The Anaconda standard., 1896-01-03
THE BIGGEST MAN
His Name Is Canon-Berg and BE Is a
Frenchman.
EXHIBITED AT A BEER SALOON
Weighs Over 500 Pounds and Is
Said by Doctors to Have Some
Abnormality of the Heart
Which Caused His Growth.
From the New York World.

Od0S5o ffiS OWN1s
From the New York World.
"Brasserie du Colosse' (beer saloon
of the Colossus) is the name of a new
refreshment resort built around the
figure of the biggest man in the world
on the boulevard St. Denis, near the
old Porte st. Martin. Paris. Cities
have been built around royal palaces
and state coaches around the court
trains of drawing room aspirants. but
who ever heard of dining hall erect
ed on plans subject TO the dimensions
and the weight of a single man?
These extraordinary precautions were
resorted to in order to accommodate
and safely lodge Monsieur Canon
Berg.
Canon Berg, the Colossus" whom
Paris goes to look at nowadays. is as
long as he is broad. He measures six
feet and three-quarters Of an inch
from the sole of his foot to the top of
his head. and exactly as much across
the chest from the right to the left
arm pit.
His upper thigh measures four feet
and one inch around; his calves meas
ure two feet and IL inches. and his up
per arm is one foot and IL inches
around.
He weighs exactly $40 pounds, and
there is no deception possible, for all
the figures quoted are from the city
weigher's office, properly attested by
signatures. seals and government
stamps.
Around the waist NJ. Canon-Berg
uses up seven feet four and a half
inches of the tape.
The brasserie in which he is finan-
cially interested does a tremendous
business all day, but between the
hours of s and l o'clock at night IL is
hardly possible to secure n "standup."
not to say a seat there.
The big man occupies n spe tally
built platform at the rear of the es-
tablishment, the platform being cen
structed of solid beams and supp )rted
underneath the floor by iron pillars.
This was done by order of the police.
He sits on two benches-one placed in
front of the other. Every half hour
he takes a constitutional and walks
from the platform to the entrance door
over a strip of carpet that covers a
portion of the floor supported by pill
lars the same way as the platform.
Canon Berg rises slowly, supporting
his weight by placing his hands firmly
against the arms of the bench and. at
the same time, making a few jerking
motions with the upper part Of his
body. Then he begins TO set his feet
down deliberately. one before the 9TH
er. He does not look exactly as If he
were going to topple over. but his
trembling, uncertain steps and the way
his corposity quivers suggests a dire
physical catastrophe.
Meanwhile the audience is requested
TO keep to their seats so that all may
have "a chance to observe the Colossus
from the front and rear" as he goes up
and down.
Viewed from the front, the smallness
of the head strikes one as remarkable.
The breadth Of the shoulders, too, Is
not in proportion to the giants size.
Canon-Berg's feet are small for a
man of his stature; when he walks his
calves. seen from the rear, totter vis-
IDLY under the weight they carry:
sometimes II looks as If a breakdown
was unavoidable. 1t is quite evident
that the muscles of Canon-Berg's legs
are not sufficiently developed
dent that he fully expected to die of
his weight some day. but the thought
gives him little concern. His face gen.
orally bears a genial expression. II
look melancholy only when / have my
picture TAKEN" he said. He is as years
old, has full black hair. somewhat
sprinkled with gray. a black mustache
and kindly gray eyes.
He has never known a sick day in
his life; he is a very moderate eater
and drinker: his only small vice being
an extraordinary love for tobacco. He
sleeps well and makes no complaints
He entered upon the show business
only recently i'm order to invest the
money he made as a working brewer.
Until few months ago he acted as in
spector of breweries i'm the Neither
lands, having learned the trade i'm
Germany. He is not a German, how
ever but a French-Swiss.
He was always a strong. healthy
and corpulent boy and man, fond of
athletics, swimming and dancing. To
reduce his weight he made a tour of
Holland on foot. but, meeting with an
accident, he had to return i'm a freight
car. none of the passenger coaches
having doors large enough TO admit
him. In this way he Travelled to Paris.
Only the Swiss passenger coaches are
roomy enough for the Colossus
he has brother weighing $50
pounds, but his sisters are of normal
build. All the great Paris medical sci
entists are investigating the Colossus.
Most of them seem TO think that Can
on-Berg is suffering from an abnor-
mality of the heart.
That may be true or not" says the /
giant. but 10 be perfectly frank, /
never knew had a heart"
NEGRO HUMOR.