Danced to Death

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 177, 17 October 1927, Page 11

Danced to Death

GRIM END OF ATTEMPT AT ENDURANCE RECORD

A wager of £SO a side was recently arranged in Middlesborough to decide which of two reputed champion eaters could consume the most. One of them disposed of 50 pork pies at a sitting. Continuous dancing for over 10 hours and fasting for over a month are other freak “records” made at different times. There appears to be no limit to eccentricities of mankind on the competitive side, for there is always some individual willing to come forward and attempt the impossible for the mere sake of establishing a useless “record.” In Baltimore recently a couple danced for 43 hours in an attempt to establish a record. The woman “stuck it out,” without apparent collapse, but the man was removed to a hospital in a state of temporary insanity. Then in Cleveland a woman determined on beating this record and danced continuously for 52 hours 15 minutes. She subsequently recovered. The ultimate record so far in continuous dancing was put up by M. Nicholas, a French dancer who kept going for 125 hours and later beat his own record by continuing for 126£ hours without appearing unduly fatigued, though it was announced after that he lost 551 b in weight while accomplishing his feat. Dropped Dead He allowed himself five minutes each hour for massage and refreshment, taking eggs, beef tea and meat, but drinking nothing but water. Among his partners was his wife, who held the woman's record at the time, with 25 hours of continuous dancing. This particular craze stopped in America when Henry Moorhouse, who completed 87 hours of continuous dancing, dropped dead with heart failure as he walked off the floor. Miss Lily Goodman, with 24 hours 5 minutes, holds the British record. She was ultimately ordered by a doctor to retire, though her pulse was normal. Jimmy Alexander, of Melbourne, tried the other day to dance for 100 hours, but gave it up after passing the half-way mark. Stopping a “Fast” In a sealed glass coffin in one of the Paris newspaper offices a Dutchman named Wooly, attempted to set up a record for fasting by remaining 28 days without food or drink. All went well for eleven days, but at some time during the eleventh evening a gay party came along in evening dress and stood in front of the cage munching chicken sandwiches in full sight of the fasting man. He endured it for a few minutes, but found it too much for him in the end. In a fit of frenzy he smashed the glass and rushed at his tormentors, intending to seize and devour their food. He was so weak, though, that a watchman had little difficulty in restraining him. His attempt at a record was over.