"FINGERHACKELN."

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume 30, Issue 9186, 13 October 1899, Page 2 (Supplement)

"FINGERHACKELN."

A tourist in Tyrol watched two hotheaded youths, who, having got into dispute over money matters, had agreed to .-eltie it by a resort to what in that country is called - l-'ingerhackeln." This name, or rather struggle, i? a simpie trial of strength of arm and biceps. The tahle is cleared, and the two competitor*, seated oppe-.it e each other, with the tahle between them.-stretch out, their right hands so as to let them meet, m the centre. Kneh, bending the middle linger into the shape of a h>>ok. entwines it with that of Mis rival. At a given si/i:a! each begins to pull, the object being to drag the antagonist across the beard. B.>th were strapping young fellows, each eager to show oit his prowess, and the fact that they were well-known adepts at it, rendered the struggle, doubly interesting. Victory swayed hither and thither ; the most prodigious efforts were made to wrest the slighlest advantage from the foe, the subtlest rases coming into play, the most impossible contortions of the. body undergone. With set teeth, rigid features, and heaving breasts, the »w o young fellows tug and pull, and neither will given in. Their hands areF of an angry red, the veins swollen to double, their usual size, while drops of perspiration on their foreheads tell of their almost superhuman, exertions. Watching the face of one, the observer all at once saw a look of agonising pain shoot across it. His hand dropped : the struggle was at an end. Poor fellow ! his finger is maimed for life; for tho nrincipal muscle has been rent in the fierce struggle. His antagonist by a sudden jerk—oneof the numerous stratagems of " Fingerhaekelu " —has succeeded in unbending his adversary's Anger. One very frequently see* in Tyrol a man with a finger bent nearly double on the right hand. If you ask the cause you will invariably be told that it hap* pened while " Fingerhaekeln."