How to Defend Yourself Without Weapons: By Salmson-Creak

Some time in the 1920s Salmson Creak wrote this instructional manual which reads like a rambling love affair with the art of Jiu-Jitsu. I think that this is something many of us can relate to in this day and age, as we recall the recent golden age of Jiu-Jitsu in the various MMA formats, and the sense among all martial artists that this form of grappling was indeed the last word in fighting, a holy grail of hand-to-hand combat. But Creak is advising the reader to replace his other self defense preferences with jiu-jitsu for the very reasons we once heard offered for using more modern grappling techniques in a street context: It allows for a force continuum, you can win a fight without ever appearing the aggressor or even leaving a mark on the adversary, it uses the other fellow’s energy against him, etc. Whereas all of these things are true, there were then and there are now those who observe that ground-fighting is madness when multiple assailants are present and for the vast majority of practitioners it will always be a slower means to neutralize an aggressor than several well placed strikes. Duress will hamper technique for all but a very few, and a good punch to the face will hamper it further. Still, while reading this over you will definitely get the sense that Creak had field tested his product on various unfortunate goons, and his sadistic glee in the power to dislocate elbows and jaws is by turns infectious and off-putting. I leave it to the martial artist to decide if jiu-jitsu is indeed the top choice for things that go bump in the night.