“Farmer” Burns Jieqaf Charles Green

F'post riċenti, I wrote about Charles Green’s unsuccessful attempt to defeat Evan “Strangler” Lewis fil- 1889. A year later, Green kellu suċċess akbar ma' leġġenda oħra tal-lotta Amerikana, Martin “Farmer” Burns.

Burns li dalwaqt se jkun ta’ 29 sena kien wrestler eċċellenti iżda kien għadu ma kienx fuq il-livell ta’ Evan Lewis. Madankollu, ikollu jkun fil-quċċata 10 of American wrestlers at the time.

Burns, the current Iowa champion, met Green, billed as the English Champion, on January 10, 1890 at Turner Hall in Rock Island, Illinois. The match was considered a handicap match as Green had to throw Burns 5 times in one hour or forfeit $100.00, almost $3,000 fil- 2021 dollars.

The bout was contested under “English rules”. Catch-as-catch-can was widely used throughout the United States, so I’m not sure what the rules for this bout were. Green showed his dominance early on.

Green secured the first fall in 12 minuti. It took him a little longer to throw Burns for the second fall as he needed 16 minutes to secure it. Green threw Burns the third time in 11 minuti, 30 sekondi. While Burns had no offense in this bout, his defensive wrestling was good enough to secure his survival.

Since most modern matches are one fall exhibitions, readers may not be aware of the intermissions or rest periods in multi-fall matches. In 2-out-of-3-fall matches, a break of 5 minutes to 15 minutes was common. Sometimes the wrestlers left the ring for the intermission. Other times, they remained in the ring sitting on stools or standing in the corner.

For this match, the men remained in the ring but the 5-minute intermission counted towards the 1-hour time limit. With the first three falls and three intermissions, Charles Green had one minute to secure a fourth fall. Even if he was able to secure the fall within the minute, Green would run out of time with the fourth intermission.

Green conceded the match to Burns. Green told the newspaper writers gathered around the ring that he underestimated Burns. He rated Burns one of the most talented wrestlers he wrestled in America.

Green proved he was one of the top 3 jew 4 competitors wrestling in the United States at the time. Other than Evan “Strangler” Lewis, Green may have been an even match for any other wrestler competing in America at the time.

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Source: The Rock Island Argus, Jannar 11, 1890 edition, p. 3

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