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Herr Gleissner of Borna and another gentleman of whose identity we are ignorant. To dispose of a wrestler like Herr Gleissner was, of course, mere child’s play for Herr Lurich. The second wrestler retired in favour of Herr Hackenschmidt, whose challenge had been given on Motiday evening, and who therefore had the prior claim. Hereupon the certain was abruptly lowered amid stormy scè nes on the part of the indignant audience. Cries of 'Cotne otit 1’ 'Shame 1’ ’Swindle 1’ were quickly heard, niingled with whistling and cat-calls enough to make one’s £ esh creep. All this was dir»ct•d against the ’invincible’ Herr Ltirich, who, we are informed, has caused similar scandals in other towns, such as Elberfeld, where the competitors in the International Wrestling Gontests were un- fortunately prevented by the tertns of their engage- ment frotn exposing the Russian in the manner adopted on Wednesday. Even the management ot the 3fosrffo Saat failed to persuade Lunch to meet Hackenschmidt. Presumably Lurich will not be allowed to appear again until he has wrestled with Hackenschmidt, who is ready to meet him on any evening. ”

Lunch left Chemnitz on the following morning.

My sole object in recording this unpleasant in- cident is to enable the English public to estimate at their true value the insinuations directed against toe by a fellow countryman in the summer of 1904. We continued our tournament at Cbemnitz un- disturbed, and in addition to winning first prize I reœ ived a splendid ovation from the public, Hits- ter and Gambier gaining second and third prizes

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ticipants were: Kara Ahmed (Turkey), Robinet (France), Muldoon (of America, but not the cele- brated Physical Culturist ), Charles (France), Krefi- del (Austria), Weber ( Gertnany ), Hitzler (Ger- many), CeleStin Moret (France), Lassartesse (France), Ignace Nollys ( Belgium ), Albert de Paris (France), Giovanni Raicevich (Italy ), Pibius (France), Burghardt ( Austria ), Mayer (Hungary), Sandorfi (Hungary), and A imable (France), etc.

One of my first opponent» was Robinet, who was a

great favourite with the )3tida Pesth public, on the strength of his performances some years previousl2’. l threw the Frenchman in eight minutes, antl, later on in the competition, I dcfeated Albert de Paris, a very cJever wrestler, in fire minutes, Weber, of Germany, in two minutes, Airriable in twenty-five minutes, and Alan den Berg in twenty-four minutes. My severest bout was with the Turk, Kara Ahmed, wliom it took me nearly three hours to defeat. But tiever, while I tive, shaft I forget what then took JJlaCc. The whole audience rose like one man, and thtsnrlers of applatise echœ d through the building. I n'as seized, carried slioulder high, and decked with flowers. For fu! ly a quarter of an hour I was borne like ä viCtorious general through the streets, kissed, embraced, etc., etc. I can assure you I was heartily glad when I at last made my escape to the privacy of the dressing-room. Never, even in Paris, have I experienced a siniilar ovation. I am not likely to forget those worthy Hunyarians. The result was as follows: I won the first prize of 1, 500 kronen be- sides my salary, the secon‹I prize of 1, 000 kronen QO1ft@ tO kä ra AhlTled, 2fld the third of 600 kronen to Dirk van den Herg, and the fourth of 400 kronen to Aimable de la Calmette.

We left the hospitable walls of Buda Pesth, and I next won the first prize at Graz, in Steierinark.

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None of the contests there were of great importance. At Graz I was pitted against the German athlete Rasso, an exceedingly powerful man, but no wres- tler. I threw him as I pleased, ciean and cleverly in five minutes, to the great surprise of the good people of Graz, who o ere familiar with Rasso's Herculean feats as an athlete.

Towards the end of October, I gained a first prize at Nurnberg, a prominent city of Bavaria, after which I returned to St. Petersburg, as my arm ha‹1 again l›econie almost useless owing to the continual strain to which it had been subjected. After eight weeks’ rest, during which my arm underwent thorough treatment, my ambition again drove me to Paris in order to wrestle matches with Pons, Beaucairois, Constant, Van den Berg, atid -4imable. I twice defeated Aimable, otice in thirty-four and once in seventeen minutes. Van den Berg I threw in twenty-five and in three minutes. My first bout with Constant lasted an hour without result, and then we wrestled for two hours and a quarter, when he was declared the loser. Pons avoided meeting me. But Beaucairois, who must have known that

' I was suffering from a sharp attack of influenza,

., ventured to try his luck with me. I defeated him in

" twenty minutes, and then, in spite of tny ailing

\, . condition, wrestled for an hour without result, and

at the end of the day, in defiance of my doctor’s “, advice, I again began to wrestle with the doughty ' Laurent. Hal I unconscious owing to the fever w hich coursed through my veins, after a struggle of twenty-three minutes, I fell a victim to a #rm roule the Frenchman's. This was, strictly speaking,

the first fall I hacl incurred in the course of ray

§ Otherwise victorious career as a professional wrestler,

and it was entirely due to my pride, since the Paris

126 THE WAY TO LIVE

doctor called it inexcusable on my part to think wrestling in such a condition!

I had scarcely recovered when I had to fulfil an en- gagement in Hamburg, where the following wrestlers were engaged in a tournament: Max Nirsche (Ber- lin), Strenge (Berlin), Tom Clayton “Bulldog” (England), Joe Carroll (England), Lassartesse (France), Bracken (Holland), Giovanni Raicevich ( Italy), Celestin Moret (France), Weber (Ger- many), Saurer (Bavaria), G. Lurich (Russia), Pie- tro le Beige (Belgium), G. Semmel (Hamburg), Coristant Ie Boucher (Belgium), G. Jeurisson (Bel- gium), Emil Bar (Germany), H. Landy (Holland),

H. Oehlers (Hamburg), Kara Mustapha (Turkey), Clement le Terrassier (Belgium), Hitzler (Bavaria), Poiré e (France), Kreindl (Austria), Peyrousse (France), Jess Pedersen (Denrnark), Lemmertz (Germany), Winzer (Hamburg), Hassan Omer (Turkey), Ororidi (Steiermark), Dirk van den Berg (Holland), Diriks (Belgium), P. Belliiig (Berlin),

H. Eberle (Germany), and Halil Adali, undoubtedly the best wrestler Turkey has ever produced. I first wrestled with some less important men, and then beat Orondi in ten seconds, Lemmertz in less than two rriinutes, Diriks in 1 min. 32 sec., and J3el1ing in less than twenty minutes, Jess Pedersen (Den- mark) in twenty minutes, and Van den Berg. I next engaged the German champion, Eberle, a very strong and accomplished wrestler, who gave up the struggle at the end of twenty minutes. This did not please the audience, and led to a scene of wild disorder. The police were called in and they put a stop to the whole tournament. There was noth- ing left for us but to start for home, which I accordingly did without having wrestled with Halil Adali.

Then on March 14, 1901, came a bolt from the

THE WAY TO LIVE 127

in the shape of a telegram informing me that Krajewski was dead. But a little time before had seen the worthy doctor in the best of health, I now learned that he had succumbed to apo- after having been so unlucky as to fall and

a leg on the Fontanka Bridge on the Newski I, in common with all other Russian shed many a tear over the loss of this gentleman. In him I lost a friend who

almost a second father.

Towards the end of March another wrestling con- was held in St. Petersburg. Amongst others I the strong and nimble French wrestler,

in twenty minutes and Petroff in seren by an arm-roll or 6roc route, obtaining the

a gold medal.

of this year ( 1901) the wrestling con- the championship of the world began in This championship I consider the biggest

ever gained, since never before nor since has such wonderful array of contestants been gathered There were from Germany Jacobus Koch, Eberle, Stark, Axa, Missbach and Hitzler i Belgium Omer de Bouillon and Clement Ie from Holland Dirk van den Berg,

Italy G. Raicevich, Figini; from Turkey Kara Halil Adali, and Coord Oerelli; from Jess Pedersen; from America John from Austria Franzel, Sporer, Kreind) and from France Paul Pons, Laurent ie Aimable de la Calmette, and a whole

of lesser lights. Among others I defeated Omer a most excellent Belgian wrestler,

nine minutes, and Hitzler in twelve minutes. It here that the small but nimble Bayer caused general astonishment by throwing the gigantic Halil Adali (who was 6 ft. 2} in. in height

128 THE WAY TO LIVE

and weighed 20 st. 5 lb. ) in a minute and a half, taking him by surprise with a brilliant mer rotite. I here made the acquaintance or a German wrestler named Koch, who was, I think, the best German wrestler I have ever seen. He was very strong and decidedly clever, btit did not do much in Vienna on this occasion as he was not in particularly good form. I threw him in twenty minutes. I had heard a great deal of the American wrestler Pinning and recefitly he sought notoriety in England by appearing against me. But he, too, though aix ex- cellent, if not particularly pr›wer fuI, wrestler, could do but little in Vierina. Pons, Adali, Laurent, and I were rather too good for him. Pienirtg I threw in thirty-ome seconde! Beaucairois fell in forty-one minutes, and Pols, in spite of a stubborn defence, in seventy-riine minutes. I had a pretty tough job with the tall Freiichman ($ ft. 4{ in. in height and weighing over 18 st. ), and my victory was greeted with generous applause. The Turk Halil Adali, whom I consider the best of all mj- oppotients, was eveti stronger than Pons. Adali possessed gigantic strengrh and staying power, but I was in pretty good form and drew on the first dav after wrestling for an hour and eighteen minutes. Next day, after a contest of forty mintites, the Turk gave in, beir›g convinced that I must win. Indeed, I had wrestled in first-rate form, and had reduced the good man to a somewhat demoralised condition. The results came otit as follows: Hacketischmidt, 1; Adali, 2; Pons, 3: etc.

From Vienna I went to Stettin, where I took first prize in a minor contest. In the middle of May a great wrestling contest was held in Berlin, and a number or excellent wrestlers were engaged, Lurich among others. There were two classes in this con- test: Light-weights (85 kg. or 13 st. 5 lb. and

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under) and Heavy-weights (85 kg. or 13 st. 5 lb. and over). Consequently, on this occasion I did not meet Lurich, his weight at that time being 13 st. 4 lb. I was, however, somewhat astonished to find

[' that on being matched against Pinning (whom I

(. threw in thirty-one seconds in Vienna), he twice wrestled with him for an hour, the result being a draw in each case I

I again threw Koch (in seven minutes), and several Berlin wrestlers in a few seconds, but in a contest with Pedersen, which I undertook by express desire of the management, I drew after a two hours’ struggle. The whole contest was broken off owing to the failure of the management. The best wres- tlers, including Petroff, Hitzler, Pohl, Pons, Peder- sen, and myself, went on with the contest at the Met- ropole Theatre in Berlin. I now threw Hitzler in

twenty-four, Petroff in thirty-one, and Pedersen in twenty-nine minutes. The German wrestler, Pohl, who finished second, and was left in the final

heat with Pons and myself, was a new opponent to me. Pohl was very strong and clever. He threw

Pedersen in three minutes. I defeated him in [ thirteen minutes, after an indecisive struggle of one hour on the previous evening. The periodical,

S port ini Bild, commented on this match, in which it was generally thought that Pohl would prove a dangerous opponent, as follows: “It was apparent from the very beginning of the fitial round ( Hacken- schmidt -u. Pohl) that Hackenschmidt was in deadly earnest and anxious to bring matters to a crisis as soon as possible. Seizing Pohl round the body with irresistible force, he encleavoured again and again to bring him to the ground, till at last he succeeded in doing so, though only at the cost of tremendous exertion. It then became clear that the Russian was resting for a moment and calling

130 THE WAY TO LIVE

up a fresh reserve of strength, for he held Poh1 motionless on the ground for some time. Then tol- lowed a sudden and violent ceinture de ckié from the lett. to which Pohl nearly fell a viCtim. With one hand Hackenschmidt nearly jerked him on to his back. Then followed one or two remessr» teiifi by means of which the Russian forced his opponent’s head on to the ground, then another c#infure, which, however, failed to bring about the desired result. The struggle had lasted thirteen minutes, When H ackensehmidt at last secured the grip he so tre- quently employs with success. With his left hand he jerked Pohl so energetically that, in spite of his great weight ( 110 kg. or 17st. 4 ib. ), the Hamburg champion tell tair and square on both shoulders. The whole character of the context—in which Hack- enschmidt attacked throughout, while Poh1 remained on the defensive—proved concltisively that the Rus- sian is greatly his superior in strength. ”

I wrestled with Poes, but at the end of the bout the Frenchman retired; atter being twice within an ace of defeat, he was unable to continue owing to an accident to his arm. I was awarded hrst prize amid deafening applause, and received a gigantic laurel wreath, nearly 6 ft. in diameter.

I spent a very pleasant time in Berlin and there made the acquaintance of the celebrated sculptor, Professor Reinhold Begas, who asked me to sit for hilTi In the Character of “Prometheus Vinctus. ” Pro- fessor Begas, a stately old man, who carried his seventy years wall, took a great interest in wrestling, and was nearly always present during our contests.

I wow returned home to rest and went through several courses of treatment for the benefit of my arm, the most successful of these beitig the Priess- nitsch cold-water pack. The measurement of my biceps, which had decreased to 13a in„ rose again to

CHF WAY TO LIVE 151

174 in., and my weight went up from 14 st. Z lb. to 15 st. . 6 lb. After three months in October, 1901, I was able to take up wiestling again in Moscow. I was in exzellent form, and, among other events, threw Lassartesse in seven minutes, Hitzler in twenty-one minutes, and the young Frenchman, Raoul le Boucher, a very powerful, young, heavy and skilful wrestler (6 ft. 2{ in. in height and weigh- ing 19 Bt. 9 lb. ), in twenty-three minutes in spite ob a furious resistance on his part. I theew five excel- lent Moscow amateues in seven minutes! This last teur de /orre I repeated shortly afterward at the end of October—in Munich, where I defeated five professional wrestlers also in seven minutes. After which, among others, I beat Burkhardt (Austria) in six minutes, Cassino (France) in thirty sec- Hitzler in twenty-three minutes, Rö del in seconds, Blatte (of Munich) in two

a minuten, Eigemann (from Elberfeld) in than one minute, Marchand (the Frenchman) two minutes, and Koch in twenty-five minutes. was next matched for the second time against the champion, Eberle, who was now in better

than he had been at Hamburg. I was pre- for a fairly long struggle, in the event of his defensive tactics, but to my surprise Eberle

the offensive against me. I gave him an oppor- or tâ king the lower hold from behind, and as this by a sturdy swing of the leg, I got

off his balance. He fell and I turned hint quickly his back, The whole contest, to the astonishment every one, and especially of Eberle himself, only

five minutes.

On the following day, in company with the other I paid a visit to “Steierer Hans, ” a great in Munich, who in hi5 earlier days had about the world in the rö le of Hercules,

152 THE WAY TO LIVE

and had been unsurpassed in the lifting of weights with one finger. The worthy soul had now settled down to end his days in peace as an innkeeper. In an underground room he had a museum consisting chiefly of shapeless stones, axle-trees and o eig9ts with which he performed various tricks for otir bene- fit, accompanying them with amusing patter. Merely for the joke of the thing, I lifted with one hand a stone to which some weights were attached, the whole weighing 660 lb.

In November a small contest took place at Elber- feld, at which I z as once more an easy winlier.

On November 30, 1901, a contest for the wtestling championship of the world was commenced at the Casino de Paris. I had entered for this, and before it commericed, at an independent performance, I threw five professional wrestiers in six minufes alto- gether. Foe this tournament some hundred and thirty wrestlers had entered, and among others I de- teated Mario in three and Buis5on in three and three-quarter minutes. My first iiiiportant adversar3' was Alexandra le Marseillais, a tall and heav)• ( 17 st. 11 lb. ) but none the lees accomplished wrestler, whom I threw after a severe struggle of twenty minutes. I wrestled for one hour without result with Orner de Bouillon, who was in excellent form, but defeated him on the following day in twenty miniites.

I now threw Koch in twenty minuten, Maurice Gambier, in a short two minuten, Emile Vervet in six minutes, and the Frenchman, Raoul de Boucher, in twenty-one minutes.

Raoul wrestled somewhat savagely, but this did not avail him much, as I turned him with a “half- nelson, ” and got both his shoulders on the ground. At last my time came to wrestle with the celebrated Belgian, Constant ie Boucher, in the final contest.

THE WAY TO LIVE 133

On this particular evening I happened to be in good form arid as cool as ice. I got a splendid grip, and, to the general surprise of all, contrived to throw the Belgian after only eight minutes’ wrestling. This was on Decemhex 19, 1901. I received a magnificent ovation, and the newspapers devoted whole columns of spaceto me.

On December 27 I wrestled once more with Constant, antl was declared the winner after a long struggle. The final result of the tournainent was as follows: First prize of two gold medals and 3, 00£ 1 frs., Hackenschmidt; one gold medal being awarded for having defeated all the four light- weight champions, and the other for beating the heavy ix•eights. Second prize, a gold End a silver medal and 1, Z50 frs., Constant le Boucher. Third prizc, with 700 frs., Omer de J3ouillon. Fourth prize, and 450 frs., Raotil le Roiicher. Fifth prize, and 300 frs.. Hitzler. Sixth prize, and 200 frs., Emil Vervet; and so forth.

By the middle ot January I felt it was high time for nie to avail myself of an invitation to stay at Alsleben in Cerrnany which I had received from Herr Siebert. the trainer, for my health had begun to suffer from tiny severe exertfons during the cham- pionship context. My weight had gone down to 14 st. 6 lb.

At Alsleben, which is a quiet little country town, I was able to give my nerves a thorough rest. The whole business of wrestling had become abhorrent me. I had wrestled for a long time, without ceas-

hastening from one tournament to another.

was tired of tlJe arena, especially as my atm became more painful. I found in Liebert a of the widest experience and soon conceived a for him. He strongly advised me to wait till

134 THE WAY TO LIVE

I had tully recovered my health and taken a thorough rest before coming to any rash decision.

Thanks to quiet and good care, I throve amaz- ingly, and very gradually commenced to train, under S iebert’s guidance, with weights and dumb- belle.

On January 27 I established a new world’s record by raising a weight of 187 lb. beyond my back with the knees bent. Not long after, for a wager, I jumped 100 times over a table with feet close together. In a word, my former depression gave place to the pleasures of li fe and vigour. I stayed a lew weeks with Siebert, and during this time established the two following world's records:

1. 110 lb. lifted fifty times with bent knees.

2. 90{ lb. in the right and 89a lb. “in the left hand he! d out simultaneously right and left at arm’s length, but improved this afterwards to 110 and 100 lb. respectively.

About this time my patron, Count Ribeaupierre, wrote to me from St. Petersburg suggesting that I should enter into an agreement with Herr Delmer, of Brussels, proprietor of the “Biceps. ” I had already an engagement with Herr Delmer, having consented to take part in a wrestling competition in Belgium, but had been prevented by ill-health from keeping my promise. I wrote to Herr Delmer. We soon came to an understanding, and now, restored to health and strength, I quitted Herr Siebert's hospitable roof, once more a wrestler heart and soul!

Early in the year 1902, I came over to England with the object of pitting myself against any opponent I could find.

For a long time this was not practicable, for just them the English public took but scant interest in wrestling, or, at any rate, in the Grmco-Roman branch

THE WAY TO LIVE 135

of the Art, since few first-class exponents of this system had as yet visited Great Britain.

About this time an American wrestler named Carkeek made his appearance in London. I had known this man in France as an average wrestler. He was about forty years of age, and claimed, among other thingys, to have defeated Beaucairois, Gambier, and Pytlasinski. I sent tROTe than one challenge to his manager, and also to Carkeek himself, but they tvere invariably refused. I was on the point of leaving England when it came to my knowledge that Carkeek, believing me to have already gone, had challenged any professional wrestler then in London to wrestle with hitn either in the Grmco-Roman, “Catch-as-catch-can, ” or Cornish styles, and would be sure to make a big advertisement out of my departure. I therefore pur- chased a hox close to the stage (of the Alliamhra), and as soon as Carkeek had finished his challenge, I sprang, accompanied by Mr. Vansittart, the famous athlete, known as “The Man with the Grip of Iron, ” on to tt e stage in lull wrestling costume, while my companion, holding a stake of f25 in his hand, chal- lenged Carkeek to wrestle with me, and undertook to hand over the sum he held if I failed to throw Carkeek at least ten times zeithin an haur. A tre- mendous uproar ensued, and, though the audience took our part, we were compelled to leave the stage by the police. On the following day I lodged f25 with the editor of the S portsman on the conditions already announced from the stage. All the news- papers gave favourable notices of my debut, and on March 10 I received an engagement at the Tivoli

London, For some time my health suffered a climate to which I was unaccustomed, but I nevertheless accepted further engagements, which

freely offered me.

136 THE WAY TO LIVE

In order to have a use ful opponent for training purposes, I summoned my friend Koch from Ger- many, and we wrestled together almost every day for practice, wrestling continually for some months and defeating all opponents, Then I made the ac- quaintance ot Tom Cannon, the well-known wres- tler, who lived in Liverpool, and only wrestled oc- casionally.

At the end of July, Koch atid I left England for’ the Continent atid engaged in tournaments at Brus- sels, Lié ge, h'amur and other places, in all of which I won the first prize, Koch generally succeeding in winning the second.

I then went back to England in order to wrestle a match with the renowned veteran, Tom Cannon. This took place on September 27, 1902, at Liverpool. and lasted thirty-three minutes. The English cham- pion, though now somewhat of a veteran, had had a very wide and exceptional experience. and was able to bring into play some very zkil Inf, if some- what painful, moves, which he had picked up from Turkish wrestlers. I managed, however, to secure a hammcrlock and Cannon succumbed.

Not satisfied with this result, Caution, after stay- ing out a fifteen minute “limit” contest. made an- other match “to a finish” with me, which I won fairly easily.

This success, though not a very arduous one for me, z•as generally regarded as a great feather in my cap, and I received a number of excellent engage- ments to wrestle in England and Scotland in con- serltience.

I entered my name for the Gold Belt contest in

Paris (November, 1902), but they sought to impose a number of peddling counter propos; tls, to which I could not see my way to consent, a result which seemed to be highly acceptable to the Paris authori-

THE WAY TO LIVE 137

ties, as it was apparently intended that the favourite, Pons, whom I had alrea‹ly thrice defeated, should win. I did nOt regret this, as Pons is a first-rate man. After this I toured all over England, being suc- cessful against every wrestler who accepted my chal-

lenge to all comers.

In 1903 I met and defeated the following wres- tlers, Tom Cannon, Tom Connors, Tom Maelnerney atid Tom Clayton. I threw all of them, but was un- forttmatcly laid up with an attack of rheumatism brought on by the damp climate of Glasgow, which prevented my taking part in the contest for the Championship of the World in Paris. In this con- test Pedersen was first and Raoul de Boucher second, both of whom I had previously defeated.

Owing to the fact that the “Catch-as-catch-can” style or wrestling is the more usual and favourite method in England. I was frequeritlv obliged to wrestle with my opponents in this method, but, thanks to my strength and presence of mind, I always came off the conqueror. I very often trained specially for this style with Jack Smith of Manchester, a very clever wrestler.

In September, 1903, I wrestled with Bech Olsen, who had, however, no claims to be considered a first-class wrestler. The contest, however, came to an unsatisfactor)• termination, as, owing to an accident to my ankle, the match had to be discon- tinued.

On the strength of this, Antonio Pieri, “the ter- rible Greek, ” challenged me to wrestle with him, hoping that I would fall an easy victim. The match came off about the middle of October at the Oxford blusic Hall, in London, arid I threw this very experi- enced and—in sptte of his years—very dangerous adversary, in twenty-five minutes. Pieri chal- lenged me to a return match to be decided by one

138 THE WAY TO LIVE

tall under Græ eo-Roman, and one under “Catch- as-catch-can” rules. We met on November 21, and in the first bout (Graco-Roman) I beat hioi in 17 min. 11 see. by means of a “hall-nelson, ” and in the second bout, which followed immediately atter, in “Catch-as-catch-can” style, I threw him in IS min. 25 see.

Smarting under his defeat, Pieri set himself to work to unearth a wrestler who could beat me. And before very long he introduced to the British public a Turk tiamed Ahmed Madrali, a man ot gigantic strength, who was boomed in every possible manner, as being a better man than myself. At first I paid but little attention to these attacks, as I had a great many excellent engagements in London atid in many Other large English towns, wliere I defeated every one who came into the ring against me. At last, however. I took up his challenge, and we met on Januay• 30, 1904, at Olympia in London, the winning of two falls out o( three to decide the match, the Turk being 6 It. 1 in. in height and weigh- ing 16 st. A huge audience had assembled when the Turk entered the ring with Antonio Pieri, whilst I was accompanied by Koch. The contest, as will be remembered, was a ›•ery brief one, as on Madrali making a move for my waist, 1 dashed in and li fting him off his feet, threw him on to his shoulders. Unfortunately, he fell on his arm, and, as this was dislocated, he was unable to continue the contest, but luckily was able to begin wrestling again three months later.

This victory raised my reputation to its zenith, and since that time T do not think that I had had a wrestling rival in the affections or esteem of the British public.

There is no need for me to enter into any descrip- tion ot the troubles, legal and otherwise, connected

THE WAY TO LIVE 139

with my next big encounter. They were tar from being pleasant to either Jenkins or myself, but since neither of us wished to disappoint the public, we readily agreed to the final makeshift arrangements and met on the mat before 6, 000 people at the Albert Hall on July 2, 1904. I early on succeeded in getting “behind” the American champion, but after a five minutes' struggle he succeeded in break- ing loose. Three times afterwards I threw him on the mat, but he managed to wriggle out of a fall. Jenkins struggled hard and displayed very good defensive tactics, but was forced finally to succumb to a “halfnelson” after 20 min. 37 sec. wrestling. After fifteen minutes' interval Jenkins opened tote second bout with an aggressive movement, and for some little time we had a stand-up struggle. Again we went to the mat, where, in spite of his utmost efforts, I finally managed to pin him out after l4 min. 27 see.

The S portswan rePo rt of this match read as fol-

lows:

“It was ten o’clock before the rivals appeared on the platform. By this time the spectators were in a high state of enthiisiasm and gave the men a ringing cheer. Taking stock of the two men, it was clear that Hackenschmidt had the advantage, physically speaking, at every turn. He looked a stone and a half heavier, deeper atid more solid about the chest, more firmly set on the limbs, and to have nearly twice the mtiscular development of the American. Jenkins is a strongly-built man, but he did not appear half so fit as his opponent, carrying too much flesh. For all that, he made a creditable show, and gave one the impression of being a man of real grit,

and stamina.

“When the men got to grips, Hackenschmidt in decisive style, and twice just missed with

140 THE WAY TO LIVE

the flying mare. In less than three minutes he fixed his rival in a cruel body grip and swung him over pn to the stage. Jenkins endeavoured to spring forward on to his feet, but Hackenschmidt’s arms shot out like lightning, and he pulled his man down with the greatest ease. The American de- fended very cleverly, and, failing to find an opening for an arm-hold, the Russian picked his opponent up wlth the intention of pitching him over his back. Jenkins smartly eluded hi5 grip, and aiter six minutes both were on their feet. Hacken5chmidt was forcing the pace at a terrific rate, and three times lifted his man up and brought him to the boards with a magnificent display of strength, but it availed nothing against the American’s skilful defence. Again Hackenschmidt attempted the fly- ing mare, but his hand slipped on his opponent’s neck, and like a flash Jenkins g7t e‹t the Russian by the waist and had him down. The v rustling was now more even, and each man attacked in turn. The strength and science which the challenger ex- hibited were a complete revelation, and he kept his opponent at bay without much difllculty. When a quarter of an hour had gone, Hackenschmidt rushed in and swung Jenkins bodily round the stage, de- scribing three circles before he threw him to the boards, but the American once more eluded his grip like an eel. Then the Russian braced himself for a big effort. Twice he twisted Jenkins over on to one shoulder, and just as promptly did Jenkins, with a mighty contraction of his neck and shoulder muscles, snap the holds. At this point Jenkins mysteriously weakened. Hackenschmidt bore down on him with the power of a Hercules, arid with a pedal action similar to a man pushing a heavy roller tip a hill, forced his tnari over on his back, and

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