A " STRONGER THAN SAMSON."

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XIX, Issue 32, 8 May 1891, Page 11

A " STRONGER THAN SAMSON."

(From the Pall Mall Gazette.)

The"E is a yotrag fe'lowin rqnada who i« pa*r Verily claimed ovef there as the strongest man in the world He is a French-Canadian, Loui<= Cyr by nam", and wis born it the little t>wn of St. Jean, tweny miles south of Montreil. Though only twenty-s^y. n years old, a nd lacking an ioch and a ha f of the six fpet in stature, he already weighs 22at., 101 b. He is described as looking more lik- "the fat man " than " the strong man " of a sh>w ; but nis mus^e is anvthiug but sft aud yielding to the touch. Tbe great mnn's hair is \e low and curly, and be wears it lontr — Got, he explains, because the c>. Samson kept his strength that way, but because " it is attractive whil exhibiting." At other times, by a liberal use of hair-pins, the golden locks are put up in a neat knot under his hat.

The lifting of heavy weights is the forte of the strong Canadian, and his la-<t and biggest lift was 3 993 pounds, or within seven pounds of what they call two " short tons " over the water. When interviewed the other day, he said :—: —

"My first lift was in this way, There was a load of bricks — over a to.i, I guess— stuck in a hole in tbe road, and the horse couldn't pull it out. I was only seventeen, but was a big fellow, weighed 240 pounds (17st. 21b.), and I got underneath the cart and lifted it off the ground nd got it ont. Then I tried to see what I could do, and have never had any difficulty in lifting 2,500 pounds since then."

If Cyr isnot imported by the English showmen, surely he will be by the teetotallers.

" For two years,'' he sayo, " I have abstained from liquor and tobacco ; before that I usei to take them regularly. lam three times better off since then. I gained in strength enough to lift 700 pounds more in these two years. Liquor is a bid habit, anyway. Tobacco, too much of it, is bad. lam three times better rff since I gave them both up. I eat five or six pounds of meat a day— eat as much ? s three woodchoppers. It would make you hungry, perhaps, to see me at dinner. They charge me double board ; never mind, I pay it."

Louis says he never stops gaining in strength ; he naively adds " I guess I was born that way." And here heredity comes in. "My mother," he says, " was very strong. She could always carry a barrel of flour upstairs to the second flat. bhe weighed 265 pounds. My father weighed 220, but could not lift more than other men. None of my brothers are stronger than other men."

" What is the record for lilting ?—"? — " Well, you know, I lift everything without a harness ; that is just with my ban Is, and not with a f-trap slung over my bark. The record for lifting with Harness is 3 239 p unds, made by W. B. Curtis, of New York, in 1862. You see 1 got ahead of chat even without harness, ard I guess IT lift 4 500 before I'm through. I have lifted 535 pounds with my forefinger, and have put a barrell of cement — over 300 pounds — on my shoulder with one hand."

Just after this interview Louis Cyr was presented with a magnificent championship belt, by his appreciative fellow citizens of Moutreal, at a great meeting in the Queen's Hall.