The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-03-30
GREAT EATERS.


been far outdone The two sweet youths
wagered with each other as to which would
eat given quantity in the shortest time
One got rid of six pounds and half of rabbit,
a loaf of bread, and two pounds of cheese in
quarter of an hour; and he was SO fattered
with the applause of the bystauders, that he
finished off with beefsteak a pint aud a half
of gin, and half pint of brandy. SO far
good-or, rather, so far bad. Now, Mr.. Bad
ham, in his prose Halieutics, tells us that
amongst immortal gluttons, Hercules the
beef-eater was the chief; he would eat up the
grilled carcass of a COW at a meal, with all
the live Goals attached to it, The edacity of
Ulysses is competently attested in the Odys-
sey. Milo carried an OK round the stadium in
his arms, and then with as little difficulty in
his inside"
If it be alleged that these three ancient
worthless never lived except in the pages of
mythology, there is no difficulty in finding
real mortals that will serve the purpose.
Lucullus had room in his house for every
kind of supper, each at particular cost; and
even his cheapest supper was worth mode
rate fortune. Apicius killed himself when he
had only eighty thousand pounds sterling left,
tearing that be would die of starvation. One
epcure had sauce for pair of partridges pre-
pared from two dozen; and twenty-five legs Of
mutton cut mp to supply one choice plateful
of special deicacy and dish prepared at
Boehmer, a German writer, described
somewhat fully the case of man at Witten-
berg, who, for a wager, would eat q whole
sheep, or a whole pig, or n bushel of cherries,
including the stones. His strength of teeth
and power of swallowing enabled him to
masticate, or at least to MUNICH into small
fragments, glass, earthenware, and fints. He
preferred birds, mice, and caterpillars; but
when he could not get these delicacies he put
up with mineral substances. Once he de-
voured pen, ink, and sand -pounce, and
seemed half inclined to deal in the same way
with the inkstand itself. He made money by
exhibiting his powers in this way until about
sixty years of age, after which he lived nearly
score more years in more rational way.
Although Latin treatise was published in
elucidation of his marvellous powers it may
not be uncharitable to suppose that there
was a little chicanery in the matter,
as in the case of the fire-eaters with
whom we are familiar at the fairs and in
the streets, and who doubtless live upon
more reasonable diet when not engaged in
money making exhibitions. A story is told
of General Knnigsmark, an officer engaged
in one of the many wars waged in bygone
times by Sweden against Poland and Bohe-
mia, which illustrates both the pig-eating
attribute and the fear which such an achieve
ment may possibly produce in the minds of
others. peasant came to the King of
Swedens tent during the siege of Prague,
and offered to devour a large hog for the
amusement of his majesty. The general,
standing by, said that the fellow ought to be
burnt as a sorcerer. Nettled and irritated at
this, the peasant exclaimed, eff your aiesty
will but make that old gentleman take off his
sword and spurs, 1 will eat him before l begin
the pig, cconpanying this offer with a vast
expansion of mouth and jaws. Brave as he
was in battle, kunigsmark could not stand
this; he beat hasty retreat from the tent,
and hurried to his own quarters.
In the time of Charles the First, Taylor
the Water poet, gave an account of one
Nicholas Wood, q Kentsh man, who had Q
power of slowing away marvellous quan
tity of food at a meal. He was credited with
having on one occasion devoured whole raw
sheep; on another three dozen pigeons; on
third, several rabbits on fourth, eighteer
yards of black pudding; while on two othel
occasions the quantities set down were sixty
pounds of cherries and three pecks of dam
sons. But it will be better to disbelieve these
statements, and attend more to the moderate
though still startling accounts given by Tay
lor, that ''Iwo loynes of mutton and ont
Ioyne of veal were but as three sprats to him
Once at Sir Warham st. Legers house, h,
showed himself SO violent of teeth and sto
mach that he ate as much as would hav
served thirty men, so that his belly wa
like to turn bankrupt and break, but that the
serving man turned him to the fire anC
anointed his paunch with grease and butter t.
make it stretch and hold; and afterward
being laid in bed, he slept eight hours and taste,
all the while, which, when the knight under
stood, he commanded him to be laid in tn
stocks, and there to endure as long as he ha
lain bedrid with eating" In the time o
George the First there was a man who, in
fitof religious enthusiasm, tried to maintain
Lenten fast of forty days and forty nights
Breaking down in this resolution after fe,
days, he took revenge on himself by becom
ing an enormous eater, devouring larg
quantities of raw flesh with much avidity
Somewhat over century ago, a Polish so
dier, presented to the court of Saxony as
marvel of voracty, one day ate twent
pounds of beef and half of roasted cali
About the same time a youth of seventeen
apprentice to Thames waterman, ate fiv
pounds of shoulder of lamb and two quarts {
green peas in fifty minutes. An achievemer
of about equal gluttony was that of brewer
man, who, at an inn in Aldersgate street, dC
molished q roast goose of six pound
weight, quartern loaf, and thre
quarts of porter, in an hour an
eighteen minutes. Early in the reign
George the Third a watchmakers apprentice
nineteen years of age, in three quarters of a
hour devOured a leg of pork weighing 81
pounds and prOportionate quantity of pei
pudding, washing down these comestiblt
with a pint of brandy taken off in tw
draughts. A few years afterwards there We
beggar at Gottingen who on more than on
occasion ate twelve pounds of meat at mea
After his death his stomach, which was vel