Clarke courier. [volume] (Berryville, Va.) 1869-1997, 1906-11-28
SOME GIANTS OF OLD
NOTEWORTHY SPECIMENS THAT ARE
TOLD OF m HISTORY.

E~oskaeos ctrengh OF foEyda-
mus' Who Rivaied Hercule.-Feat.
OF MsSininus, the Ism 1srtaI Giant
OF the Third Century
If there Is one thing In the show
business which can be depended on to
uraw IT Is giant. provided always
That he be big enough.
But giants existed long before this
profitable business was Invented. and
the names OF many Of them have been
handed down TO posterity simply be-
cause they were OF huge proportions
and combined with thels abnormal de-
Veiopment a proportional amount OF
strength. Thus IL Is probable that had
Soilath or Gath. whose height the
oiogians place at over ten feet not
oeen the strongest as well as the big
gest warrior among the PhIllstines we
should never have heard OF him. The
same argument applies to Moab. king
OF the Amorites. and Og. king OF Ba-
shan- Orestes. too. was eleven and a
half feet high. according TO the GrecIan
legends. and he, together with Ajax
the Greater. had they not been gifted
with strength In proportion 10 their
bulk would have been only ordinary
soldiers OF the Grecian army before
Troy.
when history begins. however-that
l., when Rome began to reach its high.
est point OF civilization I'm the time OF
Augustus and learned men began to
write about the times they lived in in
stead OF the times that had gone by
long before they We're born-we get
authentic records Of giants. In An
SuStus time. for instance. there were
according TO the authority of Valerius
two giants In Rome who were over ten
tcet high Their names were Idusis
ana SecunGilla. and they were keeDers
OF the Gates OF the gardens or Sallust
men again we have record in
fhny OF one PolydamuS. the soD Of
Meas. who was over nine feet high
and whose strength rivaled thar 81
hercules himself. Poydamus used. I'm
tact to boast his superiority 20 that
Roman deity and perform his special
tricks. For example he once slew n
Hon with blow Of his fist and scat.
tered its brains al Out the arena. re
could with his hand stop the swifteet
chariot dead and on one occasion
seized bull by She h0of I'm order to
carry II away. but the animal strur.
gled so violently that the hoof was left
in his hand. In the end he was killed
by the falling in Of cave. When his
companions noticed that the roof was
falling they left. but Polydamus was
so vain about his strength that he
thought he could not be killed. SO ho
stayed and was finally crushed TO
death.
The Emperor NitellluS seft to Darius
10y way OF a present Jew named
Eleazer. who was seven cubits high
that Is. reckoning the crbits at eight
cen inches. ten feet six inches-and a
giant who "a mentioned by the his
torian Tacitus was over nine feet His
name was Corbulo. AMI he lived In
Nero's time and was more than usu-
ally skillful general and soldier. be-
sides being IN enormously strong man.
Au account OF the ancient giants
would be incomplete without mention
ing Maximinus. the imperial giant Of
the third century. The most extraor-
OF Rome. His height was eight feet
ten inches, he could draw unaided a
loaded wagon which six oxen could
not move. while his appetite was so
great that his usual rations for the
day consisted OF forty pounds OF meat
and whole amphOra OF wine. besides
bread and dried and fresh fruits.
Medieval giants are plentiful. but.
strange TO say, the records OF them are
not so authentic as those Of the times
of the cmperors. Funnian. n Scottish
giant who fourlshed In 1927, seems 10
be the most authentic OF these. but as
e is put down as being over eleven
feet high the statement should not be
criticised too closely still more star
Ting. however is the following. which
is vouched for by n monastery full Of
monks: In 1909 some workmen. dig
ging near Rouen, came across n cave
In which were some human bones and
copper plate. bearing the words,
Here lie the remains OF the great and
mighty Chevalier RicOn dc Nallemont."
The skull was large enough to have
held 4 buShel Of wheat and the shin
bone was over four feet long. Ii (the
bone) was preserved by the above men.
toned monks. and II was estimated
that the height OF the defunct knight
must have exceeded eighteen feet. \
stranger though somewhat similar
legend comes from Ireland, but in this
case the discoveries thought that they
would. TO use IN expression popular
SOME years ago. so the whole hog or
none" Ii happened in zoos. Some men
were digging in Ireland when they
came across brick tomb which con
tanned human skeleton no less than
100 feet long. But there Is a "raison
detrc" for all these legends. Accord
ing TO n German professor. these bones,
which were supposed by Ignorant per.
sons to be those of human beings, were
probably those OF maStodons or some
other foSsilized remains which to the
uninitiated would look exactly like
those Of n man.-LOndon Standard.
An AmiabIe Duel.
There was Il duel in Edinburgh re-
Gently between two Italians over n girl
with whom both were Smitten. 1t took