Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-01-03
MODERN SAMSONS.

JOIN F. CoYLE.
MODERN SAMSONS.
Astonishing Feats of Men of Muscle-The
Recent Contests in London.
Who is the strongest man in the world? asks
the Pittsburg Dispatch.
There are at least dozen before public
notice today who claim to be that man. and
each performs certain feats of strength which
would seem to warrant his right to that title
1t is difficult to determine, however, which one
OF the lot is superior in physical strength, be-
cause, invariably, each is able to perform some
particular feat which another cannot
The Samsons of modern times are men who
have been naturally endowed with great muscles
and enormous strength. but who have increased
and added to both by constant training and
practice. Attention is given particularly to
their strongest muscles and these eventually
become abnormally developed. Other muscles
are neglected. so that few of the
strong men" of today are physically well pro-
portiOned.
cYR, THE GIANT LITTER.
Undoubtedly the most remarkable OF all the
strong men is Louis Cyr of Quebec. He is only
twenty-seven years of age, but he weighs 323
pounds. The tape showed his physical dimen-
! sions to be as follows: Height. 5 feet, lOlS
inches; chest Gnfiated). So inches; waist. As
| inches; biceps. 2115 inches: thigh, 80 inches:
calf, "a inches; neck. % inches. Cyr scarcely
knows his owr strength. He lifted a dumbbell
| weighing 265 pounds with one hand from the
ground to the shoulder. and then slowly pushed
| 1t up from the shoulder to arms length, using
only tho one hand. There is probably not an
| other man in the world who could do this. An
| other time he tied pair of bells together which
weighed 40 pounds. attached string three feet
| long, and then lifted this great weight from the
| ground with one finger.
His greatest display of strength was r1u,,e
| about a year ago in Montreal. On a small plat
| form weighing 40 pounds were placed seven
dumb bells weighing 7S9 pounds. a barrel of
| Hour and seven heavy men. Cyr put his giant
arms around the platform and lifted the lot
The aggregate weight was 232S pounds In
another way he lifted 1886 pounds of pig iron
| at Berthirville, Canada. on October 1, 1883.
The iron was placed on plank. which rested
on trestle. Cyr got under the plank and.
pushing up with his back arms and legs raised
the weight clear of the trestle. No other man
in the world has been able to approach this
performance.
TWO OTHERS.
Charles P. Blatt, who was born in Pittsburg,
is another strong man. His arm is larger than
| Sullivan's. His lower limbs, however, are
| deficient and consequently he is far from
well-formed man, judged by the standard of
ptrIcCt pus proportions ne Is naturally
| gifted with strength. His principal feat of
| strength is that of pulling apart horseshoes
Prof. Robert j. Roberts, the body builder
now connected with the gymnasium of the
Young Mems Christian Association of Boston,
| is the best proportionately developed man in
the country. 1t is his hobby, SO to speak, to
train and cultivate every one of the muscles of
| the body and on each side. There is but slight
difference in the strength of one arm. leg or
side in his anatomy, something that is rarely
fnrr, nth Late ~
| today who can show such a splendid set of
| back muscles. Compared with men who do
startling feats of strength, he is not ''strong"
man, yet. in fact, all around, he is really
stronger than most of them: Heavy dumb
bell work and heavy weight lifting he con-
dennis in the strongest terms.
CONTESTS IN LONDON.
Samson recently set all London agog over
feats of strength. He is a rather small-sized
man and appears to weigh not more than 40
pounds. After time other strong men ap-
peared on the scene, and one of them accepted
Samson's challenge to bet fl00 against nothing
that the feats Of his pupil, young German
called Cyclops, after the strong one-eyed crea-
ture of mythology, could not be done by any
other person. The acceptor was powerful
young fellow named Herr Eugen Sandow who
hailed from konigsberg. Cyclops put up a
250-pound ball with his right hand above his
head and then slowly lowered his arm until
to his body. Sandow did this. Then Clyclops
raised bell said to weigh 800 pounds, above
his head with his right hand, stopped and lifted
a 50-pound bell with his left, which he put up
in the air three times. Sandow did the same,
but did better by putting up the 5O-pound bell
seven times. Each man also lifted with one
finger a stone weighing 500 pounds. Sandow
was given the $500, and then samson. the
master. offered him another $500 if he could
accomplish his feats.
The rival strong men met on another even
ing and Samson was vanquished. Samson bent
a piece OF steam piping over his breast.
Strengthened it back over the muscles of his
arms, bent it once around his leg and then
broke it in two. All these were accomplished
by Sandow. A bracelet made from an iron chain
was put on Samson's arm and he snapped it by
contracting his biceps. Sandow put one on his
left and two on his right and broke them all in
the same way.
SASDow DEFEATs SAMSON.
Then he took the lead. He tossed up a bar
bell weighing $50 pounds and caught it on his
arms as it came down. Then he threw it up
again, caught and balanced it in his right hand.
lay down on his back and raised himself with
the weight, to his feet again. Samson could not
do that. and SO forfeited E100. Sandow parted
a steel chain which was said to resist strain of
40, 900 pounds by one powerful blow of his fist
in the center. Maxine Dantes a strong man Of
Arizona, does o similar trick OF breaking in
two piece Of wood three feet long and five
and Bostonians have seen Sebastian Miller
break cobble stones with q single blow of his
fist at the Howard Atheneum.
The measurements of the arms and chests of
some of these mighty men may be of interest
They are given in the following table:
Ayr. Inches. Inches
Cyl .........-..-..-............ IN