Omaha daily bee., 1889-10-15
A YOUNG FEMALE sA msoN.
Lillian Chcws Wood Like Gum aud
Does Other Hcrculeau Fcats.

DOcs Other HcrCuieRu Fcnts.
On Tenth avenue, New York, pretty
11-year-old-girl lives. Her name is To-
bin and she dwells with her parents and
abides by their decision in all things.
Miss Tobiu, to the ordinary observer.
is not different from other girls of her
| age. She may he the least bit better
formed, a triae more erect while walk
| ing, and somewhat moro confident in
her compartment.
A Journal reporter learned. however,
| that Miss Tobin was decidedly different
| from other girls-so different, in fact,
that she verges upon the human phe-
nomenon. Mrs. Tobin extented an in
vitation with the promise that Lily
would show off her various accomplish
ments. When the reporter had seated
himself in the neatly furnished parlor
Mrs. Tobin explained that Lily was
blessed with an iron jaw, an iron skull
and the muscular power of John l.. Sui
livan, William Muldoon, and Samson
| combined. She also mentioned that
Lily has wrestled with ali the heavy
weight Tenth avenue beauX, and that
not one of them could hold his own
| against her. Among her other accom-
plishments she could chew wood and
swing tifty-pound dumbbells tied To her
hair with alarming ease.
'Durlng JnlS recital the pretty subject
sat in rocking chair blushing like q
little school girl on receiving flattering
praise. Lily is n semi blonde or cha
taque with laughing blue eyes. dlmpled
cheeks, small plump hands, and n figure
of undeniable opulence.
Chew some wood, Lily" said her
mother.
Lily rose from her chair as if she
was about to play on an imaginary
piano. Going into the kitchen she re-
turned with an ordinary bundle of
ktndling wood. and selecting good
knotty piece began to MUNICH it with
the nonchalance of society girl at,
work on n box of caramels. The wood
was undeniably hard and tough, hut
Lily's teeth sank through it as if it was
so much putty.
Don't swallow it, Lilly" cautioned
the mother, and, like the obedient
child she is, Lily relinquished mouth
ful OF well-masticated splinters, which
looked as if they had been pounded by
sledgehammer. In an explanatory
way Mrs. Tobin said:
I'VE don't let Lily eat mucn, and she
will swallow anything. We don't give
her any meat because she gets too
strong. ALI we give hcr is homemade
bred. but she thrives SO on that that we
are all afraid of our lives when she gets
mad. Her father is u blacksmith, and
is pretty strong, but if he says anything
Lily doesn't Like she picks him up and
fires him on the floor, and he has to
stay there until she tells him he can
get up. Her three brothers never con-
tradict her, as she can crab all three
together and squeeze them so that not
bit of breath is left in their bodies"
Yes, l am strong" joined in Lily.
.
bust and only eighteen inches around
the waist. That is, with my corsets on
she added, with an explanatory smile.
Swing some iron in your teeth,
Lily" said her Snother.
Lily caught up fifty pound dumbbeli
to which she attached four ordinary
tlatlrons which weighed seven pounds
apiece. She fastened stout rope to the
seventy-eight pounds of iron, and plac-
ing one end of the rope between her
teeth began marching up and down the
room with the mass of iron dangling
from her teeth.
81 could carry three times as much as
that if they would let me" contemptu-
ously remarked Lily, as she dropped the
irons. "Ill bet | can carry YOU in nv
teeth if you will let me fasten this rope
around your waist" she continued,
turning to the reporter. The latter
said he needed no such illustration to
believe her statement.
well, then, do you want to see how
strong my hair is? Here. mother. give
me those irons and that dumUbell
again"
Taking one-half of her hair she knot
ted it about the dumbbell to which the
four irons were attached. Then she
Strengthened her head and body up and
began pranclng about the table in the
center of the room.
This amt anything" she said. "If
they would only give me Il show I'd do
something big. | don't feel this weight
on one side of my head. could carry
four times as much as this fastened to
my hair, The women who slide down
wires in circuses hanging by their hair
don't do much. ] could do that and
have some one else hanging to my
heels. / weigh l40 pounds. too"
Then to work off some Of her excite
ment she picked up the tifty-pound
dumb-bell, and tossing it up in the air
within Il few inches of the ceiling,
caught ii deXterously in one hand as il
descended toward the floor.
'If you think | can't wrestle take off
your coat and vest and give me show
ut YOU" The reporter declined on the
ground that he was not in training, ana
then Lily said TO her mother: ''Go
downstairs and il you see any OF the
boys on the corner tell them TO come up
here, that / want to have IL wrcstle."
Mrs. Tobin returned in Il moment,
saying that the boys were not in II
wrestling humor.
Lily only developed her Samson-lillc
abilities six months ago. She went TO
"a Bowery museum and after watching
the ron-iingered man catch big cannon
balls and toss mammoth iron dumb-bells
in the air, she made his acquaintance
after the performance and astonished
him by handling his heavist weights
with astounding case.
Since then she has done nothing but
chew broomhandles, play ball with the
different members of her family, and
exercise her great strength in every
possible way
Lily was born in Paterson, n. j., but
has lived in New York most of her life.
Her father is an Irishman. while her
mother was born in Scotland.