The Washington herald., 1921-02-20
BY ROBERT EDGREN.

American wrestling is becoming
a mild imitation Of the Turkish art.
Down in Turkey ii has been
pleasant custom of the various Sui
tans to entertain themselves by
having wrestlers wrestlc to the
death"
Nobody can interfere with a Sui
tan's amusements. In private
courtyard the Sultan and few
chosen favorites sit comfortably
and watch selected champions go
to it," There are no restrictive
rules. Gouging. biting. butting.
toe holds. kicking, head locks and
a Turkish variety of jiu jitsu were
indulged in until one OF the rivals
was rendered helpless. when the
final delicious touch was added
The victor strangled the vanqUish-
ed.
We don't let wrestlers go quite
as far as that in America. But
since Frank Gotch perfected the toe
hold and went around Gripping his
opponents by twisting and break
ing or dislocating their ankles
every grappler has tried to invent
some new torturing device. The
original purpose of wrcsthng-to
matthias become a mere incident.
Modern wrestlers try to torture an
opponent until ne gives up and
rolls over to save himself from Sc
rious injury.
There ought to be A wrestling
commission to make rules that will
govern mat contests. Toe holds,
head locks and similar devices in
tended to cripple or torture or in
jure should be Classed with the foul
blows forbidden in boxing.
The present American champion,
STRANGER Ed Lewis, is master or
the head lock-a trick he perfected
by years of practice and that has
beaten several men whom he might
not have been able to put down in
straight wrestling.
The deadlock consists of gripping
a mans headsin the crook of one
arm, the forearm locking" across
the jaw or side Of the head and the
pressure increased by pulling with
the other hand. using the mechani-
cal principle of the nut-Cracker.
Prscticed on Wooden Dummy.
Lewis is six feet tall. weighs 22S
pounds and is powerfully built. He
has developed tremendous squeeze
with his deadlock by practicing sew
eral years on a wooden dummy
just as the Japanese jiu jitsu men
toughen their hands for iiu jitsu
blows by continually pounding with
the edge of the hand on heavy
panks.
The deadly effect OF the deadlock
has been shown in several recent
bouts, when Zbyscko, Stecher and
one rtwo others beaten by Lewis
have gone from the mat to the hos
pital.
Lewis took the championship from
Stecher at the Sevepty-f1rst Regi-
ment Armory, New York, last De-
cember 13. in one hour forty-one
minutes and fifty-six seconds. He
clamped seven headlocks on Stecher
and finally finished him. Stecher
has been out of wrestling since that
night and may never come back as
a championship possibility.
The deadly deadlock is said to
have displaced vertebrae in his
neck, causing pressure on the spinal
nerve and paralysis of one arm and
shoulder. Even il this disappears
Stecher wont be in shape to resist
any more headlocks. In a recent
bout with Earl Caddock Lewis end
ed long struggle by clamping the
deadlock on again, rendering Cad
dock unconscious. -
OF the mat Lewis is, a pleasant
sort of a fellow, but at work he's
a regular cave man. With tremen-
dous strength, endurance and de-
termination, he deliberately wears
his opponents down by occasionally
clamping on a deadlock until they
are ready for the final grip. Often
he feigns distress, only to catch his
man off guard and leap through the
air to get him with a deadlock.
He jumps like a huge cat.
His real name is Robert Friedrich
and he was born at Frankfort. Ky,
thirty years ago. The name "Stran-
gler Lewis" was borrowed from a
famous wrestler of twenty-five
years ago-the original Stranger
Lewis - whose speciality was the
strangle hold that has been barred
since his time.
Lewis has been ranked in the
three best .wrestlers in America for