The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-06-30
MODERN GIANTS.
Men and Women TIT We're More hi
Eight Feet In Height.

Men and Women Who Were More Than
Eight Feet In Height.
MarieF assnauer aTyrolese 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 a quarter
of a century ago, says tine st. Louis Past
Dispatch, the world gaaed with craned
head and open mouth at a still taller gia ntess
who looked down on her admirers from a
height of eight feet two 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 Thuringian
Mountains, and the Amazon Princess
was for some months the greatest attrac-
ton in the spectacle Of "Babil and Bijou"
at the Alhambra THEATRE character in
which she wore a wonderful suit of armor
and was crowned with a towering head
dress. the topmost plume Of which was a
good ten feet from the stage.
Nor was Marian distinguished only by
her great height; for she had a beautifully
propo:tioned figure, a distipctively pretty
face and q most amiable disposition. This
magnificent creature had a very brief
tenure OF life. for she died at Berlin less
thar two years later and before she had
seen her eighteenth birthday.
In 1859 and 1870 Miss Anna H. Swan,
the Nova Scotia giantess, caused oon-
siderable sensation. Miss Swan seemed
destined from the cradle to be a woman
Of abnormal dimensions, for though her
father, a Scottish immigrant, was barely
five feet six inches high and her mother
was half a foot shorter still, Miss Anna
reached six feet at the age Of II, and at
Is was the tallest person in Nova Scotia.
For q 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 actu-
ally two inches taller than herself.
Chang the Chinese giant who ended
his days at bournemouth not many years
ago., was a man OF enormous size, standing
over eight feet in his socks, but he uEed
to declare that he had a sister at home in
China who could easily look over his head.
This remarkable lady was eight feet four
inches in height and had a hand with a
span Of two feet.
Robert Hales. the Norfolk giant who
caused a great sensation in England about
half a century ago. was a membe OF a
very remarkable family, which included
some women of extraordinary stature.
His father, a farmer. was six feet six inches
high. and although his mother Was but
a paltry six feet It is said that she had an
ancestor In the sixteenth century who stood
four inches over eight feet.
OF the children Of this couple the four
sons averaged six feet FIVE inches. and
Ave daughters but one and one-half inch
less. robert, the tallest member Of the
family, was a little over seven Inc one-haif
feet high, and measured sixty-four inches
and sixty-two inches around tho waist and
chest, respectively, while the tsllest of the
inches in height and Of proportionate
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