CHAMPION WRESTLING MATCH.

Lyell Times and Central Buller Gazette, Volume V, Issue 248, 14 November 1885, Page 2

CHAMPION WRESTLING MATCH.

Miller and Whistler, for £2OO. (Melbourne Argus.) On September 26, at the Theatre Royal, Clarence Whistler, of Kansas, United States, wrestled William Miller, the Australian champion, in the Grasco-Roman style, for .£2OO, in the presence of a large audience. The men had never met before, although Miller visited America and won the Graeco-Roman championship, since which time Whistler has won his reputation as one of the best wrestlers of the day. A great deal of interest attached to the match, as both men claimed the Graeco-Roman championship, and were anxious to try conclusions. The conditions were two falls out of three to win the match, which was to have commenced at three o'clock, but it was more than half an hour later before the choice of a referee was decided by the selection, by mutual consent, of Captain Cowen. The first bout was severely contested. For nearly an hour it was continued uninterruptedly without a decisive fall, Whistler astonishing the spectators by his extraordinary agility and skill, while Miller was relying upon his greater weight and strength, without doing much active work. At length the referee appealed for fifteen minutes rest for the competitors, and they retired. Soon after their return to the stage, Whistler succeeded in scoring a fall. Another interval of a quarter of hour was taken, and the resumption of the contest afterwards was speedily followed by its termination. Whistler soon had his more weighty opponent partly prostrate, and to complete the fall had recourse to the expedient of twisting one of Miller's arms in such a manner as to place him at his mercy, and to leave him only the two alternatives of accepting defeat or submitting to a violent fracture of his arm- Miller, under the compulsion

of something akin to torture, declared Whistler the winner of (lie second fall, and ot the match, which was to he decided by two out of three rails. Whistler, ap'-ut from being a phenomenally agile and skilful wrestler, appears to be particular}' expert and determined also in placing the limbs of his opponent in peril as a last resort. It is noteworthy that in his first contest in Melbourne against John Thomas, the Litter gave way lest; his arm should be broken ; in the second match, Donald Dinnie retired disabled, and, in the third, Miller, as has been stated, acknowledged himself beaten to save the dislocation of in arm. Whistler's mode of wrestling, however affective, is, consequently, at times, calculated to prove repulsive to a considerable section of any audience. [A Melbourne cablegram, in a recent exchange announces the sudd'-n news that Whistler died on the 6th in St.]