The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1907-07-14
SOME GIANTS OF OUR DAY
Many Foreign Abnormalities Over
Eight Feet High.
The TyrOI, Nova Scotia, China, Eng.
land, and America Furnish
Specimens.

/ Marie FassnaueT, a TyrOlese woman
/ towers TO the height OF eight feet. But
Marie, in spite of her many inches. is not
/ the most exalted lady who ever lived
| Just quarter of a century ago, says the
] ST. Louis Post-Dispatch the world gazed
with craned head and open mouth at a
still taller giantess who looked down on
her admirers from a height OF S feet
/ inches and who was said to be still
/ growing.
| Marian" as this remarkable maiden
/ was called, had been born only sixteen
/ years earlier in a village near the Thu
/ ringian Mountains, and the Amazon
| Princess was for some months the great
est attraction in the spectacle Of "Baba
and Bijou" at the Alhambra Theater-a
character in which she wore a wonderful
suit Of armOr and was crowned with a
towering headdress the topuost plume of
which was good ten feet from the
stage.
Nor was Marian distinguished only by
her great height; for she had a beauti-
fully proportioned figure, q distinctively
pretty face. and a most amiable DISPOSE
ton. This magnificent creature had a
very brief tenure Of life. for she died at
Berlin less than two years later and be-
fore she had seen her eighteenth birth
day.
In 1859 and 1870 Miss Anna H Swan, the
Nova Scotia giantess, caused considerable
sensation. Miss Swan seemed destined
from the cradle to be a woman Of alb
normal dimensions, for though her father,
a Scottish immigrant. was barely 3 feet
inches high, and her mother was half
foot shorter still, Miss Anna reached G
feet at the age of eleven, and at fifteen
was the tallest person in Nova Scotia.
For a time she was the chief attraction
Of Barnum's great show, and during this
period twice narrowly escaped death from
fire. She had. too, some histrionic ability,
as was proved when she appeared as
Lady Macbeth in New York, and before
going to England she made a triumphal
tour of the United States.
In her prime Miss Swan was but a few
inches short of eight feet, and she found
an appropriate husband in Capt Martin
Bates, the Kentucky giant, who was &C
tually two inches taller than herself.
Chang. the Chinese giant, who ended his
days at Bournemouth not many years
ing over eight feet in his socks, but he
used to declare that he had a sister at
home in China who could easily look over
his head. This remarkable lady was s feet
inches in height, and had hand with
span Of feet.
Robert Hales. the Norfolk giant, who
caused a great sensation in England about
half century ago, was a member Of a
very remarkable family, which included
some women of extraordinary stature
His father, a farmer. was feet inches
high. and although his mother was but a
paltry s feet It is said that she had an
ancestor in the sixteenth century who
stood inches over 8 feet.
OF the children OF this couple the four
sons averaged 6 feet inches, and five
daughters but 1-2 inches less. Robert, the
tallest member of the family was a little
over ~ feet high. and measured 81 inches
and 81 inches around the waist and chest.
respectively. while the tallest of the Sis
tiers. who died at twenty, was feet p
inches in height and of proportionate
build.