Rensselaer Gazette, Volume 3, Number 2, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 May 1859 — Death of the Kentucky Giant. [ARTICLE]

Death of the Kentucky Giant.

J ones 1). Porter, well known as the--Ken-tucky Giant,” though horn at Portsmouth, Ohio, was 'otind dead in his I eil at his residence no-ir L lu.sviue, mi Mond <v morning. He was forty-n ne V■ ‘a sot age, seven teet nine in he.-, in high*, and when in good health weighed three hundred pounds. The Democrat siysy that tor the first fourteen y-ai-.s oi ins life' iie was small for his nge. A' ' 'inoi-ii lie was apprenticed to coopering, :ml his rem irk able growth commenced. It is stated that the most he ever grewin one week was one inch. It was his habit, while growing, to me sure every Saturday night, m l his own test inony and’ that of his family and triends are evidence ot this remarkaole fact. M. P li ter soon got so tall that it was impossible to cooper b.irr Is, and he was employed on li-*gs;ieails. l’fiis, however, became e (willy impossible, owing to his rein irk iblii bight, and he was compelled to it).indon the business. He then engaged in keep ng and driving hacks. In the years IS3J-37 lie went. Eist, and appeared on the -stag:*, in on" or t vo pieces written especially for him. He returned to L mi-ville, an/g. t w years later bought the coffee house winch he was keeping at the lime ol his death. He was very highly esteemed hy all who knew him, lor his integrity. In his do nestle relations—he wasffiever married —he was all a parent Could desire. At the time 01; .rles D fkens came to this country, there was a perfect lurror to see ■; Bog” as lie passed through the canal at L misvi lie, lie sent a messenger to Mr. Porter, ol whose remarkable proportions he had heard, inti-nut ing a wish to see him. Mr, Porter replied to the messenger that if “Mr. Dickens wishes to see me more than I to seo him. he will come to n e.” Mr. D.ck-ua took the hint, and during tie conversation, Portei told the novelist tliit while he was growing his mother had to sew a foot on his pantaloons every night. Mr. Porter’s coffin is nine feet one inch ii\ length, and two :eet across the breast.— Cincinnati (Jazette. Two Miles ok Literature —The New York Tiibune says that the pile made on the ll ior ot the Appleton's, bv the books p,,f, chased ot them by School Commissioner Smyth, for the School L braries of At,:,, measure-twenty-eight' s uid cords, trnu tho books weigh seventy eight tons. Placed on a shelf, as usual, and as close together «» poss hie. they would reach two miles. These books arc lo be trail ported to Ohio by a speiial freight train. The binding is uniform and substantial, and the Tribu Compliments Mr. Son th very Highly for h\s judicious selections.