Ashland tidings. [volume] (Ashland, Or.) 1876-1919, 1913-01-30
Missouri Giantess Dead.

40 years. Her height was S feet and
4 inches. In a sketch of her life the
Kansas City Times says:
The extraordinary part of Miss
Ewing's unusual growth was from
the time she was Z years old until
she was 10. At the former age she
was a normal little girl. Soon after
/ her seventh birthday anniversary she
I began to grow rapidly, and when 10
/ years old she measured feet 8
inches. She still had the tastes of
a child of her age and her life be-
came miserable. She was denied
the pleasures of games other chill
dren played, because her presence
robbed the games of their Zest while
the other children stared at her.
She became the butt of their
thoughtless jests, and being timid,
their gibes brought her to tears and
drove her away from associates of
her own age.
At school desks and seats of great
size were constructed for her, and
an exceptionally long bed for her
was necessary. She was forced to
stoop on entering ordinary doors,
and the home in which her father
and mother were comfortable was
like a cage to her. The care of the
young giantess became a burden to
her father, who was a man of mea-
ger means.
But a visit to the county fair
solved the financial problem. While
she went about the fairg rounds in
ecstacies at the wonders she saw
prize stock, giant vegetables and the
mysteries described by the side-show
spielers-she herself was the chief
attraction to the others, who fol-
lowed her about, staring at her in
wonderment. A museum manager
approached her father with an offer
OF a good salary for her as mu-
scum attraction. 1t was arranged
that her mother should accompany
her, and she accepted the offer.
Being heralded as a freak stung
her sensitive feelings at first, but
she eventually learned to look upon
her extreme size philosophically
That attitude was made more easy
by the big receipts.
Subsequently she entered a con-
tract with P. T. Barnum and for
several years was an attraction of
the big circus, travelling over Europe
and America. The dream of her
girlhood, to own q home where she
would be comfortable, at last was
realized. In her travels she never
had been comfortable. Beds and
berths We're too short, tables and
doors and ceilings too low. She
couldn't find comfortable chairs.
Life for her was a succession of
makeshifts. She saved her salary
received from Barnum and after ac-
cumulating what she believed to be
sufficient to last her, she left the
show business and built home near
Gorin. The doors to this house were
10 feet tall. The ceilings were 15
feet, The beds are as long as she
chose. Her bathtub was feet long,
and specially made hammock on
her veranda- was IS feet long.
Clothes closets are the size of ordi-
nary bedrooms and her dining table
is 4 y feet high.
popularity OF Miss Ewing's
growth was that above the waist line
she remained almost normal, except
that her arms grew in proportion to
the growth of her legs. Her feet
required specially made shoes, No.
"a, and she wore No. "a gloves.
Thirty yards of goods were required
to make dress for her.
After building a home to her
measure, the giantess again became
a show attraction, but travelled only
in states near her home. She never
married. At one time she was en-
gagged to Edward Beaupre, French
Canadian, of Butte, Mont, himself
two inches taller than his fiancee,
but the engagement was broken off.
Another romance of Miss Ewing's
life involved Louis wilkins of Enid,
Okla. who measured s feet 2 inches
in height. He was a suitor for her
hand years ago Both had just then
signed contracts with the Barnum
show.
wilkins suit was unsuccessful
He quit the show business in. Amer
lea and spent years following Miss
Ewing's refusal in Germany and
Austria. He returned several times
to visit his parents, and always on
those trips brought some gift for
Miss Ewing. Wilkins died about six
years ago in Chicago.