The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1898-09-17

and one of the most prominent depart
ments in the club. One of the reasons
why wrestling is neglected in many Of
the athletic clubs is that it has always
been sard to get good instructors. New
pupils if not handled properly get hu-t
and then discouraged. It makes no diff
ference to good instructor how young
or old, weak or strong pupil is, n COM
petent teacher works him accordingly and
all goes well. There are pupils in .!.a
New York "A thletic> club wrestling depart
ment from sixteen to sixty years old, and
they number so many that there ,is strona
talk of engaging an assistant instructor.
The only style of wrestling pracriced III
the club Is catch-as-catch-can This is
known as the American style. and it is
considered by the club author ties as the
proper, style for the development Of men.
This mode requires not only strength, but
qu1ckness and science as, we'll. 1t differs
from the. Greco-Roman style in that in
the latter a man is not permitted to catch
his opponent below the waist. It is far
more interesting to watch, and it gives
more play for quickness and agility than
does the &GrecO-ROman, which depends
more on brute force and is consequently
the style largely favored by big men who
have nothing but great strength to rec-
ommend them, 5.s ~. -.
Among the best wrestlers in the New
York Athletic club are George. Bechtel
the club in the last Amateur Athletic
union championships, held in Phfladel-
pllia in 1897. Mr.. Bechtel represented the
middle-weight class and Mr. Thompson
the feather-weisht The weights OF the
Classes in Wrestling run as follows
Feather-weght, lis pounds and under.
special weight 125; lightweight, 1875;
Wslte"- we.g..t 145; middle-weight, l5S,
ana over this heavyweight
ttS,'h 011 oF -
championships are George Bechtel, mid
dives ht: Marshal Page heavyweight;
w. H. Page, welter-weight, and Dr. H. E.
stafford, spac.al weight. The first cham
p-on heavyweight of the club was Harry
fEnos who won in the tournament of
.s94 EdwaAd Weinacht won both the
mi ddie and heavy weight hampionshipe
| IN 1890 The heavyweight champion of
the following year was C. ]. Kintner
Others among the clubs we'll known
wrestlers are DR.. G. M. Hammond, Rich
| ard Stevens, B. French, W. H. Page, Jr..
| Charles Coster. DR.. w. W. Gilfillen,. g.
/ Scovilie, c.. w. Turner, George H. Ferens,
Dr.. Echeverria, c. c. Turner, T. Town.
send George B. North, J. C. Converse,
Charles Knoblauch, Charles E. Goodhue
and Dr. B. F., O'Connor. .--.-=
The club Championships will be held
| this year in the gymnasius on April II
diamond medal offered byiDr. C. c. How
ard. This special prize is intended as an
| inducement to get men to enter the con-
tests for more than one year. After win
ming one championship most of the men
| have been satisfied to rest on their laur-
| els, but to become the permanent owners
| of this special prize they must win a
championship for three consecutive years.
This country has turned out many cele.
hrof o1 3,ovn ar e,
whom may be mentioned Evan Lewis,
better known as ''the strangler." He Is
| the champion catch tch-can wrestler
of the world. Another famous exponent
| Of this style Of wrestling Is Martin Gar
mer') Burns. and other good men are
DAN Mcleod, "Ton" Connors and
Jenkins of Cleveland. Matsada K. Sora-
| kichi the "Jap," was ALSO extremely
skillful at this style of wrestling but he
had to succumb to the superior powers
of some of the American champions. .
| Among The old time catch-as-catch-can
wrestlers who are living now, but who
have retired from the field, are Edwin
Bibby. 1'om'' Cannon and Joe, Acton
The last named was the best man of his
class in his day. He took part in a great
match in Madison Square garden some fif-
teen years ago with the noted Clarence
Whistler The latter weighed 100 pounds
at the time Acton weighed only 153. The
| npen wrestled for about seven hours and
whistler was on the defensive all the
| time The contest was so long-drawn out
| and otherwise so unsatisfactory that 1t
hurt .;restlng in the estimation Ct the
public very much. 81 s3is j r sz,
There are only few great Greco-Ro-
| man wrest1ers In the country now, and
among them are Roeber, Charles Witmar
81 Ci ncinnati, and William Muldoon, who
was the champion at one time. He has
| retired from the business and is now
keeping a training academy at White
IsPlains, Clarence Whistler died In Aus
lstraka. and Professor William Miller, who
was also fine wrestler in his day., Is
| now In that country. It was Miller who
brought out Muldoon, and the latter in
turn introduced Roeber to the public.
| Roeber gave Hugh Leonard his frst les
sons In wrestling. Leonard proved an
| apt pupil He is the author Of a work
entitled "A Handbook of Wrestling."
+ The voll me is edited by Frederic A. Fer
| maid and 1t Is considered the most COM
prellensives and valuable work on the art
Of wrestling that has yet appeared.
"A wrestling bout is said to resemble a
military campaign, inasmuch as in either
case success depends more upon strategy
than upon strength. The different styles
| OF wrestling may he summed up as fol-
lows: Catch-as-catch-can, Greco-R Roman.
| collar-and-elbow, Cumberland and West
noreland, Japanese Swiss and loose
wrestling. More than two hundred DIFF
rcrent modes Of attack and defence are
| Illus rated in Mr.. Leonard's work, show
ing Row much man has to learn about
the sport IT he wishes to become mas
ter Of all the styles. Among the different
holds is the standing chancery and ba.
hold. in which the aggressor by quick
movement catches the back of his oppo-
nent's head with his right arm and pulls