The Penn's Grove record., 1884-12-13

The present emperor OF Russia is aid
10 be one Of the strongest men in his
empire Of HeTculean individuals. When
the heir apparent he n day visited his
father, the late emperor, to complain
that his mail vas tempered with. The
emperor sent for the chief Of police,
drew from him a confession of guilt,
and chided him In the presence of the
C~zaT0witz The latter said not a word,
but handed the crestfallen functiOnary
a sign of how great was bis anger in
the form of a silver rouble twisted into
a roll. In his younger days this was a
tayorite visiting card of the Czarowitz.
He could strike a poker against his arm
and bend it, bite pieces out of china
cups, feats which were in the repertoire
Of Thomas Tapham, the celebrity of Is
llngtOn. Tapham was a drayman, ana
sometimes, when exhillrated by the vast
portions Of liquor supplied him by ad-
miTers, he would take his horses place
between the shafts, He had a playful
habit of twisting heavy kitchen pokers
into a coil about the necks of trembling
c~ouutrymen. One night, after having
astonished a tavernful with his drink
ing powers he came upon a Waterman
peacefully s%lumbeTing in his box, and
threw box and man over the wall of a
buTlal-ground. In 1871, Mr.. Gregorie,
claiming to be II years old, astonished
the physicians and the public in a town
near London by carrying seven hundred
pounds with ease, lifting an OK, and
performing other wonderful feats. 4
celebrated London physician who eX-
amined Gregorie describe him as an ex-
aggerated study by Hayden. His
shoulders were p%rodigious and his BIZ
ceps almost incredible. Gregorie's
strength, rather than a source of pride
to him, was the cause of anxiety. Al
though the mildest of men, he lived in
dread that be should be provoked to use
his strength against a fellow being. He
was afraid to nurse bis W child lest
he should give it a fatal squeeze. Near
ly all individuals of uncommon strength
make up inbulk what they are deficient
in height. Stanley, the African *
plorer, describes a strong man who was
FIVE feet five inches, and rather dispro-
p~ortionately slender. He could toss an
ordinary man ten feet in the air and
catch him III his descent. He would
take one Of the large white Muscat
donkeys by the ear and with a, sudden
movement of his right foot, lay the sur
pTlsed ass on his back. He could carry
a three year old bullock half way
around his masters plantation. Once
he actually bore twelve men on his
back, shoulders and chest a distance of
300 feet. Middle-aged people who re.
member the dawn of interest in nus
eular excuses recall DR.. Winship. the
originator of the idea which was SUISSE
q~uently embodied in lifting-machines.
The astonishment that thedoctor's per-
formances created was equal to that of
the Berliners a few years ago at Jorg-
nery's feats. The most wonderful of
these was known as the tTapeze feat.
The Frenchman hung suspended by his
legs from a swinging bar, and, by sheer
muscular strength, lifted a heavy horse
and rider off the stage. ~suspending them
several minutes, and then letting them
down gradually and EVENLY as he rails
ed them. Mervine Thompson's achieve
ment at Rochester, n. Y, last year was
however, in the opinion of competent
judges more surprising than this.
Thompson laid his face downward on a
frmly-hxed ladderand resisted the eff
forts of a team of powerful horses to
| pull him from that position a news
paper writer, in reviewing this wonder
full performance, remarks that the little
mention with which it escaped could
happen only in a nation where strong
men were common. The same feat in
1875 gave William JOY the name of the
| English Samson. The medical faculty
of Vienna thought the strength of
Joseph Posplschilli worthy of discussion
At several special meetings. This man
held a table suspended 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
a horse drawing a cart full Cf stones
was driven over it. Pospischilli's
strength was thought to reside in his
neck, and his bones were said to be
twice as large as the usual size.