The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1905-12-20
The Champion Of Champion
Strong Men Was Donald
Dinnie, a Draw Scot.

l. II
"a "a man. This champion strong
man business has been
much overdone. Henry Labouchere
once said-and his opinion on any sub
ject was always worth havlng-refer-
ling to Rochester, the hero in "Jane
Eyre (and what hero. matinee idols
please notch. what earthly good does
1t do to your fellow mortals even
though you can bend poker double
with your hands. etc. Mere brute
strength is nothing
| Charlie, or Charley. Mitchell-as
! shrewd ms you make 'em and wealthy
/ now-(old-time boxing is TO modern
boxing what the horse car homeward
ploddng IFS weary way is to the swift
| ~ running trolley once said: "Pve no
use for champion strong men. socalIed.
They make me tired. They're the
biggest babies In the world If they
are not headlners in the bills at a
benefit they put up holer aud back
! out at the last moment" A former
champion alI-round athlete now in
New York The is Scot says: "My al
most invarlable experience has been
that these so-called strong men GER
tainly lack the fighting instinct. JEFF
fries could take Sandow, Rolandow.
Hackenschmldt and Gruhn in ring
in one night and knock them out one
after the other inside of three rounds
each. with the greatest ease.
zone would think. from the amount
OF sickening gush that appears. from
time TO time about these so-called
champion strong men, that strong
man was not only rara avis. but an
up-to-date institution. Nothing of the
kind. Why. in our own day there was
the great Highland model. Donald Din
ME. the greatest all-round athlete the
world has ever seen. / have seen
Dlnnie not only lift but dance about
the stage for some time with a ton
strapped to his shoulders. have seen
him slowly muscle up with his right
arm--not jerk up; that's nothing, for il
brings the whole body into playa 17S-
pound dumbbell; then hold out his arm
at full length and with his open palm
support flfty-slx-p pound weight for
some time.
THE Highland idea of the athlete
means not a runner or jumper. but a
strong man first; then if he likes he
may be also agile. Dinne held the
record for putting the sixteen-pound
and the twenty-two-pound shots, and
at some of the Highland gatherings
have seen him take prizes at fat rae
ing, in almost record time, notwith-
standing his DO pounds. He could
clear the hurdles like n deer chased
by wild hunters through the Adlron-
dacks. He was certainly the most
magnificent specimen of athletic man
hood | ever saw, and I have seen all
the top-notchers-bla white and yell
low-in the last thirty years. In his
prime. about fifty-slx inches around
the chest and nearly nineteen inches
around the blceps: trunk and limbs
like gnarled oak tree. and five inches
taller than either Sandow or Hacken-
schmidt; and all over as rugged as the
rugged Highland hills whence he
sprang. We never shall look upon his
like again.
But, repeat this champion strong
man business gives me a pain. There's
Corbett When in training for his last
encounter with the lusty boilermaker
he made the mistake of his life fiddIing
with weights and trash of that kind to
make himself strong (sic), instead of
sticking rellglously TO his natural bent
-qulckness in jabbing and getting
away. He danced around the erst-
while redoubtable John L. like n
cooper around barrel-as quick as
dancing shadow-and cut him to pieces |
Little rapld-tire guns sometimes get |
there just as well as long toms and |
III so inclined, any one by incessant |
practice over series of years can |
make himself exceptionally muscular, |
very often, alas. at the expense of his |
vitality; but, as we have said, 'cui |
bono? The game isn't worth the
candle. Sandow by the hardest kind |
OF labor has worked out his idea and |
ideal Of the strong man to weIlnigh |
perfection. But very ordinary looking
chaps are walking the streets of New
York to-day, pursuing their modest
yocations, who do not know what a
or barbell Is, but who. in
virtue of some inherent nervous force.
or whatever you like TO call it, could
make some of these so-called champion
strong men look like thirty cents in
rough house.
zone night, in the wee sma' hours,
saw quite sllm-looking chap toss
about, not one, but seven OF the finest.
all-powerful looking men that could be
got together. He handled them as IL
they were so many empty sacks OF
-four We are Seven had TO execute
a sort Of wedge-llke interference man
euvre before they could subdue this
unknown Samson. Truly the world
doesn't know its greatest men.
Now, what is the conclusion OF the
whole matter? Perfect health. endur-
ance and vitality, not brute strength.
And these must be worked for just as
hard as In getting muscularity. One Of
The greatest laws Of life is activity.
The wise for cure on exercise depend;
God never made His work for man to
mend
"In nature. nothing Is given; all Is
sold. The first wealth is good health
,wholeness. soundness), and 1t must be
worked for like material wealth.