The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1894-04-07

FOR YOUTHFUL AMERICANS
NTEREsTINE READING FOR THE
BOYS AND GIRLS. II Z
Eugene snndow, the strongest Man
In the World, and How He Devel-
oped Himself-FishinE With Dogs
Bicycling In Denmark. e.
Eugene Sandow is probably the
strongest man in the world. to-day.
He breaks chains by the expansive pow
er of his muscles, raises horse and
rider high in the air, wields a huge
frame, in which are two men, as If
it were ten-pound dumb-bell, and
does many other remarkable feats. He
has been giving exhibitions in Chicago.
all summer, and has been the wonder
and admiration of all beholders.
A peculiar feature of Sandow's i'm
lmense strength is that it is almost en-
tirely developed by artificial means. He
was born in Prussia in 1867. AS a child
Sandow was delicate, and his parents
feared that he would not grow to man
hood. While he was still very young
his father, who was a jeweler OF aver
age size. travelled q great deal with
him for the benefit Of his health.
When he was twelve years old he WIS.,
:ited Italy and was greatly impressed by
the statues he saw in that country
of the Greek and Roman den1igods
and heroes.
He asked his father why men now
adays didn't resemble the statues. His
father told him that in olden times
people walked instead Of riding and
didn't care for comforts which make
modern men weak. The ancients were
not lazy.
Young Sandow's ambition to become
like the statues he had seen was fired,
and he asked his father to buy some
books for him, explaining how he, too,
might get strong The old gentleman
bought him some works on physiology
and anatomy and the boy began to
study. When he was eighteen years
old he went to the University at Goet-
tngen and afterward to the University
Of Brussels in Belgium, where he stud
practiced assiduously with dumb-bells.
and had discovered, he claims, a sys.
tenn which would make any man strong.
The weights he used were small, his
heaviest dunb-bell weighing five
pounds.
Before long he was able to far out
strip all his companions in feats Of
strength.
- DIR. Ramm Guiteras says: 'Sandows s
vital organs are undoubtedly as strong
as his muscles. The capacity of his
lungs is ssirlf ply asson1 popular
idea that strong men develop their
muscular system at the expense Of the
vital organs is fanacious. 10 increase
the size Of the muscles the circulation
must be increased and this implies, OF
course, increased work Ivy heart and
lungs. The functional capacity Of these
organs Is therefore increased proper
tionately to the increase OF muscle.
Look at such men as George Goldie,
Harry Buermeyer and William 3. Cur
It's! Goldie has been m athlete ever
since he was able to work. Now at
fifty he is as spry in the gymnasium
AS any of his pupils in the New York
Athletic club and strong as an OK.
Curtis, when a young man, held
ing-an unusual combination. He was
probably the strongest man in the coun-
try twenty-five years ago, when he
lifted something like a ton and a half
in harness. He gets his exercise now:,-
days by walking thirty or forty miles
every Sunday.
"Brermeyer, too, was a weight throw
e. and boxer as we'll No one looking
Mt his splendid figure to-day would
say that athletics had done him any
:thung else than good.
These men, however, took care of
themselves They did not abuse their
strength by indulging in excesses Of all
kinds after each, period of training. 1t
Is this that kills strong men, and not
their strength that does it,
1t was hard for the spectators, when
a calcium light was turned on the
figure standing on a pedestal in the
back OF the darkened stage, to believe
they beheld. Such knots and punches
and layers Of muscles they had never
before seen off the statue of an Achilles,
Discobolus or . fighting gladiator.
The face was that Of little more than
a boy-smooth, with rosy cheeks and
little blonde mustach. The chin,
however, was square and heavy. The
neck was massive, and the shoulders
seemed a yard apart. The arms looked
as though hickory nuts and walnuts
had somehow been forced under the
skin, causing it to bulge out in abrupt
dumps. Layers Of muscles three inches
thick covered the chest, and on the
abdomen was q succession Of rolls of
muscle that one could tell even from a
distance of several yards were hard as
iron. =
Below the waist the development was
no less remarkable. The thighs We're
"big around as beer kegs" some one
said, and the calves were in proportion
The ankle and foot, however, Were
comparatively small.
'.See how his ribs show I heard Il
physician who sat near me exclafm
as Sandow suddenly changed his posi-
tion and hexed the upper part Of his
body. I thought they were ribs, too.
until kelt of them in Sandow's dress
ing-room after his performance last
Tuesday night. The ridges that stood
out so plainly were Of muscle, and not
OF bone. They are rudimentary in