The New York herald., 1921-01-24
GEORGIA. MAGNET
DEFIES THE GIANTS
Little Woman Makes All Eff
forts of Five Men to Lift
Her Vain.
GIVES CREDIT TO PRAYER
Or. Carleton Simon, However,
Says IT Is a Purely Physi-
cal Performance.

More years ago than any woman cares
to recall there was a little girl down in
Georgia who did things that made the
laws of physics look foolish. When 1t
30 pleased her. no man or rtinber OF men
could lift her, try as hard as they
pleased. They summoned a colored per-
son who had been known to pluck mule
out OF Georgia mud solely by strength
OF arms and legs, but when the black
giant struggled to raise the little girl
she simply took root and he quit the job
with some remarks about witchcraft.
Years later Sandow. whose very name
came 10 be q synonym for muscular
strength. matched his great bl.k against
the singular inertia Of this little girl.
nov grown to wonanhood. but he might
as we'll have tried to lift carload Of
bricks. He tried II twice. once In Lon
,!on and once here. about twenty years
ago Other strong men essayed the ap-
parently ridiculously simple feat Of rails
Ing a few inches from the floor slim
little woman weighing scarcely more
than 100 pounds. but she might have
weighed 10000 pounds for all their
gaaping efforts avai'ed.
n tho East ballroom of the Hotel
Asto- Yesterday afternoon Annie Abbott.
the Georgia Magnet demonstrated be-
fore q group OF physicians and news
paper men that she had lost nothing or
TIE 81 ange power or knack---call 1t what
one pleases--tliat first made her famous
IN Atlanta more than generation ago
,knt resisted the straining strength OF
s;andow and Of Piachette. the French
strong man, and that gained her celeb
rity on the vaudeville stage In the days
mic
smart and women wore leg-o'-mutton
sleeves. Whatever the secret of the
Georgia Magnet" may be. her success
In defying laws of gravitation and OF
physics or perhaps her knack of using
these very laws to defeat strong men.
has not been weakened by time. she
resisted the best efforts of five men OF
average strength to raise her from the
floor.
Power Preserved by Prayer.
Cards announcing that Miss Annie
Abbott requests the pleasure or your
presence at a demonstration of her con-
troll Of natural laws. her power of weight
resistance and of her unexplained
ability to increase or diminish the force
of gravitatio attracted small COM
pany of the curious to the Astor in the
middle Of the afternoon. These in
cluded newspaper reporters. few physi-
clans who had read interestedly about
little Johnny Coulon's amazing exhibi-
tions in Paris and others obviously con-
nected with the business side or vaude-
Vile They surveyed small, plump
woman Of rather indeterminate age very
affable and pleasant hammered ana OF no
more muscular power. so far as one
could Judge, than any other small, plump
woman.
Miss Abbott was adorned for the oc-
casion, wearing a Nile green evening
frock cut low and entirely exposing one
rounded shoulder; stockings and satin
slippers to match, and small nat ana
lifted veil of blue almost electric She
made the round of the company with
little bow and special smile, as one does
seeking friends, and then retired to one
side while her manager or representative
took the centre of the turkey red rug
which served as stage and told all
about her since she was 4 child Ia
Georgia mystifying the natives. That is.
he told ALL that he and the Georgia
Magnet profess to know. which is that
she enjoys mysterious power of weight
resistance and of nullifying gravity. a
power, she is persuaded. that Is pre-
served by prayer He compared her
achievements to those of Coulon, the
bantamweight champion, insisting that
Coulon seemed to defy would-be lifters
by touching a nerve centre or an ar
terry. as japanese do in jiu-jtsu tricks.
He asked all present TO note that the
Georgia Magnet attempted nothing Of
the sort, never doing more than laying
the tips of her fingers upon an opposing
shoulder or arm.
Five Failed to Lift Her.
Miss Abbott waved the tall man to
the sidelines and lifted light, straight
backed chair Holding 1t easily in front
of her, shoulder high, merely by press
ing the tips of her fingers against the
frame of the chair back, she invited any
man to drag the chair downward with
a straight, steady pull Two men tried
K vainly. pulling downward as hard as
they could. Then she lifted an or
binary billiard cue, holding 1t horizon
tally and straight in front of her at the
level of her shoulders, and asking two
men to grip ii and force It, In straight
line and without Jerking. to the right.
They did their best, but the cue, so
lightly held by the Georgia Magnet >
was not moved even part of an inch.
The third and most interesting exhibit
ton was the lifting test" which Miss
Abbott used in vaudeville for many
years and which, It was surmised yes
terday, she seeks TO reintroduce into the
varieties Standing easily. bent little
forward forearms pointing forward
horizontally at her waist level. she de-
fed any man or any number of men
up to FIVE to raise her from the rug.
Tho invitation was promptly accepted,
first by one, who failed: then by two,
who got nowhere; then by three. who
co4,d:1't Ike xsod; then by four, and
finally by five. Three of these were at
her back, all with the palms of their
hands lifting up against some part OF
her rigid, horizontally pointed forearm.