Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1884-09-26
IS0lIE MODERN SAMSONS.
MEN AND WOMEN OF ExTRAoRDI-
NARY STRENGTH.
French woman That Carried
Weights That Were Equal TO :. 2.O1G
POunds-Feat5 OF Strong Men.

Weights That Were Equal TO 2.OIG
POunds-FeatS of Strong Men.
The feats of Lulu Hurst fall into insig-
nihcance beside those of Nine. Colbert,
who laid claim to no other power than
uncommon physical strength. This
woman, who is described as possessing a
remarkably beautiful face and form, ap-
peared first before the public at st. Bar
tholomew fair in London, in 1918. Her
achievements astonished all who beheld
them. She carried weights equal to
2,0l6 pounds, lifted a heavy table, on
which several persons were seated, with
her teeth, supported an anvil weighing
| 400 pounds on her chest while a black
smith forged horseshoe upon it, aad
afterward tied her Tong hair about the
anvil and swung it about. The Georgia
| girls chair feat was favorte one with
Mime. Gobert and it is noteworthy that
in the case of each woman this was the
first branch of their performances at
tackled by skepticsm. Whether, as was
charged, her public performances were
made up largely of trickery, there ap
pears to be no doubt that she was eX-
( traordinarily strong. On one occasion
while travelling, her coach sunk into the
mire and resisted all efforts of the
horses. Descending, the female Samson
easily extricated the vehicle and pro-
ceeded on her journey amid the applause
of large crowd Of common people,
with whom her popularity continued for
years.
In 1871, NJ. Gregorie claiming to be
seventy-one years old, astcnished the
physicians and the public of town
near London by carrying 700 pounds
with ease, lifting an OK, and performing
other wonderful feats. His shoulders
were prodigious, and his biceps almost
incredible. Gregorie's strength, rather
than source OF pride to him, was the
cause OF anxiety. Although the mildest
of men, he lived in dread that he
should be provoked to use his strength
against a fellow being He was afraid
to nurse his own child lest he should
give it fatal squeeze.
Nearly all individuals of uncommon
strength make up in bulk what they are
deficient in height. Stanley, the Afri-
can explorer, describes a strong man who
was six feet five inches, and rather dis
proportionately slender. He could toss
an ordinary man ten feet in the air, and
catch him in his decent. He would take
one of the large white Muscat donkeys
by the ears and, with sudden move
ment of his right foot, lay the surprised
ass on his back. He could carry three
fgear-old bullock half way around his
masters plantation. Once he actually
bore twelve men on his back, shoulders
and chest distance of 800 feet. Mid
dle-aged people who remember the dawn
of interest in muscular exercises recall
DR.. Winship, the originator of the idea
which was subsequently embodied in
lifting machines. The astonishmcnt that
the doctors performances created was
equal to that of the Berliners a few
years ago at Jorgnerys feats. The
most wonderful of these was known
as the trapezc feat. The Frenchman
hung suspended by his legs from a
swinging bar, and by sheer muscular
strength lifted a heavy horse and
its rider off the stage, suspending them
several minutes, and then letting them
down gradually and evenly as he raised
them. Merwin Thompson's achieve
ment at Rochester, N. Y, last year was,
however, in the opinion of competent
judges, more surprising than this.
Thompson laid face downward on a
firmly fixed ladder and resisted the ef-
forts of team of powerful horses to
pull him from that position. A newspa-
per writer, in reviewing this wonderful
performance, remarks that the little men,
tion with which it escaped could happen
only in nation where strong men were
| common.
The same feat in 1915 gave William
Joy the name of the English Samson.
The medical faculty of Vienna thought
the strength of Joseph Pospischilli
worthy of discussion at several special
meetings. This man held table sus-
pended by his teeth while three gypsies
danced upon it. He and one of his
brothers bore upon their shoulders a
sort of wooden bridge while horse
! drawing cart full of stones was driven
over it. Pospischilli's strength was
thought to reside in his back, and his
| bones were said to be twice as large as
| the usual size.
Fishing parties and explorers in the
wilds of northern Wisconsin were a few
years ago familiar with Peter Panquette,
the Samson of the region. He was a
! famous woodsman, possessed of mighty
endurance, and muscles that were like
! iron. Senator Clark says: 81 have had
him bare his arm to me and crack hick.
ory nuts upon the muscles. 1t was like
cracking them on q stone He could take
q handful of dried hard hickory nuts
and crush them to pieces by merely
tightening his fist" On one occasion,
while serving as a guide for party of ex.
plorers, yoke of oxen drawing the boat
down the Fox gave out through fatigue.
Panquette took their place, and hauled
the boat along, needing the strain less
than the beasts. Sheppard, the wonder
of the Coventry volunteers, whose muscu'
lar development answers to the dcscrip.
tion given of Panquette, like the latter,
wore his hair long. With the half breed
it was custom derived from his copper
colored ancestors, but with the ruddy
Englishman it was in obedience TO his
belief that all his strength lay in his
flowing yellow locks, Sheppard could
lift heavy man in each hand, and hole
them at arms length. He could toss
enormous tables, barrels and bags oi
flour about as though they were filled
with feathers. He could take pewter
pint pot and tear it into pieces with his
teeth, and he could MUNICH large oystcl
shells as person would MUNICH biscuit
Sheppard was the wonder of the coun-
try around, but his prosperous popular
ity developed enemies, and one of these,
it is related, induced the strong man tc
drink deeply, and while sunk in stupol