The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1878-05-08

Chicago Tribune.l
Among the transients at the Palmer
house yesterday were pair of notables,
whose appearance on any earthly scene
since antidiluvian days would be enough
to attract public attention. They were
registered as Capt. and Mrs. NJ. V.
Bates, and they were escorted to the
largest parlors in the hotel. The hackman
who brought them from the depot charged
double fare, and the middle-sized
man who attempted to shield the lady's
dress from the wet discovered that the
handle Of his umbrella was half yard too
short. Mrs. Rates is seven feet eleven
inches high, and her husband, the cap
tain, is within half an inch of eight feet.
They have been travelling together for
years. Mr.. Bates is a native of Ken
lucky, and his wife was born. in Nova
Scotia, of Scotch parents. The exact
height of a giant is about as hard
Henry cJGsshGiihs , HOId fParr, or the numer
Gus body-servants of George Washington
"a few inches or few years more or
less will not be closely sorutinized by the
reader, and the claimant for pre- eminence
in age or in height usually get the benefit
of doubt, There is no doubt about the
height of Mr.. and Mrs. Bates. They
are the longest couple on record. United,
they stand within one inch and half Of
sixteen feet high. The giant is genial
son of Anak, who likes to take his ease
in his inn and talk over his manifold eX-
perience in this world of wonders. I'm
like most giants, he is well proportional,
firmly knit, with no supertluous flesh
upon although he weighs AIS
pounds-and with an open, intelligent
countenance. He says that when he
visited the Tower Of London he tried on
the suit of armor worn by the famous
Og, who is claimed to have been eight
feet four, and found he couldn't stand
up straight in it, the helmet and foot
pieces only being too large for him. He
also had his suspicious about the real
dimensions of Murphy. the Irish giant,
after measuring himself against the
| skeleton in the British museum, and the
armor of Guy of Warwick, who was said
/ to be nine feet three inches, was found to
/ be several inches short of the measure Of
our Kentucky champion. Neither Muir
ply nor Guy or on hand to contest these
points, and it may be as we'll not to raise
a controversy. 1t is enough to say that
the captain is way ahead of Long John.
He is not posted as to the cause of his
elongation. He is one of twelve children
who are all of ordinary height. In a
general way, he is inclined to think the
lime water of Kentucky has something t.
do with it, but he did not give his opinion
with the assurance of a scientist, so the
interviewer did not press the point, but
turned to look up to his amiable wife.
She rose and kept on rising, on being
introduced, until the visitor began to
ask internally, evil the line stretch out
till the crack of DOOM" This is the
taliest woman who ever travelled in a
railroad car The first impression is al
most bewildering, giving the impression
that you are looking at a being through
a magnifying glass. And yet she is not
a monstrosity, but quite shapely, and
withal most ladylike and we'll bred in
manner and conversation. At the age
of six she was as tall as her mother
something over five feet-and she did
not attain her full height till the age Of
81. This remarkable couple appear tc
live together very happily, and they mean
to retire from public life IN a short
| time