Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1877-12-26

EutefbAlMment.
New York SUM-
Athletic Hall, l02 Prince street,
was crowded to its utmost limits
last night, The attraction being a
wrestling match by VIM. Heyg8ter
and the two trained bears belong
ing to the London circus. Prior to
the event of the evening there was
a Graco-Roman wrestling match
between Murant and Jonaris, two
powerful athletes, who wriggled
and squirmed about the stage for
nearly twenty minutes Jonaris,
who seemed to have greater
strength than his opponent, won
two falls out Of three. Then Emil
Reignier showed his strength by
putting up weights, lifting men,
and catching cannon balls weigh
ing fifty-six pounds that were
thrown to him from a distance of
seven or eight feet. After four tri-
ais he raised, or "put up" two hun
dred pounds. His great feat was
supporting three hundred pounds
of iron on his extended arm. To
place the weight in position the as.
sistance of four men was required.
The bungling Of one of these caused
two failures, and the weights fell to
the stage, smashing chair as they
fell. Losing all patience, Reignier
darted at his clumsy assistant and
dealt him a blow straight from the
shoulder, which sent him spinning
across the stage. This delighted
the audience, and the pugilistic
professor was loudly cheered. At
the fourth attempt the weights were
successfully lifted.
While the cannon balls were
rolling and the heavy weights were
crashing on the stage, the arrival
of the bears was announced. The
stage of Athletic Hall is small, and
the entrance from the rear is strict
| ly proportioned to it. Thus, when
some one called out in French,
"0pen the door for the bears, F"
there was no little commotiOn
among the employees. Before the
bears could be admitted it was nee
esSary to tear down some of the side
scenery.
The bears are a brown and o
| gray, the former being the stronger
and the heavier. AS they reached
the stage the band IA harp and two
fiddles, execrably ont of tune)
struck up a lively waltz, and the
brown bear began a clumsy dance,
The gray sat quietly on his
launches and licked his chops.
Both were muzzled. After a short
time Heygster, whose sporting title
is "The Oak Of the Rhine" Jump
ed upon the stage in full wrestling
costume. He is a large, heavy man,
with arms as big as an ordinary
man'a leg, He was booked to
wrestle the brown bear, but the lat
ter seemed rather inclined to dance
than to Wrestle, and kept the house
in a roar with his antics. Finally,
however, he stood upon his hind
legs and cautiously guarded against
the efforts Of Heygster to get an
under hold. Heygster get his arms
around Bruins neck, but the latter
with one paw over the mans shoul-
der and the other passed abound his
waist had by far the best grip. AS
Heygster exerted his immense
strength in the effort to gain a fall,
BFuin warily braced himself on his
hind legs, watching every move
ment intently and thps for two or
three minutes the wrestlers moved
from side to side of the stage.
Heygster tried to change his grip,
but as he did so the bear got both
paws around him and gave him a
hug such as none but a strong man
could have endured. At length
Heygster released himself, and re-
tired to the other side Of the stage,
putting and blowing like a por-
poise, The bear was perfectly cool
and collected. After this he clinch-
ed the bear 0 second and q third
time, narrowly escaping y fall on
each occasion; but when time was
called for & fourth round he de-
clined to toe the mark, lie was a