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A Modern Sampson.

Thebe has been exhibited in New York a strong man, whose feat* really entitle him to be regarded a* a successor to the Scriptural hero whose name he bears. Charles Sampson is about thirty years of age and only of medium build and height, indeed not » by any means the sort of person one would pick out as a Hercule*. Yet the following are some of bi* feats. He can break nine steel wire cable* of eight strand* each pa«*ed round hii body, by the expansion of hi*che*t) in the same manner he can break a steel trace-chain, such as is used in truck harness, like glass, and he can pull each link of the chain in two with hi* hands. He can bend A gas-pipe an inch in diameter to a right angle by striking it aero** his arm. In the tug of war he has pulled successfully against twelve strong men. He will take a piece of steel chain three feet long, force open one of the links, form a ring of the chain just large enough to fit the biceps of his right arm as it hangs loose, then slowly crooking the arm he will swell the muscles and tendons until the chain snaps in half from the tremendous strain. There is no tdek about this; the steel used is three-sixteenths of an inch and formed in double links an inch and a half long. The tensile strength re* quired to perform this feat is estimated at 40001b5., and it is done with tbe greatest ease without the performer experiencing the least inconvenience. After that he will wind about 125 lengths of steel wire cable round his chest, and in less than three second*! by swelling the muscles of his chest, back and shoulders, the metal is snapped. In St. Petersburg he pl . oed himself in the centre of an eight foot ring, and fourteen strong men took hold of the ring and tried to push him beyond a certain limit marked on the floor and failed to do so. He has decorations presented to him by all the crowned heads of the Continent especially a very magnificent one, containing 18 diamonds, conferred upon him by the late Etnperor Alexander of Russia, for killing a steer with one blow of his fist; thia feat he also performed in Germany and Pari*—in the latter place, as the animal was running, he only knocked it down by the first blow, but with the second crushed in its skull. During his professional experiences he has broken his arm* 17 times. He does not attribute hi# - marvellous physical powers to any freak of Nature, but simply to care* ful training.

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/GSCCG18890511.2.16

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume II, Issue 297, 11 May 1889, Page 2

Word count
Tapeke kupu
452

A Modern Sampson. Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume II, Issue 297, 11 May 1889, Page 2

A Modern Sampson. Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume II, Issue 297, 11 May 1889, Page 2

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