The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1881-04-29
FAT AND MUSCLE.

FAT AND MUHNLEs
Some Historic Giants i'm Both Lines.
Daniel Lambert was born of ordinary
parents at Leicester. England, on March
Ii, ITO. Up to the age Of 10 he was
simply a muscular fellow, able to lift
great weights and carry 500 pounds with
ease. Then he succeeded his father as
keeper Of the prison, and the sedentary
life thus necessitated began to tell upon
his bulk.
In 1893 he walked to London from
Woolwich, to reduce himself, He
weighed at that time 448 pounds. The
attempt proved unavailing. He grew so
fat that he could no longer attend to the
duties of his Office, so the Magistrates,
in consideration of his humane treat
ment of the prisoners and his general eff
fciency, retired him on pension OF
ESQ. Fat as he was, or rather because
he was so fat, he was an excellent
swimmer, and taught that art to hun
dreds of young people at Leicester. In
consequence of his immense bulk he
could swim with ease with two men on
his back.
After his retirement he became such
public show that he determined to go to
London and turn his misfortune to ac-
count. He went in 1906, unable to walk
it this time, in a vehicle which had to be
built expressly for. him. He lived at va
rious places in London, and was assisted
by every one, from the King down.
Then he made tour of the country.
He enjoyed good health, ate moderate
ly, and drank nothing but water was an
intelligent and well-informed man, and,
wonder of wonders, possessed heauti.
full, clear and melodious tenor voice.
In June, 1909, Lambert was weighed.
He tipped the beam at 739 pounds. His
measure around the body was three
yards four inches, and he was one yard
four inches around the leg. Each suit
of his clothes cost 500. Seven ordinary
sized men were repeatedly buttoned
under his waistcoat without straining
button. He died on June 90, 1909. His
coffin was six feet four inches long, four
feet four inches wide and two feet four
| inches deep. It took 112 superficial
feet of plank to make it. It's form was
that of square packing-case. 1t was
built on two axletrees and four wheels
The wall of the room In which he died
| (for he had long been incapable of walk
ing upstairs was takenaway, and he was
thus hauled to the grave. Twenty men
worked half an hour getting the colossal
corpse into it's last resting-place by slid
ing it down an inclined plane. Lambert's
fatal disease was dropsy.
Another monster was Edward Bright,
a miller of Maiden, who died Oh Nov.
10, 1850, at the age Of 80. He was
an active man to within a couple of
years of his death, when his corpulency
weighed him down and made life mis-
cry to him. At his demise he weighed
GIG pounds. When he was II years
old Bright had weighed IA pounds.
James Mansfield, a butcher, died at
Dibden, in Essex, on Nov. 8, 1862, in
his SD year. Though not above the
ordinary height, he measured nine feet
around, and weighed 462 pounds. When
sitting in his chair, made expressly for
his use, his abdomen covered his knes,
and hung down almost to the ground.
He could only lie on his side, and his
head had to be bolstered III q certain
way to prevent suffocation.
The famous irish giant was born in
Kinsale in 1850. His real name was Pat
rick Cotter, and he originally labored as a
bricklayer. He was eight feet seven and
one-half inches highat the age of Is, when
he ceased showing. He died on Sept.
8, 1906, at the Hot Wells, Bristol. He
had horror of body -snatohers, so his
grave was made twelve feet deep in solid
rock. His coffin, of lead, was nine feet
two inches long, and three feet across
the shoulders. No hearse could be pro-
cured long enough to hold the coffin ;
it took fourteen men to carry it, and
had to be lowered into the grave with
pulleys.
Milo, of Crotona, famous Greek ath-
Iete, is said to have run a mile with
4-year-old OK upon his shoulders, and
afterward killed the animal with one
blow of his fist, and ate the entire car
cass in one day. So great was his mus
cular power that he would bind cord
around his head and break it by the
swelling pressure of the veins. An or
binary meal for Milo was twenty pounds
Of meat, as much bread, and fifteen
pints of wine.
The Roman Emperor Maximinus was
upward of eight feet in height, and,
like Milo, could squeeze to powder the
hardest stone with his fingers, and break
the leg of horse by kick. His wife's
bracelet served him as ring, and his
everyday repast was sixty pounds Of
meat and an anlphora of wine.
The famous Scanderberg, King of Al
bania, who was born in 1414, was man
of great stature, and his feats at sword
exercise have never been equaled. On
one occasion, with his cjmeter, he struck
his antagonist such blow that its force
cleaved him to the waist. He is said to
have cloven in two men who were clad
in armor from head to foot. Maurice,
Count of Saxony, the hero of Fontenoy,
inherited the physical vigor of his
father, and was especially noted for the
surprising muscular power of his hands.
On one occasion, needing a cork-screw.
he twisted large iron nail round into
the required shape with his fingers.
Another time, when stopping at black
smith shop to have his horse shod, he
picked up number of horse-shoes, and,
with his hands, snapped them in two as
readily as if made of glass, much to the
disgust of the smith.