The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1885-11-25
VERY FAT PEOPLE.
Some Persons Who Have Attained a
Wonderful AvOirdupOis.

We have the evidence OF Dr. Ashton
concerning the late Nine. Victoria, the
lat woman, who "was thin and delicate
throughout her girlhood," that many
persons of small bones attain an enor-
nous SIZE" The weight of Nine. Vic
toria was Observation-Disclosures 500 and
600 pounds but there exists the record
Of much larger persons, notably IN the
mother country, in two instances, at
least. The first of these was a MIR.
Bright, the grocer, of Maiden, in the
county of Essex, who died In 175o, IN
his thirtieth year, at the net weight OF
GIG hounds, and whose death was con-
sidered by his neighbors as a happy re-
lease to him, and so much the more as ne
thought so himself. He came of a
family which was noted for its great size
and its correspondingly great appetite.
The MIR. Bright in question enjoyed ex-
ceptionally good health, and at the age
of twenty-five he took unto himself a
wife, by whom he had five children. A
most amiable mind was All inhabitant OF
his overgrown body. Indeed, amiabillty
and good nature seem to 20 hand in hand
with obesity, else wherefore the peril.
nency of the time .honored adage, ''laugh
and grow fat2" The coffin in which he
was buried was three feet six
inches broad at the shoulders, and more
than three feet deep. They had more
trouble, probably, in getting the corpse
from the house in which he died to ITS
final resting-place than was experienced
in the case of Mime. Victoria, for a way
was cut through the wall and staircase
of his house to let it down into the shop
1t was drawn on u low-wheeled carriage
to the church by twelve men, and was
lowered into the grave by means OF an
engine fixed up on the church for that
purpose, and in the presence of an i'm.
mense number OF curiosity seeking spec.
tators, who came from all parts of the
country. After his death, if the bull
may be pardoned, he was made the sub
ject of ridiculous wager that five men,
each twenty-one years Of age, could be
buttoned in his waistcoat. This wager
was decided in the Black Bull inn
in Maiden, where not only five but seven
men were inclosed in the walstcoat with
out straining a button or breaking a
stitch. But outstripping Mr.. Bright
was the famous Daniel Lambert, who at
the marvellous bulk of 739 pounds died
at Stamford on the 21st uf July, 1909.
Three years earlier he was on exhibition
in London with an immense following.
At this time he was 36 years of age. and
his exhibition bill says that he Was then
81 pounds heavier than Mr.. Bright was,
which would make him 7O7 pounds, so
that in the three years which followed
up to the time of his death he
gained t~hirty-two pounds additional.
Lambert died very suddenly, having
gone to bed we'll ct night, but expiring
Ieforc 8 o'clock the next morning. lie
was a man who ate moderately and drank
only water, which would seem to refute
the Falstafian theory that sack is con-
ducive to obesity. Like all fat men, he
was q fine singer and possessed an ex-
cellent tenor voice. Owing to the i'm
mense size of his legs the coffin in which
he was buried had to be made in the
form Of q case rather than in convcn.
tional coffin fashion, and it may have
been the forerunner of Il modern
burial caskets. 1t was Of stout English
elm, and its dimensions were six feet four,
inches long, four feet four inches wide
and two feet four inches deep. He died
on the ground floor of an inn, as he had
long been incapable of ascending a flight
of stairs. Yet there was trouble ex-
perienced in getting the coffin from the
house, and the window and q part OF the
wall. of the room in which he died had
to be taken down IN order to make a
passage. The coffin, by the way, was
built upon two axle-trees and four cog
wheels, and up these the remains OF the
great man were rolled into his grave in
St. Martins churchyard, a regular de-
scent having been made to the grave by
cutting away the earth for some dis
lance.
DR.. F. Daniel records the case of a
young man of twenty-five, who died from
excessive obesity, weighing CAB pounds;
and in the English Philosophical Trans
actions for 1913 there is mentioned the
case of a girl of four years of age who
weighed 256 pounds.
A remarkable case is that of John
Love, who was the apprentice of Ryland,
a celebrated engraver of London, who
was executed for forgery in the latter
part of the last century. Love, who be-
came terrified by the shameful manner
of his masters death, gave up the bust
ness he was learning and returned to his
native place in Dorsctshire. Being at
the time exceedingly feeble and emacia-
ted, his friends, fearing that he was fall
ing into consumption, applied to a ply
stefan, who recommended an abundance
of nutritious food rs the best medicine
under the existing circumstances. Thus
advised Love acquired a taste for the
pleasures of the table, which he was soon
enabled to crafty by his success in bust
ness as a bookseller. Suffocated by fat,
he died in his fortieth year, weighing
3G4 pounds. Nine. Victoria was un-
q~uestionably the largest person OF whom
we have any record who died on this
continent, but, while less by nearly two
hundred pounds than was Daniel Lam
bert, we are at a loss to understand why
she required a coffin s. much larger.
We have had many a good tall fellow"
here in our W country. but none of
them ever approached the lady in size.
The largest man we ever remember to
have seen in our own State Of Massachu-
sets was the late Hon. Myron Law
renee, of Belchertown, who in the
old days had been styled "the
Sheridan of the Wing party" and
Il A. 49, ~ --111J