Sullivan republican. [volume] (Laporte, Pa.) 1883-1896, 1890-02-07

own body up, and placing his arms
around the mans legs, rose with him and
set him down on low table. Finally he
was elevated on framework and rope
fastened to scale which hung below was
attached to his girdle, heavy cannon
resting on the scale which lay upon roll
ers upon the floor. When all was ready
the rollers were knocked away and the
cannon remained supported by the
strength of his loins.
1t is said that the porters of CONSTANT
nople will carry buroens of six hundred
and nine hundred ounds weight with
ease. Feats of strength have always,
whether in real life or in fiction, great
attraction and interest for the human
mind; and one of the most strikingly
sensational scenes in any novel is that in
Victor Hugo's ''Les Miserables, where
Joan Vatican lifts the weight of wagon
under which a man is being crushed to
death.
Washington possessed great strength
and was noted athlete, especially in
leaping. Perhaps it is not as well known
that the late General George B. Mcclellan
possessed also unusual strength, remarka-
BILE, particularly, for man who, though
compact, wiry and well built, was rather
under size. General Mcclellan could
bend big old fashioned cent double
between his thumb and forefinger.
Standing on table he could lift man
weighing 100 pounds from the floor by
his coat collar and hold him at arms
length, and it is related of him from the
best authority that on one occasion when
riding powerful charger in battle, the
horse got maddened with excitement and
undertook to run away with him, when
the General stopped him still in his
tracks by the terrible pressure which he
exerted on the animals ribs by simply
pressing against them with his knees.
One of the oldest and at the same time
most remarkable exhibitions of mechani
cal strength and dexterity is that of sup
porting pyramids. 1t is described by the
Roman poet Claudian, and has been
known in Europe ever since. The cele-
brated Egyptian traveller, Belzoni, be-
fore he began his career as an explorer
in Egypt performed this feat in various
parts of Great Britain. After all, one of
the most extraordinary feats of this
nature, seeming to be an exercise of
strength, and which is really nothing of
the sort, is that in which heavy man
is raised from the floor with the greatest
facility by several persons placing each
one or two fingers under him. The way
this is done is as follows. The heaviest
person in the party lies down, say upon
two chairs, his legs being supported by
one and his head by the other. Four
persons-each at one leg and one at each
houlder-then lift the body, and they
find the dead weight to be very great,
from the difficulty which they find in
supporting him. Now let the four per-
sons take hold of his body as before, re-
spending to two signals, to be given by
the person to be lifted, by clapping his
hands. At the first signal he himself
and the four lifters begin to draw long
and full breath, and when the inhalation
is completed the second signal is given
for raising the person from the chair. To
his own surprise and that of his bearers,
he rises with the greatest facility as if
he were no heavier than feather. When
one of the bearers performs his part lily
by making the inhalation out of time the
part of the body which he tries to lift, is
left, as it were, behind. This is trick
easily tried and very amusing.
A few years ago great deal of excite
ment was created by the exhibition of a
young Georgia girl alleged to be electro
magnetic or otherwise specially gifted,
who did some remarkable feats of appar-
ent strength. This young woman inau-
gurated an epidemic of Georgia girls,
who frolicked over the country doing oil
manner of curious feats and tricks of
strength, pulling averaged sized young
dudes and mashers around the stage,
sitting on chairs, absolutely discomfiting
all efforts to lift them, etc. At length
Pennsylvania broke out with a similar
disorder, the principal instance being a
Miss Flora Coyle, pretty young girl of
fifteen, who went to the public school in
Pittsburg This young woman would
twist stick two feet long held by a
stout young man, brought up from the
audience, quite out of his hands, no mat
| ter how much effort he might make to