“Samson” and His Chains.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume III, Issue 379, 19 November 1889, Page 3

“Samson” and His Chains.

London, October 4. A •“ modern Samson " has been creating a sensation in London by his extraordinary feats of strength, A boxing match took a body of athletes to the Westminster Aquarium on Wednesday night, and after witnessing the sparring, which did not p'ease them, a large section of " the fancy,” rushing to the Samson performance in the theatre, gave vent to signs of cynicism concerning the genuineness of his feats. The patrons of the "noble art ” did not respond to Samson's offer of £lOO to any person who could lift a dumb bell weighing 3501 b., but when Samson himself took the stage and proceeded to perform the feat of breaking a strong chain by the expansion of hie biceps two gentlemen, one a German and the other an American, reeponded io hie invitation to teat the oluin, The circlet wae attached to the floor, and the gentleman were invited to pull at a rope attached to it, One of them—the German—showed, howevei, an anxiety to handle the chain itself, to which Samson made a hurried and rather excited objection. In a moment there was an uproar, during which Samson showed 'more disinclination to have the chain examined, and snatching it rudely from the hand of one gentleman who waa testing it, bore it hurriedly among the audience for a much more superficial testing. When he left the stage the American gentleman declared that the chain had audibly “ cracked " under examination, and then people rose excitedly from their seats clamoring for "fair play." The inquisitive German by thia time had approached the table to handle other chains, and wae in the act of testing them when the strong man seised him and tried to hurl him down the steps into the stalls. This was the cause of a storm of disapproval. For some minutes uproar prevailed, and Sampson, ordering his cost, put it on as though to end the performance. He then changed his mfod, and proceeded, amid derisive cries and laughter, to break the circlet on his arm, His next feat, the breaking of a cable of wire strands by the expansion of his chest, was allowed to proceed after his tormentors had failed to break a single strand, Then came the feat of breaking a long chain in lengths. H« again showed an objection to the German inspecting it, but allowed another member of the audience to do so. He broke the chain in short lengths, and when the German failed to imitate him there was a current of feeling in the strong man's favor; but although he further demonstrated his strength by successfully pulling against 14 men, seven on each side, he retired amidst more derision. Several gentlemen commenced to test the weights, and the last scene of the exhibition disclosed the German gentleman, a slight and small man, lifting breast-high the 8501 b. dumb-bell, for which the public had been challenged on a stake of £lOO.