The Indianapolis journal., 1890-08-17

Some of William Green's Matches and the
Amounts He Consumed.


St Louis Post-Dispatch.
William Green appeared at the Four
Courts this morning. and. before Assistant
Prosecuting Attorney Dierkes, swore out a
warrant charging Otto Feldt with embez-
element. Feldt lives at 25l1 Blair avenue.
1t is alleged IN the information that he bor-
rowed from Green a Photographic outfit of
the value of $40. which he has refused to
return.
The prosecutor. William Green. is some
thing of an eater. In fact. he is the cham
piOn of the country in his line. having de-
Years ago the challeges sent out by
his friends who wished to back him
to out eat any man in the United
States We're never accepted and forfeits
Green has record. The first match of any
note in which he was engaged came Oft in
1872 From his boy hood he had recognized
that he had an enormous capacity for any
kind of food. yet his fare for day or
week would compare In quantity with that
of any ordinary workingman. 1t was only
when he tried TO eat that he devOured such
an immense amount of food.
However in 1872, Green, who is a col
lector, was at work with a number OF bills
in South ST. Louis. when he met in sa-
loon three men at the lunch counter. One
of them was a tailor. another a constable
and the third deputy marshal. Green felt
a little hungry after his walk, and set in to
eat the whole of tive-pOund sausage. The
tailor. the constable and the marshal
thought they could eat little bit
themselves, and match was prepared by
some Of the bystanders. 1t was agreed
that the man eating the least was to pay
the whole bill. and the quartet set to work.
Such confidence had Green in his own abil-
tiles that he took bets right and left at
even money that he would beat the others.
As the contest proceeded he offered absurd
odds that he could win with pounds to
spare. He was not known about the place
and the bystanders fairly crowded for his
mo ney. having seen what the marshaland
constable could do on various occasions
Every thing in the saloon went on the bill
of fare and the men ate for an hour. Then
the tailor gave it up in despair and sat
down to watch the others Zen minutes
later the constable had a pain under his
jacket and retired to the back yard. The
marshal stood it for another half hour and
then gave up in disgust. Green ate with
such vigOr that every body was surprised.
When he finished he had devoured SlS.75
worth of saloon food and his appetite was
still good
Green collected his bets and went home.
The story of the match spread and the fol-
lowing day Drs. Gregory, Mudd, Ludwig
and Hess called at his residence. expecting
to find him dead. He was as chipper as a
cricket, however, and regaled his medical
visitors with the stories of his eating feat.
Sworn statements of the amount the man
affair were telegraphed all over the coun-
try. =
Green made no more matches for q num-
ber of years, being decidedly averse to OBJ
tanning notOriety on account of his peculiar
abilities. On several occasions, however,
he went with some of his friends to saloons
about the city and surprised the bar
keepers by devOuring every morsel of food
on the lunch counters. PrOprietors of
restaurants where the sign. ''All you can
qQf fnr ann m m tn
know him and barred their doors when they
saw him about to enter.
Finally his friends backed him to eat
cove oysters against the record. A Con-
the bivalves. but Green almost discounted
him by swallowing twelve quarts In an
hours time. When the craze over eating
one quail day for thirty days was on,
Green won numerous wagers first by cat
ing one quail a day for Twenty-Five days,
then for thirty days and finally for fifty
days. His friends offered TO back him to
eat two Quails day for a month, but
could get no answer to their challenge.
Green's latest match was less than three
town collecting for a st. Louis glass CON-
pany. and met a hOrse-trader in O saloon
and restaurant. The horse trader thought
he could eat oysters with the next man.
and offered to back himself against the
crowd. Green took all the bets he could
get. and then bet his opponent two TO one
that he would eat two quarts to his one.
The horse trader was game, and the bets
were made. When Green offered him
three to one, however. he weakened
and the contest was commenced.
The horse-man swallowed three quarts
of the bivalves and quit. BY this
time Green had put himself on the outside
of five quarts. He then offered to bet that
he could eat as many more and won all the
money in sight by covering an additional
ten quarts. This made almost four gallons
of the molusks which had entered his
stomach. yet he was not even "phased."
Green is middle-aged man, of medium
height, yet short in build. He weighs in
the neighborhOod of $50 pounds. and has
never been sick in his life. His appetite is
normal. but his capacity is abnormal. to
say the least