Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1883-03-23
THE WRESTLING MATCH.
A Holly Contested Struggle in Which
Lewis Proves the Best Man.
IRr On, ..sportine Reporter.pl

By Our sporting Reporter."l
The grand wrestling match for the
heavy weight championship of the
state of WisconsIn,-Cornish style
between Ben knight of Darlington.
and Evan Lewis, formerly Ridgeway
boy, now of Montana, Ter. took place
at the Opera House in this city on
Tuesday last.
The match was made some two
weeks ago. and although the time was
short for either man to do any great
amount of training, great deal of
science was displayed by both sides.
For two days previous to the time
the match was to take place men be-
gan to arrive in our city from different
parts of the country to witness some
thing " bich it not been their pleasure
to see in many years; and especially
were Darlington and Ridgeway, and
Cornwall and Wales well represented.
The hall was densely crowded long
before the time announced for the
wrestle to take place, and one would
be led to believe that this was even
more than holiday" for the sports Of
this community.
At2:15 the referees-being Messrs.
Richard Pollard, of Linden, Pierce
Roberts, of Ridgeway, and Parnell, OF
Darlington-entered the ring, and Mr..
Parnell called the audience to order, at
the same time taking from his pocket
a book containing the rules and regu-
lations of 1.-THE Cornish Style of Wrest-
ling" which he read aloud, and at the
finish was Justify cheered by those
present. The referees then announced
time" Lewis was the first to enter
the ring, and was received with a
laundering applause by his many ad-
mirers. Knight soon followed and re-
ceived like ovation by those who
claimed him as their favorite.
The clothes worn by Lewis consisted
of britch-cloth and jacket. the latter
being made of heavy ducking with a
BEDFORD hemmed around the edge,
which was sure preventative for
tearing. Knight wore a pair of red
flannel drawers, and jacket the same
as Lewis.
The two men stepped to the centre
of the ring and shook hands, and then
took positions for the struggle. 1t had
been often repeated that Knight would
be the one who would get first hold,
and when within reaching distance he
reached out and got hold the collar of
Lewis jacket, but no sooner did Lewis
get his hold than knight was on his
his back; here the referees decided mo
fall" as Knight failed to touch two
shoulders and one pin, or two pins and
one shoulder" as is required by the
rules, still it was evident at this early
stage of the wrestle that Knight was
entirely overmatched, which he HIM
self stated on the twentieth and last
round.
Below we give the rounds and time
of each, Lewis being the topmost man
each round:
First, minute; second, IA minutes ;
third, minutes; fourth, Knight being
forced out under the ropes. IL min
utes; fifth, both men fall, = minute |;
sixth, knight is forced over the ropes,
1 minute; seventh, both fall, a min
ute; eighth, 4 minute; ninth, ~ min
utes; tenth, minutes; eleventh, 10 sec
onds; twelfth, 13 seconds; thirteenth.
10 seconds; fourteenth, II seconds; fif-
teenth, IA seconds; sixteenth, 10 seconds.
In the seventeenth, both men showed
much science and the round was
holly contested, but here Lewis showed
his wonderful strength, raising his OPP
ponent from the ground threw him
very heavy, winning the first and only
fall during the contest, time minutes !;
eighteenth, 10 seconds; nineteenth. u
seconds; twentieth, 10 seconds. In
the Goth round Knight was picked up
by Lewis as though child, and was
given an unusually heavy fall which
he said had disabled him and that he
was willing to take defeat.
Mr.. Lewis was pronounced by many
old wrestlers who were present to be
the strongest built man they had ever
seen in the ring, (among them Jimmy
"Rudd") He is twenty-three years of
age and weighs 1872 pounds in wrestl-
ing condition.
Mr.. Knight has held the champion
belts of Wisconsin, Northern Michi-
gan and Colorado. He shows much
science and grit, but his antagonist
showed equal skill, which coupled with
greater strength gave him the victory.
Mr.. Knight still shows his willingness
to wrestle any man in the state of
equal weight-170 pounds.