Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1909-01-08
King Richard of England ("Coeur de

King Richard Of England C"Coeur de
I.ion') had tremendous strength. Dur
ing his captivity in Germany he gave
terrible demonstration Of his physical
powers The son of one of the ward
ems was a youth locally renowned for
his muscular strength and in his as
surance invited the royal captive to an
exchange Of buffets. The young man
by a cast Of the dice won the right to
the first stroke and struck the king a
staggering blow on the side of the
mead. 1t was then the kings turn, and
ne landed a blow just behind his op-
ponents ear SO heavily that the man
was Instantly killed.
This incident is used in Sir Walter
Scott's famous historical novel Ivan
hoe" wnere King Richard, the BLACK
Knight" and the jolly outlaw Friar
Tuck have an exchange OF buffets,
without, however, any fatal results.
Dom Pedro l., emperor Of Brazil, Is
also on the list Of royal strong men.
On the occasion of a. carnival he ar
ranged matters so that he was stand
ing on the bow of the royal barge be-
tween two Of his stateliest courtiers.
Suddenly in the midst Of the festivities
the king reached out, grasped a court
ier with each hand, and, after holding
them for a few moments squirming In
the air and begging to be released, he
relaxed his grip and allowed them to
drop plump into the water, amid the
frantic applause Of the huge crowd
that had assembled to view their mon
arch. The king joined heartily in the
general hlarity, but what the drenched
courtiers thought about this exquisite
joke is not recorded.
Peter the Great Of Russia, like Char
lemagne, possessed great physical as
we'll as mental power. His years Of
work as blacksmith and ship carpen-
ter had so developed a naturally pow
erful physique that he was believed to
be the strongest man in Russia.
The story Is told that a certain
blacksmith in a little country town
had boasted that he was the only
blacksmith in the world who could
lift his own anvil. The emperor, hear
ing Of the blacksmith's boast, disguis-
ed himself as a workman and with a
single companion set out for the
blacksmith's village. On hearing Of
their errand, the blacksmith without
a word laid aside his tools and, grasp
ing the anvil with his brawny hands,
lifted it with great effort about foot
from the floor. Then Peter took hold
of the anvil, raised 1t a foot, two feet
three higher and higher, till he final
ly swung it to his shoulder and calm
ly walked away with it.
Charlemagne was said to be. the
most powerful man physically Of his
time. One Of his favorite feats Of
strength was to break the heaviest
horseshoe by gripping it with one hand.
A worthy successor of Peter the
Great was the late Car Alexander ILL.,,
who was one Of the strongest men in
the world. He was often called "the
Russian Sampson" The cars regular
visiting card was Russian coin some
what larger than our silver quarter,
which he would bend almost double
with his powerful fingers.
Alexander was also fond Of breaking
horseshoes, and 1t is said he never
found 0ne he could not break in two.
He could take two fresh packs Of cards
and by gripping the ends with his
hands tear them straight down through
the middle.
1t Is said that on one occasion wo-
man companion expressed a wish for a
bouquet holder in which to place
large bunch of roses. The czar took a
pewter tankard from a table nearby
and with few movements Of his pow
erful hands fashioned it into a rough
hut picturesque and quite efficient bou-
uuet holder.-W. R. G. Latson In New
York Tribune.