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THE WAY TO LIVE
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THE STORY OF MY LIFE -
Part 5
by George Hackenschmidt
I now returned home to rest and went through several courses of
treatment for the benefit of my arm, the most successful of these being
the Priessnitsch cold-water pack. The measurement of my biceps,
which had decreased to 15 3-8 in., rose again to 17 3-4 in., and my weight
went up from 14 st. 2 lb. to 15 st. 6 lb. After three months I
October, 190l, I was able to take up wrestling again in Moscow. I
was in excellent form, and among other events, threw Lassartesse in seven
minutes, Hitzler in twenty-one minutes, and the young Frenchman, Rauol le
Boucher, a very powerful, young, heavy and skilful wrestler (6 ft. 2
1-4 in. in height and weighing 19 st. 9 lb.), in twenty-three minutes in
spite of a furious resistance on his part.
I threw five
excellent Moscow amateurs in seven minutes! This last tour de force
I repeated shortly afterwards - at the end of October - in Munich, where I
defeated five professional wrestlers also in seven minutes. After
which, among others, I beat Burghardt (Austria) in six minutes, Cassino
(France) in thirty seconds. Hitzler in twenty-three minutes, Rodel
in twenty-seven minutes, Blatte (of Munich) in two and a half minutes,
Eigemann (from Elberfeld) I less than one minute, Marchand (the Frenchman)
in two minutes, and Koch in twenty-five minutes. I was next matched
for the second time against the German champion, Eberle, who was now in
better form than he had been in Hamburg. I was prepared for a fairly
long struggle, in the event of his adopting defensive tactics, but to my
surprise Eberle took the offensive against me. I gave him an
opportunity of taking the lower hold from behind, and as I tightened this
by a sturdy swing of the leg, I got him off his balance. He fell and
I turned him quickly on his back. The whole contest, to the
astonishment of every one, and especially Eberle himself, only lasted five
minutes.
On the following day, in company with the other
wrestlers, I paid a visit to "Steierer Hans," a great character in Munich,
who in his earlier days had traveled about the world in the role of
Hercules, 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, axletons, and weights with which
he performed various tricks for our benefit, accompanying them with
amusing patter. Merely for the joke of the thing, I lifting with one
hand a stone to which some weights were attached, the whole weighing 660
lb.
In November a small contest took place at Elberfeld, at
which I was once more an easy winner.
On November 30, 190l, a
contest for the wrestling championship of the world was commenced at the
Casino de Paris. I had entered for this, and before it commenced, at
an independent performance, I threw five professional wrestlers in six
minutes altogether. For this tournament some hundred and thirty
wrestlers had entered, and among others I defeated Mario in three and
Buisson in three and three-quarter minutes. My first important
adversary was Alexandre le Marseillais, a tall and heavy (17 st. 11 lb.),
but none the less accomplished wrestler whom I threw after a severe
struggle of twenty minutes. I wrestled with one hour without result
with Omer de Bouillon, who was in excellent form, but defeated him on the
following day in twenty minutes.
I now threw Koch in twenty
minutes. Maurice Gambier in a short two minutes, Dmile Vervet in six
minutes, and the Frenchman, Raoul le 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 le Boucher, in the final
contest.
On this particular evening I happened to be in good
form and 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 December 19, 1901. I received a
magnificent ovation, and the newspapers devoted whole columns of space to me.
On December 27, I wrestled once more with Constant, and
was declared the winner after a long struggle. The final result of
the tournament being as follows: First prize of two gold medals and
3,000 frs. Hackenschmidt; one gold medal being awarded for having defeated
all the four light-weight champions, and the other for beating the heavy
weights. Second prize, a gold and a silver medal with 1,750 frs.,
Constant le Boucher. Third prize, with 700 frs., Omer de
Bouillon. Fourth prize, and 450 frs., Raoul le Boucher. Fifth
prize, and 300 frs., Hitzler. Sixth prize, and 200 frs., Emil
Vervet; and so forth.
By the middle of January I felt it was
high time for me to avail myself of an invitation to stay at Alseben in
Germany which I had received from Herr Siebert, the trainer for my health
had begun to suffer from my severe exertions during the championship
contest. My weight had gone down to 14 st. 6lb.
At
Alseben, 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 to me. I had wrestled for a long time, without ceasing,
hastening from one tournament to another.
I was tired of the
arena, especially as my arm daily became more painful. I found in
Siebert a man of the widest experience and soon conceived a liking for
him. He strongly advised to wait till I had fully recovered my
health and taken a thorough rest before coming to any rash
decision.
Thanks to quiet and good care, I throve amazingly,
and very gradually commenced to train, under Siebert's guidance with
weights and dumb-bells.
On January 27, I established a new
world's record by raising a weight of 187 lb. behind my back with the
knees bent. Not long after, for a wager, I jumped 100 times over a
table with both feet close together. In a word, my former depression
gave place to the pleasures of life and vigour. I stayed a few weeks
with Siebert, and during the time established the following world's
records: -
1. 110 lb. lifted fifty times with bent
knees.
2. 90 3-4 lb in the right and 89 1-2 lb. in the left hand
held 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 and
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 then
the English took but scant interest in wrestling or, at any rate, in the
Greco-Roman branch of the Art, since few first-class exponents of this
system had as yet visited Great Britain.
About this time an
American wrestler named Carkeck made his first appearance in London.
I had know this man in France as an average wrestler. He was about
forty years of age, and claimed, among other things, to have defeated
Beaucarious, Gambier, and Pytlasinski. I sent more than one
challenge to his manager, and also to Carkeek himself, but they were
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 him
either in the Greco-Roman, "Catch-as-catch can," or Cornish styles, and
would be sure to make a big advertisement out of my departure. I
therefore purchased a box close to the stage (of the Alhambra), 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 the stage in full wrestling costume, while my companion, holding a
stake of L25 in his hand, challenged Carkeek to wrestle with me, and
undertook to hand over the sum he held if I failed to throw Carkeek at
least ten times within an hour.
A tremendous 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 L25
with the editor of the Sportsman on the conditions already announced from
the stage. All the newspapers gave favourable notices of my debut,
and on March 10 I received an engagement at the Tivoli Theatre,
London. Fore some time my health suffered from a climate to which I
was unaccustomed, but I nevertheless accepted further engagements, which
were freely offered me.
In order to have a useful opponent
for training purposes, I summoned my friend Koch from Germany, and we
wrestled together almost every day for practice, wrestling continually for
some months and defeating all opponents. Then I made the
acquaintance of Tom Cannon, the well-known wrestler, who lives in
Liverpool and only wrestles occasionally
now.
Part 6 |
