| From a very early age Martin displayed an
interest in, and had a natural ability for, wrestling which was developed in many
impromptu matches with boys in his home town and the surrounding area. Martin
was born during a very troubled time for the country as the year of his birth
was also the year that the American Civil War started. Wrestling was a popular
activity in the army camps, as it had been and continued to be, in the camps and
towns that sprang up during the westward expansion. During the Civil War its popularity
increased due to the fact that the wartime President, Abraham Lincoln, was himself
a champion wrestler having defeated the Louisiana State Champion in New Salem,
Lousiana in 1831. | | | The
grading camps really provided the opportunity for the maturing Martin to hone
his skills. The camps were populated by very rugged, tough men who were heavy
drinkers, smokers and chewers who stayed up all night playing cards. They depended
strictly on their brute strength in wrestling matches which were a very popular
activity. Martin was able to beat them because of better conditioning as he never
participated in drinking, smoking or other activities that would hurt his conditioning.
He also had a very analytical mind which was constantly evaluating different wrestling
techniques and trying to improve on them. The combination of the conditioning
and the knowledge made him a lot of money during the wrestling matches on payday. |
| His nickname of "Farmer" was given to him on his
first trip to Chicago in 1889. He had traveled to Chicago on a cattle car and
was very impressed by the city. One of the things that impressed him most was
a sign offering $25.00 for anyone who could last 15 minutes with 2 well known
wrestlers of the time - Jack Carkeek and "Strangler" Lewis. At first
they didn't want to give him a shot because he was unknown,but eventually he made
it on stage in his overalls and sock feet with jeers of the crowd insulting him
by calling him "Farmer." He stayed with both of the wrestlers for 15
minutes and the crowd's jeers soon turned to applause. The next day he found himself
treated as a hero by the local papers. | | In his time
Farmer Burns wrestled over 6,000 matches in every type of situation from grading
camps to circuses and lost only 7. He won the World Wrestling Title in 1895 when
he defeated Evan "Strangler" Lewis and retained the title until 1897
when he was defeated by Tom Jenkins. He later won and held the light heavy weight
title until 1908. Burns weighed only 175 pound but defeated many of the great
wrestlers of the day-some of which out weighed him by 50 or 100 pounds. He had
a very strong neck that measured 20 inches and allowed him to perform one of his
favorite stunts of doing a six foot hangmans drop which he performed many times. |
|
| One of his greatest accomplishments was taking another
Iowa farm boy, Frank Gotch and developing him into a world champion wrestler that
many believe to be the greatest wrestler of all time. He trained many champions. His
correspondence course is very well done and combines calisthenics, light dumbells
and resistance exercises in a very effective way. It is as useful today as when
it was written. He was not only a great athlete,but a creative
and smart businessman whose promotional brochure and correspondence course provided
the prototype for the many physical culture and bodybuilding courses that followed
in the US in the 1920s,30s, and 40s. He was still wrestling well into his sixties
and reportedly remained active and in good health until his death at the age of
77. (Gordon Anderson) | |
