Argosy All-Story Weekly, April 14, 1928 — page 96: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

234 more, oh, Sappo?” asked ‘T'hemis- tocles. : “Yes,” replied Sappo. “But not this afternoon. I have an appointment with my chiropodist.”’ Anybody who recalls his Greek knows that a chiropodist was then as he is now a corn doctor. The word comes from the words chiro, meaning corn and podist meaning a plasterer. In other words it means one who plas- ters corns. With the development of the toe- hold other wrestlers started to com- pete, but very few of them were equal to the task of throwing Achmides while that gladiator could remain awake. Fi- nally there came a Persian whom they called the “ Strangler.” He threw a great many of the mediocre Greek wrestlers with a new hold. His method was to clamp their skulls between his elbow joints and ex- ert pressure upon them until their brains were compressed into segments even smaller than normal. Eventually the Strangler got a match with Achmides and tried his famous hold on the round and solid head of the Spartan. He held Achmides’s skull for hours at a time, but the Spartan did not even seem to be annoyed. The Strangler clamped the durable spheroid exerting all his power, but it availed nothing. ; The Strangler finally succumbed to the deadly toe-hold and went back to his own country. Before departing he said: “ It is no avail to work upon the heads of the Corinthians because their skulls are practically solid and what- ever particles of brains they may have are so protected by this bony armor that no pressure can affect them.” The sport had a great vogue in Ath- ens until the Pheenicians got to it. ‘The Phoenicians were the business men of the day with factories at Tyre and trav- eling salesmen all over Europe. The charge has been made that they even framed the ancient Olympic games. ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. Finally Achmides, after a match that had lasted only five days, rolled over on his back and was beaten by a young Athenian. The populace was amazed as Achmides was a heavy favorite that day. Themistocles who had brought some marked decks from a firm at Tyre sus- pected something and had Achmides shadowed to a wine shop. There Achmides was seen in com- pany with a Phoenician who was caught in the act of slipping the wrestler six talents of gold. The guilty wrestler was brought before Themistocles and confessed that he and the Athenian had talked it over while they were on the mat and that he finally agreed to take the flop. Whereupon wrestling was forbidden in Athens. In stopping the sport The- | mistocles said: ‘“‘ Now that the busi- ness men from Tyre are interested in the game it is time to stop it. Ina wrestling bout the men are so close to- gether that they can whisper into each other’s ears and even the referee can- not hear them.” Protessor Pretzelbender of Heidel- berg in his work, “‘ The Biology of the Bonehead,” attempts to prove that the Swedes were the originators of wres- tling, and cites the Full Nelson and Half Nelson holds to back this theory. Of course, the Swedes did take up wrestling at a later date, but the Greeks were known to have wrestling bouts even before they had chop houses. Modern wrestling has become sys- tematized through the Phoenician influ- ence. It has been arranged that each wrestler is allowed to hold the cham- pionship for a certain length of time in his proper turn. This admirable arrangement prevents any hard feeling or bitterness in the bouts. Through this arrangement the bouts can be finished when the custom- ers are ready to go. Also it preventsa bout being completed before the house has been counted. THE END GEomichooks (E@)