MUNRO HwxEhCBMIDT

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Height. . . . . . 6 ft. 3 ft. 91 in.

Weight. . . . . . 15 st. 5 lb. 14 st. 8 lb.

Neck. . . . . . . . lh} in. 22 in.

Chest . . . . . 48 in. 52 in.

Waist. . . . . . 56 in. 34 in.

Thigh. . . . . . 27 in. *6›t in.

Calf . .. l7 in. 18 in.

Forearm. . . . . l@ in. 15} in.

Blcepg . . . . . . . 17a in. 19 in.

A drizzlirig rain which fell throughout the contest somewhat hampered my mod ements, and since I

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was the attacking party during most of the time the conditions naturally handicapped rue more seriously than my adversary. Munro was the first to go to the mat, and was soon compelled to “bridge” for safety. I tutned him over with a leg hold, but he managed to slip clear, as he also did out of several “half-nelsons. ” Indeed, after about a quarter of an hour’s struggle he managed so to extricate him- self from my grasp as to be able to put in several aggressive movements. He was, and is undoubtedly, a very powerful man, and did not finally succumb (to a “half-nelson”) until after a struggle lasting altogether 22 min. 40 sec.

Atter ten minutes’ interval we commenced the second bout and again the Scotchman displayed fine defensive tactics, once or twice even assuming the offensive. Again, however, I got him with a “half-nelson” and rolled him over in 11 min. 11 sec.

That night, on appearing to fulfil my engagement at the Palace Theatre, just outside Glasgow, the audience called for a speech, and after my saying a few words they stood up as one man and gave me one. of the biggest ovations I had ever experienced in Great Britain. The kindly enthusiasm with which they acclaimed me as “a jolly good fellow” was such as I shall never forget, for the rest of my

My music-hal) engagements, together with an occasional brief holiday, occupied me now for the next six months, when, in order to sa’tisfy Madrali, Pieri, the British public and myself that the result of our first encounter was not, as Pieri alleged, “a fluke, ” I consented to again meet the “Terrible Turk” under “Catch-as-catch-can” rules on this occasion. At this style of wrestling he was, accord- ing to his mentor and discoverer “absolutely invincible, ” and on the strength of recent encounters

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with Tom Jenkins and Alex Munro, a not inconsider- able section of the public inciined to the opinion that tte would “make me travel. ” Even I myself had but little confidence in oiy chance, conseqtiently I

trained seriously for the occasion, puttirig in a fortnight’s preparation at dear old Jack Grumley’s hoiise, “The Seven Stars, ” Shepherd’s Bush. I had practice bouts regularly with one or other of the following very capable group of wrestlers: Jack Smith, “Gunner” Moir, poor yack Grumley, John Strong, Gus Rencart, and Constables Barrett and Hurnphreys où the City Police, and to wind cp, I took them all to Worthing and finished my training there.

One daily item of my trainiiig may deserve mention here, siiiee in itself it was no small £ eat and, graduated aecording to circumstances, might be induded with advantage in every wrestler’s preparation. I used to kneel down while the others p)aced a sack of cement weighing cix hundred- weight on my back, and as moon as thÎ g was comfort- ably settled, poor Jack Grumley, who scaled another 232 Ibs. seated himself thereon, say, well, over 900 Ibs. in all. No small weight-moving heat I can as- sure you.

Under thè se circumstances, therefore, it can be well understood thafi I was feeling particularly fit and weli when for the second occasion I faced Madrali pat Olympia.

As this content was brought abotit after a tre- mendously wordy discussion in the Press and amidst the greatest possible excitement, it may, perhaps, interest my readers if I quote the report which appeared in Tire 3fawù rztæ Cttnrdiô n and

“Hackensc idt and Madra)i, surrounded by their friends and seconds, were early in their dres8-

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ing-rootns. Madrali was reported marvellously fit but a whisper flew round, among the journalists, telling the alarming tale that Hackenschmidt was sick l His stomach was wrong! They sere anoirit- ing him with alcohol! He was faint! He was trembling. Part of it was true. Sheer excftement had upset the Russian, and betting began to veer, and the odds weakened just as they do on the morning of a big race, when the favourite is reported to be coughing. Strung to a higher pitch of ezcite- nJent by this ’stable intelligence, the crowd watched arid waited hungrily for the appearance ot the two mighty men. It was nearly half-past nine before the band played with great gusto, 'See the con- quering hero comes! ’ There was a sudden eddy among the group of privileged persons at the side of the ring, the eddy broke and through it strode Madrali. Olympia howled as one man. The Turk stalked on to the stage like a ghost in a dream. Ie looked immens passionless and colourless; a black overcoat covered him from throat to ankles.

. He walked to his corner like an automaton and sat down stiffly on a kitchen chair. At the tail end of the cheers which greeted him came Hackenschmidt, in a brown dressing-gown, with tassels Mapping dolorously. IVith his wonderful shoulders concealed by the wrappings of his gown, he appeared small and puny compared with the great mass of humanity opposite him. His face frank and boyish as a rtile-was the very picture of misery. It was drab and drawn and withered. Hi% lips were trembling arid his eyes were flashing furtive glances across the great auditorium, whilst the cheers htirtled among the rafters of the glass dome. . . .

“At the call of ’time, ’ and in a silence through is•hich one little cough broke like a rifle shot, the

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Turk and the Russian leaped like cats to the mat, And at that moment life and confidence came back to Hackertschmi dt, whose apparent collapse was nothing more than tremendous excitement worked up to a pitch almost heartbreaking. He knew that in the ‘Catch-as-catch-can’ style Madrali was cunning and relentless if he could only get time time to wear his man down and to grind the spirit out of him. And Hackenschmidt's one idea was to limit the time to a mere handful or seconds, if he only cc›u1‹l, atid not save himsel for an endurance test. After a few lightning flashes of preliminary sparring the Russian jumped in for a neck hold and got i\Madrali’s head down. But Madrali weaved his arms roiind I-Iackenschmidt’s waist and hugged and tugged until his opponent bent nearly doub)e. fIackenschmidt made a wild grab at the Turk’s neck and got a hold which was near enough to the ’strangle grip’ to cause Madrali to squirm away and protest, mumbling to the referee as he ex- plained in pantomimic passes z•ith his hands. In another moment the pair were at it again, crouch- ing like tigers for a spring. And here Madrali made his first bad mistake. He tried his favourite dodge

—a sudden spring to get a leg hold. But Hacken- schmidt, sharp as a needle, was on the look-out for that. He hopped back an inch and no more, Ma- drali's hand smote the air and the impetus of his fruitless grab upset his balance. His right arm went up to steady himself, and like an arrow, the Russian reaped in, took his man under that right arm and swung him round. Down with a thtid and a grunt sent the Turk. Hackenschmidt was on him, and Madrali z'ent over in a body-roll, which no power on earth could stop. There was one wild struggle, a helpless kick or two, and Madrali was pinned to the carpet in a fair and straight throw in

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1 min. 34 sec. Madrali staggered up, shook himself, and stalked back to his corner, while in a storm of cheers Hackenschinidt, pale as death btit smiling, slipped on his dressing-gown and departed to his dressing-room for the fifteen minutes’ interval. Madrali stayed where he was, solacing himself with a rough towel.

”For the second bout the Russian was a raging favourite. And lo! in the second bout Madrali found his haven. Twice he dived for the leg hold. Twice he got it, being craftier this time, after his first stinging lesson in carelessness. 0“wice Hacken- schmidt broke away. And then in a whirl of heaviiig flesh both men came to earth with a bump. Madrali was on top. He wriggled behind the Russian and wrapped his sinewy arms round his waist. Hacken- schmidt crouched on all tours, while Madrali kneaded him remorselessly—a painful process which has churned many a great wrestler into sickness arid partial unconsciousness. A minute or so of this set the Russian sweating. His white skin glis- tened in the blaze of the electric light. His race was twisted with pain. And still the inexorable Turk gruelJed and gruelled his opponent. Thinking, no doubt, he had weakened him su8iciently, he made a grab at his ankle. That did not come old, so Madrali ground his knee into the Russian’s thigh. This was not strictly cricket, and Mr. Dunning promptly stopped it. Hackenschmidt just watched tor his chance. It came with startling suddenness. Incautiotisly Madrali loosed his waist hold and tried a ’helf-nelson’ on the Russian’s right arm, but found it too strong even for his muscles, whereupon Hackenschmidt got a left wrist hold and a leg-lock simultaneously, strained the mighty muscles of his shoulders almost to bursting-point and with a heave which showed incredible strength hurled his

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man clean over. The crowd went mad with excite- ment. 'He’s got him! He's got him! ’ they yelled. He had. Fiercely, furiously, panting and straining Hackenschm idt flung his whole weight upon the prostrate Turk. It was the biggest effort he had ever made. For a breathless moment Madrali struggled, Then he collapsed with a sob, and Mr. Dunning smote Hackenschmidt upon the shoulders with a sounding slap which signalized that the championship had been won and that the terrible Turk had been beaten. ’Time, four minutes, ’ cried Mr. Mansell, the timekeeper, and like an avalanche, the crowd swarmed, roaring into the arena. ”

Since that date it has become fashionable in certain quarters to call Madrali a much overrated man. There never was a worse, or indeed a more absurd, mistake. He was a most formidable oppo- nent, one of the strongest, if not actually the strongest, man I have ever encountered. Some- what careless, perhaps, as a wrestler, but once he had you in his clutches-well, he had me pretty tightly, I admit, and I was able to turn the tables, btit I shall always count myself as singularly for- tunate in having been able to do so. Tom Jenkins is a very powerful man and a most able wrestler, and yet Madrali positively crushed him. Munro is one of the strongest men in the world, and thor- oughly experienced at “Catch-as-catch-can” and yet Madrali treated him almost as if he were a novice. No, the opinions which were entertained of the “Terrible Turk” prior to his defeat by me were much nearer the truth than those which obtained subsequently thereto, arid every wrestler who ever felt Madrali’s grip will, I am sure, fully endorse this opinion.

I was now booked up for a lengthy tour, during which I visited nearly every town in the United

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Kingdom, meeting all the wrestlers of repute in every locality, without coming across any serious or ex- citing encounter.

In August, 1907, my old lmee trouble again made its appearance, but this time the water gathered in the joint itself, so that my knee cap stood away (rom the joint quite a quarter of an inch. By medi- cal advice I now always wore a bandage, and found it practically impossible to do any serious wrestling practice. Even a slow trot caused me such pain that I cottld only fulfil my ordinary engagements with the utmost difficulty.

Matters in the Wrestling World were livened up however by the visit of three wrestlers possessing formidable reputations on the Continent.

First came Constant le Marin, then the Galician wrestler, Cyganiewicz, or Zbysco. Finally came the big Cossack, Padoubny, the winner of World’s Championship Tournaments in the Grmco-Roman style.

These were followed by Joe Rogers, a big Ameri- can wrestler, with whom I had z'restled in New York, but who had since progressed considerably in his knowledge of the game.

All four of these hurled challenges at me, but as I found that Constant le Marin, who had been first in the field, appeared less ready to come to business than he had been to announce his readiness therefor, and as it would have been absurd to match myself to meet them all at once or to lay myself open to their accusa- tions, if I accorded either of them precedence, I sug- gested that they had better wrestle among themselves, promising to meet the winner.

Knowing ftill well that they were all formidable opponents, and feeling the urgent need of rest and recuperation after my long and arduous spell of

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work, I now took a brief holiday, paying a visit to my home in Russia.

Unfortunately I did not find the rest or cure I needed, and consequently returned to England feel- ing far from fit and well, in time to witness the 2b\5CO-Padoubriy match, to which the proposed tournament had dwindled down,

This, as may be remembered, resulted in the victory of Zbyseo, owing to the disqualification of Padoubny, and I accordingly signed articles to meet the winner.

Meanwhile Rogers, who had beets unable to enter the proposed tournament or triangular contest, owing to a poisoned thumb, was clamouring for a match with me, on the plea that I had promised to meet him while I was in America, i/ he took up wrestling seriously arid was able to prove that he was a seri- ous opponent.

This he had done by virtue of his success in one or two American tournaments in which he had de- feated some very formidable opponents and so I con- sented to meet him.

We came together at the Oxford Music Hall on February 6, 1908, and, despite his great advantage in height and weight (he was quite six inches taller atid more thati three stone heavier than I was), I did not experience any very great difficulty in pinning him out twice in 7 min. 35 sec. and 6 min. 45 sec. respectively.

I was attacking practically throughout the con- test, almost the only aggressive move which he made being an attempt to seize me round the thighs, which resulted in his being thrown for the first time, as I stooped also and quicker than he did, securing a hold just below his knees, lifting him and then pitching him forcibly to the ground, after

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which I was able to pin him down without mach

wrestle Franb Gotch. Prior to the contest itself I fulfilled a night's engagement at the Grand Central Palaoe, New York, meeting Neil Olsen, a quick little wrestler who called himsel: f Youag Hackea- wlunidt, and Steg-Miller, whom I took with me to America After this I went to Boston, where I wrestled John Perelli, Albert Ouvray and several others; and had the honour of making the acqtiain- tance ol the son of President Roosevelt, who intro- duced me to his Friends. From Boston I went to Philadelphia, and there beat Carl Darschen of Camden, in 3} min., Henry Paulson in 5 min. 9 sec., and Miller. From Philadelphia I went to Wash- ington, where I was introduced to President Roose- velt at the White House, and to several other leading polftician8. There I wrestied five opponents, and threw them alt pretty quickly; travelling thence to Baltimore, where, after defeating two or three opponents, I wrestled t5 min. with Gus Schö nlein (America). From here I went straight to Chicago to get ready for Gotch.

As to the context itself so much has been said and written already by variotis eye-witnesses and also by

peopte wko were ttot eye-witnesses, that It seeo›s to me that I should be werving no uselul purpose by either adding tö or taking from the remarks I have already made on the subject.

Atter returning to England I had to prepare for a match with Zbysco, which should have taken place in June. I started hard practice, but in a short time felt such paiti in triy light knee, rovnd the k ee cap, that it was even painful to walk. Any quick tum mede me feel as though I should collapm I xnwIeda|myengagement%inWu‹lingthemac

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and went to Aix-la-Chapelle, to undergo a thorough

When did I last hold a championship?

When I entered for and won the Championship Tournaments in Vienna, Berlin and Paris in the year 1901, the motive that actuated me was the desire to prove myself a greater wrestler than all the famous exponents of the science who were gathered together at those places. That I won the title or champion at the same time was purely a side isstie. So much so, indeed, that I have riot since troubled about renewing it.

Throughout my whole career I have never bothered

as to whether I was a champion or not a champion. The only title I have desired to be knoz•n by is simply my same, George Hackensclimidt.

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