EUGENE SANDOW. THE STRONGEST MAN IN THE WORLD.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6467, 22 April 1899, Page 1

EUGENE SANDOW. THE STRONGEST MAN IN THE WORLD.

{Tit-Bi-.5.) Of all tlie splendidly developed specimens of humanity, and the men gifted witJTexceeding strength whose names are known to the public, Mr Eugene Sandow is undoubtedly the man with whose name most people are familia,r. Born in 1867, in the town of Konigsbcrg, he is just over thirty-one years of age. Strong as he is to-day, he gave no indications of Ills remarkable development in his youth. Until he was ten years of age, ha was so delicate a cliild, that on more than on# occasion his parents feared tliat they would not bo able to rear him, while until lie was seventeen he was a delicate youth, pale, without energy, and weak. In his early teens he used to frequently visit t-lie art galleries, and was struck with the sculptures showing wondeiful muscular developments, which he could not help contrasting ■with liis own slight frame.As other boys are fascinated by the prowess of their schoolfellows and of the strong men they meet, young Sandow desired to emulate the dedevelopment of the inanimate marble. His fattier wanted him to be a priest. He had no vocation for that calling, however, for his tastes ran towards a freer life. Art fascinated him, but his first desire was not to devolop beautiful things on canvas or in marble, but to develop himself into a liguro beautiful enougli to compare with these which enchained his young attention. Tn order to learn how to develop his body, he came to the conclusion that the best thing to do was to learn about his body. Thevefore'he began the study of anatomy, which he pursued diligently in the schools, dissecting bodies in just the same way as if he were going in for the study of medicine. His preliminary education in tliis direction began, in Gottingen, and was finished in Brussels, where, indeed, he passed an examination qualifying him as a " doctor of anatomy," and : permitting him to treat all muscular troubles. During this time, however, he was constantly exercising himself, gaining health and strength, and some little prestige by an occasional performance as an amateur wrestler fuid athlete. When he ■ was twenty-one, he was very strong indeed. About this tima the death of a relative took him to Venice, where he made the acquaintance of Mr Aubrey Hunt, the artist. SAMSON AND CYCLOPS were the two strong men who were then attracting all London with their feats of strength at the Aquarium. Samson offered a prize of £100 to anyone who could perform the feats of his pupil Cyclops, and £1000 to anyone who could beat his own. Mr Hunt related the fact to his young Herculean friend, and, haying seen" some of his feats of strength, suggested that lie should try for the prize. They had arranged to come to London in the course of a few weeks. "Yes," said Sandow, when Mr Hunt had finished, "I "will go. We will start to-day." They started that day. In due course they arrived in London. It was six o'clock in the evening. Sandow went off and got a friend to act as interpreter. That night he appeared at the Aquarium, and accepted the challenge. People laughed when he went on the stage. His ordinary evening dress concealed his extraordinary muscular development. When he took off his coat and waistcoat, however, the laugh changed to, wonder. That same night Cyclops was defeated, and the £100 was won. Then Samson was challenged, and on Nov. 2, 1889, in the presence of the greatest crowd which that building had ever seen, and with the Marquis of Queensberry and Lord de Clifford as judges, Sandow defeated Samson, although it may be remarked in passing that he never got the £1000 which accompanied the challenge. That incident determined his career. The managers of all the chief places of amusement wanted to engage him, and as he desired in the first place to travel, and thought that by building up a reputation for himself he would be better able to carry out the scheme he had long fostered in his mind of inducing others to go, in for physical culture merely as a means of getting health, he accepted one of the offers. It was £150 a week for a period of six months. He has been filling engagements ever since, bufc now he intends to withdraw from public life to devote himself to j SUPERVISING HIS SCHOOLS. '' j The fact that, like so many other extraordinarily developed men, he does not appear excessively big in ordinary clothes, hos led to not a few curious incidents. One of these happened in Paris. He and a friend were supping in a public room «ne night, and their laughter and conversation in German made a party of Frenchmen angiy. After having made several rude remarks at them, which were unnoticed, one of the Frenchmen went up to Sandow and said, «"I hare had enough of your laughing. If you don't stop, I will make you." * The consciousness of his almost superhuman 'strength has always made Sandow, as it has made other strong men, exceedingly gentle and good-natured, and undesirous of getting into anything like a physical encounter. He therefore suggested that the young man should go away. This only angered him the more, and he slapped Sandow's face. Still Sandow refused to retaliate. The Frenchman struck him a second blow. His friend jumped forward to take Sandow's part, but the latter heH him back. A third time the Frenchman struck Sandow ; this time a blow on the nose which brought the blood in streams. Sandow rose quietly from his place, walked over to the young man, picked him up, knocked his knees and head together, and bangec l . him down in the centre of "the table, wuich broke with the force of Ms 'blow. Then he sat down, lighted a ciwar, and began to smoke, to the amazement of°the young men. A policeman was fetched, and Sandow was taken to the police station, but some of the friends of the man who was hu rfc attested to the fact that he had not been to blame, and he was let out on bail. The young man was unconscious for a, day and a half, but' recovered entirely, ondisnow yUK'OI" F----r'S GREATEST FRIENDS. Sandow is probably the only man living who has ever had a fight with a lion and curvived to tell the tale. The beast weighed 5301 b and only a week before he tackled it, bad killed, its keeper. When he was in San Francisco a fight had been advertised between a bear and a lion, but the authorities would not allow it to come off. Sandow thought he would like to test his strength against that of the monarch of the forest, and > the authorities did not interfere to prevent this fight, it took place. As cruelly s { O rbiddon, the man could not be ann&d with * dagger to equal the claws and teeth of the brute. It was therefore decided ihat mittens should be put over the beast's feet, and h* s inou^h should be muzzled, so that • t --Blight be a case of strength against strength- After a great doal of trouble, and come hours' work, the lion was muzzled and its fe«* covered. Sandow entered the cage "japped to the waist. The tussle- began. The \ lion, sprang at him— Sandow dodged •md the brute missed. Before it could recover, Sandow picked it up hi his arms and .j^' it heavily on to the ground. Again t he lion rushed. Again the man dodged. Again the man picked the hj-go brute up

in his arms, and thus chest to chest, with the lion's forepaws over his shoulders, the struggle began. In spite of the mittens over its feet, the brute's claws tore through Sandow's tights and lacerated his skin. The third round finished the fight. Sandow allowed the lion to jump on his back, and gripping the brute's neck in his hands, he flung the beast over his head on to the ground. Human intelligence and human strength were, in this particular instance, too much for the strength of the beast, a single blow of whose tail liaa knocked the life out of a man. While these feats give an idea of the physical strength of the whole of his body, the following show how strong are Sis hands and arms. He can take an oak board, 3iin thick, 12 wide, and about sft long, fix it in a vice to hold it firmly at the top and bottom, and with a straight blow witli his left fist, striking fairly in the middle of the board, he breaks aholo right through it. Another example of strength and remarkable quickness is shown when he takes a board 2in thick, 2ft long, and lft wide, and, throwing it up in the air, hits at and breaks it in two as it falls. Such strength as this is, in all probability, not within the capacity of every man, for no one can develop beyond a certain amount, but, according to Sandow's own statement, every man can become strong if he goes the right way about it. That way, indeed, is by exercising every individual muscle of the body under the direction and control of the brain. Concentration of tho mind on the muscles is necessary for their proper development, as concentration of the mind is necessary the proper performance of every operation in life. THE CHARM OP THE SYSTEM "• which Sandow discovered for himself, and which he is now engaged in teaching at his schools in London and in different parts of the country, is its absolute simplicity, and the very gradual way in which it is carried out. There is no violence to throw a strain on tho heart, and, therefore, the weakest are not debarred from acquiring strength, and, with strength, increased health and all the attendant good that comes in its train. It also makes the nervous system stronger, gives alertness to tho brain, and increases the power of .action of all the internal organs.

After every performance Sondow jumps into a bath of cold water, and if the weather is very hot he even goes so far as to put ice in it. Well rubbing down with a coarse towel which is so frequently recommended is", however, one of the things which he does not advocate, for he himself invariably gets into his clothes while his body ' is wet, his circulation being so splendid that he can do this without any ili-effects whatever. People who are not in thorough training should not try it, however, or they may feel uncomfortable and ill in consequence of their rashness.

Mr Sandow's measurements are so remarkable, that this article cannot be brought to a conclusion without stating them. They are as follows:— Weight, 14st 61b; height, sft 9iin; neck, 18in; chest, 48in ; chest expanded, 62in ; waist, 30in; hips, 42in; thigh, 26in; knee, 14in ; aalf , 161n ; ankle, B£in ; upper arm, 19£ i n; forearm, 17in ; wrist, 7J^in. Strong as he is, liis strength is increasing. Among his feats he can support a bridge weighing 8001 b on his chest, over which two people drive a horse and chariot, making a weight of about 32001 b passing over his body. He expects to get still stronger before he has finished, for ho believes that the strength of the individual ought to increase until he is fortyfive.