New Britain herald., 1918-03-02

! Hl n1ent of the cT7J 1ga1 ss.as M The seni-fnal bout waS Preceded I by two others of minor importance. \ All were scheduled for thirty min- utes to a fall. In the curtain raiser | EIelma Johnson of Sweden pinned \ John Trosky of Poland to the mat with a reverse body hold in Sic. John Freiberg threw Harry Stevens with a double waist lock in 22:45.
 Zbyszko crawled through the ropes t promptly at 10 o'clock and quickly was followed by Stecher. The differ I ence in weight and build between the ! two was pronounced. Referee George Bothner gave the word to the time l keeper for the opening gong at 1o:O3 and the big bout was on.
 Securing the conventional head and ] arm holds the men spared for an ! opening for eight minutes before Stecher. slipping an attempt of Zbysz- ko to gain leg hold, secured a waist lock from behind and brought the Pole to his knees. Zbyszko broke the lock and got to his feet quick ly to start another period of feeling out, pushing and showing.
 Three minutes later the Pole se~ cured a waist lock and brought Stecher to the canvas. Wladek worked on Joe from behind for only few seconds before Joe rolled from under and got to his feet, After twelve minutes of wrestling Zbyszko secured another waist lock, and Joe brol1c the fall with an inside leg and landed on top.
 Stecher Gains a Head Hold.
 Stecher secured a head hold and apparently put on some hard pres sure before Zbyszko broke it. The Pole worked on Stecher for half a minute While Zbyszko was trying for a. nelson Stecher reached over his shoulder and secured another head lock. The Pole quickly broke it, twisted around and secured a foot hold.
 zbyszko whirled Stecher about by one leg, but Joe kicked himself free. Soon afterward Stecher cross but locked the Pole to the mat and feint- ed around with fake attempts to se cure a nelson, while he watched for an opportunity to secure his favorte body scissors.
 Taking advantage of the knowledge he had gained from watching the re- cent Stecher-Hussane match, Zbyszko curled up with knees and elbows doubled under him so it was next to J aging grip with his legs. After the men got to their feet Stecher failed at an attempt to secure a leg hold, but as zbyszko tried for a waist lock Stecher suddenly whirled around and threw the Pole with a head hold and leg grapevine
 Xbyszko Obtains Toe Hold.
 Tightening his head hold, Stecher
 ? vlr ,oTIx- but the Pole broke the hold. Zbyszl1o secured the painful toe hold and tried his mighhest to force Joe over. The Nebraskan finally kicked him self free amid the cheers of the fans. Btecher steadily forced the pace dur ing the first half hour and his will Engness to provide action made him a fayorite.
 Stecher kept getting inside zbysz- kos attempts to obtain holds and beat him to it. Joe's leg attacks sev Rra1 times upset the Pole. On the mat, however, Stecher failed to secure his pet scissors while Zbyszl1o frequent Iv got the old Gotch toe hold. by which apparently he meant to gain the victory After forty minutes of wrestling zbyszko gained a particu- IarIy strong foot hold but just when 1t looked as if the Nebraskan was in grave danger of being rolled over, he kicked himself free again.
 For several minutes the men re- mained on their feet pushing and hauling one another about, while they watched for openings. In 53 min- ntes, wrestling time, Zbyszko secured B waist lock and threw Stecher to the boards. Frustrated in his at ternpts to gain Nelsons, Zbyszko tried to obtain a toe hold. This time Joe stretched his foot out of danger and Irving for crotch and further arm hold, Zbyszko suddenly found him. self caught in a head lock It took the Pole 27 seconds to break it. He shook his head savagely as he rose to his feet.
 Xbyszko Frees Himself.
 In 1:01 Stecher threw Ibyszko with D leg hold and back heel. While ap- parently working for crotch and further arm hold, Stecher managed to sneak a leg half around Wladek $ waist and almost gained a scissors hold. Zbyszko strengthened up, wriG- gled himself tree and got a grip or Stecher's right foot. Joe managed tC break the grip before the Pole coulG do any damage.
 A few minutes later Stecher SC.