Gian+s in Court

Last week the large city hall in St. Joseph, Mo. was packed with giggling spectators. In front of the courtroom stalked three circus giants: 40-year-old Glenn Hyder of Kansas City, Mo., 35year-old Texan Jack Earle, 21-year-old Robert Pershing Wadlow of Alton, Ill.

Reason for the convention: Robert Wadlow, tallest man in the world (he claims an alltime high of 8 ft. 8 in.), had brought suit for $100,000 against Dr. Charles Dean Humberd of Barnard, Mo. Dr. Humberd had described Wadlow, in a scientific article in the Journal of the American Medical Association, as "apathetic, unfriendly, antagonistic."

Said gigantic Defense Witness Hyder (7 ft.): "[Dr. Humberd] is one of the great scholars of the world and an outstanding authority on giantism."

Said gigantic Defense Witness Earle (7 ft. 6 in.): "I just said, looking up at him, 'How's the weather up there?' But [Wadlow] didn't answer me."

Said gigantic Plaintiff Wadlow: "The article . . . made me cry."

Robert's mother, father, teachers and the manufacturer of his size 37 shoes said that he was "obedient," "bright," interested in Chinese checkers, ping-pong and girls, ate little more than an average man. He was also kind to little children. Dr. Louis Henry Behrens of St. Louis said that he was a normal boy except for his size and his "beautiful hands."

But Defendant Dr. Humberd claimed that Robert had a pituitary tumor at the base of his brain, which "soured his attitude towards life" and prevented him from coordinating his muscles. He contrasted the stumbling, shuffling manner in which Robert maneuvered his 495 Ib. with the "easy grace" of Jack Earle, who, he said, was normal. He added that Robert had difficulty in swallowing, that his voice was weak and mumbling, that he had no feeling in certain parts of his body.

After listening for three days and deliberating 45 minutes, the jury announced that Robert Wadlow had lost his suit. Overjoyed were Dr. Humberd and his colleagues all over the U. S., for the decision reaffirmed their privilege of freely reporting medical phenomena for the benefit of science.

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