A GREAT WRESTLER.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXIV, Issue 9378, 23 February 1909, Page 7

A GREAT WRESTLER.

One of tbe most important wrestling matches ever contested at Barnsley (England), was decided on 28th December when Tom Rose, the wellknown local wrestler, was matched for £2OO a side against Peter Gotz, of London, to decide the best of three pintails in the catoh-as-catch-can style. The conditions of the contest were that neither competitor was to exceed lOst, 61b, weighing in at eleven o’clock, and the hour fixed for the contest was 2 p.m. The conditions also allowed ten minntes between each fpll, and the men were to wrestle day by day nntil a decision was arrived at. The match carried with it the light-weight . championship of the world. Great excitement prevailed. The officials weighed the men in the morning, and Rose turned the scale at lOst 11b Boz, and Gotz lOst 41b 6cz. The men wrestled in stocking feet, without any mat to protect their bodies from contact with the hard-frozen ground. Betting ruled at odds of about 45 to 40 on Rose, who is the younger man and the less experienced wrestler. They began quietly, and for ten minntes nothing but sparring took place. Gotz was forcing all the wrestling at the end of fen minntes. Rose had his man under, but Gotz was clever, and after some bard wrestling, in which both frequently came into violent contact with the ground, Gotz got Rose Into a kind of scissors hold, evidently painful to the Barnsley man, who, quite pinned, yielded and gave Gotz the first fall at the end of 14mia 13seo. It was evident that Rose had suffered considerable punishment. The scissors hold is a leg hold, in which the knees play a very prominent part. The German got a firm grip upon Rose’s body, and by applying pressure was able to inflict great pain, the bold being one which is capable of rendering a wrestler quite unconscious in a very short time. Rose was not pinned to the ground, but he threw up his hands helplessly and conceded the fall. When he walked to his dressing room it was evident that hre was in pain. Gotz followed him, and when the two men were in their quarters a consultation took place between their respective backers. As a result it was announced that Gotz had agreed to accept Rose’s proposition that he should concede £ls, the match to be declared a draw, and all the bets off. Seen in tbe dressing room aferwards, Rose admitted that the scissors hold was a perfectly fair one, and that there was no suggestion of a foul about the way in which Gotz had him. The hold, Rose stated, was exceedingly painful, and practically rendered him unconscious.