The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-08-30
A WONDERFUL EATER.
ST. Louis Has q Man With q Reuak-
able Appetite.

From the st Louis Post Dispatch.
William Green is something of al eater.
In fact, he is the champion of the country IN
his line, having defeated all corners at nu-
merous matches Years ago the challenges
sent out by his friends, who wished to back
him to out-eat any n s n in the United States,
were never accepted, and the forfeits which
had been posted were taken down. Green
has record. The first match of any note
IN which he was rgaged came off in 1872
From his boyhood 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 working man. 1t was only when
he tried TO eat that he devoured such an
immense amount of food.
In 1872 Green, who is a collector, was at
work with a number of of bills in South st.
Louis, when he met in saloon three men
at the lunch counter. One of them was
tailor, another a constable and the third
deputy marshal Green felt little hungry
after his walk and set in to eat the whole of
q five-pound sausage The tailor the con-
stable and the marshal thought they could
eat little bit themselves, and a match was
prepared by some of the systauders. 1t was
agreed that the man eating the least was to
pay the whole bill, and ths quartet to set to
WOTh- touCu COullOeuco QdU OrSeQ IN MS
own abilities 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
money, having seen what the marshal and
constable could do on various occasions.
Everything in the saloon went on the bill of
far o,,I ma, 20 fr,- hf@,, Sl,a
tailor gave it up in despair and sat down to
watch the others. Ten minutes later the
constable had pain under his jacket and
| retired. The marshal stood it for another
half hour and then gave up in disgust,
Green ate with such vigor that everybody
was surprised. When he finished he had
| devoured SIS rs 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 clipper as a
cricket. however, and regaled his medical
visitors with the story of his eating feat
| Sworn statements of the amount the man
had eaten were made, and accounts of the
affair were telegraphed all over the coun-
try.
Green made no more matches for a num-
Der of years, being decidedly averse to OBJ
| gaining 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 barkeepers
| by devourlng every morsel Of food on the
| lunch counters. Proprietors of restaurants
where the sign, "All you can eat for IS
cents" was hung up soon grew to 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 Connecticut
man hsd devoured eight quarts of the BIZ
valves, but Green almost discounted him by
| swallowing twelve quarts In an hours time
When the craze over the eating of one quail
| a day for thirty days was on Green won
numerous wagers, first by eating 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
months ago He was in a small country
town collecting for st. L uis glass COM
pany and met horse-trader in a 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 pets 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 com
menced 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 add tional
ten quarts. This made almost four gallons
OF the bivalves which had entered his stom-
ach, yet be was not even "phased."
Green is a middle-aged man, Of medium
hight, 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 mis- capacity is abnormal, to say
the least.