Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 43, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 November 1893 — MIGHTY OF MUSCLE. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

MIGHTY OF MUSCLE.

SAMSONS WHO HAVE FLOURISHED IN EVERY AGE. lone Marvelous Deeds of Old-Time Athletes—A Man Who R%p a Mile with an Ox on His Shoulders, Killed and Ate It la a Day. feats of Strong Men. In all ages the world has had its prodigies. There were Sandows before now, and the pages of history are lined with the feats of strong men. Of all the athletes of the past Milo is one of the best known after the biblical Samson and the mythological Cyclops. It is recorded of him that he once ran a mile with an ox on his shoulders, then with a blow of his fist he killed the beast, and ate it In one day. It is optional with the reader which to admire —his great strength or his wonderful digestive ability. He perished through overconfidence in his strength. In attempting to tear asunder a forest tree, partially split by woodcutters, he was caught and held-.fast by the closing of the fissure, and -was there devoured by wolves. Polydamas of Thessalia was a man of extraordinary strength and stature. As Hercules had- done, he alone, without arms, killed an enormous lion that was devastating the valleys of Mount Olympus. With one hand Polydamas could hold back a chariot drawn by two horses. He could break the trunk of a tree as any one would break a small stick. The King of Persia, wishing to witness the feats of this marvelous

man, called him to his court. He had opposed to him three of the strongest men of his army. Polydamas killed the three by simply giving each a slap on the ear; he was about to slap a few more when the King, satisfied, stopped him. Like Milo, he died through over-confidence in his strength. He attempted to support a mass of __ rock that had given way, but he was securely buried under it. It is said that the Roman Emperor Gains Julius Maximus was a marvel of strength, being able to squeeze the hardest stone to powder with his

Augers. He was upward of eight feet to height, and his wife’s bracelet could serve him as a ring. Salvius of Borne could walk up a ladder carrying 200 pounds on his shoulders, 200 pounds in his hands, and 200 pounds fastened to his feet. Astonishing: Feats. Athanatus could run round an arena carrying 500 pounds fastened to his feet, lccus could hold fast the most furious bull and tear away its horns as easily as one would pull up radishes. L. de Boufflers, who lived in the sixteenth century, could break a bar of iron with his hands. The strongest man could not take, from him a ball which he held between his thumb and first finger. While standing up. with no support whatever, four strong soldiers could not move him. Sometimes he amused himself by taking on his shoulders his own horse, fully harnessed, and with that heavy load he promenaded the public square, to the great delight of the inhabitants. , Another strong-man story from the wonderful sixteenth century relates to a soldier. One

day he took up an anvil weighing 500 pounds and hid it under his cloak. Often to amuse his comrades he went through the rifle drill with a cannon. Oncejhe squeezed to pulp the hand of a man who wanted to fight him. v "■ Bantus’ sister was also remarka-

Sh* threw one out pf a window and kilted the two others with a pillar she tore down and used as a club. Augustus, son of the famous Maurice Marechal de Saxe, who commanded tire French at Fontenoy, was also a matfVel of strength. On one. occasion he twisted with bis fingers only a long nail into a corkscrew, with which he drew the corks of half a dozen bottles. He could break with his hands the strongest horseshoe. The only opponent who succeeded In resisting him was a woman, a Mile. Gauthier, an actress. Augustus tri<?d with hes to see who could put down the other’s wrist, and after a long struggle he won, but

with the greatest difficulty. The power <Jf Mile. Gauthier's arm was far beyond the common, and with her fingers she could roll up silver plate as anyone would paper. Had the Strength of Twelve Men. Thomas Topham, who lived iu London id 1710, is said to have possessed the combined strength of twelve men. Once having some words with a neighbor he took an iron spit and twisted it round the man’s neck with as much ease as if it had been a handkerchief. He could roll up a pewter dish weighing seven pound with hia

hands as if it had been a piece of paper. He could also squeeze together a pewter quart pot while holding it at arm’s length. He could crack cocoanuts as easily as anyone would crack hazelnuts; break a broomstick of the largest size by striking it against his bare arm; lilt two hogsheads of water; lift his horse over a turnpike gate; carry the beam of a house as a soldlir would carry his rifle, and lift two hundredweight with his little finger over his head. Athletes of to-day will not give credence to this. He broke a rope fastened to the ground that would sustain twenty hundredweight and lifted an oak table six feet long with his teeth, though half a hundredweight was hung at the extremity. With one hand he raised a man who weighed twenty-seven stone. Once seeing a watchmaa asleep in his box he carried away both man qnd box a long distance. It Is said that having been placed on some duty at the entrance gate of h race course he refused to allow a four-horse coach to go through. On the driver whipping his horses and attempting to pass Topham took hold of the hind wheels of the coach and upset it and its occupants into the roadway. Topham, who kept a public house in Ishington, had a wife who quarreled with him to such an extent that she drove him to commit stilcide. . i; . ■ Lincoln's Reputed Feat. Some of the feats of later days are noted as fellows: Jonathan Fowler, a Massachusetts fisherman, once walked out knee-deep through the mud and filth of a sea shore at low tide to a shark left by the retiring water, shouldered it, and brought it alive on his back to the shore. The shark weighed 500 pounds, quite a load considering that It was not the most portable of articles and that the man had to wade through mud. Abraham Lincoln, the martyr President, was a man of great strength. Hft'bould bury with one blow an ax in the trunk of a tree deeper than any other man, and he Is said to have thrown across the roadway a pigeon house weighing COO pounds. These would be remarkable if the figures were available to sustain the record, but they are not and hence we must leave margin for some guess work and additions.

MILO'S FEAT.

COOLD SUPPORT THREE HORSES ON HIS CHEST.

COULD TEAR OFF AN OX’S HORNS.

HANDLED MONSTROUS DUMB-BELLS.