Strong Men.

Waikato Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2039, 1 August 1885, Page 6 (Supplement)

Strong Men.

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Tin: present nnpnorof lla=°iri i-i mid to bi> oiiG cf iho sLi'onge'it mm ii ) i nupii'-of herculean individuals While tlio hoir apparent, ho ono day visited his tatber, fib" late erupeior, to complain that hii mail was tampered with The emperor sent for tho chief ol police, drew from him a confession of guilt, and chided him in the prc?sno° of the czrvrowitz. The latter said not a word, but handed tbo orestfallen functionary a &'"n of how great was anger in tho form of a fcilver rouble twisted into a roll. In lii 9 younger days this wan a favorite visiting card of the cswowitz He could strike a poker acainst Ms a^m an<? bend it, bite pieaes out cf china cups fe' lta which were in the repertoire of Thomas Tnpham, the celebrity of Islington, London. Tapham was a drajinan, and eomefcimei, when exhilarated by the vast potions o* liquor supplied between the riiaft". Ho had a playful habic of twisting heavy kitchen pokers into a coil about the necks of trombling countrymen. One nipht, after lnvini; astonished a ts-vernfol -with h»-» drinking powers, he oatne upon a watchman peacefully slumbering in his box and thre v box and man over the wall of a burial ground. In 1871 M. Gre,qorie,claimin»tobeBeventyone years old, astonished the physiofens and the public of a town near London by carrying seven hundred pounds with ease, lifting an ox, and performing other wonderful feft*". A celebrated London physician who i_xamiued Gregorie describes him as an exa"ger&ted study by Hayden. Hi 3 shoulders were prcdigiou«, and hie bioeps almost inoredible. Gregorie's strength, rather than a souroe of pride to him, waß the cause of anxiety. Although the mildest of men, he lived in dread that he phould be provoked to use hia strength against a fellow being. Ho was afraid to nurse his own child lest he ihould give it a fatal squeeze. Nearly all individuals of uncommon strength make up in bulk what they are deficient in height. Stanley, the Afrtcan explorer, dascribes a strong man who waa 6ix feet five inches, and rather disproportionately slender. He could toss an ordinary man ten feet in ths air and catch him in his 'descent. He would take one of the large white Muscat donkeys by the ears, and, by a puiiden movement of bis right foot, lay the surprispd ass on his back. He could carry a three- j ear old bullock half way around hia master's plantation. Onco he actually bore twelve men on his back, shoulders and chest a distance of three hundred feet. Middle aged people who remember the dawn of interest in muscular exercires recall Dr. Winship, originator of the idea, winch wai subsequently embodied in lifting-mnehinpq. The astonishment that the doctor's p'ifc«rmance3 oreated was equal to th&t of the B&rlincrs a few years ago at Gorgnery's feats. The most wonderful of these was known as the trapeze feat. The Frenchman hung suspended by his legs from a swinging bar, and by sheer muscular strength lifted a heavy hoise and its lider off the Btap;e, suspending them several minutes and then letting them down gradually, and evenly as he raised them. Morvine Thompson's achievement at E> chester, New York, last year waa, however, in ths opinion of competent judges, more t.urprfcing than thi«. Thompson laid his face downward on a firmly fixed ladder, and reBiased the eftwrta of a team o£ «>ow- rful hor«es to pull liim from that position. A newspaper writer, in reviewing thid wonderful performance, remarks that the little mention with which it escaped could happen oniy in a nation where strong men were oomraon. The same feat in 1670 gave William Joy the name of the English Samson. The medical faoulty of Vienna thought the strength of Joseph Pospisohilli worthy of discussion at several special meetings. This man held a table suspended by his teeth while three gypsies danced upon it. Ha and ono of his brothers bore upon their shoulueni a sort ol wooden bridge while a horae drawing a oart full of stones was driven over it. Pospisohilli's strength was thought to reside in his Deck, and bis bones were said to be twice as large as the usual size. Fishing parties and explorers in the wilds of northern Wisconsen were a few years ago familiar with Peter Panquette, the Samson of the region. He was a famous woodman, possessed of mighty endurance and muscles that were like iron. Senator Clark says : 11 1 have had him bare hie aim to mo and orftok hickory nuts upon the muse'es. It was like cracking them on a stone. He could take a handful of dried hard hickory nuts and crush them to pieces by merely tightening his fist." On one oooaßion, while serving as guide for a party of explorers, a yoke of oxen drawiug the boat down the Fox gava out through fatigue. Panquette took their place, and hauled the boat along, heeding the strain less than the boasts. Sheppard, the wonder of the Coventry volunteers, whose musoular development answers to the description given of Panquette, like the latter, wore his hair long. With the half-breed it waa a custom derived from hia oopper-colored ancestors, but with the ruddy Englishman it was in obedience to hia belief that all his strength lay in his flowing yellow looks. Sheppard could lift a heavy man in eaoh hand, and hold them at armß' length. He oould toss enormous tables, barrels and bags of flour about as though they were filled with feathers. He could take a pewter pint pot and tear it into piecea with his teeth, and he could munch large oyster shells ai a person would munch a bisouit. Sheppard was the wonder of the country around, but his prosperous popularity developed enemies, and one of these, it is related, induced the strong man to drink deeply, and while sunk in stupor out off his luxuriant hair. Sheppard awoke, felt his bare poll, and in tones of horror announced his strength was gone. Whether beoause suoh was the case, or because he wished to excite superstitious credulity, the strong man from that moment was weak, timid, and hesitating until bis hair was long again.