Los Angeles herald., 1908-01-23
ROLLER CAN
BEAT GOTCH
MANAGER OF FORMER WORLD
CHAMPION SAYS so
Joe Carroll Declares He viii Bet
$25oo That Roller Can Worst
Gotch on Any
Mat

The following letter from Joe Car
roll, at one tims manager for Frank
Gotch, champion wrestler, is self-ex-
planatory:
Il have never yet asked for space
in your paper, but L do ask for space
In which to partly answer a statement
said to have been made by Frank
Gotch. ] had made up my mind long
ago never to reply to anything said in
any paper about myself or the wres-
tling game, but this statement said to
have been made by him is liable to be
misconstrued by some of Rollers
friends. and therefore I ask space.
Gotch says that when he was a green
sucker in the game he used to allow
himself to be buncoed into making
handicap matches with local champions
and then throw them within one fall
of what he agreed to. Well, if Gotch
has done any of that work he has GER
tainly done 1t since he was a green
sucker at the game, for / managed him
for the first six years of his career, and
in all that time he never lost handi-
cap match and only two even matches
one to Jenkins and one to Burns.
Il will give Gotch or any other man
$1,000 who can show me any record of
any handicap match Gotch ever lost
during the six years l managed him.
and have matched him to throw men
as many as eight falls in an hour, and
also to throw as many as ten men in
one hour, and he won.
over year ago Gotch contracted
to throw Roller twice in an hour. In
stead of being shy one fall in the match
he was shy two. Gotch is with a show
now and | realize 1t would be a big
ad. for his managers to make the public
imagine he was going to tear men to
pieces on the mat, and also that he is
going to wrestle Hackenschmidt i'm
May. They have been telling that for
nearly year now; it's a wonder they
would not sign articles. But that is
their business, not mine.
81 am not interested in any wrestler,
except Roller. and my interest in him
is only as friend; and I want to see
him get a square deal. A great many
people in reading the statement made
by Gotch will say, We'll. maybe Gotch
let Roller stay so I will say for their
benefit that he did not let Roller stay
one minute longer than he had to.
Some wise people said Gotch let him
stay expecting to catch Roller for big
money on another match. If that is
the case why doesn't he challenge Roll
Ter to another contest?
"Now do not claim that Roller can
defeat Frank Gotch, but if Gotch
wishes to make a match with Roller,
and set the time of the match as far
ahead as he has set his one with Hack
enschmidt, 1 will bet him $250O that
Roller can defeat him. Gotch is the
champion of America and in my esti-
nation is is the greatest champion we
have ever had, and is one of the great
est wrestlers that ever stepped on
mat, but there is one other just as
great, and his name is DR.. B. F. Roller
1 truly believe that should they ever
meet again Roller will defeat him.
"Should Gotch wish to accept this
offer I am willing that the match
should take place in any city suitable
to Dr. Roller This challenge, so far
as I am concerned. is open to any man
in America at any weight or any man
in the world who does not weigh over
| 210 pounds"