The Evening Star, Washington D.C. (27 June 1903)
FOR SELF-DEFENSE
Wrestling Fits a Man to Take Care of Himself.
THE CORNISH STYLE
MIGHTY USEFUL IN A ROUGH-AND-TUMBLE FIGHT.
Different Holds Secured on a Canvas Jacket—Formerly a Brutal Sport.
Written for The Evening Star by Prof. Anthony Barker.
One of the best ways for a man to fit himself for self-defense through physical culture is to take up the style of wrestling least known in America—the Cornish.
In nearly every man’s life, whether he will or no, a time generally comes when he is dragged into a rough-and-tumble fight. Then, if he knows something of Cornish wrestling, he will be able to take care of himself admirably.
The distinctive feature of Cornish wrestling is the canvas jacket which each wrestler wears and on which the different holds must first be secured. For this reason a man learns how he could grab the coat of a man who might attack him on the street or elsewhere, and use this apparel of dress to the discomfiture and defeat of its owner.
The man who delights in rough-and-tumble exercise—and he is numerous—will find Cornish wrestling just about the acme of his favourite kind of sport. He will also discover that, for all its apparent go-as-you-please methods, it is not lacking in scientific qualities, and that he will get plenty of healthful excitement from the most picturesque of all wrestling games.
The coat used for Cornish wrestling on canvas, with no collar, bone, elbow sleeves, and a tall meeting well down over the hips. It is built so that it will lack about eight inches of meeting over the chest. The fronts are joined by three pieces of stout rope hooked over buttons, securely lashed, so that hard pulling will not loosen them. The topmost rope is across the nipples, and the space between each rope is eight inches. The sleeves are loose, so that a wrestler can get a hand up and through them for certain holds. The jacket is cut low in front to prevent holds, the ropes, which fasten the coat on, reducing the chances of holds to a minimum. The tail is long, so that the wrestler can make the coat fit
snugly and still further reduce his opponent’s opportunities for a hold by gathering up back of him as much of the tail and coat as he can.
Holds on the Jacket.
All holds with the hands are gained on the jacket, which, therefore, plays the major part in this sort of wrestling. Leg tripping is fair, however, tripping being scientifically employed. The celebrated grapevine is known in most American schools. In Cornish its perfection is Cornish.
Cornish has not become well known in America because it formerly was brutal and it abounded in cruelties. The miners of Cornwall, among whom it originated, formerly wore heavy-soled and spiked shoes, with which they endeavoured to cripple one another, and they had no qualms about choking. Nowadays, however, even Cornishmen refrain from all brutality, and their athletic sport is no longer brutal or inhuman.
In the coal mining regions of Pennsylvania, and in the regions of the far West where many Cornishmen are settled, this style of wrestling is in vogue, and every holiday brings numerous bouts.
The grapevine hold, described below, is generally barred in present-day bouts, but it is given with the idea that a knowledge of it may come in useful at some time when one is called upon to defend oneself against a ruffian. It is one of the most effective holds known to man.
Figuring for a bout, from five hundred or more holds possible in Cornish wrestling, one gets with moderate practice with the three described.
Figuring for a Hold.
Roll up the opponent’s jacket as you go. Gather all the slack of the jacket in as firm a grip as you can secure, pressing at the small of the back. With the legs well apart and the body balanced below, you form an obtuse angle by bending the body. Hold the opponent’s jacket, or wrist, well at arm’s length with the palm out toward the opponent’s face and about a foot from it. (Figure 1.) Keep the position while figuring for a hold, which consists principally in having some part of the jacket. Agility and keen eyes are necessary to do this effectively.
The Crowbar.
Perhaps you manage to get a hold on your opponent’s sleeve. In that case send your arm up his sleeve and firmly grasp the opposite side of the collar. Now your wrist will bear on the opponent’s neck. (Figure 2.) Then, keeping your body out of harm’s way, grab a wrist of the opponent with your disengaged hand, step on the toe nearest you, pull him toward and past you and throw him flat on his back.
Usually you will have to thrust your opponent all around to get your arm in well before he will be sufficiently to be thrown down.
The Cross Collar Hold.
To execute the cross collar hold, get the opponent’s jacket in a wad around his neck and well down on his arms. Run one hand through the crumpled mass in front of the neck and under the chin, and grab the jacket at the opposite armhole (Figure 3.) Then put the heel corresponding to the arm under the chin back of the opponent’s leg and try to toss him backward.
As this hold is difficult to get, he will, his hands will not be of much use to him, his will tip totaling and breaking away, but a little pressure of the arm on the neck and chin will make him stop.
As this hold and the crowbar can be made more rough by means of choking, it would be better, and would serve the purpose of exercise just as well, not to carry the choke too far. When points are sufficiently gained, count them as points and release the opponent.
The Grapevine.
This is the most famous of all the Cornish holds, and is oftenest used. It can be secured in a variety of positions. A common way is as follows:
Get the opponent’s jacket bunched around his neck and clasp his head in an arm, the hand of which grasps the jacket by the side of the other hand. Entwine the leg nearest the opponent around his leg, toe to toe in front of his shin bone. (Figure 4.) Push the opponent’s leg not behind from under him, press down with the arms and pull his head under and his shoulders on to the floor.
Executed in this fashion the grapevine corresponds in general to the “flying mare” of Cumberland and Northumberland.
[Illustrated with four figures: Fig. 1 – Sparring for a Hold; Fig. 2 – The Crowbar; Fig. 3 – The Cross Collar Hold; Fig. 4 – The Famous Grapevine.]