The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1881-10-01

refusal attributed TO lear, he entered Jne afeld
and without taking off his coat, grappled with
his opponent and, after brief struggle, hurled
him to the ground with such force that the best
wrestler in Virginia was in much the same pre-
dicament as the Dukes wrestler when he tried
conclusions with Orlando Later on in life, while
watchingsOme young fellows contending at throw
ING the bar, Washington asked to be allowed
TO try what he could do; and grasping the bar,
sent it flying through the air, to land many feet
beyond the limit attained by any of the compet-
itors. And still later, when he might be said to
be getting old he showed that he had not lost his
strength of arm. Taking morning ride, he saw
three of his men yainly endeavOring to raise a
large stone. Jumping off his horse Washington
pushed the men aside, and without any apparent
effort lifted the stone to its proper place and then
remOunting, rode on.
A man of great strength was William Joy,
known in his day as the English Samson" He
was native Of Kent, having been born near
Ramsgste in 1915. From an early period OF his
life he displayed remarkable strength and deX-
terity for his years; and when twenty-tour years
of ACE he began publicly TO exhibit his aston
ishing ftats. Among other of joys performances,
he is said to have been able to retain and keep in
place strong horse, urged by whip to escape his
powerful rein, solely by the check of his pull,
without any stay or support whatever. AIDED by
a strong Ieathern girdle or belt, and supporting
himself by pressing his arms on railing he could
lift from the ground a stone said to be a ton
weight He also broke asunder rope fastened
to a wall, which had previously borne more than
a ton and a half weight without breaking. Not
withstanding his great strength, he was possessed
of singuarly agile and flexible joints, many won
derfu stories being told of his teats In this respect
such as placing a glass of wine on the sole OF his
foot. which he could twist round with his hands,
and conveying the glass in this way to his mouth
without splitting.
But the rougher sex have not had monopoly
of such herculean qualities. In September, 1918,
there was shown at Bartholomew Fair, London,
what was called in the advertisement the
strongest woman in Europe, the celebrated French
Female Hercules, Madame Colbert, who will lift
with her teeth table five feet long and three feet
wide, with several persons seated upon it; also
carry thiTty-siX weights ffty-siX pounds each,
equal to two thousand and sixteen pounds, and
will disengage herself from them without any
assistance" She was also notified as able to bear
an anvil of four hundred pounds weight on her
chest. while men forged on it with hammers
finishing up this branch of the performance by
lifting the anvil with her hair, and "suspending
it in that position. to the establishment of every
behOlder" She was also to take up a chair by
the hind stave with her teeth, and throw it over
her head, ten feet from her body. One who went
to see these performances, thought there was a
good deal Of trick in many Of them. He describes
the table she was to lift with her teeth as :" a
slight rckety thing, made of deal, with a bar
across the legs, which, upon her grasping it. is
sustained against her thighs, and enables her
more easily to swing it around several times,
maintaining her hold only by her teeth" The
chair, he says "she makes nothing of, but canters
il over her head like plaything." Upon the
whole, this spectator was disappointed. THAT
she is a strong woman he concludes 'Sis evident:
but that she can perform what is promised in her
bills. is q notorious untruth.' Yet she is other
wise credited with possessing great strength; and
it is told that on one OCCASION the road between
Harwich and LeOministeT, when her caravan
which weighed two tons" sunk in the mud
nearly to the box Of the wheels, the two horses
being unable to eXtricate it, "she descended and
with apparent ease, disengaged the caravan from
its situation without any assistance whatever"
4 contemporary writer describes this female
Samson as short, but most beautifully and deli
cately formed, and of most lovely c0untenancen
William Hutton, the well-lInOwn Birmingham
antiquary, met in with another ''strong woman
in the course of his wanderings in Derbyshire
and described her in the Gentlemans Maqaziae of
the period. He saw her at Matlock in July 1901
and thus writes of her: THE greatest wonder
saw was Miss Phoebe BOwn, in person five feet
six, about thirty, well-proportioned round faced,
and ruddy. Her step pardon the Irishman)
is more manly than a mans and can easily
covers forty miles day. She can lift one hun
dred-weight with each hand, and carry fourteen
score" Her chief avOcation was breaking in
horses at guinea a week and he adds that she
always rode without saddle and was the best
Judge not only of horses, but of cattle as we'll in
the whole countryside.
In 1894, a man named Sheppard sergeant
in the Coventry Volunteers, was noted for his
strength. He was then about five or six and
twenty years Of age. An eyewitness mentions
that on being requested TO show proof of his
strength, Sheppard desired to have few oysters
sent for, the largest that could be procured
unopened. These being produced" and large