The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-03-14
A QUEER CONTEST.

We are constantly hearing and reading of contests of one kind or an- other. Contests or trials of strength speed, ndurance-anything about which two persons can differ. Some of them are queer propositions, but about the queerest within our knowl- edge was recently pulled of at St. Louis, where a cask of beer was the prize awarded to the man who could eat the greater quantity of limburger cheese at one sitting
 Now, as most of our readers must know, limburger has a taste and frag- rance peculiarly its own, and there are people who object to both. They say it not only smells to heaven" but tastes worse, and nothing but the pros pect of immediate starvation could in- duce them to taste it, and yet the win ner in the St. Louis contest. Joseph Uhl by name, actually slowed away four pounds of the stuff at one sit tins. IoW WIS lHal TUT sSHuiho Marathon achievement? It Is a great pity that the sporting editors or re- porters of the St. Louis papers were not present to witness every detail of, the great performance and write them up and illustrate them in the glowing style now so popular.
 No doubt it was worth seeing. "A limburger cheese eating contest" sug gests The Kansas City Journal, would ness with a spyglass. Unfortunately details are lacking as to the progress of the match, by rounds, or pounds, or whatever they cali them. We can only imagine what the thing was like. But any man who would bet against an en- try in cheese eating bout bearing the name of Uhl is mighty poor judge of possibilities, based upon past perform ances. It can be surmised that the limburger cheese belt is no dainty fllet that can be won lightly and by the ex- ercise of mere sporting generalship. The prowess necessary for a human being to consume four pounds of the fragrant fromage commands respect and applause. Perhaps Uhl was in great cheese eating form and was able and appropriate respect to the case of beer that was the prize and which en- shrines the most tender tradition of limburger."
 There are many details that would be interesting if we only had them. We ought to be told how 1t was known just what quantity each contestant put inside him. True, the referee, or um- pire, or whatever he was called might have weighed the stuff out in small quantities and thus ascertained how much was consumed, or he might have weighed them before and after eat ing" but perhaps that would not have been quite satisfactory. We would also be glad to know whether the eat CTS took something along with the cheese, or took 1t straight. If any thing went with it the feat Is even more surprising; but come to think of it, the average man would probably prefer something with 1t, even though 1t might be decayed eggs. And anoth- CT important item of information would be to learn how the winner looked af ter finishing the job.
 Another point about which we should be glad of information is how a man goes into training for such a contest as this. Does he start off by living ex- cluseively on limburger until he inn bibes a hankering for 1t, or is 1t the constant diet of some people who thus prepare their stomachs for the recep- tion of several pounds at a sitting? In fact, there are a number of details that would have made interesting read ing if they had been properly written up. But taking 1t as 1t stands it was a record breaker.