- Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Monday, 11th February 2013
A dramatic sketch of French jujitsu pioneer Ernest Regnier, who operated under the quasi-Japanese nom de guerre of “Professor Re-Nie”, being headbutted by “Witzler”, a professional wrestler.
The assault apparently took place on the evening of November 30, 1905. According to contemporary newspaper reports, Regnier was performing jiujitsu demonstrations at the famous Folies Bergère caberet and had agreed to an exhibition bout with the much larger Witzler, who then attacked Regnier before the referee had given the signal to commence.