New Britain herald., 1917-08-25

he ran away with Holman's circus.
From childhood having a great apti-
tude for gymnastics and trapeze work,
he won the favor of the gymnasts with
the circus and made good from the
start. Before he was sixteen years old
he had enlisted in the United States
navy as a coal passer and during the
four years that he was with the fleet
he developed into a boxer and wrestler
until he was the recognized champion
of the squadron. On securing his
honorable discharge from that SER
vice he went into vaudeville as a
strong man and trapeze performer
and while exhibiting in the Haymarket
theater in Chicago he attracted the at
tention Of Bob ManniX, Il sporting
promoter After some preliminary
training he was matched to wrestle
with Harry Worth, ex-lightweight
champion of the world. By his UNI
usual strength the young Plainville
boy was able to hold the former cham
pion to a draw after four hours and
twenty minutes of gruelling work.
Later Joe Coffey, the we'll known box
ing and wrestling prom otter, took Ben
jamin under his wing and developed
him into the wonder he is today.
Among the best men on the mat he
has met and conquered is joey Smith,
who held the worlds lightweight
champion, John Billette, to a draw.
Benjamin was matched to Wrestle
with Billette but before the match
came off he was injured in the trolley
wreck and was unable to compete.
Among the other famous masters Of
the ring and mat with whom the local
boy has had bouts, either in training
or for a purse. are Bob Managoff, the
original Terrible Turk, Usiff lausanne,
also known as the Terrible Turk, An
DIRE Andrews, Bob Fulton and Charles
Cutler, the last named being the ex-
heavyweight wrestler of the country.
He also trained with Knockout Brown,
Chicago's great boxer. !
During his six years career as a
wrestler Benjamin has participated in
more than sixty-three bouts and has
yet to find a man better than he is for
his record shows that he has never |
been thrown. In condition the local |
boy weighs 1875 pounds, but has taken |
on men as heavy as ITO pounds, de-
pending on his ability and tremendous
strength to carry him through.
Among Benjamin's most ardent adj |
mirers, both on the mat and off, are
Mrs. Flavie Benjamin, his attractive
young wife, and his two year old |
daughter, Flavia. Benjamin states |
that he never enters a, bout without |
the enthusiastic support of his wife
who always has ringside seat. Dur
ing his training period for the coming !
bout BENJAMIN would like to meet any |
of the local boys who are interested in |
athletics He will be willing to |
wrestle, box or run with them and |
would like to have a number OF them |
visit his training camp and work out
with him.
To see the remarkable muscular
development of this young man is to
admire him and for the benefit of
other youths and young men in town
who would like to build up strong
the young wrestler has the
recipe. Early to bed and
early to rise. Plenty of good nourish-
ing foods and fruits, but above all,
moderation in all things. On top Of
this take plenty of good hard work
and when you do your work do IL
because you want to, not because you
feel that you have to-" Asked to what
he attributed his own great strength,
Benjamin replied 'Twenty-four years
of the hardest kind of work. He
has lust turned twenty-four and
states that since childhood he has
spent all of his spare time developing
his strength. While in training Ben
iamin spends from six to eight hours
per day exercising. His daily pro-
gram runs something as follows:
Rises at q. M. takes a brisk walk
of a mile or so to timber his leg
muscles and then runs eight or ten
miles at a steady training pace. Re-
turns home and jumps rope for fifteen
minutes or so. Shadow boxing for a
half hour Bag punching for twenty
minutes, wrestling for half hour,
then a cold shower, a brisk rub and
a light luncheon about a. m. While
in training BENJAMIN advises small
wine glass of Port wine with a raw