The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, January 5, 1902, Page 2

THE SUNDAY CALL HE masked wrestler of Paris is in San Francisco. ‘He it is who in sun- ny France was called “Bras de Fer,” and whosc arms of iron were for many months the terror of all other wrestlers who fell because of them at the Hippodrome. Here he is the proprietor of a French restaurant in the Latin quarter and caters to the palates of many of the most noted bon vivants of S8an Francisco. Prior to this he was famous in this city also for his wonderful feats of strength and skill in wrestling, and was known as the French Hercules. Woodward's Gar- dens was the scene of some of his most wonderful and daring exploits. The story of how he came by his title of “Bras de Fer” in Paris is a romantic his- tory, with the touch of the spectacular in it that the volatile Frenchmen delight in. The youth who grew to be called the masked wrestler of Paris through his feats of great strength was the son of a builder of Paris. His athletic career was in full swing by the time he was 20 years of age. In 1862 he appeared in public at the Hippodrome in Paris, and that ap- pearance, with its dramatic incidents, made him first in the affections of the sport-loving public Paris was just then enjoying the my tery of a masked strong man, who was appearing at the Areme Athletique. He had vanquished many in wrestling and his identity was surrounded by the deepest myste which was added to by the sui: and mask of blazing scarlet which he al- Wways wore Stories flew thick and fast concerning his wealth and lineage, and a chateau in the north of France, which it was said he Jeft simply because he was a trained ath- lete, strong beyond compare, and would fain gratify his desire to show his prowess. That his face had never ap- peared save behind the scarlet mask had its charm also for the Parisians, for did it not give one a mystery to solve? He was the champion of all he surveyed so0 far, for no one had yet met him in the ring and ed his onslaught. But time went then one day Paris. was an added chapter in the L’homme masque.” ort went on the boulevards and cafes that the masked man had d a challenge from an unknown to him for a wrestling bowt at the Hip- *On the third night,” the chai- and all Paris could hardly Jut the time came, and never were ats of the amphitheater so full. Ex- ion buzzed, and even the music had ystery of he rep: A stion in it. . Prompt; on the hour appeared the masked man, the athlete of mystery, a tall, strong figure in flaming scarlet and a vivid mask. Scarcely had the bravos begun that greeted him when at the other extremity of the ring stood the unknown, an exceedingly lithe figure, tall also, and made more impressive by its habit of somber black, and to further carry out the signature of the challenge, “the un- known™ also wore a mask of the same dead hue. Another round of applause and then the contest was begun. The open- ing bout was exciting enough with its lively action and ended with the masked man in scarlet pressing his shoulders upon the face of the unknown, and forcing him fairly to the floor. The sports of Paris were wild with joy that their idol, their man of mystery, should not be dethroned, and the huzzas lasted during the ten min- utes breathing space before the next chap- ter in the contest. From the beginning of the second bout it was evident that the unknown intended to do his utmost. He seized the man in scarlet, and swinging around him caught him with both hands and threw him over his shoulder; but he, landing on his hands and knees, pounced upon the unknown, and seizing him around his body, threw him on one shoulder feet from him. The unknown landed on his hands and knees; then followed some fine exhi- bitions of skill and finally the unknown by a quick motion, threw the man in scar- several let upon one shoulder, both men lying shoulder to shoulder with the man in scarlet at a disadvantage and the un- known edging over his breast, pressed the other shoulder to te ground, winning the fall. Then again the amphitheater re- echoed with the bravos, but this time they were for the man in somber black. The tension grew greater at the begin- ning of the third bout, for this was to dg- cide if the sporting world of Paris should have a new idol After some narrow es- capes on both sides, the unknown threw open his arms, allowing the man in scar- let to grasp him around his waist and raise him from the ground, but before the scarlet could throw him he had squirmed out of danger. Then came the crucial mo- ment. Both men grasped each other sud- denly and the unknown, twisting the man in scarlet over on both shoulders, pressed him down—down—down, and then, in the silence, tense and expectant, two things happened. As the unknown pressed his opponent down in the fall that gave him- self the match, the black mask in some way became loosened and fell, partially revealing his features, and simultaneously there rang thromgh the hippodrome the voice of & man who cried, “It is he, ‘Arms of Iron.” " As the voice pealed through the still- ness, the unknown threw back his head as if to acknowledge the name, but no sound came from his lips, and the black mask was as if it had never moved. Then with a graceful bow to the defeated wrestler in scarlet, the unknown disap- peared, followed by shouts of applause. Thus began the:career of “Bras de Fer, the masked wrestler of Paris,” for, though it was never known who called him by that name in the hippodrome, yet it clung to him. Then there was much v = A LOT OF INFORMATION ABOUT THE PESKY LITTLE FLY. ‘f[ F there is any living creature that you || think you know, it is the fiy. But U while you have seen flles, and have perhaps been tormented by some of that family this summer, how much do vou really know about them? The flies you know best are the house fiy. the stable fly and the mosquito. Their general family name is diptera, which is given as well to other members of the family, for it is legion. “Diptera” means twice-winged—a term which belongs to all iwo-winged insects. The larvae of the house fiy and of the stable fly are born in filth, but as soon as they are fully de- veloped they soar into the sunshine and free air. Only on damp days do they care to enter houses and stables; for flies can- not bear to be out in the wet. So sensi- tive are they to moisture that they will go almost anywhere to avoid it. We do not need to tell you that to drive flies from the housc you should darken the rooms anG give the little creatures a chance to escape into the sunshine. They will avail themselves of it readily enough. As the flies of which we are speaking de- velop in filth, it is natural that cleanly human beings should do their best to be rid of them. Flies swarming upon arti- cles of food are a menace to health, as any physiclan will tell you. To keep to the house fly and to beyin at the beginning, we must tell you that it of the short-horned diptera, its name of brachyc meaning ort-horn because: the a tennae arc are also three- it t a common house fly un- der the microscope you will at once sce jointed, e th you can look d joint ringed. what we mean. This fiy lays its eggs in manure or other filth, and as 100 or 200 eggs are usually laid by a single female, you see that a mother fly is very much like the famous old woman who lived in a shoe. In warm weather it takes oniy a few hours for the eggs to hatch in mag- gots or larvae; it takes ohly a week for the maggots to become. full-grown flies; within two weeks they are busy starting families of their own. If t.e common fly had no enemies it would torment mankind more than it does. Nature manages, kowever, to keep her balance, even with a fiy. Tiny parasites destroy many of the larvae before they have half a chance to develop. In the autumn you will find a fungous growth choking the life out of the flies that it infests. Have you never found dead flies on the window pane, their bodies wrapped in an odd sort of winding sheet made of very fine white threads sticking out in every direction? If you baven't, you may look for them this au- tumn, and feel that you have learned sowmething of the tragedy which can come into the life of & fiz. The common stable fly, or horsefly, is of three kinds. The large mourning horsefly is of a uniform black; the white | lined fly differs only in dress, belng of the same annoying species; the smaller golden-headed horse and ox fliles have banded wings. The female alone sucks blood, while the male feeds daintily upon flowers. The larvae, however, are car- nivorous, The mosquito and the black fly we speak of together because of the equally, pain- ful distomfort of their biter; but zoolog- ically they differ a little. The mosquitoes are culicidae, culex being Pliny’'s name for the fly. They have feathery anten- nae and a fringe of hair on the hind mar- gin of the wing. The larvae develop on the surface of stagnant pools. As the larvae have a respiratory tube open at the tail end, they rest vertically near the surface of the water, head down and the tail at the surface, in order to breathe through that end. The reason they are killed by pouring kerosene oil over the water is that the ol makes a film through which ‘they cannot breathe, which liter- ally smothers them to death. The black flies, on the other hand, are long-horned flies, the nematocera. What boy in the Adirondack woods this summer, or in past summers, has not seen and felt them! The females alone, like the female mos- quitoes, are the blood-suckers. .The larvae also live and develop on the surface of the water. You may ask possibly what good do the | flies and what real harm, or which do they more than the other—good or harm? The diptera directly and indirectly are a nuisance to man, because the horsefly and the horn fly torment horses and cattle; the buffalo gnat actually kills some of the domestic animals, as does the bot fly; the larvae of some kinds of flies in- jure gall gnat, destroy clover and. its seed; the Hessian fiy does great damage to wheat and to Indian corn. But we cannot deny that some of the.diptera do great good in preying on injurious in- sects. There is a robber fly which at- tacks and devours the common house fly, the stable fly, bumble bees and dragon flies. The lar- vae of the horseflies are carnivorous; they prey on many kinds of insect larvac. Some of the diptera act as scay- engers. Have you never heard what good work is done by the mosquito larvae? They are scavengers., We might have the work done by a pleasanter workman; but at least give them their due for the only known benefit they confer upon the hu- man race. The carrion fly eats decaying animal matter, while some diptera eat decaying vegetable matter. The crowning | work of all is that of the larvae of flies which, by boring into rotten wood, hel make the forest mold. You will not, we think, find any scientific man who would now livesin an Jrancigco | { 1 | | speculation as to who this “Bras de Fer might be, and would the defeated masked man ever dare to stand up before him again, or would he have the chance, for the unknown disappeared as completely as though he had never been. § Days afterward a street gamin stoutly averred before an open-mouthed group of his kind that he had Seen going toward the Hippodrome a coach and in it sat the masked man in black. The next morning ‘Paris knew that “Bras de Fer’ had declared his willingness to meet all comers at the Hippodrome for the cham- plonship in feats of strength and wrest- ling. The former champion, the man in scarlet, not content with his defeat, ap- peared again and again, but never in the space of a month could he regain his former position in the hearts of the Parisians, for not once did he vanquish “Bras de Fer, the masked wrestler of Paris.” One thing was noticed among the su- perstitious. Bras de Fer, before encoun- tering an adversary in the ring, always made a sign that looked like that of the cross, and always toward a certain por- tion of the amphitheater. This was won- dered at until one night, in a tensely ex- citing moment in the bout, when it looked as though the man in scarlet would gain and keep his vantage, some one saw “Bras de Fer” bow his head and make the charmed sign. His eyes gave one brief but direct glance toward the east. There in a lofty seat far from the ring a plainly clad young woman rose for one brief second and waved her glove. By a quick, dexterous gresp ‘“Bras de Fer” forced his opponent to his knees. Then the interest in the unknown was doubled, for it was certaln that he was no sor- cerer, but worshiped a demoiselle. For three months the Hippodrome was filled nightly to see the.unknown van- quish many, among them Charlemagn: the champion of the Paris Gymnase. There came the celebrated Andre Chris- tol to be thrown and thrown again by those arms of iron. Then the unknown {had an adventure that made of him a hero in reality, but of his own will a hero without a name. Surmises of course flew over the city, but so carefully had the mask and his own efforts so far con- cealed his identity that the populace knew him only as “Bras de Fer.” One night as he left the Hippodrome by an unknown exit, as was always his cus- tom, and urged the horse onward to | reach the spot where the coachman had i orders to let him alight—a spot some dis- tance from where he Teally made his abode—a strange thing happened. As they drove along the road separated by a stone wall from the Seine and neared the military barracks there came the sound of a scuffe. Three drunken soldiers, just returned from a ball on this January midnight, were trying to dissuade one of their num- ber from some terrible deed evidently. As the coach came abreast of them the most | violent one, who seemed to be in great and desperate trouble, slipped from them, leaving his coat in their hands, and with dare to say that mankind would be bet. | ® ¥ Tushed across the road, scaled the ter off If all the diptera were gone from |1°W Wall and plunged into the river. In the face ‘of Friends. the earth,—Qur Animal | the same second, almost, “Bras de Fer,” still masked. was out of the coach R e, and splashed over after the soldier. His arms were strong at swimming, as they were at wrestling, and in a few ‘'moments the would-be suicide was safe by the roadside, muttering ““Bras de Fer,” as the unknown bent over him. Only for a brief recognition, and then the rumble of the coach was but an echo in the distance. But the story of the rescue spread, and the next night at the Hippodrome flowers and vivas greeted the champion as he entered the ring. After the three months at the Hippo- drome the unknown disappeared as sud- denly as he had first appeared, and curi- osity was rife and gossip loud concerning him. It was finally all solved by a curi- ous passer-by in the Rue Quatres Croches, who saw through an open entresol a man putting up dumbbells of great size in the courtyard beyond. The marvelous ease with which he handled them, as also something in the outlines and poses of the man, caused the curious passer-by to stop and ask of a serving maid near by whd might inhabit the house. She replicd that Mons. Alfred Perrier dwelt there with his family; and,just then a voice called out. into the courtyard from an upper window: “Bras de Fer!” 1t was the voice of the girl of the Hippodronie, now his wife. The passer-by did not wait for confirmation of what he had already suspected, but went and spread it far and wide that through him ihe *Un- known” was known. There came many then to the house in the Rue Quatre Croches, and when the messenger came with a medal to the Un- known from the Emperor as a reward for his bravery in saving the soldier from the Seine he ‘found “Bras de Fer,” now known as M. Alfred Perricr, engaged in lifting a_dumbbell weighing 140 pounds with one hand. Three times he put it above his head by the strength of one hand, and the messenger and those with him went away wondering. Then many were surprised to remember in “Bras de Fer” an athlete who was born and had lived all his life in Paris, ETRFES EL but who, when the time came to show his greatest ability, as a wrestler, had preferred to set all Paris guessing. There came another medal from the director of Hippogdrome ig recognition of this ability. Following this was an offer for an engagement with the Circque Prince Imberial, which M. Perrier accept- ed, and the towns of the French pro- vinces showered f.esh laurels upon *“Bras de Fer” in many wrestling matches and exhibitions of strength, for he thought nothing of holding by his teeth a cask of wine containing 300 litres. The following is the quaint notice that appeared in a Jjournal of Orleans during the provincial tour: “Behold. M. Perrier, known as ‘Bras de Fer,’ ‘and Frederic, two champior wrestlers before cach other; they were magnificent to look upon, these champions who find them- selves in a contest for the first time; one attacking with caution, the other pre- serving the defensive and watching any mistake of his advepsary; ‘Bras de Fer Wwon the contest.” On the return from this trip M. Perrier spent some time in Paris and engaged in fencing practice with the expert M. Paul de Cassagnac: Then “Bras de Fer” went to London, where his fame had preceded him, and during the year spent there appeared at thé Crystal Palace, the Alhambra and other resorts in the wonderful featssof gtrength that had made him famous. Among these may be mentioned the feat of lying down' and holding up a cask of wine with his teeth while a horse and a Exploits of the Great “<Bras de Fer,”’ efore Whom Fell AN the RAthRletes of the _Hippodrcme- man stoca on: a board platform laid upon his chest. : s He also met and vanquished some of the best known English wrestlers. His strength and courage saved another life at a fire in London. M. Perrier was among the crowd before a burning house. The steps of the interior had burned away and a man was waving appealing arms ‘from the second-story window. Perrier called to him to jump. Then he braced those wonderful arms of his, and as the man shot down he caught him with a quick sure grasp right around his body without so much as a quiver of the rescuer’s limbs. None but a practiced athlete of great strength could have performed such a skillful feat and avolded being struck by the head of the falling man. While in London a poor woman who had heard much of the courage of “Bras de Mer"” came to him and wanted him to take her two sons and do for them and make them famous athletes like himself. He took them and did what he could for them, and orie of them traveled with him for years, afterward coming to San Fran- cisco with him. M. Perrier appeared with Blondin many times in Londen and also received invitations from sixty-seven professors in London inviting him to visit the gymnasiums and give exhibitions of his_strength. M. Perrier came to San Francisco in the early seventies and with kim was the young man whom he had taken to train in London. They did a trapeze act together and once they had an ‘accident, which came near beiag a tonsS. ALFRED PERRIER serious one for the lad. He dsapped from the trapeze in which he had been sitting with M. Perrier to a small platform pre- pared to receive him just above the stage. The platform, which was shght in construction, gave way and the young acrobat was preeipitated into the orches- tra. Fortunately not much harm was done further than seattering the musi- clans. At Woodward’'s Gardens M. Perrier ap- peared in feats of strength, and was re- ferred to as the French Hercules. One of Ris feats was sustaining a bear by his teeth while hanging from a trapeze. He also appeared in many wrestling bouts, meeting Andre Christol, Mons. Vincent, M. Vanon and others. Here he had a fall from the trapeze, which laid him on the shelf for three weeks. He offered a pres- ent to any one lifting his 260-pound dumb- bells with one hand, but no one offered to do so but his partner, M. Vanon. M. Perrier afterward opened a gymnasium on Sutter street and called it the Athletie Cur¥iculurs. It was, successi=!'; .caaucte ed by him for some time. He also was an early member of California Lodge No. 12 of the Elks, and is still a favorite mem- ber of that popular order. He was for some time engaged with the members of the San Francisco police force, and trained them in athletics, car- riage, etc. M. Perrier gave up wrestling as a pro- fession some years since, but the memo ries of the days of the masked wrestler of Paris are not empty ones with him, for his strength still makes him a for- midable adversary. At the restaurant on Montgomery street he is always ready to talk over the old days, and he may even give you a feat or two that will astonish you. Net so long ago at a little dinner the guests were treated to something not on the menu The waiter brought on the wrong glasscs for one of the comforting liquids without which no French dinner is complete. Per- rier reproved him, but the man made a second mistake, whereat “Bras de Fer"' pretended to be exceeding wroth, and taking the side of the table in his teeth picked it up bodily and started to walk after the walter with it. M. Perrier is entertaining and vivacious, and one can sit by the hour and listen when he begins: “I jump every night into ze carriage. ze horses fly like ze wind. Zea comes ze big deoor of ze Hippodrome. It fly open and zen I am zere. But it is not me after all. for I myself forget, and I am ‘Bras de Fer,” ze masked wrestler of Paris.” ALFRED DEZENDOEF.