braking was accomplished past jamming the pedals in place and preventing the concatenation from moving. In other words, no brakes! Irresolute gears? Forget about it. The only way to modify gears on this wheel was to take information technology autonomously and swap out a dissimilar ready.

Anticipation was building. Thousands of spectators lined up forth the length of the runway. Potato's wife Libbie waited well-nigh the terminate line. The New York Times described her as follows: "She is a immature adult female with a strong and pleasant confront, and had her trivial son with her. She wore a white skirt and waist and a white straw hat with a plume stuck through the band."

Reporters and photographers setting upwards merely prior to the big race. Image from the booklet "A Story of the Railroad and a Wheel" by Charles M. Spud.

Finally, at 5:10 PM engineer Sam Booth opened the throttle and they were off. Information technology was a near disaster from the kickoff. Initially, Charlie had no problem keeping up with the train, merely very quickly debris, cinders, and hot rubber from that track-clearing safe roller started to wing upwards at him. Lacking any sort of protective gear, holes were being burned right through his racing bailiwick of jersey. Then the track started to chop-chop rise up and down.

"Although I was riding perfectly, however on expressionless air and going strong, I could not sympathize the violent vibration in the runway, equally though the boards were rapping the bottom of my cycle, the effect being every bit though I was riding over an undulation, instead of level track, feeling hot missiles strike my face."

What Murphy didn't realize at the time was that the faster locomotive that the railroad had provided for the race was besides much heavier. As information technology rode over a rail, it would depress it downward. Equally soon as the train was off of it, the rail would pop back up. As a result, his wooden roadway bounced upwards and down.

He needed to ride each quarter in xv-seconds or less to beat the infinitesimal mark:

1st quarter: exactly xv seconds
2nd quarter: 29-⅖ seconds

And then far, so good.

So, suddenly, he began falling further and farther back. At one point White potato was an estimated 50-feet (fifteen-m) behind the railroad train.

Shouts from the observation platform could be heard: "He's losing the train. He's beaten."

Another screamed, "Come on, Charlie."

Never one to give up, Murphy began pedaling faster and moved closer and closer to the railroad train.

Somehow he had gained enough speed to finish the third quarter in 44 seconds.

Charlie Spud riding behind the train. Notation the vertical white board in forepart of the bicycle. This was installed so that he wouldn't need to expect downward at the track. Image from the booklet "A Story of the Railroad and a Bicycle" by Charles M. Murphy.

"I pedalled through the burn of hot cinders and rubber, but with each sting information technology made me more determined. Wobbling to and fro, simply still gaining, I stayed with the engine that was upward to 70-miles-per-hr at the time. The roar and din was terrifying. I had completely lost my steadiness, but continued to labor madly. I kept on gaining, and just as I regained all of the lost footing I saw Mr. Fullerton wave the American flag. At the aforementioned time, the signal was given engineer Booth to shut off the power."

The heavy railroad train slowed down far faster than had been anticipated and Charlie rode right into the platform at a loftier speed. The front of his bicycle came to an abrupt stop causing the rear of the bike to pivot upward and nearly over Murphy's caput. That's when Hal Fullerton and another man leaned over and pulled him up onto the ascertainment platform. A third quickly grabbed the cycle and saved it from what would have been almost certain devastation.

Charlie's start statement was: "Carry me dorsum to where my wife is."

Personally, I would have asked something like, "Did I do it?" You are probably wondering the same. His official fourth dimension, measured by five different timers aboard the railroad train, clocked him as completing the mile 57.8 seconds. That'southward an average speed of 62.3 mph.

He did it!

Charlie had officially gone a mile past human power faster than anyone in history. From that 24-hour interval frontwards he would forever be known as Mile-a-Minute Murphy.

Along the Iron Pike sketch by Joe Easley highlighting Charlie Murphy's historic ride. From the August 1964 issue of Railroad Magazine.

A couple of years after he set the mile record, while on suspension from a Vaudeville bout, his 9-twelvemonth-old son Chester was showing off the historic cycle to friends when someone stole it. After his short stint in bear witness business, Murphy opted to join the New York City Constabulary Department.

Unremarkably, as many of these stories get, Murphy would have enjoyed his 15 minutes of fame and that would take been information technology. Merely that is not the case here. Ever the risk-taker, Tater would exist in and out of the news for decades.

For case, on two dissimilar occasions, he jumped aboard runaway trains and brought them to a halt. Another fourth dimension he was trampled by a runaway horse. So there was an incident where he was chasing after a thief and accidentally plummeted down a 20-human foot (half-dozen-meter) embankment. And how tin can I overlook his determination to make a human chain downwards a 20-foot well, with him hanging upside down at the finish, every bit he grabbed a human who had fallen in and was stuck up to his neck in the mud?

Nevertheless, perhaps my favorite Murphy story made the news in 1906 while he was standing in the middle of the intersection of Tenth Artery and West Thirty-3rd Street. His assignment was to aid an estimated 400 students leaving St. Michael'due south parochial schoolhouse dodge the oncoming trolleys. Suddenly he heard a lot of commotion and looked upwardly. He saw an unbridled horse pulling a cart full of iron ore barreling toward the kids at high speed. He quickly got the kids out of the way and took a flight spring toward the equus caballus. Irish potato threw his arms around the horse's neck in an endeavor to get it to stop. Every bit he was dragged forth the asphalt street and downwards a steep grade, he made the decision to tightly squeeze the horse's neck and deprive it of air. That worked. The horse stopped, fully recovered, and Murphy escorted him unharmed dorsum to his owner. He casually walked away and returned to work the next day every bit if goose egg had happened.

Charlie fabricated history past both becoming the first uniformed motorcycle officer in New York City and being the commencement officer in the United states to ever pilot an airplane. In improver, he has the accolade of beingness the get-go officer on duty to be in an airplane crash. It occurred during a police exhibition on Brighton Beach on June 27, 1914, when some other policeman's motorcycle struck his airplane during takeoff. There was some impairment to both machines, but Spud was uninjured.

Charlie Murphy's record-setting ride made him famous. Here is an ad for Tribune bicycles that ran in many newspapers across the country. This particular ad appeared on page v of the Honolulu Tribune on February 8, 1901.

His motorcycle riding would cause him far more pain than that plane crash ever did. On May x, 1916, a tow truck towline became entangled in his motorcycle and he was dragged about one-hundred feet (xxx-meters).

Ten days later the front fork bankrupt on his cycle and he was taken to the hospital suffering from internal injuries.

On September 15th of that same yr, a sightseeing bus struck his motorcycle while crossing the Manhattan Bridge and he was thrown 30-feet (10 meters). He desperately fractured his leg and on Jan 27, 1917, he officially retired from the force. While on his way to plough in his badge, he slipped and fractured his kneecap. Four accidents putting him in five different hospitals in less than a year. It was definitely time for Charlie Murphy to retire.

Charles "Mile-A-Minute" Murphy piloting a monoplane for the New York City Police force Department. Image from the Library of Congress.

In a 1924 interview, he stated that he had been in 189 accidents, of which he believed any one of twoscore was serious enough to have killed him. During his bicycle racing years, he prepare seven world biking records, seventeen US records, twenty-nine New York Country records, and won over 1800 racing awards and prizes. He was inducted into the U.s. Bicycling Hall of Fame in 1991.

Upon retirement, he relocated to California for a bit just ultimately moved dorsum to spend the remainder of his life at his dwelling house which was located at 160-12 Union Turnpike in Flushing, NY. Don't go trying to find the building. It was ripped downwards and replaced by an AutoZone shop.

In 1948, Irish potato was diagnosed with hardening of the arteries and his right leg was amputated. On December 23, 1949, he would enter Queens General Infirmary 1 final time. He would stay there until his passing on Feb 16, 1950, at 79 years of age. Having lost his showtime wife in 1922, he was survived by his 2d wife Catherine Kissel and his two children Gladys and Chester.

Image of Charles "Mile-A-Minute" Tater later in life.

That'due south kind of a downer style to cease the story, so I'll leave you with a bit of good news. Remember that bicycle that had been stolen? In 1939 Murphy was notified by a bicycle trade magazine that a cycle shop owner named Joseph Kropsky in Belleville, New Jersey believed that he may be in possession of it. Kropsky said that he had obtained the bike viii years later on it had been stolen during a merchandise. After personally examining it, Charlie confirmed that it was his record-setting Bluish Streak and it was returned to him nearly thirty-viii years later on it had been stolen. According to a September 21, 2017 article in the Buffalo News, the bicycle is now part of a private collection that is housed at the Buffalo Transportation/Pierce-Arrow Museum.

The other piece of skilful news, at least it is for me, is that when I finally laissez passer on, I will forever lie facing an of import piece of bike racing history. Now all they demand to do is get rid of that ugly parkway that separates the two.

Useless? Useful? I'll exit that for you to decide.

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