SPORT ANCIENT AND MODERN 



active. He threw Wright at Ulverston, 

 Carlisle, Kendal, Barrow, and five times at 

 Lancaster. Wright only threw Ewebank 

 once, and that was at Jedburgh. Ewebank 

 was also successful at Newcastle, Carlisle, 

 Barrow, and at Lancaster he twice carried 

 away the prizes. He won the prize for the 

 last sixteen standards at Morecambe, and at 

 Liverpool divided the stakes with Longmire. 



In the ring on the Swifts, Richard Chapman 

 of Patterdale, the most extraordinary middle- 

 weight wrestler that ever existed, gained a 

 distinguished position, not by towering height, 

 not by extraordinary strength and weight, but 

 by sheer force of activity, science and clear- 

 sighted shrewdness. When with exulting 

 shouts he was hailed victor at Carlisle in 

 1833, he was not nineteen years old, weighed 

 no more than twelve stone six pounds and 

 measured five feet ten inches. When the 

 Carlisle wrestling of 1840 was over he had 

 gained the chief prize four times. No one 

 hitherto had attained this proud position. 



Robert Gordon of Plumpton, who won the 

 all-weight head prize at Carlisle twice and 

 came second five times, never exceeded five 

 feet ten inches in height, his general wrestling 

 weight being only eleven and a half stone. 

 If there had been in his day eleven stone 

 wrestling he would have had no difficulty in 

 training to the weight provided he could have 

 been induced to change a pair of heavy cloth 

 trousers for the light garments in which 

 wrestlers weigh at the present day. In 

 appearance he was a thin, spare, angular sort 

 of man, carrying very little flesh, big-boned, 

 and remarkably strong about the shoulders and 

 body. His limbs however were so light and 

 shapeless that he never cared to roll his 

 trousers above the calf of his leg. He had 

 a cautious and peculiar way of getting hold, 

 or rather he had a peculiar way of slipping his 

 hold and getting into what he considered a 

 favourite position. This mode consisted in 

 keeping well clear of his opponent, and to 

 wriggle down on one side of him. This he 

 generally effected from possessing vast power 

 in the shoulders and arms, and having such a 

 lithe slippery back that scarcely any one could 

 hold him. His iron grip was so powerful 

 that a short struggle enabled him to attain his 

 object and quietly pull his antagonist over the 

 knee or fairly drag him to the ground. Very 

 few men, or only at odd times, could hinder 

 Gordon from getting them into this fatal 

 position. He rarely lifted his man, but when 

 he did so the fall was mostly an awkward one. 



Like Tom Nicholson, Dick Chapman, 

 William Jackson and other celebrated wrest- 

 lers, Gordon appears to have been as good 



when about twenty years old as during the 

 remaining portion of his career ; and like 

 William Richardson of Caldbeck ' Belted 

 Will ' he was not once thrown in the first 

 year of his public wrestling. 



In 1844 at Penrith he wrestled up with 

 Robert Atkinson of Sleagill. Both of the final 

 falls were severely contested, ' Sleagill ' 

 viciously gripping and gripping again as if he 

 would squeeze the very life out of his wiry 

 opponent. All however of no avail. He 

 had to succumb twice in succession to an 

 eleven and a half stone man. 



At Carlisle in 1846, although not in good 

 feather this year, William Jackson the four- 

 year champion came again for the express pur- 

 pose of carrying off the head prize for the fifth 

 time. When drawn against Gordon in the 

 fourth round the latter expressed a desire to 

 give way to his formidable rival without a 

 struggle. His mind quickly changed, however, 

 when told by the umpires ' there would be no 

 money for him at all unless he went into the 

 ring and did his best.' ' Wey ! if that's to be 

 t'game, than I'll russel him ! He can only 

 throw me ! ' In the betting large odds were 

 offered as much as six to one, and up to ten 

 to one on Kinneyside. Old Will Glen of 

 Calthwaite staked enthusiastically against his 

 neighbour, and seemed much chagrined at 

 finding himself jCio out of pocket by the 

 fall. The men were no sooner in holds than, 

 quick as lightning, Gordon got into his 

 favourite position. Jackson tried hard to 

 neutralize his opponent's tactics by drawing 

 him up, but his utmost efforts were futile. 

 The advantage already gained was used so 

 quickly and effectually that before the 

 champion could effect any change he was 

 literally dragged to the ground in spite of all 

 the efforts used. Immense cheering greeted 

 the fall and for some time a perfect furor 

 raged in all parts of the ring. 



On 8 October, 1851, the great match for 

 the wrestling championship of all England 

 and 300 between Jackson and Atkinson took 

 place at the Flan near Ulverston. This event 

 caused a greater sensation in all wrestling 

 circles than any contest on record in the 

 north, and has ever since been a theme of 

 conversation among the natives of Cumber- 

 land and Westmorland. The contest came 

 off in a spacious ring lying to the north of the 

 town of Ulverston, in the presence of about 

 10,000 persons. On the afternoon previous 

 great numbers arrived from London, Liver- 

 pool and Manchester, and on the morning of 

 the contest farm servants, farmers' sons and 

 others, on foot, poured into the town from all 

 points. The great majority from Westmor- 



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