The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-02-07
MIR. DEFENT's NOBLE FEET.
They Require shoes Eighteen and N
Half Inches Long and seven Wide.

From the San Francisco Examiner.
In a window of a San Jose shoe store
is pair OF shoes which fairly walk to
the front rank when big shoes are talk
ed about. They are eighteen and one
half inches long and seven inches wide.
and were once worn by an every day
man named John b. Defent.
Defent It not like the late Scow John
son who used to fall all over his own
feet when he tried to use them quickly,
Scow Johnson also was visibly embar-
raised when the amazed crowd gathered
about him and CAPPED at his gigantic pedal
wonders, and he always endeavored to
tuck them under him much after the
manner Of a man with a market basket
IN a street car. But like the market
basket, they were always ostentaiously
visible.
Defent was working In San Jose a short
time ago, and durpg his stay there he
changed his old shoes for new ones in
the store of Mr.. Herold. Mr.. Herold was
so struck with their wholesale dimen-
sions that he kept them for a curiosity
An effort mas been made by certain feet
scientists and scholars to unearth Mr..
Defent and find out what kind Of a man
II Is that lives in thirty-seven inches OF
shoe leather. Thus far all efforts to To-
cate him have been unsuccessful. The
shoes, however left a broad trail on the
globe wherever they went, and left his
tory and curiosity behind them. and an
imprint like the famous Carson footprints.
A telegram from Sonora, Tuolumne
figured on there in the shop of A. G..
Livingston, A. D., 1882. Mr.. Livingston
still has the original tracings among his
archives Of very big feet. Shoemaker
Livingston also built a pair of boots for
Defent. Those boots were for everyday
wear, and, except for their extraordinary
size, they looked like everyday boots,
but they cost $40. Most Of that money
went for leather, too, because the shoe
maker miscalculated on the time of cir
COMMUNICATING eighteen and one-half
inches OF shoe leather with an awl and
waxed thread. The young and curious
story Of how they gathered before Living
stonS shoe store fourteen years ago and
saw those feet enshrouded In two calf
skins. Defent was not annoyed by the
curiosity. He said he had long ago got
over that feeling.
"rhey may look large" he said. frankly
| and modeStly, as one who knew the real
/ worth Of his possessions but they amt
| You Just ought to see my sisters feet"
| And he proceeded to reveal to those gap
/ ing youngsters the broad and noble di-
mensions of his sisters Trilbys
| Somebody asked him about the feet OF
| the rest of the family. and Defent an
swered I'm his frank way that none of them
had very small feet" All the members
of the family had their shoes specially
At that time Defent was working about
the mines I'm the Sierra foothills. Though
| Frenchman, he looked as big as the
| biggest Of the Cornish miners I'm that local.
| fly. He was feet inches tall, weighed go
pounds, and was about as years of age.
| Later on he drifted over Mariposa way.
| Then he popped up in San Jose, where he
left the Livingston shoes and began his
| travels anew in the eighteen and one
| half-inch shoe houses built for him by
Mr. Herold.
The last seen Of Defent he was headed
| toward Forest Hill, and his new shoes
were making big black spots in the day.
| light.