The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-06-10

Editors Note: This is the 18th of a series of articles which MT. Corbett Is writing concerning the career of the late Frank Gotch, who went to his grave the undefeated heavyweight wrestling cham pion of the world. The final instalment will appear tomorrow)
 After Frank Gotch defeated Stanislaus Zbyszko in June, 1910 he returned to his home in Iowa and rested up for while. Then, hardening to the demand of the fans. he returned to the mat, making his comeback appearance on February 6, 1911, against foreigner named Kale- fosnan. It was a "walkaway" for Gotch.
 In rapid succession from then on until May he defeated the following men, without losing a fall:
 Fred BeeIl Ohree times). Americus 0wice), Peter Nogert. Paul Schmidt, Ernest Koch, Harry Barn. Charles Cut let, Demetral Tom Jenkins, Jack Leon. Henry Ordeman and Jesse Kestergaard.
 And then came the second match with George Hackenschmidt, the Russian Lion," one which ever since has left an unsavory taste in the mouths of mat enthusiasts-but through no fault of the great American.
 From that day in 1908 when Gotch de- feated him right through until 1911, Hack enschmidt used the newspapers to voice the opinion that Gotch had won on a fluke, insisting if he ever got another chance he would crush Gotch into some 4l: nc all such statements Gotch would reply:
 If Hackenschmidt really wants to wrestle me I'll oblige him.
 But through 1909 and 1910 the Russian seemed more interested in heckling Gotch through the newspapers than he did in attempting it on mat. And the public cane to believe he didn't have the courage to grapple again with his condueror. But in 1910 Hackenschmidt returned to America and some months later through his manager, challenged Gotch. The champion, eager to take another crack at the Russian in an at- tempt to avenge some Of the slurs Hack had cast upon him. accepted.
 The match was put on in the White Sox park, in Chicago, on Labor Day Sept. 4 1911, before the hugest crowd that ever saw wrestling contest in American history The bitter enmity between the two men, and the fact that they were supposed to be about evenly matched. lured grappling enthusiasts from all parts of the world But the match resolved itself into what many have termed 'the worst fiasco in wrest- ling history"
 The figures for the bout were:
 Attendance, 5000; total receipts. S1,- 0S3. Gotchs share. $21 900 and 50 per cent of the moving picture profits. Hacken- schmidt, S13,5o0a Jack Curley the pro moter. received $29.9S7 as his bit" While the Empire Athletic club got $S2Jo, leav- ing the other $ls.6le to defray expenses.
 Many stories have been told concerning the inside details of the match. Most of them have it that Hackenschmidt showed a streak of yellow and insist that when Gotch went after him in ham, mer and tong fashion the Russian. sec ing he was hopelessly outclassed, quit at the first opportunity. But the story that comes, to me from George Bothner seems to be the fairest to all concerned-and it's a recital that many who were fin on the know have corroborated So I shall give it here.
 .'Hackenschmidt hurt his leg while in training few days before the contest" j" declares Bothner. "He then went to Jack Curley, his manager. and asked that the match be postponed until his leg got better. But just about that time re- port had reached the Russians ears that Gotch was suffering with a stiff or injured neck.
 This news was imparted to Hack and it was pointed out that although he did have bad leg that handicap was offset by Gotche's bad neck, making it about 5O-50 The promoters had risked tre- mendous sum in staging the match and any postponement was almost sure to cause them a big loss-and also cut into the share for Hack. Realizing this, and feeling that even with a bad leg he would