The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1929-03-21

Far be 1t from this Depart
ment to cast any aspersions on
the ancient and far flung
racket Of "rassling," but it
does seem passing strange that
the present heavyweight cham
pion, Gustavus x. Sonnenberg,
the Flying Dutchman, runs 50
consistently to the Irish when
it comes to selecting oppon-
ents in his tour Of one-night
stands.
If you recall, Sonnenberg
hastily disposed Of one hardy
son of Erin here last Monday
in the person Of Pat Mccarthy,
so-called heavyweight cham
pion of the Emerald Isle. The
following night Sonnenberg is
credited with having disposed
Of q Dave Shannon in Green's
boro, N. c., and last evening
in Charlotte, N. G., his oppon-
emit was Tom O'Rourke, ali Of
which must be more than .
coincidence.
The McCarthys and Shannons
and O'Rourkes may suggest
something to you and they
may not, but the only doubt
in the minds Of those who
understand the inner workings
Of the paehyder1n profession con-
Germs whether either Of those
hardy-sounding names is the
one this doughty bullock's
parents originally endowed him
with at birth.
What difference does Il
make under which name an
Irishman travels, particularly
when he is in. the wrestling
racket and never in the same
town more than one night at .
time? The versatility Of his
cognomens is limited only by
the city directory Of Dublin and
by the time his tour with Gus
to Goat comes to an end every
good old family escutcheon Of
Ireland will have been sofle6
by a proud German bearing the
coat Of arms Of Duke Sonnen-
berg. Of Dartmouth.
But whatever the brawny
lads true identity may be, he
must be branded as q fearless
foeman, for what more thank
less job on earth is there than
that Of punching bag or tack
ling dummy to a champion
fighter or wrestler? Indeed
Ireland may well enshrine this
Mccarthy, alias Shannon, alias
O'Rourke, as a national hero, if
he succeeds in coming out Of
his current series of nocturnal
meetings with Sonnenberg, erect.
It must make the blood of
your true-blue Sons of Erin
boil to pick up the newspapers
each morning and see Sonnen-
berg victorious over another :
of their number. In time this
situation may give vent to an
uprising against the Dutch
whitN would eclipse in history
st. Ratrick's uprising against
the ihings which creep and
crawl. The idea is at least
plausible, for wrestlers Go q
great deal Of creeping as well
as crawling, from town to
town and otherwise.
All Of which is merely the
tip-off to another form of
racketeering which has its
counterpart in the pugilistic
field as we'll as in other lines.
Young Stribling went from town
to town meeting all Corners and
much of the time the challenger
from the audience being an
advance member Of the Strib-
ling troup.
That is an old, old gag. Jack
Dempsey is said to have in
dulged in the same methods
before he became known as a
fighter. He was a big strong
kid and simply had to have
somebody to knock down before
he could sleep we'll Of nights.
The wrestling plan seems to
be. varied somewhat. Wrestlers
with any pride are too careful
of their spot in the limelight
to risk their persons against
some unknown who might chal-
lsnge from the audience before
the "plant" could make HIM
self heard.
They advertise ahead of time
the name of their opponent
and who is there in the audience
to say there is any connection
between the two. Shakespeare
first expoundsd this theory
about what there is in q name,
and we claim no originality on