Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1888-05-09
a FEMALE HERCULES.
She Can Lift . Th0usand.Pound Weight
and Walk or With . Safe.

She Can Lift = Thous.nd-Pound Weight
and Walk or With . Safe.
A quiet, modest girl, of medium
height and slender. graceful figure,
dressed in simple brown dress.
frightened up only by a narrow red
ribbon and tiny bow at the throat
chatting pleasantly away to her visit
or in her quiet room and now and
then interrupted by the piercing voice
OF tame canary-that is Nine. Victo-
rina, the female Hercules, who every
evening astonishes the audience of the
Empire Theater with feats of her mar
velous strength. For six years past
she has now been before the public as
1.-THE strongest woman in the world"
she has astonished Berlin and Paris
audiences; has been victorious in her
competition with many, Of the world s
greatest athletes; is honorary member
and medalist of the Central Athletic
Club Of Stettin; honorary member Of
the Buda-Pesth Hercules Club; of the
Hercules Club. Vienna; of the Com:
pagnie Hercules of Paris, and string
of other athletic societies ::
How came it." our representative
asked, 'that you adopted your present
professionp Had you exception al
strength when young?"
mo, not at once; and when was
quite youngI was not stronger than
the average healthy child. was born
at Strasbourg, and after my father
died went to my uncle's, who was a
circus proprietor, and he at once
began to train me as a circus rider
and performer on the trapeze. But
my career as an acrobat came soon to
an end, for fell from q height of
forty feet while performing. and ever
since l have the greatest dislike to
trapeze performances. Luckily
only broke the bridge of my nose in
the accident and therefore I was in
no way impeded from beginning to
train for something else. At that
time l became acquainted with my
present husband, who was an athlete,
and who began my athletic training.
This was done by making me practice
every day with an expander, just a.
you see girls use them in calisthenic
classes, with the one difference tina
the firmness OF my expander was
periodically increased till at last the
| muscles and sinews of the arms, the
shoulders and the neck got so strong
that l could without difficulty work
with an expander consisting of an Indis
rubber rope as thick as my wrist, and
also practiced lifting and handling
weights. beginning with smaller ones
and gradually incre asing up to :.
thousand pounds. This, of course,
took several years. and in my daily
perform ances I do not always lif'
quite the full weight which 1 could
lift and carry. but there is never lay
on which l do not handle from seven
to eight hundred pounds at the per-
formances.
Once we were at Berlin, and, as our
luggage is naturally tremendously
heavy, and expensive in proportion,
we take as much of it as possible into
the railway carriage when we are
travelling: The porter. who had put
our boxes into the van, saw that was
carrying what looked like two small
handbags. He offered to put them
into the carriage for me, and l neve,
saw so astonished and overawed 8
face than when handed him the two
parcels, each containing one of my
heavy weights. Another time va
were going up the stairs of our hotel
when we found six men engaged in
taking an iron safe upstairs. The
owner: who knew us. said. laughing
| ly: oh, here comes madame; she
will show you how to do this kind Of
work l had never tried any thing
like it, but took firm hold of the
safe and put it on the next step. al.
though wore my ordinary clothes.
The safe was presented to me by the
owner. and l have since then often
carried it across the Pal
Mall Gazette.