FAT BOYS
Wyoming county, in this State, must be a perfect Egypt in fatness, if the following story is true. The Kanawha
Gazette gives the following names, ages and weights of five boys, "native and to the manner born," in
that county of mountains and bears:
Boy No. 1. Son of James Brooks.
Lives six miles above Oceana, aged nine years weighs 249 pounds, avoirdupois. He is the biggest boy in the universe
of his age. We defy competition on either side of the Atlantic
Boy No. 2. Son of Andy Brooks.
Lives on adjoining farm to James Brooks, aged ten years, weighs 213 pounds. He is a bouncer for his age too.
Boy No. 3. "Jimmy" son of James Cook, clerk of the county Court of Wyoming County, aged thirteen years,
weighs 206 pounds. He eats nothing but bread and milk, which of course, will keep him fat.
Boy Nos. 4 and 5. Two sons of Greenbury Cook, near Oceana, the eldest one of whom is about nineteen years of age,
and he weighs 290 pounds. The younger one is fully as large in proportion to his age.
The boys are all healthy, and their great size is owing to their fatness. They are all related to each other, and
that is said to be a family failing. [24 Mar 1877; Wheeling Register - sub.
by K. Torp]
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