Los Angeles herald., 1906-06-23
GREAT WRESTLER
MAY DON GLOVES
HACkENSCHMlDT WISHES TO
ENTER RING
Famous Mat Man Hurled Six BurIy
Athletes to Floor Within Forty
Minutes-ls German and
Not Russian Lion

George Hackenschmidt, known as the
Russian lion, but in reality German,
is at present attracting worldwide at
tention because of the enormous
strength which has gained for him the
title of heavyweight champion wrestler
of the world.
Recently there has been talk of the
powerful mat man donning the gloves
and sailing forth in conquest of present
ringsters
The following story by Gym Bagley
is descriptive of the great athletes
abilities:
Jeff is the greatest fighter in every
way that ever happened and Hack is
the greatest of all wrestlers. Even in
a grapple with the devil I'd take a
ticket on Hack, mundane rules, of
course.
But it's each to his'n. They can't
cross the arts and make anything like
an even split.
This isn't opinion alone. 1t has been
demonstrated.
Tom Jenkins thought he could box.
I saw Billy Elmer, fifty pounds lighter,
put it all over the American champion
grappler. Tom couldn't hit him with a
handful of shot Billy made him grunt
and puff and quit after three rounds,
and it was only friendly bout.
Ernest Roeber, when he was cham
pion, and he was the cleverest we ever
had, got the idea in his thick noddle
that he could go some with the gloves.
Well, he could, but it was all backward.
1 boxed with him, and 1 know.
When boxing was grabbed by the
Lewis repeater here some of the heavies
took to the mat to get a piece of change
Tom Sharkey did better than any of
them, and that wasn't saying much, be-
cause Sharkey Is thick-physically
mean-and strong, and built as much
like a wrestler as a boxer. The latter
he never was.
Fitzsimmons thought he could wres-
tie; so did Ruhlin. And they made a
match which was pulled off at the
garden.
1t was a success, it was so funny
Fitz and Rubin stood up and clouted
each other with the open hand, to the
huge amusement of the crowd, and that
was as near wrestling as they came.
Jack Munroe tried the mat and knew
as much about Nelson's and body holds
as he did-oh. no; he did know some
thing about fighting. Even that ever
fat, short-winded and soft Dago, Lea
Pardello, tied Munroe in so many knots
that they had to pry him loose with a
crowbar
1t wasn't because these fighters
didn't know the holds; it wasn't be-
cause these wrestlers didn't know the
blows. 1t would have been a simple
matter to teach them.
1t was because each was a winner
in his own art owing to the fact that
nature had fitted him for it and prac-
tice had perfected him in it.
The structural makeup of a boxer is
as different from that of a wrestler as
the mental layout of either is from
that of man who thinks.
Both have strength. Jeffries is a
very strong man. Ask Jim Corbett or
Bob Fitz. Hackenschmidt is the most
powerful piece of work l ever saw in
judge. 1 refereed the match when he
slammed six rash candidates to their
shoulders inside of forty minutes. He
tossed that half dozen burlies around
as If they had been tennis balls.
He could have downed the bunch in
as many minutes, but 1 told him to let
them stay awhile so that the innocent
public might get some return.
The last of the batch was a dainty
bit of bric-a-brac weighing some 26C
pounds.
81 show you something whispered
Hack to me. II fool NIT dis feller
When you want him down, you wink
at me. Den l show you"
Hack fooled with the baby They
were both standing on their feet whef,
l tipped Hack the wink. You know
how quick a wink is; the wink wasn't
finished before that awful Dutchman-
Hack is German, not Russian-had his
victim pinned to the mat.