Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1907-08-01
HE HANGED HIMSELF.
Man Made His Living by Doing II
Over and Over


There died in Paris the other day
man whose life may be said to ex.
emplify perfectly all that may be
gained in life if man will but hang
to it. says the Boston Transcript
That is, it will exemplify this to the
persons of particular cast of
| thought. To others it may as perfectly
exemplify all that fails to the mere
| hanger-on.
LIE Pendu, as he came to be called
| his real name was Simeon Aiguier,
and he was born at Sollies Vile in
loo1-'le Pendu' made his living by
| hanging himself. He grew to be one
best known of music hall artists. I'm
like Fregoli, who initiates various
personages by sudden changes or
| clothes, | Pendu could in way
| transform his body and possessed the
most curious physical adaptibilities
ever known. When young man he
| surprised and puzzled the army doc
tors. AS he presented himself for
| physical examination he appeared as
thin, spare-ribbed fellow, almost
! skeleton, and before the examination
was over he stood in the presence OF
, the army .octor with an enormously
inflated abdomen, as if he had dropsy
While the physician was examining
this abnormal development the alb.
domen retreated and big, bloated
tumor suddenly grew on the young
mans throat, as if he had an immense
goitre. He had, apparently, in an in.
slant transferred the swelling from
the lower part of his body to his
| throat. When the examination was
over he stood there, a skeleton-like
young fellow as before
! His gifts in bodily transformation
soon became known all over his nat
i've district and he was induced to
show himself on the music hall stage
For long time he was known as the
skeleton man. though he also ex.
hibited himself as the fat man. His
physical transformations did not stop
/ here. He was able to initiate the
process of dying and death itself to
perfection. Scientists and the mem
j bers of various medical faculties often
wished to examine his strange facul
ties, but he constantly refused to d.
vulge the secret of his transform.
atoms When he initiated the state OF
dead person he threw himself in a
perfect coma. His heart apparently
ceased to beat, and the most expert
| physicians are said to have been I'M
| able to detect the slightest movement
of his pulse. lhey went so far as TO
| apply various instruments to detect
| life without success, an even through
| the stethoscope not the slightest act.
ion of the heart could be perceived.
/ The most expert doctors would have
declared him dead. and yet in the
next instant he would jump up and
I, crack jokes and be as much alive as
any one.
Ills last trick and one which kept
used to hang himself by the neck
with a cord. There was no mere make
believe about It. He would hang
| himself or allow himself to be hanged
! from nail in the ceiling in thN pres.
ence of large audience. The rope
would fasten around his throat; his
/ muscles would stiffen and the pub
lie would see him go through every
one of the phases of a man who was
actually hanged. The CHASTITY spectacle
was first exhibited In a barbaret In
Montmartre, and despite its horrors
or, rather, on account of them, it had
a great success. A story is told that
he once played the trick in hotel
where he was stopping. He hung him
self from the ceiling after ringing the
bell, and when the waiter entered he
was Mortified by the sight and rushed
down to inform the proprietor. Be
fore they returned to the room the
man who was supposed to have hang
ed himself had taken up his valise
and met them quietly on the stairs
! Although it might have been expected
that some day he would hang himself
in real earnest, such a calamity never
befell him.
| He died of most commonplace
disease, the grip. at his home near
Toulon. where he had retired, after
earning a considerable fortune on the
stage. He never divulged his secret Of
how he produced the extraordinary
| rightly of the muscles OF his neck
when he used to perform his feats of
hanging, and carried the mystery
with him to his grave. Doctors propos
ed to perform an autopsy on his body
to discover his secret, but his family
!, refused to allow Il