New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-04-03

-. MAN il has had its ups and downs like the
,o,ter-day sports. sometimes being the most
,o,uIar Of public exhibitions and at other times
.,narentIy lacking sufficient Involvement to
.vcte public attention. In the days OF ancient
Greece and Rome. and even before. emperors
and kings did not deem it beneath their dignity
% engage in wrestling matches with one an
.,her According TO Homer. even Ajax and
r1vsses met in wrestling bout. and history
as larends Of wrestling matches held prior
~ the siege Of Troy. The Greeks probably OBJ
.o,red their knowledge Of wrestling from the
rrvn,jans and the revival Of the Olympan
,ones 776 b c. brought the sport into great
Orominence in Greece. The first great champion
a, Greece was Eurabatos. a Spartan. who won
tho nrjze IN the contests in 1OS h. c. The VIC
,orious wrestler in those good old days might
have his statue erected at Olympia in the sacred
,empe. Wrestling also nourished in Rome un-
u, the empire got a bad fall and then the sport
,angushcd for several centuries
EARLY CONTESTS IN ENGLAND.
From the time OF Henry II wrestling con-
tests were held annually in England. The first
sreat public wrestling matches held in London
were in St CHESS Field. and afterward contests
took place at Clerkenwel. The Mayor OF tho
city and the other notables attended these
matches clad in their best bib and tucker and
4 truly gorgeous procession they made vending
their way TO the grounds to see the athletes
take falls out Of one another The doughty
big-wigs used TO get so excited at times over
the result OF the contests that many impromptu
SCRAPS" took place among them In the grand
stand All this created scandal among the good
wives at home and the sport occasionally fell
into disrepute. The English people always ad-
mIred wrestling as a sport as the frequent allu-
sions Of the English writers so TO show The
contest between Orlando and the Dukes wrest-
Ter in AS You Like It. is an example OF wrest-
Ling as practised in England in Shakespeare's
time.
1t is rather difficult to say just "hen wrestling
became popular in America There ~ no'hing
to show that the aborgnes Of IN" country en-
gagged in the sport much The trib"srnen were
too prone 20 carve one another with tomahawks
As for the early white settlers. they had too
many other problems to wrestie with 10 bother
about wrestling among themselves. After the
country got into politics however. the settlers
found that little mild amusemen, Mas desr-
able. and so they took UP wrestling and other
sports Public interest in wrestling in this
country. as in other countries has nuctuated
from time to time. and this has been largely
due to the professional wrestlcrs themselves
As long az the public was satisfied that the pro
fessonal wrestling matches were conducted fair
" and above board II patronized them. The
interest OF late has been largely confined TO the
clubs and universities where wrestling has long
been considered one OF the best means u de-
yelopng the human physique.
THE y 7 A C. WRESTLING CLASS
Probably the largest school Of wrestling IN
his country to-day is that OF the Ne"- ork
Athletic club. The class now numbers about
rs members and another hundred viii join IL
before the year is out. Hugh Leonard. a noted
wrestler and the most successful teacher Of the
art Of wrestling In America. is the Instructor.
BE has been connected with tho club FOR nve
years and before that he was the Instructor OF
the old Manhattan Athletic Club. There
were practic ally no wrestlers In the New-York
Athletic Club when Mr.. Leonard first went there.
but it has had many fine ones since. and the
wrestling department Is now the largest and one
Of the most prominent departments in the CLUB
One Of the reasons why wrestling is neglected IN
many Of the athletic clubs Is that IT has always
been hard 70 get good instructors New pupils
II not handled properly get hurt. and then ds-
couraged. 1t makes no difference to good In
structor how young or old. weak or strong q
pupil is. competent teacher works nm ac-
cordngly AMI all goes well. There pupils
In the New-York Athletic Club wrestling de-
partment from sixteen to sixty years old. and
they number many that there Is strong talk
Of engaging assistant Instructor.
The only style Of wrestling practised In tho
club is catch a-5-catch-can. This Is known as
the American style and 1t is considered by tho
club authorities as the proper style for the do
veODmcrf - Tbic mode re0lIircs not only