STRONGEST MAN IN THE WORLD

Southland Times, Issue 23179, 21 April 1937, Page 14

STRONGEST MAN IN THE WORLD

A HERCULEAN TARTAR “Samson,” the biggest little man in the world, lives at Hendon, England, says a London journalist. And he is not only the biggest but the strongest.

His real name _s Alexandre Zass, aged 53, and he is a squat, smiling Russian with muscles like tree trunks. These muscles are not just ornamental. His enormous physical strength must be seen to be believed. Only sft 4in in height, and weighing 11 stone, he can: Lift a 6401 b girder with his teeth; Lift a motor-van on two wheels while six fully-grown men strive to keep their balance on the roof; Lift a platform with a score of people ° n ft; Lie on his back on rusty nails, while men hammer with mallets on a boulder placed on his chest; Allow a string of eight cars to pass over his body; and Carry a horse weighing 58 stone on his back.

This last feat dates back to the days when he didn’t know he possessed superhuman strength. “A Tartar by birth,” he explained to a representative of The People, recently, “I was a Cossack in the Russian cavalry. My horse—what a beautiful animal it was!—came from my father’s farm.

“It was fatally wounded during an attack on the Austrians. I was so grief-stricken that I astounded the whole camp by carrying the horse to the hospital station—a distance of 500 yards—on my back.” Samson picked up an iron bar, bent it casually, and threw it aside. “Yes,” he added, “and when they took me prisoner and put me in a Hungarian prison I escaped and joined a German circus at Budapest under an assumed name.

“My strength so impressed the proprietor that he billed as as ‘Samson, the Strong Man.’ For years I travelled all over Europe, performing in all the big cities; then Sir Oswald Stoll saw me and brought me to England.” Samson picked up an iron plate and tore it in two absentmindedly. Samson keeps up his strength by eating 15 eggs for breakfast; a pound, of steak for lunch.