“THE IRON MAN”

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 54, 27 November 1928, Page 18

“THE IRON MAN”

HOLDING DOWN TWO AEROPLANES.

Slavko Barta, formerly an amateur boxer and wrestler of great strength, recently gave an unparalleled display of muscular force at the Vienna Aerodrome. Standing with his legs apart, Barta took hold of the mooring ropes of two aeroplanes, one an Austrian passenger ’plane, the other a German sport model, and held them to the ground, even when the engines were at full pressure. After a few minutes of this exertion he had to rest. The performance was then repeated, until exhaustion temporarily overcame him, and the doctors had to be called.

A brief halt was enough for Barta to recover, and the performance was resumed, this time the feat being the firing of a cartridge from a gun held between the teeth, first from the ground and then from horseback, bo great is the concentration necessary to bring off this dangerous task, says Barta, that he hardly notices the sound of the detonation. Since May, 1923, he has fired no fewer than 1410 cartridges in this way. Barta has already a considerable income from a champagne factory, an estate and a kinema in Zagreb. No one who did not possess, as he does, a heart and nerves of iron could endure the “steel massage" he has set himself, consisting of a vigorous daily hammering of the back of the head and chest with a solid iron rod. For two years the “iron man" has eaten no meat oi any kind, and taken no alcoholic drink. i-lis future engagements include an appearance In a foreign film and an American tour, for which he has been promised a fee of 60,000 dollars.