The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-09-06
Howl Because Of
 Wrestling Fiasco
Mat Game Killed in Chicago Because of Queer Action
 by Hacks Manager

l Chicago, Sept. 6.-The fact that Jack l Curley, manager for Hackenschmidt
 also was promoter of the match an6
 secretary of the Empire A. C., caused
 much unfavorable comment yesterday
 as result of the miserable fasco. Ii
 is believed the farce will put an end
 to the wrestling game, on a big scale 1 for years to come in Chicago. | Wrestling fans put up $87,053 to sec the affair. Of this GOtch received
 $21,0O0. The clubs expenses were $4,00O Hackenschmidt was to have
 received 70 per cent. of the remainder I-$43,437, leaving the club profit o1
 s1S,616. But Hackenschmidt received no such sum. Manager Curley paid
 him s11,000 for his share and $2,5Ot i expense money, leaving a profit for | Curley of $29,937. Curley also receiv- | ed one-quarter of the clubs net prof | its, amounting to $4,654, making his ! total vim nss oa the match $34, 591
 &-l1 one-quarter of the moving picture | royalties.
 l Curley's admission that he knew of | Hackenschmidt's injury for two
 weeks and did not make an effort to | postpone the match so that the Rus l sian might recover has left bad | taste in the mouths of mat fans. Calling off of all bets on the wrest- I ling match has raised a storm of pro- | tests by those who had money up on l the winner
 Herman sF SchuettIer,s assistant | chief of police explained the action by saying that such procedure is custom ] ary. An added reason, he said, is | that the police are determined to | stamp out gambling in the city. Referee smith, Chief Schuettler ex- | plained. proposed that the bets be | called off. His reason was that in | case the match turned out to be a poor one, as it did, there would be a tremendous 'squawk' from the bet tors and that the wrestling game | would receive a serious setback in Chicago
 You understand it is quite custom ary to call bets off in events of this
 kind. It has little effect, as the bet tors will back their opinions regard
 less of the announcement Tt is a shame,'' the assistant chief continued, ito bring a crowd like this together and send them home with this memory of the worlds greatest
 wrestling match
 'I am a devotee of wrestling. No one likes better than do to see two men, evenly matched, battling for a big title
 Tt isn't right to put up match of
 this kind. Wrestling is a good sport. It can be made crooked like any other
  splendid recreation.
 T do not think this match was crooked. But it was fasco. Why? Because the men were not evenly | matched.
 Because one man wasn't up to standing the gaff, this crowd paid
 over $100,000 to see twenty minutes of indifferent sport. The next !Mg match, if there is one, must be pre- ceded by a guarantee arranged so that the public can be satisfied there will be a real contest. Otherwise wrestling will be. as I have said, a dead card in Chicago
 Ticket scalpers selling seats for the ch-Hackenschmidt wrestling bout ! reaped one of the largest harvests ever recorded for a similar event in this city, according to the vendors themselves.
 Business was exceptionally good, es- pecially in the three days before the match, but the outlook was really gloomy before that time. Ia was not until the out-of-town spectators ar rived that the real sale began. Tickets selling originally for $10 went to $15, while a few of the choice ones
 were sold from $17 to $20. The s seats were sold for $7.5O up to s9, and the $3 tickets brought an advance of
 $2. It is estimated that 1000 tickets were disposed of by the scalpers