Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Account Of Thomas Topham, The Strong Man.
ACCOUNT OF THOMAS TOPHAM , THE STRONG MAN .
From " HUTTOM ' HISTORY OF DERBY . " WE learnt from private accounts , well attested , that Thomas Topham , a man who kept a public-house at Islington , performed surprising feats of strength ; as breaking a broomstick of the first magnitudeby striking it against his bate arm ; lifting two
hogs-, heads of water ; heaving his horse over the turnpike-gate ; carrying the beam of a house , as a soldier his firelock , & c . —But , however belief mig ht stagger , she soon recovered herself when this second Sampson appeared at Derby , as a performer in public , at a shilling each . Upon application to Alderman Cooper for leave to exhibit , the maistrate was surprised at the feats he proposed ; andas his appearance
g , was like that of other men , he requested him to strip , that he might examine whether he was made like them ; but he was found to be extremely muscular . What were hollows under the arms and hams of others , were filled up with ligaments in him . He appeared near five feet ten , turned of thirty , well made , but nothing singular ; he walked with a small limp . He had formerly
laid a wager , the usual decider of dipures , that three horses could not draw him from a post which he would clasp with his feet : but the driver giving them a sudden lash , turned them aside , and the unexpected jerk had broke his thigh . The performances of . this wonderful . ' man , in whom were united the strength of twelve , were , rolling up a pewter dish of seven pounds
as a man rolls up a . sheet of paper—holding a pewter quart at arms length , ancl squeezing the sides together like an egg-shell—lifting two hundred weight with his little finger , and moving it gently over his head . —The bodies he touched seemed to have lost their powers of gravitation . —lie also broke a rope , fastened to the floor , that would sustain twenty hundred weight—lifted an oak table six feet long with his teeththough half a hundred weig ht was hung to the
, extremity ; a piece of leather was fixed to one end for his teeth to hold , tw o of the feet stood upon his knees , and he raised the end with the welsh : hig her than that in his mouth . —He took Mr . Chambers , vicar of All Saints , who weig hed twenty-seven stone , and raised him with one hand—his head being laid on one chair , and his feet on another , Font people , fourteen stone each , sat upon his body , which he heaved
at p leasure—he struck a round bar of iron , one inch diameter , against his naked arm , and at one stroke bent it like a bow . Weakness and feeling seemed fled together . Being a master of music , he entertained the company with Mad Tom . I heard him sing a solo to the organ ( then the only one in Derby ) at St . Werburgh ' s church , but though he might perform v / ith judgment , yet the voice , mote terrible than sweet , scarcely seemed hunun , VOL , V , M in
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Account Of Thomas Topham, The Strong Man.
ACCOUNT OF THOMAS TOPHAM , THE STRONG MAN .
From " HUTTOM ' HISTORY OF DERBY . " WE learnt from private accounts , well attested , that Thomas Topham , a man who kept a public-house at Islington , performed surprising feats of strength ; as breaking a broomstick of the first magnitudeby striking it against his bate arm ; lifting two
hogs-, heads of water ; heaving his horse over the turnpike-gate ; carrying the beam of a house , as a soldier his firelock , & c . —But , however belief mig ht stagger , she soon recovered herself when this second Sampson appeared at Derby , as a performer in public , at a shilling each . Upon application to Alderman Cooper for leave to exhibit , the maistrate was surprised at the feats he proposed ; andas his appearance
g , was like that of other men , he requested him to strip , that he might examine whether he was made like them ; but he was found to be extremely muscular . What were hollows under the arms and hams of others , were filled up with ligaments in him . He appeared near five feet ten , turned of thirty , well made , but nothing singular ; he walked with a small limp . He had formerly
laid a wager , the usual decider of dipures , that three horses could not draw him from a post which he would clasp with his feet : but the driver giving them a sudden lash , turned them aside , and the unexpected jerk had broke his thigh . The performances of . this wonderful . ' man , in whom were united the strength of twelve , were , rolling up a pewter dish of seven pounds
as a man rolls up a . sheet of paper—holding a pewter quart at arms length , ancl squeezing the sides together like an egg-shell—lifting two hundred weight with his little finger , and moving it gently over his head . —The bodies he touched seemed to have lost their powers of gravitation . —lie also broke a rope , fastened to the floor , that would sustain twenty hundred weight—lifted an oak table six feet long with his teeththough half a hundred weig ht was hung to the
, extremity ; a piece of leather was fixed to one end for his teeth to hold , tw o of the feet stood upon his knees , and he raised the end with the welsh : hig her than that in his mouth . —He took Mr . Chambers , vicar of All Saints , who weig hed twenty-seven stone , and raised him with one hand—his head being laid on one chair , and his feet on another , Font people , fourteen stone each , sat upon his body , which he heaved
at p leasure—he struck a round bar of iron , one inch diameter , against his naked arm , and at one stroke bent it like a bow . Weakness and feeling seemed fled together . Being a master of music , he entertained the company with Mad Tom . I heard him sing a solo to the organ ( then the only one in Derby ) at St . Werburgh ' s church , but though he might perform v / ith judgment , yet the voice , mote terrible than sweet , scarcely seemed hunun , VOL , V , M in