Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1904-03-15
IS CHAMPION EATER
Phil MeIIOy of Dubuque is a
Noted GIuttOn.
Strange Character Who Has Won
Many Big Wagers, Issues
Challenge to the World.

has furnished TO the nation men
who have won distinction in poll
1 tics, literature, art and athletics,
but it remains for Dubuque TO offer
a real live gourmand in the person
of Phil Melloy, the "Glutton of Syl-
via Switch, who has issued
challenge to compete with any man
in the United States in an eating
contest, not even barring sword
swallowers or any other museum
freaks, and will wager $500 that he
can put away more food in one hour
than even the epicures OF old whose
feasts are lauded in fable and song.
To eat a quarter of beef in TWEEN
ty-four hours, Mr.. Melloy considers
a very easy task, but whenever a
man undertakes to get away with
twenty pounds of mince meat pie in
one hour the dyspeptlc would feel
like turning over on his couch to
breathe his last and the man of
ordinary appetite would call him a
monster. Nevertheless, Phil Melloy
has accomplished these feats and
pocketed the money of skeptics who
ridiculed him when he boasted Of
his achievements at the table and
supported their skeptlcism with big
rolls of the green that looked too
tempting to Mr.. Melody to pass up.
He has been an odd character about
Dubuque tor many years and has
brought grief to many restaurant
eurs who agreed to fill to safety
the 'Glutton of Sylvia switch for
the paltry sum OF 81. He has
emerged from one restaurant after
devouring sufficient food to keep a
family of ten three days only to
accept another wager that he could
not duplicate his feat at the nearest
restaurant. Strange as it may
seem, Melloy never "falls down"
unless he is tricked, and on numer-
Gus occasions has won as much as
500 on small wagers in a single
night.
An Ordinary Appetite.
( He does not undertake to deplete
the visible supply OF food in a town
because he has a ravenous appe-
tite or because his inner works are
similar to those Of a camel, or to
make a store house of his stomach,
but simply to afford his friends
little amusement and incidentally
to increase his bank account. He
does not eat any more than the av-
erage man at any meal and he con-
fesses that at times for days he
does not eat as much as a dyspep-
tic. However, while Mr.. Melloy is
amusing his friends he possesses
the true business instinct and real
ICES that when he accomplishes his
undertaking he'll win sufficient
money to start a one-ring circus.
The "Glutton of Sylvia Switch
has been the victim of jokers on
numerous occasions and has been
unable to collect money he has won
on bets. Three years ago in a
Main street saloon he wagered $50
that he could suck twelve dozen
eggs in thirty minutes. Melloy said
it was like finding the money. The
eggs were procured at a nearby
grocery and he lost no time in UNI
dertaking his task. In nine min
utes he had put away seven dozen,
and as he believed he would have
an easy time in putting away the
remaining FIVE dozen he took short
rest. The men with whom he had
made the bet realized that they
were up against it and in order to
save their money they placed cay
enne pepper in the eggs. When
Melloy resumed his task the first
egg he put in his mouth was liter
ally filed with the pepper and
gagged him. He suspected that
they had put up game on him and
laid it aside to tackle another. This
time he got 50 much of the pepper
in his mouth that it made him cough
violently and he was unable to con-
tinue. He accused the men with
whom he had made the bet of put
ting pepper in the eggs, but they
denied it. Nevertheless, he was
unable to collect the bet and lett
the saloon in an angry mood.