my forty years with the world

7/29/2019 My Forty Years With the World

1/12

My Forty Years with the Worlds Strongest

Men

June 6, 2012 |By: Warren Lincoln Travis

Approximately eighty years ago Warren Lincoln Travis wrote about his relationships and

exploits in the strongman business. Travis, who was known as a World Champion Weight-

lifter in specialty lifts, such as the back and harness lifts and specific grip related styles, gives

a firsthand account of the legends of old.Dennis

Warren Lincoln Travis

A MANS GLORY is in his strength, is a saying which has often been repea ted. It mightbetter have been The glory of the human race is in manly strength. You and I know that the

world at large admires a strong man, the man who can do things out of the ordinary, and whoby his precepts leads people to proper understanding and respect for the perfectly developedhuman body.

Some mistaken person has foolishly said something to the effect that familiarity breedscontempt, but I can truthfully state that in my long association with strong men, nothing butthe most profound and sincere respect for the man of strength has resulted.

Truthfully speaking, I could think of no better state of worldly happiness than to live among anation of super men and of course, women of like quality. For the trained athlete who reallyrespects his physical condition abounds in good health and is a decent person with whom toassociate. The outsider may hear of the animosities which are supposed to exist betweenstrong men due chiefly to the challenges that are broadcast thick and fast. Though I do no


2/12

wish to be regarded in the light of questioning the sincerity of strong men challenges, it isgenerally true that any statements emanating from such challenges are in reality but surfaceattitudes and give no indication of the true respect which exists between the athletes, and wemust consider them as merely business gestures intended to draw interest and attract attentionto the relative merits of different men.

During the forty-odd years in which I have been associated with the strong man business, ithas been my extreme pleasure to enjoy the friendship of many remarkable men who in myestimation compose the elite of humanity- the worlds strongest men.

Mr. Berry has acquainted me with the fact that many readers of Strength magazine areinterested in having me set down my experiences as a professional strong man. Instead ofwriting from that angle, I have decided to omit from the present series of articles anyreference to purely personal experience and tell you of my impressions of various men ofstrength whom it has been my honor to know.

I have given my time and knowledge, in writing this series of articles in a spirit of the gameand the interest I have for STRENGTH MAGAZINE and for the personal acquaintance of theeditorial staff of the magazine. This series of articles I can safely say is about as truthful ascan be written because I have has personal experience with all of these characters mentionedeither in the form of working with them, making weights for them or being official weigheror judge for them. When I speak of my personal association with these men you may feelassured that I am speaking the truth.

Along about 1890, a craze for developing strong men suddenly took hold of the populace ofAmerica. Evidently, it had existed for some time previously over in Europe, but at the sametime we must remember that the popularity for feats of strength had an earlier beginning overhere, the hero of the early days being none other than the grand old gentlemen of athletics,William B. Curtis, which name was given him by his admirers in recognition of the positionin which he was held by them as the Father of Athletics in this country. He was awonderful specimen of manhood, and in 1879 at the age of forty-two created a harness liftingrecord of 3,229 pounds. At that time his bodyweight was 165 pounds and even though he wascomparatively light, his lift was a worlds record for those days.

Harness lifting is a very old style of lifting. I have a book in which there is a picture of a manwho lived in the 17th Century, Trojan by name, who was able to lift 1600 pounds in harness.He lifted barrels of water, gradually increasing the amount of water as he gained strength.

The attitude and harness shown in the picture are similar to the style that is used today.

Curtis was capable of curling a pair of 75 pound dumb-bells with the palms facing forwardand the body erect eight or ten times without being exhausted, and was capable of taking a

pair of 100 pound dumb-bells and pressing them over his head. These weights were clearedfrom the floor to the shoulder without the use of his body for support. Of course, in thosedays the athletes were not so fortunate as to have a modern adjustable bar bell to use, so theway the situation was handled was this: they would have solid dumb-bells cast five poundsheavier each set. A man by the name of Henry Beumeyer, who was in the bonded storehouse

business along South and Clinton Streets, New York City, had in his private office thesegraduated dumb-bells. He was also a very fine specimen of manhood.


3/12

Curtis was a member of the New York Athletic Club. He was an oarsman, runner, boxer andgeneral all round athlete, as well as being a great lover of out door sports. Unfortunately,while making one of his long hikes in the Adirondack Mountains a heavy snow stormovertook him; he was snow in and frozen to death at the age of 65. This misfortune occurredin 1902.

About forty years ago, at the height of the new wave of strong man popularity, the lateRichard K. Fox, then publisher of the Police Gazette, the leading sporting journal of America,had a 1,000 pound dumb-bell cast, but it was not in the shape of the dumb-bells today. It wasmore like a massive block of iron. He offered a very valuable gold medal and title to the firstman to lift this 1,000 pound weight. At that time there was a man known as James WalterKennedy who was athletically incline and developed. He was an oarsman and general athlete,leaning, however, more toward the strong man. He was about 6 feet tall and weighed around190 pounds, had jet black curly hair and moustache and at a time was a special officer at theGlobe Museum at 298-300 Bowery, New York City. Kennedy took a notion that he could liftthis 1,000 pound dumb-bell with his hands and he began to train with a big whiskey cask, not

using whiskey in it, but water, sand and rock as he gained strength. In other words he usedthe Milo Bar Bell system of gradually increasing weight as he improved in his strength. Thefirst time he tried lifting the 1,000 pound weight he failed but some time later he succeeded.His style was to straddle the weight and have one hand in front of his body grasping theweight and the other hand grasping it in the rear of his body, this position being known as theHands Alone Lift. His body was erect with the exception that the knees were bent about 2 or3 inches. By the way, the celebrated Steve Brody, who gained fame and fortune by being thefirst man to jump off the Brooklyn Bridge, pulled the card board from underneath the weightwhen Walter Kennedy lifted it, thereby constituting a clear lift. There were several strongmen there, such as Louis Cyr, Charlie Jefferson, and Johnson Whitman, better known asAjax, who was a famous teeth lifter in those days as well as a freight car pusher. Ajax had arecord of pushing a freight car weighing some 3,5000 pounds about 25 feet slightly upgrade.He later became a member of the Police Department of the City of New York.

The Great Louis Cyr

Now to come back to Kennedy- he had a harness lift record of 3,231 pounds, and as I statedabove he successfully lifted this 1,000 pound weight for which Richard K. Fox offered
http://www.dennisrogers.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/The-Great-Louis-Cyr.jpg


4/12

$250.00 and a gold medal. Kennedy had to defend his title for one year. At that time therewas a whispering rumor that Charlie Jefferson or Louis Cyr could lift the weight, andKennedy began to train so that he could raise 1205 pounds on that lift, but he changed his

body position slightly. He began to use what is termed today a Hand and Thigh Lift. He wastraveling around the country with a show and meeting with more and more popularity and

financial success until he finally struck little old Brooklyn. When the offer of $250.00 wasmade from the stage a man named Charlie Nostramm, a carpenter by trade, picked the weightup comparatively easily. Nostramm then began to train on that particular lift and in time gotup to the enormous weight of 1805 pounds, but he never seemed to commercialize, his greatability. He was a married man and a home man and stuck to his trade of carpentry. At times Iused to train at the same club as he, the Swedish Sporting and Athletic Club which used tomeet at Old Sagabund Hall at Smith and Schermerhorn Streets, Brooklyn.

About that time another strong man invaded this country from Stockholm, Sweden, namedAugust W. Johnson. He brought a partner with him, whose name was Henry Waltheim.Johnson could put up about 300 pounds in those days in a bar bell two hand jerk. He could

snatch about 190 pounds and he could put up separate weights of about 260 pounds. In hisprime he never weighed more than 190 pounds. The partner, Waltheim, specialized in harnesslifting, doing a record of about 3700 pounds at a public exhibition. He would lift 16 to 18men on a platform.

About that period there was another famous strong man known as George Zottman, a veryheavily built man, who had a harness lift of about 3400 pounds. He had a very powerful gripin lifting thick handled dumb-bells and awkward weights.

Then came the greatest of all strong men in physique, form and showmanship, to theAmerican shore. He was the great Eugene Sandow. He had the whole country in an uproarover his physique. The strong men in those days and for many years afterward owed thanksto Sandow for putting the profession on a higher standard of respect and earnings. He gainedhis reputation in Europe by defeating C.A. Sampson, a great strong man in those days who

broke chains across the biceps of his arm and supported weight on his chest. In fact, Sampsonhad a novel idea- he held a revolving ferris wheel on his chest. This was known as the chestsupport life and was keeping abreast of the times because the Worlds Fair was then beingheld in Chicago and it boasted a big ferris wheel.


5/12

C.A. Sampson

Also at that time there were two brothers in England, the McCann Brothers, who wereseeking a match with the great Sandow after his surprising victory over C.A. Sampson. Nextmonth, I shall tell you of the surprising outcome of this contest, besides following the careers

of such famous men as Sandow, Cyr, Jefferson, and others of that time.

PART 2______________________________

The Second of a Series of Articles Giving Intimate Glimpses into the Lives of Men Who

Have Made Strength Famous,by Warren Lincoln Travis
http://www.dennisrogers.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/C.A.-Sampson.jpg


6/12

Warren Lincoln Travis

EUGENE SANDOW made such a success in this country that little statues were made ofhim, and he was asked to, and did, endorse many pieces of wearing apparel, beverages and

health drinks. Previous to coming over here the same had been true of his campaign inEngland, where he had taken the entire country by storm after his sensational defeat ofCharles Sampson and partner, Cyclops.

The extreme popularity enjoyed by Sandow also had the effect of enriching the coffers ofdozens of other strong men, some of whom in time vied with him for public favor and theright to supremacy.
http://www.dennisrogers.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Travis-Bicep-Pose.jpg


7/12

Eugene Sandow

Among these rival strong men were two brothers by the name McCann, who were knownprofessionally as Hercules and Samson. Like the majority of strong men of their time, or of

all time as we might say, these brothers were good on certain specialties, and as is ratherpeculiar to men of strength, believed themselves invincible when given a chance to put thesespecialties into play.

So it came about that while in England Sandow engaged in another contest with far lesssatisfactory results than had attended that with Sampson and Cyclops. But, strange as it mayseem, though officially defeated, the outcome had no effect upon his popularity or the beliefwhich existed everywhere in England that he was the Worlds Strongest Man. This contestundoubtedly had the most unusual outcome of any the world has known.

The McCanns challenged Sandow, and in return were counter-challenged. This continued forsome time when, with opportune suddenness in reply to one of Eugenes defies, the brothersaccepted and a match was quickly arranged. One strange point in connection with thisacceptance of challenge was the agreement that either of the two brothers could step into thecontest at the last moment. Six feats were to be contested on, each contestant choosing three.The Marquis of Queensbury, the father of modern boxing rules, officiated in the capacity ofreferee, ably assisted by two distinguished sports notables of the day. At the time foractivities to commence Louis McCann, known as Hercules, stepped upon the stage in view ofan audience of great size. Before the actual contest took place, however, Sandow set out towin a bet of one hundred pounds sterling, equal to about five hundred ($500.00) dollars, bylifting 250 pounds overhead with one hand; this was the weight he claimed to lift daily in his

public performances, and the accuracy of the weight had been challenged by the McCanns.Sandow lifted a total of five weights, aggregating 251 pounds, to the shoulder with two
http://www.dennisrogers.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Sandow-Portrait.jpg


8/12

hands and from there to arms length with one hand. In the actual contest McCann started witha dumbbell of 170 pounds, which he cleaned and jerked with the right hand. Sandow failedtwice on this feat, and then after a rest, succeeded; the judges decided in favor of Herculesdue to his success on the first attempt.

The next was a Sandow feat; a dumbbell press of 226 pounds, two hands to the shoulder andone hand overhead. McCann protested the use of two hands in lifting the bell to the shoulder,

but was overruled; he then refused to attempt the lift, which gave Sandow the second lift, orone point in favor of each.

The third feat was named by McCann, who cleaned and jerked with the left hand a dumbbellof 155 pounds, though it took him three trials. Sandow cleaned the bell and bent pressed ittwice with the left hand. The judges ruled this lift to Hercules, as they said his style was

better.

Sandow next lifted two weights, aggregating 198 pounds to the shoulder with the right

hand and bent pressed them overhead. McCann refused to attempt the lift. Then the latterchose for his next feat one which we always referred to as a separate jerk lift, but which youknow as a two dumbbells clean and jerk. He took 120 in the right and 112 in his left, andalthough it was easy enough for him to get these bells to the shoulder, three attempts werenecessary before they were tossed overhead. Sandow failed on all three attempts.

With but one lift to go the score stood three successes by McCann on his own feats, with noinclination even to attempt the two Sandow feats, While Sandow had succeeded on two ofMcCanns feats and had failed on the third, with both his successful attempts being ruledagainst him.

The final lift was a Two Hands Anyhow with dumbbells by Sandow, using 210 pounds in theright hand and 50 in the left; three attempts were necessary before he succeeded. McCanndeclined to try the lift.

Strange as it may seem, the judges ruled the contest to be won by Hercules McCann. It is tobe understood that I was not personally present at this match, but am relating the event as itwas told to me many times by strong men of that day who were on the scene.

We cant imagine a decision of that nature today, and it is principally because of the unusualoutcome that I bring it to you. Nowadays, you young fellows are accustomed to seeing and

reading of official contests decided by the total pounds lifted, which rule should always be ineffect.

As we were to learn when Sandow came over here in 1893, he was a truly remarkable man. Iremember seeing him perform what is called a chest support lift and having three little poniesdoing a seesaw on it. He then held up in the same sort of chest support lift a square pianowith a half dozen musicians playing, supporting the entire weight. One of his unique featswas this: he stood on a handkerchief about 12 inches square, had his eyes blindfolded andankles tied, and with a 56-pound dumbbell in each hand at his side, did a somersault andlanded on the handkerchief. He originated the idea of a human dumbbell, which had a personin each end of a sphere, and to add more novelty probably, he had a little rabbit or two in it,

but the total weight was never more than 240 or 250 pounds. He elevated that over his headwith one arm in a bent press lift. Taking into consideration that he lifted this daily, it was a


9/12

very good lift. I am writing this because I have seen these lifts performed either in mycapacity of a judge, weigher of these objects, or as a spectator, so you see I know what I amtalking about.

Louis Cyr, Dennis Rogers Collection

Richard K. Fox, when he heard of the great Louis Cyr, sent for him and had him perform inLondon, England. Mr. Fox was so impressed by Louis Cyrs performance, gigantic size andlifting ability that he put up a thousand pound note, equal to $5,000.00 in American money,for any strong man who would step up on the stage and duplicate Louis Cyrs performance,and the best results received by Mr. Fox were from Cyrs official weighers or judges, whowere all famous strong men of that period. Here are some of the official lifts made by LouisCyr: 273 pound dumbbell lift with his right hand from floor to his groin, then dragged it tothe left side of his body, rolled it across his chest to his right shoulder, then pressed it over hishead with one arm. This was not a bent press because Cyr was too bulky to do a bent press.He bent his body a little but most of his pushing was done with his arm. Then he took a bar

bell weighing 301pounds, dragged it to his waist, then to his chest and pressed it over hishead with two arms. He held out at right angles to his body a very short small dumbbell of104 pounds, having one end ball of the dumbbell resting slightly on his wrist and then heldit at right angles and brought the weight back. It was a Wonderful feat of strength, but LouisCyrs weight, 300 pounds or more, of course helped him. Then he lifted 3,641 pounds deadweight on his back and did a finger lift of 535 pounds, but later he did a better finger lift of552 pounds. From that time Richard K. Fox had greater faith in Louis Cyr than any otherstrong man.

Due, probably, to Sandows great popularity and Louis Cyrs strength and popularity,Richard K. Fox had a diamond belt made and was ready to put it up, but when Fox tried to
http://www.dennisrogers.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Louis-Cyr-BW.jpg


10/12

get Sandow in a match with Cyr he always said that engagements prevented his going into acontest. He seemed to want to keep away from Louis Cyr.

Later in October, I906, Richard K. Fox sent for me and asked if I would take theresponsibility of accepting the diamond belt and defending the title for ten years, with a very

simple set of rules: viz.

That each man had the right to choose his own five or six lifts; that I would have to go to anypart of the World if the challenger so desired, with the understanding that a side bet or gatepercentage could be arranged. I successfully defended the title and diamond belt and it is nowmy personal property. Also at the time I held the diamond medal presented by Richard K.Fox to me on March 8th, 1903, for the harness and back lifting championship.

About that time another famous strong man came along. Charles G. Jefferson had a record ofhands alone l571 pounds known as side lifting, hands on side of body. He had very

powerful hands, and could lift an anvil of 206 pounds by the horn. He used thick handled

dumbbells and barbells and raised them over his head. They were very heavy and veryremarkable for thick handles, but not worlds record lifts. Louis Cyr failed once in trying tolift one of these, Jefferson took a square block of iron 4 inches across the face, weighing 62 pounds, and lifted it with his thumb, index and middle fingers. He would pass it throughhis limbs from one hand to another. His l57l pound lift was the worlds record lift for manyyears until in later years I made a pair of brass grips for G. W. Rolandow and he lifted over1600 pounds in that position, which I think is a worlds record up to the present time, for thatlift.

For about twenty years, beginning with I893, we had a very famous man, a great teacher,whose name was Louis Attila. He appeared with Sandow in Europe and coached Sandow insome of his endeavors, many of the physical culturists of today owe thanks to the great Attila.In I896 I took lessons from him and I have never regretted it. He taught some of the leadinglawyers, business men, actors, doctors, and statesmen; also James J. Corbett, onceheavyweight champion pugilist of the world, who defeated the great and only John L.Sullivan, September 27th, I892. In later years I had the pleasure of making some of thedumbbells and barbells for Professor Attilas school. Much to the sorrow of all who knewhim, the great Attila passed on to the great beyond at the ripe old age of 80 years.


11/12

Louis Attila and Eugene Sandow

I was training at Attilas school at No. 42 West 28th Street, New York City, in I896, aboutthe time Attila was married. He married a very beautiful, athletically built young lady. I had

the pleasure of seeing their first baby when it was about two weeks old. Atti la was holding itin his arms and had a photograph taken, the baby holding a little dumbbell in its hand. Attilawas the father of three children, and one of the girls was fortunate enough to meet SiegmundKlein, and became his wife. She can feel proud that she is the wife of a bright, honest andupright businessman; a real he-man from his toes up.
http://www.dennisrogers.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/klein.jpghttp://www.dennisrogers.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Attila-and-Sandow.jpghttp://www.dennisrogers.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/klein.jpghttp://www.dennisrogers.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Attila-and-Sandow.jpg


12/12

Seigmund Klein

Seigmund Klein in return can feel honored that he has married so fine and cultured a younglady as the daughter of the famous Professor Louis Attila, the great physical culturist andtrainer of worlds champion strong men.

In later years a new crop of strong men came up. Lionel Strongfort, in those days known asMax Unger, was a very fine specimen of manhood and travelled in this country and abroaddisplaying his physical ability. One of his most spectacular feats of strength was to support awooden bridge and allow an automobile loaded down with seven passengers to pass over his

body while in a position known as a chest support. He was appearing in the New YorkHippodrome in September, l9l3, receiving a salary of $1,000 a week, which was consideredvery wonderful in those days, for strong men.

Watch for more on this series. Part 3 Coming Soon!

my forty years with the world

Documents