Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-10-06

hood, he has been pounced upon by sporting
men or managers who saw money IN his skill
and transferred to the ranks of the profess
siOnals. This is the history in nutshell OF
Owen, Mclaughlin and Mcmahon, three of the
greatest of American wrestlers. 1t is especially
the case of Owen; who was rosy-cheeked.
beardless country boy from Vermont when he
made his bow before Boston audience as
professional. There is no use of complaining
about this tendency of affairs in our own
country.
GOOD BUSINESS.
Professional wrestling is good, remunerative
business, and pays far better on an average
than the law, pulpit or medicine. Of our great
lights Muldoon enjoys a superb income from
his exhibitions, while Prof Miller, Andre
Christol, Bauer, STRANGER" Lewis. Greek
George, Duncan G. Ross, and that eccentric
Japanese athlete Matsada Sorakichi, seldom if
ever make less than 5000 year apiece for
safely said that frst-class wrestler is always
sure of tirst-class living.
1t is very hard to define accurately what
wrestling is. In the course of the years so
many arbitrary systems have been evolved that
no one defnition can cover the lot of .hem. 1t
may be roughly called sport in which two
men endeavor to throw each other down in
some prescribed way without going down in
the same way themselves. The average reader
will probably have no idea of the vast differ
ences that are covered by so elastic deini-
tion. In Greco-Roman wrestling both hips
and one shoulder, or both shoulders and one
hip, of the vanquished party must be put in
contact with the ground at the same time. In
this style of wrestling the contestants are
allowed to strike with the open hand. though
never with the clenched or the back of the
hand, on any part of the body between the
throat and knee. 1 have seen such great mas
ters as Christol, Bauer and Miller make hand
holds so vigorously that the blood flowed
from the skin Of the man they would
grasp. On the other hand, in col
are allowed, and the initial hold must not be
broken until the round is determined. In still
another system-that of butting-which pre-
walls in many parts of England, and more
especially in English colonies, the hands and
feet are relegated to an inferior position am
the head becomes the chief implement of
offense. In this case, men, for the time being
become goats, and probably the sport should
not be called wrestling. Most of the systems
of wrestling can be compared to the wrestling
habits of the lower animals. While "Dutting"
may be compared to the habits of the goat, the
''purring" of Lancashire athletes may be
hkened to the methods of attack employed by
jackasses; la saVate" of the French. is like the
lighting of the ostriches; the Graco-Roman
resembles the struggles of grizzly bears with
one another; catch-as-catch-can is modelled
after the actions of the ordinary European
bear; the collar-and elbow is like the fights be-
tween monkeys, and the Cornish and North
umberland is like battles among elephants.
THE FRENCH STYLE.
Ia savate" or the French system, although
sedulously cultivated by the military and naval
authorities of that nation, is unpopular at
home and is utterly dcspised by our race. 1t
consists chiefly in kicking and striking and
leaves little for the great muscles of the body
to accomplish. The Cornish and Northumber-
land allow hacking which is a close cousin
of the savate, and also a number of body
throws, which cannot be described in polite
language Catch-as-catch-can explains itself
by its own name, and is in vogue wherever our
race is. The restrictions are few, but no strlk-
ing or kicking is allowed. There is no restric-
tion as to the method of grasping, pulling or
throwing an antagonist, excepting those which
common decency dictates.
In measuring the values of the different
styles or schools of wrestling, l unhestatingly
give preference to the c0llar-and.elbow as be-
ing the most scientific and beautiful of them
all Next to it, and very close behind. is the
Graco-Roman. This last school of wrestling
doe not belong to the Anglo-Saxon race at all,
and has come into vogue in England and Amer