aka Major Taylor Jr.

How many of you have heard of Marshall "Major" Taylor? I see a lot of hands went up, quite a few head nods, and I hear some yelling out "Major!" Okay, now how many have heard of Lawrence Wells? [Crickets] Hmm, anyone at all? I guess that's the difference between a racer of international renown, and one whose racing fame likely did not extend much beyond Los Angeles. Never the less Wells, who raced as a contemporary of Taylors', possessed enough competitive bicycle racing talent to be dubbed "Major Taylor Jr." by the local press and cycling community.

The earliest mention of Wells seems to be in a story about the East Side Cycle Club's annual century run from their club house on Downey Avenue in Los Angeles, to Corona, and return. Wells is listed as having finished 4th of twenty-two finishing competitors, completing the route in seven hours eighteen and a half minutes, thirteen minutes behind winner, Frank Florentin. The top three finishers of this inter-club competition were all well-known area racers - Frank Florentin, Frank Pearne and B. A. Holmes, while other Los Angeles racing standouts finished behind Wells, including A. C. Muff, Fritz Lacy and Tom Morris. Not bad company at all.

On 21 June 1900 Wells, along with the other members of the East Side Cycle Club, gathered for a smoker at the their club house. The occasion was the awarding of the Sunset Cup trophy for their winning ride in the May 30th Sunset Cup road race, as well as to award gold and silver medals to those riders who finished the 1900 century run to Corona; Wells is recorded as receiving a silver medal. While Wells did not participate as one of the racers for the East Siders during the Sunset Cup race, it is likely that he did serve as one of the clubs' pace-makers for the winning trio along the route. As for the century run of 1900, Wells finished a very creditable 3rd, finishing only one minute behind winner, Ralph Hamlin, who set a new course record for the hundred miles, lowering the old mark by a full thirty-six minutes. The club run was also significant, as it marked the first time a woman finished the event within the twelve hour time limit.

In 1900, Wells' name does not appear among the list of finishers of the annual 4th of July Santa Monica Road Race, nor the alternative San Pedro Road Race, yet a couple weeks later he did compete in the special Blue Ribbon races benefiting the family of Arthur Harrington, a competitor in the Santa Monica race who was killed when he was struck by a railway street car. Those races were held at the downtown velodrome, where Wells lined up, against "a large field," in the "colored men's mile handicap." Winning from scratch, Wells was too fast for anyone else, beating J. E. Scott (2nd) and Joe Bronson (3rd) in the sprint to the tape, crossing in a time of 2:20 2/5. It was in the report for this race that the reporter for the Los Angeles Times wrote that Wells was "better known as Major Taylor Jr."

Wells' next recorded appearance took place on December 23rd, 1900, again at the downtown velodrome and, again, during a "colored" men's race. That his name (and those of his fellow competitors) only appear during these type of segregated races, and never in the general "open" amateur races, suggests not only limited opportunities, but also that those opportunities depended upon the whim of the track management. Anyway, from a dozen entries, Wells won two straight heats, taking the first from John Scott (2nd), Louis Anderson (3rd) and C. E. Williams (4th), with a finishing time of 2:18 1/5, and the second heat in 2:19 3/5, with the top four riders finishing in the same order.

On June 8, 1902 Wells lined up, at Canary Cottage near Eastlake Park, for the start of the annual hundred mile Corona Road Race, organized by the Los Angeles Cycle Board of Trade. The first racer to reach Corona at the half way point was Theodore Salas, with Wells thirty seconds behind. The two men stayed at Corona for about five minutes, taking refreshment provided by Brunson's restaurant, before leaving together for the return to Los Angeles. Both Wells and Salas finished "tired and dusty, flushed with the hard work incident to driving a bicycle through a hundred miles of California summer road - the worst going in the civilized world." Wells "pedaled swiftly past the winning post on Mission road," a half second ahead of Salas, "both looked as if they might double up and fall off their machines" after their "heart-breaking battle," a battle that took them seven hours and six minutes to complete. The 3rd, 4th and 5th placed riders came in two and a half hours later, suggesting that they may have decided, at some point, that catching the leaders was impossible, and given up the chase.

By the following March (1903) Wells' prowess on a bicycle was well enough known that he was given a zero handicap start in the Leavitt & Bill Century Race, toeing the start line shoulder to shoulder with the fastest men in the region. This contest essentially took the place of the old East Side Cycle Club's century run, covering one-hundred miles in two fifty-mile circuits, starting near Eastlake Park and ending at the Buena Vista Street bridge. Wells, along with John Scott and Everett French all "got tired," and did not finish the race.

And that is it, there is no further mention of Lawrence Wells, at least in a racing capacity; it is a spotty record for someone who carried the heavy moniker of "Major Taylor Jr." Clearly Wells was able to successfully compete against the Los Angeles region's best racers, racers who in many cases also had some degree of national success, but as to the comparison, it seems a bit forced. Did newspapers use the common ploy to build interest? Was it wishful thinking? That Wells was the best black racer in the city at the time there is little doubt, so was it simply due to the color of his skin? Since we are well past the lifespans of any potential eyewitnesses to Mr. Wells' bicycle racing endeavors, and I have not come across any evidence that he ever raced beyond the borders of Los Angeles, we may never know anything else about his life or the extent of his palmares (like every other local racer of the time, he likely competed in far more races than we will ever know of). But hey, if anyone else has any additional information about Lawrence Wells, aka Major Taylor Jr., I would welcome hearing about it.