The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-09-04
QoRCE HAcENoGlIMDTy

their last match, and the last three years l he has improved greatly.
 l Or the other hand, followers of Hack enschmidt say he is the strongest wrestler
 who ever lived, and that in this contest, 1 which, it Is generally conceded, will be one requiring great endurance, he will 1 outlast his opponent. Hackenschmidt has devoted the greatest part of his training l Tor this contest toward making himself 1 faster. Dr. B. F. Roller, himself a scien- 1 tific wrestler and an old running mate of Gotch, has been the Russians chief trainer. Americus another speedy grap- pler also has been In the camp. Both assert Hackenschmdt has greatly in creased his speed and that Gotch will not have single trick which will baffle their pupil.
 Both Men, Fit
 Both men say they are fit To all out ward appearances they are but old timers who have been at the ringside. or mat side, Of every important event In the last decade again refer to the Jeffries- Johnson contest, pointing out that the greatest experts thought the alfalfa far mer was in shape Somehow, the sport ing element cannot forget that Reno bat tie. Score of citizens from Gotchs home town. who have known him from boy hood, swarmed in on him and were the II. Louis National League ball game. Gotchs aged mother, his wife and members of the family also attended the game In the morning the champion took a brisk run 10 loosen his muscles That was the only training he did. He spent the evening in his apartments reading the hundreds of letters and telegrams wish ing him good luck and victory.
 This was a trying day for Hacken- schmidts trainers The giant wrestler was as petulant as a spoiled child. pr. Roller says this is a good sign. because it shows the grapper is on edge The Russian took short run in the morning. slept couple of hours during the after noon. and wrestled with Dr. Roller, Americus and Johann Koch. just before dinner Hackenschmidt was to have um- pired a baseball game today. but his trainers cancelled the engagement ex- plaining that he was too nervous to of- ficiate. His wrestling bouts today were strenuous
 Foreigners Flock In
 It needed this meeting between Gotch and Hack to bring to light the countless numbers interested in a really great struggle in Chicago The circumference line of interest cannot be drawn around the city The visitors present only to be here Monday. are trickling in from the north, south, east and west today. To- morrow will see their number greatly augmented-Mond they will be here in full force
 Neither will the crowd be confined to those who claim America as their home. A party of noble lovers of the sport from England. including the Briton's '1ron Man" the Duke of Sutherland. and Baron Beresford, of Englands fighting family, are expected to arrive tomorrow. Due at the same time is the Humboldt Iowa, aoc:ree7tion. who will endeavor to make champion Gotch understand that the home folks are on hand to see the su- preme effort of his mat career.
 As if drawn by a magnet. wrestleTs from all the world will be on hand to wit ness the contest, and challenges galore will be hurled at the winner. First to arrive today was Ivan Romanoff, giant Russian, six feet eight inches tall and weikhing S2O pounds Under the wing of his manager, Alberto the Mastodon man finally found seclusion from wondering eyes at temporary quarters on the North side. He will challenge the winner. Pedersen, Denmark's famous athlete, declared to be the greatest of all Euro oean wrestlers next to the "lion. has left a prosperous business, for the Dane is reputed to be worth half million, to be on hand to witness the bout and chal- lenge the winner, He is due here to- morrow Four of the 12 Indian wrestlers, fresh from their recent trumphs in Lon don, are scheduled to arrive on Monday. and of these challenges by Akarla and Ahmud will be hurled at the winner. Zbysco now at St. Petersburg. compet- ing in tournament, will be represented by Manager Herman, who is ready to put up sl0000 that the Pole can throw the winner no matter who he be-