Beell Beats “Americus”

I mí Eanáir 1905, well-regarded wrestler Gus Schoenlein, also known as Americus, agreed to meet Fred Beell in Schoenlein’s hometown of Baltimore, Maryland. Schoenlein expected to beat Beell easily.

At 5’10” agus 210 punt, “Americus” towered over the 5’04”, 170 pound Beell. While Beell was powerfully built, Schoenlein’s 40 pounds was a mountainous advantage. Both men were skilled wrestlers though.

Dara, Beell had been losing more than winning over the last two years. Beel’s professional career had been unimpressive up to this point. Schoenlein lightly trained for the bout, which he expected to win easily.

Mar sin féin, Charles Weiss, who Schoenlein recently fired as his manager, saw something in the young Wisconsin grappler. Thinking that Beell was just the man to clip his former client, Weiss put up Beell’s part of the purse to setup the match.

When the men met on the cold January day in Baltimore, Schoenlein started out cold and never warmed up. Despite his size advantage, Schoenlein could not move Beell.

Beell pushed the pace on Americus from the beginning of the match until he turned Americus onto his back for the first fall at 1 hour and 1 minute.

Americus met Beell at center ring for the beginning of the second fall. Clearly fatiguing after the first fall, Americus could not catch Beell in anything no matter how hard he strained. Utterly exhausted after another hour of wrestling, Beell turned Schoenlein onto his back for the second fall with a half-nelson at 1 hour and 16 minutes.

As Schoenlein struggled to his corner, he was in real danger of losing the 3-out-of-5-falls match in 3 straight falls. While he wanted to make a better showing in his hometown, Americus could barely get off his stool to meet Beell at center ring for the third fall.

Fatigue sucked the last bit of fight out of Schoenlein. After only 3 minutes, Beell threw him with a waist hold for the third straight fall and a decisive victory. Weiss jumped from his seat Schoenlein’s former manager would be smiling wide for the rest of the night.

Beell would continue to build on his success over the next few years including a rare victory over Frank Gotch. Schoenlein would recover from this defeat and remain a contendor for the American Heavyweight Wrestling Championship. Both men emerged stronger as a result of this match.

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Sources: Waterbury Evening Democrat, Eanáir 9, 1905 edition, p. 9

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