Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1907-09-20
SOME GIANTS OF OLD.
Noteworthy Specimens That Are Told
OF In History.

SOME GIANTS OF OLD.
Noteworthy Specimens That Are Told
Of In History.
II there is one thing In the show
business which can be depended on to
draw 1t is a 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 their abnormal
development proportional amount OF
strength. Thus 1t is probable that
had Goliath of Gath, whose height
theologicans place at over ten feet,
not been the strongest as we'll as the
biggest warrior among the Philis-
tines we should never have heard of
him. The same argument applies to
Moab, king Of the Amorites, and Og,
king of Bashan. Orestes, too, was
eleven and half feet high, according
to the Grecian legends, and he, to-
gether with Ajax the Greater, had
they not been gifted with strength I'm
proportion to their bulk would have
been only ordinary soldiers Of the
Grecian army before Troy.
When history begins, however
that is, when Rome began to reach
its highest point Of civilization In the
time Of Augustus and learned men be-
gan to write about the times they
lived In instead Of the times that had
gone by long before they were born
we get authentic records of giants. In
Augustus time, for instance. there
were, according to the authority OF
Valerius, two giants IN Rome who
were over ten feet high. Their names
were Idusis and Secundilla, and they
were keepers Of the gates Of the gar
dens of Sallust
Then again we have a record In
Pliny Of one Polydamus, the SON OF
Meas who was over nine feet high
and whose strength rivaled that Of
Hercules himself. Polydamus used,
In fact, to boast his superiority to that
Roman deity and perform his special
tricks. For example, he once slew a
lion with a blow Of his fist and scat
tered its brains about the arena. He
could with his hand stop the swiftest
chariot dead and on one occasion
seized bull by the hoof In order to
carry it away, but the animal strug-
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 he stayed and was final
ly crushed to death.
The Emperor vitellius sent to Da-
rius by way of present a Jew named
Eleazer, who was seven cubits high
that Is, reckoning the cubits at eight
cen inches, ten feet six inches-and
giant who Is mentioned by the histo-
rian Tacitus was over nine feet. His
name was Corbulo, and he lived In
Nero's time and was more than usu-
ally skilled general and soldier, be-
sides being an enormously strong
man.. An account OF the ancient
giants would be incomplete without
mentioning Maximinus, the imperial
giant Of the third century. The most
extraordinary stories are told OF this
emperor Of Rome. His height was
eight feet ten inches, he could draw
unaided loaded wagon which six
oxen could not move, while his appe-
tite was so great that his usual rations
for the day consisted Of forty pounds
of meat and a whole amphora OF wine,
besides bread and dried and fresh
fruits.
Mediaeval giants are plentiful but
strange to say, the records OF them
are not so authentic as those OF the
times Of the emperors. Funnian,
Scottish giant who fiourished in 1927,
seems to be the most authentic OF
these, but as he is put down as being
over eleven feet high the statement
should not be criticised too closely.
Still more startling, however, is the
following, which is vouched for by
monastery full or monks: In 1903
some workmen. digging near Rouen,
came across a cave in which were
some human bones and a copper
plate, bearing the words, Here lie
the remains of the great and mighty
Chevalier Ricon de Vallemont." The
skull was large enough to have held
bushel Of wheat and the shinbone
was over four feet long. 1t (the bone)
was preserved by the above mentioned
monks, and 1t was estimated that the
height Of the defunct knight must
have exceeded eighteen feet. A
stranger, though somewhat sim!laple-
gend, comes from Ireland, but In this
case the discoverers thought that they
would, to use an expression popular
some years ago, go "the whole hog or
none" 1t happened in 1908. Some
men were digging in Ireland when
they came across the brick tomb
which contained a human skeleton no.
less than 120 feet long. But there is
"raison d'etre" for all these legends.
According to q German professor,
these bones, which were supposed by
ignorant persons to be those Of human
beings, were probably those Of masto-
dons or some other fossilized remains.
which to those Of the uninitiated
would look exactly like those Of a
man.-London Standard.
Willy Arab Of Tripoli.
Down the street the faint intermit-
tent tinkling Of bell was heard.