The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1906-05-27
ONE LEGGED
ATHLETES WON

Although most OF US have seen. or al
least have heard OF, says the New Yorg
sun, the one-legged OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
OF whom We're often wont, in the days
kwhen the game was not so strictly dis
/ cfplined as it is at present. to oppose an
eleven of one armed players-one-leg-
ged athletes are by no means common
and one-legged golfer is proba bly,
unique Yet such a phenomenon does
exist in the person of a member of the
Bulweu Artisans Club, who, it is said
plays very sound game He, in all
probability. however, acquired the rudi-
ments OF the science when acting as a
caddie in days previous to the accident
that necessitated the amputation of his
limb.
That such handicap as the loss of
a leg does not incapacitate a man from
excelling as swimmer, says the Lon
don It'd Bits, has been conclusiveIy
proved ON more than one occasion. One
OF the foremost opponents of the nata-
tory art at the present day labors un-
Ger this disadvantage, and many old
frequenters of<Brill's Baths at Brighton
VIII remember the head swimming mas
ter, Camp, who, despite the fact that
he had but one leg, vas not only an
adept at trick swimming, but in the
matter of pace could give a start and
beating to many who had the normal
number of limbs.
More than once has One-legged cy-
clist won race. and not so long since
such one, named West. used with a
liberal start to hold his own With the
peediest professionals. Fitzpatrick, too
must be endowed with as much power
in his one leg as most men have in their
two, if we consider the many daring
feats he has accomplished on his cycle
foremost among which are his standing
with his machine on the summit of the
100-foot high Laxey Wheel, in the Isle
of Man, and his descending at break
neck speed the east steps of the Capitol
at Washington.
The annals of foot racing contain
more than one record in point. We read
how once Newmarket Heath was the
scene of a race between two cripples
each having a wooden leg. In the pre-
ence of a goodly throng. among whom
was the Merry Monarch, they started
fair. and hobbled a good pace, which !
cause great admiration and laughter |
among the beholders: but the tallest of |
the two won by two or three yards |
Again, over a hundred years later in |
1893, q certain one-legged man, named |
Carter, backed himself 10 cover six
miles within the hour. and performed |
the feat with six minutes to spare.
Some years since a wrestler named |
Binet gained much kudos among the
nabitues of Continental fairs less by his
hot inconsiderable, than by his being |
handicapped by the loss of a leg. This |
he always made gall
ant and not infrequently a successful
show. his great height, strength and I
weight standing him in good stead. He
excelled, too. in feats of strength, and
vas specially notable for his skill in
casting a heavy blacksmith's hammer.
To d trial of skill with this implement
he was wont to issue a general chal-
enge, and it was but seldom he found |
lis master
9Nothing. one would say. is more cal
,ulated to place boxer at a disadvan
age than the loss of a leg. Yet Thomas
Sench, a burly Is stone man. topping
feet by some 8 inches, well held his
,wn with the gloves with such as had
he temerity to face him in the arena
If the booth with which he and other
boxers Travelled the fairs and race
courses in the days when pugilism
iourished
Not only did he take on all corners
It mimic warfare, but on one occasion
t least he stripped in the ring for seri-
us fray, his opponent being a Leices-
er butcher, who thought to compensate
or his inferiority in pounds and inches
" his superior activity. In this. how
Yer, he was mistaken, for the long left
f the cripple which he was unable to
void put him out of time after seven
cen we'll fought rounds.