The crisis. (Chillicothe, Livingston Co., Mo.) 1877-1878, 1878-05-09
GIANTS IN CHICAGO.
a Reporter Interviews Them with n
Telescope.

n Reporter Interviews Them With a
Telescope.
From the Chicago Inter scan.
The main parlor of the Palmer House
was yesterday the center of curiosity,
for there were quartered in it the big
gest man and woman known on earth.
This is no idle talk, as any one who
called upon the pair had ocular demon
stration. Captain and Mrs. NJ. V.
Bates they were called, and each lacks
half an inch of being eight feet They
have recently arrived from Europe, and
are en- route for st. Louis. When one
first enters the room his first impression
is that the tales of Jack the Giant Killer
and the adventures of Gulliver quite
possibly had some moro sold iounda-
tion than mere fancy for before you
stand two as formidable giants physi-
cally as were ever drawn by story teller.
Yet they are as gentle, rs ailablc, as
courteous and rs intelligent a couple as
one would care to meet.
Captain Bates isa native of Kentucky,
is 7 feet II IL inches high, weighs 492
pounds, measures G5 inches around the
chest, wears Il number 9 hat, % inch
collar, a - boot and is 32 years OF age.
lie dresses neatly in black, wears Il
massive gold chain, attached to which
is gigantic watch, Il present from
Queen Victoria, wears massive dia-
mond in his shirt bosom, and fashion
able collar and scarf; has Il ruddy,
healthy complexion, Il pleasant smile,
and is ready tUlker. Altogetherhe is,
as the reader can very well see, an ex-
traordinary giant, for your mammoth
men are generally slovenly, dull, igno-
rant fellows. Mrs. Bates is n native of
Nova Scotia, OF Scotch descent. Her
height is exactly the same as that of her
husband. Her weight is $50 pounds.
She is well formed, and can hold her
own in conversation. For the benefit
OF the female reader it may be stated
that it takes 60 yards of goods to make
her dress. The Inter- Ocean reporter
found her arraycd in fashionably cut
dress OF green silk, and fingers, ears and
neck ornamented with diamonds in
modest quantity.
In the course of conversation, the
Captain expressed his firm conviction
that the race was not degencrating
physically, but men to day were more
robust an taller than they were cen
turics ago. He has come to this con-
clusion by observation while abroad.
While in London lie visited the Tower
where the mmor of noted soldiers in
English history is kept, and he is con-
tident that not one in ten Of the aver
age men Of to-day could get inside of
the war-coycring of those military he
roes, who tigurein song and story, The
Captain while III England devoted con-
siderable time to an investigation of the
legend of English giants. The gigantic
proportions of Og, Cog and Magog, the
guardians of the Tower centuries ago,
are matters of history. Og was the
tallcst of the trio, and his suit of
armor lies in that venerable and inter-
esting pile Og is said to have been
eight feet four inches high, yet Cap
tain Bates tried to get into the de-
ceased giants fighting costume, but
found that the system of measurment
had been changed years ago, and, ten
and onc-hulf inches being the foot at
the period when Og hourished, although
he must have been Il tremendous fcl-
low, could not have been more than
seven feet three inches. according to
modern measurement, Then he Wis
tied the British museum, where the
skeleton of Murphy hangs. lie was
said to have been nine feet, but by
Captain Bates calculations could not
have been over seven feet seven. Then
Chang, the Chinese giant, who was on
exhibition at Manchester while Potter
Palmer's gigantic guest was in England,
was visited. Chang's vanity was taken
down by the Captain, who after divest-
ing him of thicb-soled boots and q high
head-dress, measured only seven feet
eight inches. Chang announces that
he is nine feet high. During the con-
versation the Captain gave some in
teresting facts cleaned from his inves-
legations into the history of giants and
giantesscs, and exploded many of the
notions popularly entertained regard
ing them.