The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-05-18
AMAZING OF
''HUNGER STRIKERS"
Suffragettes Not Only Ones
to Refuse Food
From the London Tit-Bits.

From the London Tit-Bits
The famous fasting man, Signor Sacco, !
has made romantic addition to the many |
records he has established, for he has |
just been married after having completed
hunger strike Of AZ days at Kingston
on-Thames. What adds piquancy to the
romance of his latest fast is the fact tha
bis 1l-year-old bride sat beside his glass
cabinet for long periods during his volun-
tary abstinence from food. Put his latest
fasting feat was by no means his longest
Some six Yeas ago at Olympia lie
starved himself for 46 DAYS four hours,
and thus beat the record of 45 days two
, hours which he had set up at what was
then Hengler's circus, London. 1t is
noteworthy that during the former fast
sacco smoked 14oo cigarettes and con-
sumed $50 bottles of mineral water; while
during the latter fast he drank So bottles
of table water end smoked 952 cigarettes.
Lost 2S Pounds in 80 Days
SScco, who Is Hungarian by BIRTH
began tasting when the famous Giovanni
Succi, to whom he was secretary when
he made his great fasts, retired. Il
thought 1t was pity to let the business
fall through said Sacco once, 80 / de-
termined to do the fasting myself"
succi's 40 days fast in London in 1850
is still well remembered The temperature
of his apartment was high. and was
charged with moisture, both of which con-
uitions are favorable. 1t is we'll known
that owing to tie prevailing warmth and
moisture miners imprisoned in mines
sometimes live for long periods There
Il. q GO
round alive after having been buried in
coal mine for 25 days, during the first
ten OF which he was able to get little
water Succi took no exercise, EXCEPT
that involved in passing from his bed to
his chair Besides water (pure and min
eIaD, OF which he took about a pin,
daily. he swallowed a few drops of So
called elixir the composition Of which
Is unknown. 1t was said to be a drug sim
llar to morphine, and to have allayed
IN the stomach. At the beginning of the
iast Sucei weighed 126s pounds. His de-
crease in 80 days amounted to Is pounds.
A 63 Days Fast
IN 1880 Dr. Tanner of New York sue
ceeded In totally abstaining from all food,
aithough carefully watched, the whole
time. for 40 days, and gained almost
Worldwide notoriety by his feat
But this achievement was nothing COM
pared to that of an old French soldier
named jacques who tasted for 50 days at
one OF the music halls in New York. A
sui more wonderful feat of abstinence
than this was performed by a murderer
named Granie, at Toulouse, in France.
VINO determined to s.arve himself to
death In order to escape the Euillotine.
and from the day of his arrest he refused
to eat. In spite of every effort on the
part OF his wardens-who first tried
tempting him to eat by placing the most
dainty meals in his coll ou<1 49,.
that failed, attempting to feed him by
rorce-he held out for SO days, at the end
OF which time he died. This Is the longest
fast on record
1t Is a remarkable fact that there are so
many records of women who have tasted
oeIore the suffragette hunger strikes',
were dreamt of. Less than 20 years ago
an old lady Of 60. distressed by family
trouble. starved herself for 80 days. nav
ing during the whole time taken nothing
put cold water, with the exception OF
TWO teaspoonfuls of brandy on one oc
casion. More recently in London Dan
ish woman. Nine. Auguste Christensen.
successfully accomplished a 30 days' fast
Living on Nothing a Year
In 1868 1t was reported that a young
woman named Sarah Jacobs. living at
Lithernenadd, In Wales, had entirely
gwen up eating for some years back, and
to state ION his professional honor that
she had not partaken Of single grain
OF food Of any kind whatever for 16
years AS can readily be understood.
TINS statement, coming as it did from the
local clergyman. aroused the greatest ex-
ci'ement all over the kingdom. and the
pedicai men were deeply concerned about
It, In order to test the truth of the state
ment 1t was decided that nurses ana doc
tors from Guys hospital should go down
to Lithernenadd to examine and keen
close watch on this fasting wonder, and
SO on December 5, 1869. the watching be-
gan No one except the watchers and
meulcai men was, on any pretence what
ever, allowed to enter the room where
Sarah Jacobs was confined. while she was
not allowed to leave It,
Watching Sarah Jacobs
Day by day, from the second day after
me oss1nnang Of the test, the girl got
weaker and weaker and vtsibly thinner.