Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 288, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 December 1914 — Ragtime Player Conquers Piano in a Long Battle [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Ragtime Player Conquers Piano in a Long Battle

CHICAGO. —At one o’clock in the morning Edwin Fridman, the “ragtime slugger,” put all his weight behind the final chord of “This Is the Life” and toppled back into the arms of his trainers. He had triumphed in a 26-

hour battle against a ferocious piano. William Singer, the referee, tapped Edwin on the shoulder as be fell and announced him the winner. Then 300 music “fans” who crowded the Boyal theater on Milwaukee avenue lumped Into the orchestra pit and crowded about the victor. Fridman had sustained a few injuries. His hands were badly twisted and his wrists were swollen. His eyes wore a far-away look as though so-

cused on a distant feather bed. And ' his only answer to the shouts of the fans was a whistling obligato snore. Stanley Boise and Philip Katz, the music slugger’s seconds, were the first Into the pit They bathed his arms with alcohol and fanned him with towels, Just like regular seconds. Meanwhile attaches of the theater were administering to the defeated piano. During the battle It lost its top and front covers and its wires were haocked out of tune. Its condition is said to be critical. The battler was not permitted to take both hands from the keys at any «toe during the struggle, and on occasions the piano had m «"•«* — .