The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1898-08-03
GIANT GRENADlERS.
King Frederick's Mania Fpr Tall
Soldiers.


The extraordinary mania for tall SOL
diers manifested itself in King Fred
serick William /. of Prussia while he
was yet Crown Prince. Even as boy,
We are told in j. X. Hutchinsons Ro-
nance OF Regiment, that he.neglect-
ed his games and lessons I'm order TO
drill a regiment which his father hai
lent him. From its rank he gradually
weeded out all the small men. and filled
their places with giant peasants OF his
own selection. spending his pocket
money on a whim which his royal
father refused to encourage. On the
death OF the old king, in March, 17l3,
Frederick William found himself mas
ter of an army of 10000 men, and at
once proceeded to carry out his long,
cherished dream OF a picked corps,
which in size and perfection of disci-
pline should be unsurpassed in the
world.
The regiment was composed at first
of two battalions OF 600 men each. No
man measured less than six feet In his
stockings. The regiment grew in size
and numbers as the kings insensate
folly became more pronounced. Inc
more tall men he got the more he longed
for. The taller they were the taller he
wished them. A seven or eight-foot
man was more esteemed than SO many
first-rate men OF war;" II Is related
that on the death Of one of these giants
his sorrowing master had him repro
duced in marble for the facade OF one
of his public buildings. The king liked
his tall grenadiers to possess good looks
and ordered the portraits or many OK
them to be painted by a leading MEM
ber of the academy.
The procuration Of these giants cost
fabulous sums. The king never stole
men from officers, whether Of his own
or other Prussian regiments, but paid
for them with a capricious liberality
that made many a penniless soldier OF
fortune independent for life. The royal
bounty, according to a popular fiction,
was expended only in replacing tall men
thus drawn from the ranks; but as
matter OF fact a heavy percentage
nearly always went into the private
purse of the recipient. At the review
of 1871, for instance, the king bought
so men for $145. 900. of officers VINO had
paid not more than $97.3S0 for them.
His liberality, as doubtless the gain IT
entailed, was equally great on the
other occasions. An account or July 4,
1856, shows that the treasury was drawn
upon Dy Objects 10 TIC cAtche VI *'"'VoV
for forty-six recruits. The same year
Count Dohua received $12,664 for eigh-
teen men, and the year following Gen.
Marwitz drew $l3.9S7 for eight. The
average price paid for home recruits
was about $1,000 per head. as tall
brewer, who was once recruited out or
his bed, and only allowed to return to 1t
on payment of that sum for substi-
tute, learned to his cost, but as the king
frequently gave from 5000 to $500 for a
man who had cost only 81, hand
money" or the trouble Of lifting"
the profits of the purveyors must have
been enormous.
The sums spent in foreign recruiting
were far in excess OF the home expen-
diture. Between 1713 and 1735 a grand
total Of $12,000.000 or. reckoning 81 TO
the pound. nearly 21,750.000 sterling.
was sent abroad for recruits. The cost
of exceptionally tall individuals throws
a curious explanatory light upon these
figures: for, dear as the home article
was. the prices Of imported flesh and
blood necessarily ruled much higher.
James Kirkland. a colossal Irishman.
whom Borcke recruited, ran his captors
into the tidy sum of a1260 before he
was safely lodged at Potsdam. Leck-