The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-06-24
From the Los Angeles Herald.

| last to obtain relief. What they say about the merits of going without food for days at time would make attrac- tive and high-priced reading for q doc tors cure-all testimonial book.
 Dr. Tanner brought the fasting fad to i California. This was several years ago when little was known of the subject and 10 days was commonly supposed to be the limit of mans endurance without food. Now, however, fasting Is no longer considered a fad by many Angelenos, but is taken as a natural way to combat and cure disease.
 The first members of Los Angeles fast | ing colony were Perry Bashore and David l Overholtzer Covina ranchers. Bashore | went for 30 days and Overhotzer s days on a diet of pure ranch water. Bashore | had liver troubles and was fat; Over holtzer had heart trouble. Bashore lost an average of about a pound a day, drop | ping from 145 to 1171a pounds, while Over | holtzer went from a bulk of PIT pounds | to mere shadow of 170. About the most discomfiting thing to him was that he had to buy himself a new wardrobe when he gave up water as the life elixir and took to meat and potatoes again.
 Lost Fifty Pounds
 Guy Parkinson of SAP Pacific avenue Long Beach. joined the colony soon af- terward. Parkinson took up 10 inches in l his waistband and wasted away 51 pounds of perfectly good avoirdupois in 1 a fast of 41 days, weighing 1S5 at the finish Parkinson is a house mover l He kept at his work during the en- tire Al days, taking his meal time off l with the rest of the force and imbib- ing large draughts of pure crystal wa ter. In spite of the lack of succulent victuals to which he had been accus- l toned he showed no diminution in strength.
 Mrs. Lillian Hoag. 721 Crocker street l this city. held the record for a short time with a fast of 49 days, which she broke by eating a cantaloupe. Mrs. | Foag got up at 4:30 o'clock every ncrning and prepared the family break fast. The most tantalizing thing, she said, was that she was compelled to smell the food which she prepared | for others. For the first 10 days she grew dizzy and at times very hungry, | she declares, but later on she felt no i'll effects and was strong till the last Mrs. Hoag said the fast cured her of ailments from which she had suffered for years.
 Mrs M. F.. Cummings of PAS Elm avenue, Long Beach, broke a 42-days' | fast because "she was tired of tasting nothing but water" She took the fast for a standing ailment, lost 30 pounds. and walked a block for the first time in year.
 Mrs A. Albertson, another Long Reach woman, lasted 42 days but took | three teaspoonfuls of orange juice daily for the first three weeks. Her favorite form of diet during the two score and two days was distilled water.
 A 40-day fast was taken by W. W. | Whitehead of Ellendale. He lost a pound and a half of flesh day.
 J. F. Hardinger and J. W. Walter, both of the Argyle hotel, Second and Olive street, this city, recently com pleted lasts of 43 days. They lasted simultaneously and each lost about 30 pounds.
 Climbed Mountain to Show Strength 1 Another remarkable case of fasting by an Angeleno was the experience of E. H. Fillmore of Thirty first street He lasted 43 days and on the fortieth day | climbed Mount Wilson to the snow capped peak to convince doubting friends that he had lost none of his | strength or Vigor.
 | R. A. Rowan, the well known real estate dealer, not long ago took a 9o- day fast to reduce his flesh. He lost about 40 pounds and declared at the end of the fast that he felt better than ever before.
 Dr. I. w. Ewing of 957 Loma Vista | drive had a peculiar experience while fasting Dr. Ewing says he had been | in delicate health since an attack of | mea ses in childhood. When the fast was well under way the measles broke | out again, and he went through a genu- inc case of the disease In the opinion of pr. Ewing, the measles germ had re- mained in his system for many years, undermining his health. until they were driven out by the prolonged abstinence fro food. Mrs. Ewing took the fast with her husband
 | Mrs. A. H. Wiseman of this city now holds the worlds record with a fast of 54 days to her credit. She weighed 2S0 pounds at the outset of the fast but | a diet of aqua pura reduced this to 226. Many other Angelenos have taken lasts of shorter duration, ranging from 10 to 3 days.
 "It used to be considered an impossi- be thing for human being to go more than 10 days without food" said pr. Tanner but all such foolish notions were upset when the camel of Chl- cago circus starved out the lockJaW. "The circus people gave up the ami nal for lost. There was nothing to do but let him die, but the doctors de- cided to watch the case. To their sur prise the camel continued to live 1 though not a drop of food or water | could pass his tightly locked jaws. On | | faxed of themselves and forthwith the camel began to make up for lost time.
 Nation of Gluttons
 My first fast was made shortly after this in Minneapolis. My assertions were so flouted that went to New York and put myself in the hands of committee of doctors to watch me. For IA days I went without water even, but l lasted 40 days and broke the fast with a fine. | luscious peach.
 "The trouble with Americans today is that they eat too much. We're a nation of gluttons We overload our stomachs so we can't digest the food and 1t gem crates poison in our systems that robs us of energy and kills us off.
 Two meals are enough for any man or woman. One meal for people who do no physical work Is sufficient. Mental workers do not require the same amount of food that Is necessary for laborers Fasting eliminates the poisons and makes a man clean.
 Also 1t keeps him young Look al