The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1884-10-29
SOME MODERN SAMS0NS.
MHN AND WOMEN OF ExTRAoEDx-
MARY STRENGTH.
A French woman That Carried
Weights That Were Enunl 90 2,O16
Pounda-FeRkso OF StrOng wen.

The feats of Lulu Hurst fall into insig-
nificance 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
2,016 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 a horseshoe upon it, and
afterward tied her long hair about the
anvil and swung it about The Georgia
girls chair feat was favorite one with
Nine. Colbert, and it is noteworthy that
in the case of each woman this was the
first branch of their performances at
tackled by skepticism. Whether, as was
charged, her public performances were
made up largely of trickery, there APP
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 arid 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, sstonished the
/ physicians and the public of town
near London by carrying 700 pounds
With /, A1
other wonderful feats. His shoulders
were prodigious, and his biceps almost
incredible. Gregorie's strength, rather
than a 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 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 a sudden moveN
ment of his right foot, lay the surprised
ass on his back He could carry three
year-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 Jorgnery's feats. The
as the trapeze 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 eff
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 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 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 a cart full of stones was driven
over it. Pospischilli's strength was
, thought to reside in his back, and his
i 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 q
/ famous woodsman. possessed of mighty
) endurance, and muscles that were like
: iron. Senator Clark says: II have had
5 him bare his arm to me and crack hlck'
= ory nuts upon the muscles. 1t was like
> cracking them on a stone. He could take
!. q handful of dried hard hickory nuts
: and crush them to pieces by merely
I tightening his fist" On one occasion
0 while serving as a guide for a party of ex
o plorers, a yoke of oxen drawing the boa
q down the Fox gave out through fatigue
= Panquette took their place, and hauled
J, the boat along, needing the strain les
a than the beasts. Sheppard, the wonder
= of the Coventry volunteers, whose muscu
= lar development answers to the descrip
/ tion given of Panquette, like the latter
wore his hair long. With the half-hreeC
b it was custom derived from his copper
J, colored ancestors, but with the rudd.
/ Englishman it was in obedience to hi
: belief that all his strength lay in hi