The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1890-08-12

O1 every COuuUu1CYs
Need we wonde: what those seed-plots Of
physical prowess bore their occasional fruit
In such prodiRies as the Spartan champion
Who won q prize of the Isthmian games by
2 horizontal leap of fifty-two feeti or Milo,
the Sicilian Samson. who carried 9 four
foot-raoe course and then killed it BY a
single blow of his clenched fist. That bull
story has been frequently questioned by
modern historians; but there is no doubt
that, only fourteen years ago, DR.. Winship,
Of Boston, lifted twenty,nine hundred
though in his youth he was the weakest
OF his numerous schoolmates, and began
his course of training only after his seven
tenth year. Roman breast-p plates, quar-
ter of an inch thick, were more than once
broken by spears that had pierced heavy
tempered steel, and it is by no means in
credible that competitive spear-drill con-
tinued day after day, for long series of
generations. evolved the Spartan matador,
who avenged the defeat of Mantineia by
hurting his lance completely through the
body of the Theban leader.
Inc invention OF gunpowder has pre-
cluded the repetition of such feats; but
foot-races have never gone out of fashion,
and the strictest trainer of the Grecian
hemerodromes, or foot-couriers, might have
passed such adopts az the. Andalusian
zagal, Diego Martinez. who. in the
presence of a modern traveller, won bet
by keeping up for eight hours with coach
drawn by four different relays Of galloping
horses.
A few years before the war, Waldemar
Baudlssin, herculean young Holstein inn
migrant, won similar wager by trotting
afoot against stout Missouri pony, and
continuing his rounds for fifteen minutes
after the quadruped had dropped in her ex-
haustion.
High leaps require lightness as we'll az
strength, and few western acrobats would
undertake to beat the record of the 6aia-
t waller, the "boss1jumper." as we might
Hindostan, who leaped, without the aid Of
pole, over five elephants standing side by
side, the one in the center with q good
sized superstructure Of cushions and
umbrellas on his back.
why, that's nothing" he laughed, in re-
II am 10 years old; you ought to have seen
me Jump when was twenty"
me same prince keeps corps of trained
gladiators, obliged by contract to fight once
week; but his pugilists who belabor each
other with heavy brass knuckles, might be
Pennsylvania miner, who, a year AGO. stood
up for three hours under the fuil-steam
blows Of veteran heavyweight.
The Saja-waller, too, might have found
an ugly competitor in the British profess
sional, Joe Ireland, native Of Beverley in
Yorkshire, where, according to the author
of plays and Pastimes," he frequently
diverted his fellOw-citiZens by leapine over
string held fourteen feet high. and Thought
nothing of kicking bladder hanging six
teen feet from the ground.
Dead lifts. however, are the chief forte OF
the North Caucasian races, and in q chron-
icle of the campaigns of George Funds
berg, medieval history preserves the record
of 6uabian groom who was able to sup
mort the weight of two horses by Selling
with his hands q cross-beam over the door
of his masters stable and twisting his feet
tho two animals. He was averse to exhibit
inR his strength in the presence of stran-
gers, but at his masters bidding he once
undertook to chuck q strapping cavalier
into an empty grain bag, after tying him
hands and feet. and in spite of the hidalgo's
desperate resistance, won the wager in three
minutes.
He 10 said to have found his match in the
person of a Turkish prisoner; but even
the longshoreman of ConstantinOple would
find it hard to initiate the exploits of
Thomas Topham. of Surrey, England, who
carried rocks which few other men could
roll along the ground" and once shoulder
Cd sentry-box. containing stove, bench.
and sleeping Waterman, and carried his
burden to suburban cemetery.
In feats Of agility. a. distinct from dead
lift strength, few Caueaaisns can compete
With Oriental speeialista; for instance, with
japan. where acrobatic trade secrets are
often handed down from fathsg 70 son and
eIeetRIandson. On TIE camuiuR ground
- a faif Of Agra. Visitor 0asqasmont saw
. jgGgt9 eeise The end u . dangling rope
-. vifss2t seleaeina ~ hold. By a
thru cnmnn0A .Knrs*a fkrn1~h n-px l~,cr