The Washington herald., 1908-05-03

When George HackenSchmdt accused
Frank Gotch OF having oiled his body in
their recent match at Chicago for the
atch-as-catch-ca championship OF the
world, the Russian Lion evidently over
looked the fact that he was the victim OF
one OF the oldest and most easily prac-
ticed tricks known in wrestling, accord
ing 20 Hughy Leonard Instructor in the
art at the New York Athletic club.
The ruse was introduced in this country
as far back thirty years ago. 1t is
generally supposed 10 have had it's origin
IN England but some OF the old books on
wrestling describe the trick as having
been popular among the grapplers OF
ancient Rome
"Old-timers or persons who know or
understand the primitive rudiments or the
wrestling game" said Leonard will tell
you that this Is the first trick a scheming
and ambitious wrestler viii try his best
TO learn. The idea comes natural TO
him, apparently. il is for resourceful
boxer to cultivate the gtnack OF adjusting
his gloves in such mdnner that the hair
stuffing Will be far away from his
knuckles in order to add extra power to
his blows.
"Oiling the skin makes the body slip
perry, and in this way il Is extremely
difficult TO get a good hold on your oppo-
nent. There are various ways of apply
ing the oil, but il must be executed deftly.
so as TO deceive referee. Some wrestlers
use cold cream, and rub il into the skin
each day three or four days before
match. The cream i'm this way gets into
the pores, and as soon as the men begin
10 porspire the oil comes 20 the surface
and the body becomes slippery Lini-
mcnts and other oils are often USED,
principally by foreign wrestlers, espe-
cially Turks, who eat lot of greasy
food.
skin virtually smooth.
There are other tricks employed i'm the
game. and ! can recall one practiced on
me when / was first starting out as a
wrestler / met "A fellow named Jack
Smith at Nelson Han, on East Fifteenth
street. Smith was an Englishman, with
the reputation of being fast and clever
wrestler Billy Muldoon backed me in
the match, and as IL was practically my
first contest of Importance / was deter
mined to throw Smith in a hurry and
win.
while l was in my corner waiting for
the call OF time / observed that Smiths
skin, particularly about his arms, was
very smooth and white AS he was app
parently naturally swarthy, 1 became
suspicious. I turned to Muldoon, who
was behind me, and told him TO examine
Smiths body. Muldoon did SO, but could
the match went on, and after we were on
the mat about thirty minutes l found
that Smiths body was oiled. Wen, 1 had
hard work to gain a fall, but l finally
threw my opponent In an ur-and-a-half
bout BY the time the next bout started
the oil had disappeared, and the second
fall was easy for me.
There are lots of other tricks used by
wrestlers who do not care TO rely on fair
-
acted as referee i'm the first match be-
tween the late YOusouf the Turk and
Ernest Roeber, for the Graeco- Roman
title. Yousouf sprung an entirely new one
on me. However, he did not get away
with It, for / promptly disqualified him
and gave the contest TO Roeber.
"Yousouf. after the men had been toss
ing each other over the mat finally
grabbed his own wrist and rushed at
Roeber Then with the forearm he jolted
Roeber in the ribs, and the latter fell of
the stage. 1t was foul OF the most pro-
nounced kind, but trick just the same.
II was executed very cleverly, too, and
had a layman been i'm the ring the
chances are that the Turk would have
escaped detection. The thrust loosened
all the ligaments of ROBBERS ribs and he
was disabled for several days
"Using the nails to scratch and the
thumb to gouge "a mans eyes or iniure
him i'm some other way has been tried
often. ! don't blame a man for trying il
II the referee is foolish enough to stand
for IT,
Fault of Referee.
And for this reason 1 have no sym
pathy for Hackenschmidt for agreeing tt
hermit a man to referee a match OF sucl
Importance who only had a superficial
knowledge OF the wrestlers art. Ia,
the referee been a man OF experience OF
a grappler himself, he would have made
Il his business to see that Gotch's nails
were properly trimmed And he would
too, have been alive TO any fouls ALLEGED