The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-05-31
Barons Drop Opener to Chicks
Corbeft's Daily Letter On
 Great Sport Topics
nr LANES J. coRnErr.


 (Note: This is the fifth of series of articles which MS Corbett is writing concerning the career of the late Frank Gotch, who went to his grave the unde- feated heavyweight wrestling champion of the world The next installment will appear tomorrow.)
 On January 10, 19C3 Gotch took on Carl Pons, the giant Frenchman, and tri- umphed easily. That victory put him in line for contest with Tom Jenkins, then the American heavyweight champion, and the two men grappled in Cleveland on February g, 1903 in one of the rough est bouts ever staged.
 Jenkins, bruiser was famous for his rough house" tactics Endowed with great strength he had used it to advan- tage with all his other foemen. He started after Gotch with the first call of time and roughed and slugged the Iowan in merciless way. Gotch for while confined himself solely to wrestling. But when Jenkins continued to resort to foul tricks Gotch retaliated.
 The two men, battling like infuriated tigers, wrestled all over the ring and had the crowd in a frenzy of excitement. Jenkins, in his maddened efforts to de- feat Gotch, resorted frequently to the stranglc hold. He should have been dis qualified. But. for some peculiar reason, Referee Edwards took no cognizance of this foul work by Jenkins. which ma terially assisted Jenkins in winning the match
 Gotch retired from that match with than score of cuts and bruises on his head. his face and his body. When he got back to his home town he was, as he put 1t, the exact image of fellow who had tried conclusions with piece of exploding dynamite" But the treat ment he had received from Jenkins didn't in any way shaatter the faith in his own ability, and no sooner had h;s cuts healed than he set about trying for another match with the champion Cleve- lander.
 After Gotci. had defeated Aldrich in Des MoiEes and Anderson, Kiank and Coleman in Bellingham, Wash, the en- thusiasts there insisted that he should take on Farmer Burns, who just then was q great attraction in the northwest.
 The two men met on october 5, bat tie of teacher against pupil, To the sur- prise of the sporting world, Burns, the master, who never had lost a match up to then, was defeated. Gotch won the first fall. Burns the second, and by the use of half Nelson, Gotch won the third f:ill. and the match.
 It was a case of youth and marvellous strength against skillful, brainy, but far lighter opponent. And youth and strength triumphSd. Two months later they met again. and it was the same story The youthful Iowan was victor over the man who taught him almost all he know of mat trickery.
 But, to the credit of Burns it must be said that he found just as much pride in the victory of Gotch as Gotch did himself. Burns by that time knew that he was little too olG to have any chance of becoming the successor to Jenkins. There was one man that he wanted to see climb to the crest, and that was his own pupil. When he made the matches with Gotch. he realized that his own chances for victory were small. because Gotch had 1t on him more than 90 pounds and Gotch knew every mat trick in the veterans repertoire.
 On December 13, 1903. Gotch took on an Indian named Chief Two Feathers from Montana This Kotnay warrior was 6 feet inches tall, weighed 220 pounds. was reputed to have herculean strength and was touted in the west as the most scientific grappler that had been seen in action in many years. So widely were the deeds of Chief Two Feathers her. aided, that none of the prominent grap- piers had been willing to try conclusions with him until Gotch was offered a match.
 Bring on the war-whoop boy. I'll give him workout declared Gotch.
 When the two men entered the ring the disparity in size brought a gasp from the crowd. The Indian loomed over Gotch like the Washington monument. During the early wrestling he showed whirlwind speed, great strength and real skill His arms seemed to be about feet long and when he wrapped them around Gotch the Iowa boy seemed almost in visible.
 To the surprise of the crowd, Two Feathers downed Gotch early in the fracas. and for l5 minutes kept the Iowa boy under him, despite the most frantic efforts Of Gotch to break loose. But by supreme exertion, the Iowan finally did break free, jumped to his feet and in the open work that followed sue ceeded in tripping and throwing Two Feathers
 For 10 minutes Gotch worked on the Indian and at last succeeded in pinning his shoulders to the canvas with pow erful scissorlock
 And now >for Jenkins" was Gotch's slogan
 (To be continued tomorrow.)
 
 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
 Dear Mir COrDett. In game or porter with the poker counting as any