The New York herald., 1922-12-04
GEORGE AUGER, GIANT
/. OF CIRCUS, IS BURIED
Coffin 8 Feet 6 Inches Long
Handled With Block
and Tackle.
DIED IN SMALL FLAT
Strange People of the Side
Show Principal Mourni
ers at Funeral.
HAD SAVED MUCH MONEY
Mighty Stature an Asset in
the Movies as Well as I'm
der Canvas.

"The good Lord got me into the
world said George Anger to his
friends Lew Graham and Bill Con-
way one day last spring in the Hall of
the Strange People when the circus
was at Madison Square Garden. but
it's going to be hard job for human
beings to get me out of it,
And that was true. Reasons for
which neither the giant nor anybody
else could have been held responsible
made his funeral yesterday strange
and difficult problem. The houses that
ordinary men live in, the rooms they
inhebit and the stairways they trav-
erse In life and are carried through in
death are not made for Titans. George
Anger dying of acute indigestion
on Thanksgiving night, weighed $50
pounds and stood feet and IL inches
In his socks. His funeral was held
in the apartment of Albert Morrisey
at 164 Manhattan avenue. near 10Sth
street. where George lived while In
this city, a small fiat of small rooms
and narrow hallway.
"Strange People" the Mourners.
Alderman Thomas O'Rei'ly. the under
taker. after finding coffin eight feet
six inches long. three feet wide and two
feet deep, raised It from the street and
slung II through front window OF the
apartment on the second floor of the
r.. Ia " All rV
yesterday afternoon when dozens of
friends who greatly appreciated the
giants amiable qualities gathered to pay
their respects to the dead. The great
coffin was almost buried among flow
ers. At the head seven tapers burned.
From the middle of the morning until
time for the funeral service. conducted
ty the Elks. the apartment was solidly
jammed with men and women who had
known George Anger professionally or
privately and who wept for him as men
of ordinary inches are wept for when
they go out of the world after leading
honest. respectable and considerate
xives.
vsmong these were a small group of
the Strange People, as those with whom
Nature has dealt curiously and not al
ways kindly, prefer to be called. There
were Lentini. who has three legs.
though one would scarce have suspected
1t yesterday. so deftly was the fact con-
cealed: Carrie Holt, the fat girl. whose
weight Is upward OF 900 pounds, and
the midgets. Mr.. and Mrs Joe Short.
Addie Frank and Ernest Rommell. any
one of whom George Anger could have
lost inside the towering Spanish SOM
brero he habitually wore. There were,
too, Lew Graham. ringmaster for the
Ringing Bros. and Barnum & Bailey
Circus. with which Anger appeared for
years. and OF which he was truly an in
stitution; William j. Conway of the
circus staff. and Mr.. and Mrs. Fred
warrall. the former of the Ringing or
ganization also.
Block and Tackle Used.
When the service was finished, the
undertaken. having secured block and
tackle rigging to the roof of the apart
nent house. fastened the guy ropes to
broad straps buckled around the vast
coffin. Slowly and with infinite care
the whole weight of nearly 500 pounds
was lifted. turned endwise. slid through
the window. swung in the air above the
sidewalk and then gently lowered TO
support II. Immediately II was lifted
by twelve men and carried TO the hearse
into which II barely could be placed
Probably 1000 persons massed In Man
haitian avenue in the drizzling rain
watched all this with absorption. while
every window OF the block OF apartment
houses across the way framed intent
spectators All OF this required only a
few minutes and before o'clock the
remains of George Anger. giant. were
on their way to Holly Grove Cemetery.
II is said by circus folk who knew him
well that he left considerable property,
Including farm near Bridgeport, Conn.
He was thrifty soul. well knowing the
value of a dollar. and dislking to be
out of employment In the circus sea-
son OF six months he received n salary
OF s125 a week. and In addition to this
earned from SIS to $40 n day selling
souvenirs from his platform IN the Hall
of the Strange People. In the off
months OF the circus business he took
other employment. frequently in the
movies. and was about to go 60 Cali
fornia to work with Harold Lloyd IN
comedies when death took him.
Lew Graham. who has known many
kinds of Strange People and many
giants. too said last evening that
George Auger was in many respects the
most intelligent giant he had ever come
IN contact with: the most intelligent
and the most llkable.