Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 277, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 December 1917 — CHAMPION WRESTLER DENIES HE IS DYING [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

CHAMPION WRESTLER DENIES HE IS DYING

The reporter who daily calls up the hospitals and morgues the other day phoned the German hospital to learn if Frank Gotch, the champion wrestler, was still to be counted in the census. He had been reported as seriously ill. “I’d like to inquire about Mr. Gotch’s health,” he confided to the operator at the hospital. “Just a minute, please,” she answered, as she connected the scribe with the alleged dying man’s room. “Is Mr. Gotch’s condition very serious?” asked the reporter.

“Rats, no,” answered a man with a husky voice. “And, furthermore, if they don’t let me out of here soon, I’m going to pull a Douglas Fairbanks and escape.” [ “Who is this talking?” “Gotch himself, Frank Gotch; I’m not sick at all.” > , - “Well, they report you as dying with kidney trouble.” “Zatso? Well, I have got a kink in my back from loading logs back in lowa. That’s all. And I’m not letting a few bantamweight logs down me.”

FRANK GOTCH, WHO INSISTS HE IS NOT DEAD.