Figure 158
represents a well-known American giant, Ben Hicks who was called
"the Denver Steeple."
Buffon refers to a Swedish giantess who he affirms was 8 feet 6
inches tall. Chang, the "Chinese Giant," whose smiling face is
familiar to nearly all the modern world, was said to be 8 feet
tall. In 1865, at the age of nineteen, he measured 7 feet 8
inches. At Hawick, Scotland, in 1870, there was an Irishman 7
feet 8 inches in height, 52 inches around the chest, and who
weighed 22 stone. Figure 159 shows an American giantess known as
"Leah, the Giantess." At the age of nineteen she was 7 feet 2
inches tall and weighed 165 pounds.
On June 17, 1871, there were married at
Saint-Martins-in-the-Field in London Captain Martin Van Buren
Bates of Kentucky and Miss Anna Swann of Nova Scotia, two
celebrated exhibitionists, both of whom were over 7 feet. Captain
Bates, familiarly known as the "Kentucky Giant," years ago was a
familiar figure in many Northern cities, where he exhibited
himself in company with his wife, the combined height of the two
being greater than that of any couple known to history. Captain
Bates was born in Whitesburg, Letcher County, Ky., on November 9,
1845. He enlisted in the Southern army in 1861, and though only
sixteen years old was admitted to the service because of his
size.
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