New-York tribune., 1918-04-27
Each Man Tries His Favorite
Hold Without Early
Result
By Fred Hawthorne

In one of the most spectacular
wrestling bouts ever seen in this city,
Joe Stecher, of Nebraska, and Ed
"Strangler" Lewis, of Kentucky, fought
savagely for two hours to draw at
Madison Square Garden last night. The
match came to an end at 1888, time
limit of two hours having been agreed
upon.
On points Stecher was entitled to the
decision, being on the aggressive the
greater part of the time. In the last
few minutes Lewis started forcing the
fight, but Stecher held him off and was
there for more at the end.
1t was typical Curley- Meyer house
party that sat down to watch the play
boys of the wrestling world go through
their little tricks. In other words,
there were about 5000 men and wom-
en- in the Garden party when the first
preliminary went on.
Soldier Leavitt, a delicate young
thing from the regular army, was
forced to submit to the squeezing tao
tics of "Amcricus," from Baltimore,
After donning his uniform Leavitt
seemed to enjoy the sight of other un-
fortunates getting theirs" The SOL
dier remained until the last moment
and actually sighed when the war was
over.
Antoine Stecher. famous Joe's broth
er. forced "Cyclone" Sid Ross to cry
"uncle" after almost thirty minutes Of
labor. The "Cyclone" was not pinned,
cipher after Antoine had taken the
wind out of him.
Yussiff Hussane, the Balkan bone
crusher, got so exceedingly rough in
their thirty-minute tete-a-tete that
Billy Roche, the referee, was kept busy
throwing arms, legs and heads back
into the ring.
Ends in Draw
The end Of the festivities found both
men alive, and so it was called draw
Lieutenant E. J. Macdonald ad
dressed the crowd on behalf of the
third Liberty Loan.
Mrs. George A. Wheelock, chief
yeoman in the navy, climbed into the
ring in full uniform and made a stir
ring and eloquent plea for recruits.
10 your duty, men Of America, and
never allow the backs of the Allied
soldiers to touch the mat" she cried,
and the crowd was with her to man.
The women in the crowd sat up when
William P. Young bought soiled cloth
cap for $500. This little cap, however,
has history. 1t was taken from the
body of German officer on the Flan-
ders battlefield by Charley Rose, now
with the American Ambulance Corps.
Rose was formerly the trainer for Carl
Morris and Freddie Welsh
At 1O:40 o'clock Stecher and Lewis
got into the ring. 1t was announced
that the match would be to a finish.
one fall to count. The men went right
to work, and, after about six minutes
OF tugging, Lewis clamped a head-hold
on Joe and brought him to the mat. 1t
was not the genuine deadlock that the
STRANGER" has made famous, and Joe
wriggled out and tried to slip a body
scissors on Lewis. Ed drew up like a.
turtle, however, and Joe could not do
any cutting.
The men alternated as aggressor,
each trying every minute for his
favorite hold Stecher, during a furi-
Gus mix-up at the end of twenty min
utes, got scissors around the upper
section of the body and locked it.
Everybody expected fall then, but the
blades" of the shears were a bit too
high, and Lewis pred them apart and
worked free.
The bout was spectacular every min.
ute with flying falls, head spins and
crashes to the mat, keeping the crowd
in an uproar
After it had gone about forty min