The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1911-09-02
HOW WREsrLERs COMPARE
Hackenschmidt
National News Associationj

CHICAGO, ILL.,, Sept I'm the Ame-
rican League Baseball park Monday
afternoon Frank Gotch, the worlds
champion wrestler will defend his title
against George Hackenschmidt, the
Russian Lion" from whom the Iowa
grappler wrestled the championship
in a contest in this city on April 3,
1908. The bout has attracted atten-
ton on both sides of the Atlantic and
should prove the choicest id-bit that
has been offered followers of the game
in a long while. The men will wres-
tie to finish, the winner gaining two
falls out of three and carrying off the
lions share of the gate receipts be-
sides a large side bet and the cham
pionship title.
Both wrestlers are reported today to
be in the finest fettle for the match,
and all indications point to a desperate
struggle for supremacy. In a broad
sense the contest will be one of clev-
erness against strength and endur-
ance. Gotch is acknowledged to be
the cleverest wrestler who ever STEP
ped on the mat. Hackenschmidt en-
ploys no little science in his moves,
but his main reliance always has been
his wonderful power of strength and
endurance.
Has Defeated Them All.
Nearly all critics are agreed that
Frank Gotch is the greatest wrestling
champion since the days of Jack Car
keek, when the latter was at his best
Not so many years ago Gotch was
working on a farm in Iowa. Farm
er" Burns, the old-time wrestler, own
ed the farm, and it was sort of a
trainer to Burns that Gotch started in
the game. That was in the year 1899.
Since that time the Iowan has engag-
ed in 331 matches, not counting many
minor affairs, and of this number he
lost only seven, five of them being
handicap matches, in which he failed
to throw his man as many times as he
agreed. Gotch practically became
champion in 1906 when he defeated
Tom Jenkins at Kansas City. Jenkins
was then considered the best in the
country. Among other we'll known
wrestlers whom Gotch has mastered
may be mentioned Duncan Mcmillan,
Carl Pons, Farmer" Burns, Jim Parr,
Ed Atherton, Americas, Yankee Rodg-
ers, DR.. Roller, Fred .Beell, and HAL
mar Lundin. His greatest match was
with George Hackenschmidt, when he
won the championship three years
ago. Gotch won without a fall, as
Hackenschmidt gave up after 2 hours
and minutes of work on the mat
without any sign of fall.
All Around Athlete.
There is probably no athlete in the
world with a greater reputation than
George Hackenschmidt. Previous to
taking up wrestling he was consider
ed the strongest man in Europe, and
he was also one of the greatest ath-
| letes in all-around work. His first no.
table mat contest was with Paul Pons,
at that time the Graco-Roman cham
| pion of the world. Hackenschmidt
won the match in As minutes. His sue
cess determined him to become pro-
fessional wrestler. In the succeeding
years he defeated all the best men in
Europe, without any apparent trou-
J BILE. One of the most exciting match
es he ever had was when he met Mad
rail-, the Terrible Turk" with an I'M
beaten record. The match was for the
worlds championship. Notwithstand-
ing the great strength and weight of
the Turk, Hackenschmidt defeated
him in just A seconds. Not until he
met Frank Gotch did the big Russian
know the sting of defeat. Hacken-
schmidt acknowledges that Gotch is
the cleverest man in the game, but he
declares that in the coming match he
will be able to undermine the strength
of the champion with his far greater
strength and in the end will be return
ed the winner.