Sentence:  '...I urged him ... to ... try the Ickenham System ... a little thing I knocked together in my bachelor days ... it has a good many points in common with all-in wrestling and osteopathy. I generally recommend it to diffident wooers and it always works like magic...' / Johnny stared. / 'You mean you told McMurdo to ... <WSD>"scrag</WSD>" her?' 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  To harass, to manhandle.