XII. Contemporary strong people: Charles Jefferson;
Louis Cyr; John Grun Marx; William Le Roy.--
The Nail King, The Human Claw-hammer; Alexander
Weyer; Mexican Billy Wells; A foolhardy
Italian; Wilson; Herman; Sampson; Sandow;
Yucca; La Blanche; Lulu Hurst.--The Georgia
Magnet, The Electric Girl, etc.; Annie Abbott;
Mattie Lee Price.--The Twilight of the Freaks.--
The dime museums







CHAPTER ONE

FIRE WORSHIP.--FIRE EATING AND HEAT
RESISTANCE.--IN THE MIDDLE AGES.
--AMONG THE NAVAJO INDIANS.--
FIRE-WALKERS OF JAPAN.--THE FIERY
ORDEAL OF FIJI.

Fire has always been and, seemingly, will
always remain, the most terrible of the
elements. To the early tribes it must also have
been the most mysterious; for, while earth and
air and water were always in evidence, fire
came and went in a manner which must have