Waterbury evening Democrat., 1890-06-19
A MAN OF STRENGTH.


 The first theater manager of Berlin. so-called man of strength" who showed l himself nearly two hundred years ago, first as . juggler, then as athlete. Of | his life little is known except as in his | career as theater manager, as he was | the founder of the first Berlin theater. l He was extensively written of, and an | article under the title of An Athlete of the Eighteenth Century," published some years ago and recently unearthed, gives an interesting account of his | prowess, as follows:
 By an athlete of the eighteenth cent | ury we do not mean the Prince Fred | erick August, of Saxony, King of Po- land, commonly called August the Strong, who could knock oil the head of an OK with one stroke of his sword, and besides distinguished himself in all kinds of respectable performances of strength, but another Hercules, who would have wrapped the strong August around his little finger if such thing would have been permitted. This man was the athlete Johann Karl von Ecken- berg, who in the twenties and thirties of the last century showed his produc- tions of strength in public. He was the most stately of all gymnasts, and was born in the town of Harzgerode, and, out of respect to his native town, he called himself for time on his bill posters Samson Hercules, Harzmann.
 It borders on the fabulous what his contemporaries related of his remark able exhibitions of strength. He broke an anchor rope as if 1t were ordinary thread; iron nails and bolts he turned playfully between his fingers into screws; Q cannon pipe he carried around as if it were baby. His teeth were as strong as iron. He bit into piece of oak wood; then stroag cart-horse was harnessed to it. In spite of the horse being urged on, 1t was unable to pull the stick out of the jugglers mouth or to pull the athlete from the place where he stood. A bench made of wood, six teen feet long, he grasped with his teeth by one end and carried 1t around, while trumpeter, blowing his instru- .ment, sat on the other end.
 His arm was moro powerful than his teeth. He spread out his hands, on each one was placed bottle of wine, then a rope was attached to each wrist and to each rope there were three men from the audience who pulled with all their might, so as to mako 1t impossible for the Hercules to convey tho wine to his mouth. All their zeal was without avail, as the arms of the gymnast bent themselves irresistibly, and brought the jug to his mouth without spilling drop of wine.
 He generally saved his grandest per tormance of strenth until the close of the exhibition. He ascended scaffold of beams, under which was platform of thick blanks fastened on strong chains. A trumpeter mounted on @ horse, clad as . herald, rode upon the platform and played his tune. The Hercules then took place on the point of the scaffolding, held 0 glass of wine | in one hand and with the other, by means | of the chains, lifted the heavy plat form, the horse and the trumpoter high up from the floor, and for little while held tho whole weight, the trumpeter shrilly blowing 8 tune, while tho ath- 1 lete drank the glass of wine, at the same time giving a toast to the magis- trate and the citizens of the city in which he happened to be staying. When Herr von Eckenberg became older his power gradually left him, l therefore he gave up the herculean busi. | ness and became chief theater manager of Berlin, where he for some time pos. sessed two show booths, which, how ever, did not bring him as large an in come as did his exhibition of strength. But whom he had the large income he did not know how to save He had a competitor, Peter Hilferding, who had 8 show booth with privileges, and at the same time was a practical joker and clown under the name of Pantalon de Bisognosi Provoking quarrels with this man embittered the life of the ''man of strenGth,' so that he took to drinking, which was his ruin at last. His numerous creditors seized both his booths with all belongings, completely impoverishing the, celebrated Hercules, who died in tl6 year 1754.-London Spectator.
 | FRANCE aas half as many people as the United States, but her national debt