Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 36, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 February 1914 — GOTCH DEFEATS MAUPAS AND TIN WHISTLE [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

GOTCH DEFEATS MAUPAS AND TIN WHISTLE

IN THE season of 1905-6, Gotch won the championship in the great international tournament in Montreal, Quebec and Ottawa. More than fifty of the best wrestlers in the world competed. The American champion attacked these mountains of beef with a vengeance, but in flattening the big specimens on their backs had some of the most thrilling and yet humorous experiences of his mat career. > The Greco-Roman style of wrestling is prefered to the catch-as-catch-can in the Canadian cities. In the matches of this tournament the Canadians had a special code they called the French Greco-Roman rules. The strangle, hammerlock and all other holds below the waist were barred. v One peculiarity of this code was that a whistle was blown at various stages of a match to give the wrestlers intervals of rest. Gotch says he observed that when his French opponents were getting tired there was a blast from the tin 1 horn. The best of them was Emile Maupas. It was in Montreal on Dec. 27, 1905, that Gotch met and defeated Maupas after a sensational match lasting nearly an hour and a half. When time was called Gotch rushed Maupas to the edge of the mat and the Frenchman extricated himself with difficulty. Coming back to the center of the mat Gotch again rushed his bulky opponent and the Frenchman came near going off the stage into the crowd. Gotch caught him and pulled him back. Gotch rushed in and secured a leg hold with which he finally worked Maupas to the mat. The Frenchman fought desperately to avoid being thrown. Gotch fastened on a half nelson and waist lock and was turning his opponent gradually but certainly to his doom. The crowd was hushed with suspense. Was Maupas to go

down to defeat so soon? Not at allJust as the shoulders of the Frenchman were nearing the mat there was a shrill blast from the whistle. The tin horn had saved him. There was applause as Gotch relinquished bis grip and the men went to their corners to await the signal for a resumption of hostilities. Wheta the match was resumed Gotch again assumed the aggressive, sending his big opponent sprawling toward tbe footlights. Maupas came near going off the stage. The Frenchman rushed at Gotch and put him down, but the lowan was up, after breaking a waist hold. Gotch dived for Maupas’ legs and threw him heavily to the mat. Gotch again had Maupas near a fall after fastening a half nelson and arm lock to the big fellow, but a timely blast from the trumpet again saved him, and the gladiators rested. Time and again Gotch had Maupas near a fall, but the whistle was always present, batting 1.000 in the pinches. Maupas went behind Gotch for a time and had him near a fall. For some mysterious reason the whistle failed to blow, but Gotch escaped unaifled. Finally Gotch brought the Frenchman’s shoulders to the mat with a half nelson and reverse body hold, after an hour and one minute of fast wrestling. “I guess some fellow must have etuffed*a bit of paper in that whistle,” said Gotch. “The referee was red in the face. He must have had a terrific struggle with the tin instrument" Gotch pinned Maupas for the second and deciding fall in twenty-two minutes, winning a belt emblematic of the Greco-Roman championship of Canada. It was not the fault of the faithful whistle that Maupas Was deprived of this trophy and the accompanying title. (Copyright, 1913, by Joseph B. Bowles.)

Gotch Breaking Leg Holds of Joe Rogers.