The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1910-06-23
WRESTLING TRUST IS
MANAGING ALL BOUTS
st. Louis Writer Finds Good
Reasons for suspecting That
All Is Not Right.

AL Is Not Right.
Whether the swrestling game Is ahove
suspicion Is q question that has arisen
In connection with the rapid rise Of
tho sport. Frequently 1t has been
tntimated that there was q "wrest-
ing trust" That the rumor il no un-
founded Is evidenced by the following
from the st. Louis POST Dispatch:
Imagine q wrestling trust!" One
hnds some difficulty trusting most
wrestlers. But there exists q syndicate
that has reached out and, in one way
Of another, obtained control OF all the
wrestiers OF consequence ! n the coun-
Try. And Of some not SO fortunate.
Now this may be q good thing for
employment at a fixed salary and!
enables him to carr a living without
notwithstanding the whole sport or
giving 1t q most dissolute appearance
public.
But 1t is awfully rough on the sport
overs. as st. Louis must be realizing
rom the dearth of good shows Of the
nal variety held in st. Louis.
No Real Contest.
The recent Zbyszko- Olson contest
was the first in which out-of.town
wrestlers of cte4hag ccnereted here
nnce the trust" introduced It's own
fhoW. right under the noses Of local
promoters. That was when Gotch and
company appeared with Jeffries and
ais combination, last Christmas,
NOW nobody for a moment thinks
that either the exhibitions given by
iosch and his troupe or that by Olson
Ind Ibyszko had any OF the SAVIOR of
: real contest. So we haven't really
.een permitted to get a match here
With red corpuscles in it since the old
lays when Charles Haughton was on
harth. Nor Is there much likelihood
n we will ever be able to see a good
'how unless the heads OF the trust,
zee Mt to come into town and stage one
aere on their own account.
ct Tu, Frank GotchI
Fol today the syndicate Of men
headed by George Kennedy and Toe
Coffey. Of Chicago. has virtually con-
troll OF the services of every American
wrestler; and 1t has a pretty good
understanding with Frank Gotch.
Il you think this is drawing 1t too
Itrong here is a bona fide reply, in part,
written by Kennedy to a st. Louis man
wno mas since offered as high as $12,-
700 to bring a certain match here:
Here are h men I can get for
your show. who are not hooked up
With other dates now: Eugene Trem-
bly,. Canada, 1875 pounds; Yussif Nah,
mout, 200 pounds; stanislaus zbyszko,
$50 pounds; Jim Essen. 225 pounds,
Raoul de Rouen. $50 pounds; Charles
Cutler. 22o pounds; Pat Connolly, 1913
pounds; Con Kelley, 212 pounds.
I will put on Mahmout for SO per
cent or the gross receipts, transporta-
ZION and a guarantee that the wrestlers
themselves get not less than $3.50 for
their SHARE
Modest One,
How could you take It for so littlel And
ae'll do Just as nicely for any of he other
vrestlers, won't you. Fifty per cent
guarantee and let the st. Louis man carry
The bag for all the expenses. Great
sotch is a little betterAit's 60 per cent If
rou'd like him.. Within the last year pro,
noters have several times tried to bring
prominent wrestlers here. But the wires
could not be pulled so that the shows
sould be made to break even.
Possibility for Evil.
Darker practices thar mere control q,
he wrestler's time and dates are hinted
1t by the enemies OF the trust. If the
rust Is nursing a prospective big match,
we are told, through wire pulling it pre-
rents the affair reaching an ante-climax
'uch as might happen by having the
wrestling gentleman being groomed for
he the championship occasion beaten be-
!ore he meets Gotch. All wrestlers are
pointed" by the trust, for bouts with
4otch.
When Mahmout came to this country.
7 was over a %tortuous route that he
his way up to Gotch. He met
verifying in sight before he finally won
'he privilege of getting beaten-just as
everyone knew would happen all along.
but think of the box office receipts before
the Mahmout lemon was entirely
Next 1t was zbyszko, who was imported
ma sent around the circuit. And does 1t
not look peculiar nat Gotch could not
bulge this mar in Buffalo long ago. but.
could throw him twice in half an hour at
Chicago? The difference between a Sc. 900
house and a s35, 600 gate explains, perhaps.
Smart Men, Those Trusty Ginks.
There's nothing really illegal In what IS
actually known of the trusts methods
But the combination stultifes the game a
bit. 1t is perhaps not more to be censured
the theatrical trust.
n maj who deserves most blame gets
with least. He is Frank Gotch. He
lends his assistance to the plans Of the
promoters In their date" making with.
Gotch the trust" would fail Of its
own weight.
II Gotch really r%etires, nov is the time.
re gentlemen of promoting instincts. who
AVE been raving for a chance to re-open
me wrestling game in this and other
sites, to step in and guess who is to be
aext champion, and get him down on 81
contract. =
If you do you can get a little pin money
sor the winter hoard, too.