The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-11-28
AGE OF THE STRONG WOMAN.
Athletic Girl With Better Muscles Than
College Men.

The strong woman" is rapidly COM
ing forward to the athletic standard
of perfection of the strong man" and
of these feminine Hercules as strong
woman Miss Charlotte Dunphy, the
17-year-old daughter of West End
avenue millionaire of San Francisco.
is the latest marvel. 1t Is only last
June that Miss Dunphy was graduated
from the Institution of Holy Angels at
Fort Lee a physical wreck, as SO many
young girls who aim for high honorS
find themselves at the close of their
school days. 1t was thought that she
was going into a decline, and many
specialists were consulted but there
seemed no organic disease-simply a
strong tendency toward nervous pros
tration. Drugs were ineffective, walk
ing was exhausting. Ordinary gym
nastics, such as are usually practiced
in schools for girls, did not seem to do
any good.
More in a joke than anything else,
Miss Dunphy called at the studio of a
professional athlete just three months
ago and informed him that she wanted
to be a strong woman" 1t did not
look very promising, as she was slight,
weighing less than 80 pounds, and was
weak and i'll. But there is nothing
this athlete will not try, and so he
put her through his 25 different sets
bells, adding to their weight as her
strength increased until she could
swing five-pound bells with perfect
ease.
Taking set of bells home, Miss
Dunphy began exercising before break
fast and soon found the work delight
full and easy, her appetite increased
and she began to long to do greater
feats. For variety's sake her instructor
allowed her to learn several weight
lifting exercises and found to his as
constituent that she could actually do
them, and do them gracefully and firm
ly. From one feat to another she went,
until now she has mastered every sort
of strong woman feat and her teacher
himself gazes on her in establishment.
Miss Dunphy has a most wonderful
back, and the muscular development of
the entire body comes to it's support,
SO that she does tricks One of these
is the lifting of a big bar bell from
the floor with one hand, turning it
high above the head without a tremor.
This same bar she then places upon
the floor and lies down fiat on Aer
back with the ball at the head and
raises it with both hands until it is
straight above her head. Then, holding
it with one hand only, she rises to a
sitting and then to standing posture,
with the bell high above her head still.
AllOlIST ledl MISS IuIpllS uOeS WIEN
the same bell in connection with the
Roman chair" This chair has strap
across the seat, into which she slips
her feet; then she leans over the back
until her head rests upon the floor:
reaches over her head for the bar and
rises with it to a standing posture on
the seat of the chair, with the bell
high above her head; then she descends
in the same manner and lays it on the
floor above her head again. These
feats require enormous strength, as
anyone can easily ascertain by trying
them.
Some of her friends belonging to a
yacht club have been inveigled by her
brother to come home with him and
visit the gymnasium on the top floor
and try some of these feats. but with
all of their boosted athletic achieve
ments Miss Dunphy easily outdistances
them all. In fact, these college-bred
young men are just as jealous of this
little slip of girl as they can be and
her little private gymnasium has be-
come the center of attraction on the
upper west side.