The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-02-26
WOES OF A GIANTESS
MISS ELLA EWING, MIsSOURps BIG
GIRL, IS GETTING BIGGER
EVERY DAY
LARGEST OF THE HUMAN RACE
During Two Years of Retirement
She Has Grown Three Inches
Her Shoes No. 24 and Her Gloves
% - Sleeps CrOsswise on Two
Five-FOot Beds Placed Side by
Side-SOme of Her Troubles.

CORN, Mo-, Feb. 23.-After living in
| retirement at her home in the village
for two years. Ella Ewing, the gian-
| tess, has gone into the show business
| again. and will startle the lovers of
| freaks with an addition of three inches
| to her eight-foot stature. this increase
| in height having been gained during
| her long rest.
| 1t was some six years ago that a
Chicago travelling man told the man
| ager of museum in that city of a
wonderful giantess whom he had seen
| while on a business trip through Mis-
souri,. The museum man. half incredu-
| lous. did not for time investigate the
| tale. which was that in the little vii
lage Of CORN. in the extreme south
| western portion of the state. there liv-
ed a nineteen-year-old girl who was
| eight feet tall-and still growing!
! At last. after thinking the matter
carefully over, the museum man de-
cided to send an agent to CORN. The
little town. which is miles off the near
est railroad, was found with some diff
ficulty. and the agent inquired of the
local postmaster if he knew of gian-
tess in the neighborhood.
Il reckon you must mean Ella
Ewing" said the bucolic government
official. She's the biggest gal in these
parts, and 1 calc'late that she hain't
got her growth yit."
few moments more brought the
Chicagoan to the door Of modest
street Of the village. and surrounded by
trees and shrubbery.
WAS Miss Ewing in?" Yes, she was,
and she soon entered the little parlor,
being compelled to stoop to get through
the door. Her head almost grazed
the ceiling, and the agent looked upon
the tallest human being he had ever
which was to engage the big girl as a
museum curiosity. Neither Ella nor
her parents took kindly to the idea
They were simple country folk, and did
not court publicity The agent named
figure which he thought the giant
girl could readily command were she
willing to become a freak" The
Ewings. father and mother, agreed to
consider the matter Of allowing their
Only child to become an object of pub
lie curiosity. and the agent went away.
A few days later he returned armed
with a power of attorney to sign a
contract for forty weeks at a salary
of $500 week. The temptation was
too strong and the Ewfngs signed the
contract.
BIG AND GROWING BIGGER.
mus dld Ella Ewing go into the
world as a giantess-a giantess among
her fellow men and women. who were
mere pygmies by contrast. Every mu-
scum manager in the United States was
glad to engage her. for her like had
never been seen in this country and
|. possibly not in the world during the
present century. She was a giant in
reality, and none of the living giants
would consent to exhibit themselves
upon the same stage with her Ella
stood exactly eight feet tall in 1892.
Since then she has grown three inches
taller. Chang. the famous Chinese
giant, who made colossal fortune ex-
hibiting himself in Europe and the
United States. was only seven feet
eleven inches tall, and Col. Ruth Cos
hen, for many years the "star" feature
OF Barnum's circus museum annex, was
but seven feet six inches tall in his
thickest-soled boots. Ella can readily
look over the heads of either of these
men.
Few persons who have seen Ella
as a. wonderful curiosity-a. freak of
nature. But there is another and
serious side Of the question. Though
surrounded by personal friends, of an
amiable disposition, interested in
charitable and religious works, Ella
Ewing is sui generis-a human misfit,
and has no doubt shed many o bitter
tear over the fate which has made her
SO different from ordinary mortals She
seems out Of place everywhere, except
in the spacious rooms of her new home.
which she has built on the site of the
modest place of her birth in this vii