Omaha daily bee., 1909-01-17
OPENING OF WRESTLING CAME
W~estergaard Wins in Straight Falls
from Lundin.
FIRST ONE LONG DRAWN OUT
winner shows Greater skill and
speed, but Lundin's strength
EnRbIes Him TO Break
Many Holds.

Jess westergaard, the iowa Dane, clearly
showed his superiority over the swede,
Hjalmar Lundin. at the Auditorium Friday
night when he won in straight falls. al
though the match was no walkaway and
was hard fought from start to finish. The
first fall was won In 1880 and the second
i'm 16 minutes.
A real carnival Of wrestling was pulled
off at the Auditorium to the great delight
Of several thousand, who almost COM
pletely filled the balcony and filtered all
over the arena wrestlers from all parts
of the country and from the old world
we're on hand. anxious TO arrange matches
and from the challenges which flew back
and forth. it seems as though Omaha was
to have splendid wrestling matches before
warm weather stops the sport.
Westergaard was superior at nearly all
branches OF the game, being considerably
faster, but the big Swede had two points
of advantage. His neck was remarkably
short, IN fact his head is set almost upon
his shoulders. and this gave him wonder
full bridging power, and his legs were also
powerful, which made it almost impossible
for Westergaard to get any kind of an ef-
fective toe hold. The Dane was on the
aggressive most of the time, although he
had to do some fast defensive work him
self several times when Lundin would get
all kinds OF Nelson's. Several times Lundin
secured good toe holds. which looked as
though they might result in a fall, but
each time Westergaard was able to break
away.
The first fall was a long one and looked
for a time as though it might end abruptly,
when both wrestlers went through the
ropes and fell on the timers table. Lundin
seemed to be all out when he was lifted
onto the mat again, but a little water and
rest and he was able to continue the match.
LundIn's Strength in Evidence.
Time and again Westergaard would get
a hold which looked as though it might be
the goods, but the strength Of Lundin and
good bridging would enable him to get
away. He could simply straighten out his
head and break a full Nelson. At the
start the Swede made a dive for a leg
hold, but Westergaard turned 1t to his ad-
vantage and was soon behind, which posi-
ton he held during more than four-fifths
of the match. 1t seemed only n matter OF
time until Westergaard would throw Lun-
din, although westergaard was doing most
of the work all the way through and natur-
ally was expected to tire first. westergaard
10 INT NV III many VI HIS HuONGe, DuI
he lacks the speed of the champion.
Both fails were won in the same way,
a crotch and a half Nelson, which were
secured after long manipulation and hard
work.
De Rouen, the giant Frenchman. who is
over in this country to make a reputation
which will warrant him in challenging
Gotch. was on hand with his manager,
Frank Kennedy, and he challenged the
winner of the match for a week from
Monday night. the conditions being that
Rouen undertakes to throw Westergaard
twice in an hour. He is a powerful look
ing fellow, with massive frame. He has
been in this country but five weeks.
Burns Makes a Talk.
Farmer Burns, although he did not
"%rastle,' was the center OF attraction and
made quite q talk on "rastling," and gave
illustrations with Holden of the different
holds used by famous wrestlers in their
matches. He advocated a clean life, free
from smoking and chewing and the drink
ing Of intoxicants, and made a decided hit
with his impromptu talk. He requested
that followers of the game refrain from
betting. as he said that was the ruination
of most sports. He exhibited his muscles
and showed that he had a chest expansion
greater than a derby hat. He said that
he had been wrestling for forty years and
had wrestled 5000 times. He told OF the
methods he had employed in training Gotch
and said he would train him again when
he returned to this country to meet some
Of the giants of the old world who were
flocking across to meet him.
The preliminary was also a corker, being
between Louis Schwager of Calhoun AND
Jack Kinney OF Omaha. 1t was declared q
draw by Referee Griswold as two falls
were not made within the time limit
Schwager seemed the better and won the
first fall in thirty-one minutes. 1t was
agreed that the second bout should go fiji.
teen minutes. At the end of that time
neither had a fall and they agreed to &c
ten minutes longer, and then as neither
had an advantage. It was declared a draw
Hokup. the giant from Malvern, Ia, was
on hand to challenge the winner. He looks
like a conner and probably will be given a
match later in the season.