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Show i " Liscoverers of The rounWiTWF I I iHEPir1'! ff Septuagenarian. Who Emulate Hercules and Who Find in A- " '' 1 j fKlM"''''-''',. 'PI- '.'.'' '-''- Rational Exgrcise and Qean Living the Secret of Healthy J Si4HRBi'' HHIS I "" ACwptsafHuiuM Pounds Is Easy lor Attila. y" ". M jf TOl pHll jjpfglll&b Altila Posing Unto a Uad.ot270JWn!, I J '' tOfPTiighl, 1!15. by (hf New Torlr Herald Co. i.1 m ; rights rcserTi.il I J ILLIONS were spent by old II 1 time explorers, lives were wasted I I and lost by the hundred in the " quest for the elixir of life Many expeditions to then unexplored America had for their object this mysterious mys-terious agent of perpetual jouth. It was generally supposed to be a fountain foun-tain the waters of which possessed peculiarly pe-culiarly vitalizing powers, but In the present pres-ent day there are several men who believe ; that even if they "have not discovered the i fountain of youth they have found the II secret of a youth which extends far be- I yond the three score years and ten allotted 3t ' y to men by the Bible. I Right in New York city there arc at least three men who have learned that the nearest approach to an elixir of longevity lon-gevity is physical exercise taken with mod- eration and consistency. Attiln, a Ger- Wm man athlete, with quarters in East Thirry- pM fourth street. Js sixty-seven years old, bnt U he juggles hundredweight dumbbells as ; . ettlng up r rciso before breakfast evcry tlW ' morning as the avercgo man would manip-l"W manip-l"W ulatc the small wooden variety, iljl Almost any afternoon at the New York I Athletic Club you may sec another ucar- j septuagenarian rolling about the mat grap- tj . imu-6 wun -lxugiuc" Leonard, the wres- g tling instructor, or boxing with some j youngster in his twenties or thirties. If ' "Mike" Donovan, veteran of the prize j ring, Is as light on his feet as a Russian toe dancer, but his hand is heavy when 'it comes in coutnet with a jaw. (Luke Wilson Is the third of the aged E athletes, and he swings his lithe body in rt I various eccentric curves ubout a hori- f zontal bar on the etage of the Herald i Square Theatre for an hour or two early ! every morning. He is seventy-two years old, but he ib in such good condition that 4 be hopes 'to get back into professional, 5 work. i5 The thing that 'impresses one Gr&t on Ieeeing these truly Yclcr.m athletes is the' clearness of their ees. There is no filmr 1 j look about llienu Attila's eyes flashed IB tike thoso of a tailor of twenty when he' K laughed at the question put to him by a iM reporter for this new.spapcr. K, "How long do you expect to live?" K "One hundred and twenty-five years," M 30 said. J Attila's Secret. V Then he balanced an eighth-five pound i W weight over his head with one hand and I twirled it gently, torsion fashion, just by way of easing his flow of language, much! is some men fumblu with their key rings when talking. , "I've been doing this just fifty ears aow, and I'm as strong as'evcr grow- v ing stronger no far as I can see. It looks t ab though I'd leuch the one-twent-five mark, doesn't it? I've discovered the i I ifouutain of youth I'm serious when I I say that." "Wlmt is the fountain of youth?" asked the reporter. Attila picked a long . Iron ball from the floor with huge weights at each end and tojed with it as the- reporter re-porter did willi h'm pencil. "Exercise. Normal treatment of the , bodj and exorcise arranged to develop ull the muscles of the body and not any ccr- tain set." "1 suppose you've journeyed through life on the front seat of the water i r wagon';" "Not I," said Attila, smashing hi fist i into his opeu palm with an impact like two football plaers mcetiu" at top speed. 'l drink but never too mu;b. That is the becret of the tiling, niodcra- i lion. 1 take wiue, beer, schnapps, any- : Ihmg, but I never get lutoxicated, 1 "As to diet," continued the Strong Man, "X eat as I 'please. 3't' too 'much-meat i and not too much .vegetables,1' but wel I balanced. And Hint shows wtiat foolish jness some people are tcachiug. I would .like now to put on the gloves with Horace ( Fletcher and Bcrn&rr MncFadden, and pound them both all the way to Long Island Isl-and City. That's faddism the teach, and 'you only have to look at me to prove it." I if Attila ever had a front name other than "Professor" he lost it years ago. lie (dropped it befoic lie caino to the United States, in 1S03, and continued his profession pro-fession of training human muscles. Sau-d-nv, Max Ungor, Edward Ittmau and other athletes noted all oicr the world bale coine under his instruction. "I am now sixty-seien years old," said the profe3sor, "and lm;e been in the business busi-ness fifty years. If I was fifty years in any other busine.s-j-bankiug, merchant, workman, physician, navif numbing-imagino numbing-imagino what I noiild be nou ! My hair would be white, and I would walk bqct over, so! If I bad not retired long before be-fore this I would be a wonder. Yet, look at me! Is m hair white? No. Am I beiu? No. I a, jn perfect 'health, and have as good a time as anybody in New York, or the world for that matter. I'm not going to retire until after I am a hundred, and maybe uot.thcu. "I Mould like very much to have a talk with Dr. Oslci, who said that the aver.ige1 ninii was played out at forty and should be chloroformed a I sixty. I was just beginning be-ginning to get my strongest at fort, and now I could lake Dr. Usler, his whole! family and all his relatives and put theml in my vest pocket. I "In three jenre I will be seventy. That I is three score and ten, which ihe Bible says is as long as a man &hall lhe. Hut 1 don't see what is going to take me off in that time. Thero is no place in my body for apy disease to get hold, and I belicvo ,i bullet would bound off me, no nut Iter' where it struck. 1 don't care either hov many automobiles run over me. Just seel what I can dp." He picked up an iron ball weighing eighty-five pounds and swung it up over his head with his right arm and balanced' it in the air for several 3econds. His arm lid not tremble, nor did the muscles of his Lhiek neck stand out like they do in the holographs exhibited in front of vaudc-rille.houbes. vaudc-rille.houbes. J Then he placed a loatheili Urap ubout an eighty-five pound dumb- bell, and, clamping hi jaw over the end i dC the strap, lifted the Iron and held itj ivhile Miss Baunianu placed seventy-five ' RfLAjOui. pounds in iron weights in ench of hia hands. Next he lifted 3Su pounds into j the uir over his head and posed wilh it there for the photographer. "That's three score and ten." he said as ! he let the iron crash to the floor. ( "Men at forty are stronger than at any other ppriod of their lives," he said. "There arc exceptious, but my experience shows me that the average man is in his best condition at the age when Dr. Osier would have him chloroformed. Captain O'Connor, who used to have charge of the Thirtieth street police station car- ago, was a fine example. I had him in hand when he was fortr, and lie was a magnificent magnifi-cent man. ' ' "That reminds me," he continued, "1 was arrested ten years ago and taken to the same station." "What had you been doing?" "I licked a street car." "You mean smashed It?" "No; smashed ever; thing in it.. I was tiding in a Broadway car, and a row started. One of the men was pushed against me. and I pushed him away agitin. Then the whole crowd started after me, and we fell out Into the street. I was j lift -seven thou, bui I had a good time. I got cut up a little, but it was worth it. (Six me 1 punished, aud two policemen I got bad faces from me, then a lot more policemen came and took me to the station. sta-tion. Smashing a Street Car. "What? said Captain O'Connor. 'How did' ou get here?' 'The policemen brought inie,' I said, 'Do you mean to say you let i only twche policemen bring you here?'r ' I'm ashamed of you! It's a disgrace to bel t arrested.' '1 didn't want to hurt a pclice-j man,' I said, 'but if you say so 111 put i 'cm out of the station.' 'Never mind,'!' said the Cuptaiu, 'but 1 wish I'd seen the n light.' Then he (old mc to skip out, andl 1 I did. I was an old man then, too. ' , "I remember pulling against twenty-six) British soldiers with my teeth. Tha. was' I in Madison Square Garden in 3S03. I s had a strap In my teeth, so, and theie was v a rope tied to it and lhe Koldiers had a f hold of the rope. They worked hard, but f I pulled them." It was fun to bee them t slip around and try to pull my teeth 'oj. but I haven't lost oue yet. That wa-nineteen wa-nineteen years ago. I was a strapping young fellow ot forty-eight and feeling my outs', as America ns sav." "Don't you feel yourself 'slipping' ai S all?" r j "You mean getting weaker? Not a bit . I think 1 noer will." "Mike" Donovan, who has boxed with I almost every one worth while, including a President of the United States, Senators Sen-ators and men who loom big in the business busi-ness world, is three years ouuger than , .Attila. His face, because it is scarred from scores of, bare fist bailies, looks older than that of the gymnasium athlete, ath-lete, but his muscles jump and swell beneath be-neath a skin which glows with that tinge which givrd rise to-the expression "pink of condition,". just as do those of Attila and of Luke Wilson, the acrobat. I'or eight years "Mike" Donoiau was middleweight champion of the world, ' and, as he is fond of recollecting. "Those were the days v.hun we used nude knuckles, and a 'wallop on the jaw hurt."' "I haven't any secret of keeping young," said JIr. Donovan. "I just' naturally didn't zrow old because I took. care of myself and lied a normal life. I trained, but not so that it pmehed nic. 1 smoked, but not so that I became n slave to the habit, and I hac certainly never been what ou would call a -tip- j pier,' although I-take a drink when the i spirit nio6s me l "I had an advantage wlicn I started ' in life. In the first place my name was 1 'Mike' Donovan, and you could not pick I a better oue for a prizefighter. It scared i half the men I've fought, I believe, so f that the battle was almost mine before the first blow lauded. When I was young s I was not pampered and coddled and re- t strained from taking the rugged exorcise 1 which give5 n little chap tt good physical c foundation to build on. If jt hadn't been r for the healthy knocks 1 got when I was c a 'kid' I wouldnjt be in condition to-dord 'o put the gloves on with these men here n the prime of life." Mr. Donovan indicated with a wave -f the hand a number of pairs of young limits belaboring each other with padded nils in the boxing room at the New York Uhlelic Club, where he presides. Hard Knocks Bring Health. "t have never abused my body, foi somiugs do not harm it. and I hair jrollon plent of exeicise, and if Toner le Leon had spent more time getting that mstead of lookiug for some absurd lift giviug fountain in the Florida morasses he would have lived longer and more happily. "But, t as I -was saying, my childhood was in favor of me. I grew up in tbc lol9 of Chictigo, and in my boyhood days ihocl were no Esian Fields. I always was a J great friend of cripples and hunchback"!. Weak things held a certain appeal for me, and I used to protect them There Was no code of honor among the Chicago" hoodlums and the boy who" went cu crutches were a liable to attack as any . other. There was one little fiiend of mine named Cavanaugh, who had lost ai eye by being kicked in It during-a fight One day a fellow named Stanton licke him. "I pitched into Stanton and vc fough' around that lot for two hours. A fellow wasn't licked till he yelled 'lrm licked,' and I thought Stanton never would yclL But ut last he did, and Cavanagh had to carry him home. "A lillle while after that I got the idea of being a prizefighter, and when I iM8 eighteen jcirs old I went into the ing. Thirty-three years ngo 1 fought ny last fight. At least that is the way ! reckon jt. for although I have stood up n many four round bouts since then, it s thirty-three ears ago that I last ought to n Giiish. "Now here is one reason I have lasted! o long. In thu old fighting days lots of he bouts were pulled off out of doors, t was a case of arrange the fight under over; jump into a train or a coach and ide three or four honrs out into the ountry; go to tome farm house and ret-s for' the tight, then jump out into' the hitler cold night. It madeyou shiver to think of it. "Our knuckles used to,crack and-bleed from the chill, but it made them hard, and when they struck something had to go. We fought often on rough ground, where a misstep meant a fall, but it was . healthy, that outdoor exercise, and we always kept in condition, for we used to fight any man that challenged the'n. There was no drinking and high'' living between fights. -f "1 don't train any mori, though of course 1 do not ahiise" my body b excessive ex-cessive smoking or drinking. It's kqueer the wuy I- darted smoking. Captain John Best, of the Illinois, one of the lake steamers, gave me a meerschaum pipe after I had won '( fight. Out of courtesy to him 1 felt I ought to smoke it. The one-round ; bout I had with that-instr Jinent of tor-J, ture almost finished' me. but after it 'I was all over I wanted to go back at it, i At last I got to like it and since 1 have ( been twent -two years old I have smoked moderately. ' ' ''Will I ever grow old Yes, I sup- pose I will, bnt I have had my share of youth already. Six! -four years a s oinu man is not so bad a record, and I don't feel as if 1 would weaken y et awhile. I'lie boys in the ling seem f to think I am growinc old, and perhaps i J from their way of thinking I am. but I . j don't feel it. I don't feel it." ' Mr. Donovan drew himself 'un aud the j muscles in hi-, arms lightened involuri-tl involuri-tl tarily. ; "It's a prctt.i good argument for the old school, the way I've kepi young. , Fighters nowadays have an easy time of I it witii their rubbers and -their warm,; comfortable quarters, but Uiat is as itj : should be. Only they don't seem to last so long. . , J "Do you want' to see my bc.lt?" aske'dj .Mr. Donovan. I lie led the way to his room, where he I tenderly exhibited the steel belt which bei prires equally with the plctureof "Jim"i Murray, which hangs In the boxing room,! and the sear in the cheek which Jimj Murray left as a somenir of their grentl fight nl Delaware Itiver, just outside Philadelphia. Phil-adelphia. . "It's my best scar," said Miko Donovan, Dono-van, fingering "lhe rugged gash glngcrl ' with a suggestion of icierence. "Jim , Murray gave itto mc in the fairest fight I ever stood up im It was-in the dpen t . . jH and the ground was rough. Jim had been ,H rushing me pretty hard. Althongh I did .' not know it I had backed almost onto a iH jagged stump. One more rush and I would j have been tripped ever it. H " 'Come ou, .Mm.' yelled his backers. H 'Rush him again. You've got him now!' M "Murray taw what they meant. M "'Step cut here, Mike.' he said to me. 'There's a stump behlud you, and it may give you an ugly tumble,' M "I won that fight, and I can't help H thinking it was due to Murray's sports- manship, for one .fall over that stump M might have hurt me so that he could have finished me off." H When asked for a photograph Mr. Dono- van said: H "Show me in a frock coat, will yon, H because if you print a picture in my box- H ing togs" some of these young chaps will H think I'm still in the ring and want to j challenge' me." 11 Luke Wilson, Acrobat. f All. are familiar with the lithe, rapid j play of muscles in the professional aero- fH bat, but one docs not expect to sec it in ;H a man of seventy-two. Watching Luko jH Wilson, of the one time famous Wilson H brothers, "skin the cat" and perform H other feats of agility around the horizon- H tnl bar, one would guess his age as about 'H twenty-five years. It Is not until one, H I scrutinizes closely the shallow wrinkles -H I near lhe eyes and notices the dwindling ,H white hair that one begins to suspect the tH agile athlete is past the prime of life. H Luke Wilson became famous in "The H Span of Life" jears ago. In this feat a. H number of men formed a bridge between two points and another walked across. In circus and vaudeville he made a name H for himself aud has travelled through M many countries in Europe entertaining M audiences with his skill. M "It's a clean life that makes a man live iH long," he said to a reporter for this, news- M paper while resting between "stunts" on his bar in the Herald Square Theatre. "If M ou don't overdo the smoking or the drink- D iug or the eating and lake a deal of exer- H cise there is no reason for the body to H break down. The eating is quite as im- M portant as the other things. I don't believe M in confining one's self to a meagre special H iiet. Eat aiiy kind of nourishing food, M j lit don't cat too much. That is the M trouble with -lot3 of persons who live H )therwise healthy lives they eat too H "They say acrobats have !kort lives. Chat is a common remark heard in the- H itrcs aud in circus tents, but, it isn't true. H "'What a splendid body'.' says some H Dcctator wn telling a traneze nerformer. IH "Yes,' says his companion. 'But he H won't Hie long. None of ihcm do.' IH 1 "That is false. A circus performer or H i an acrobat in vaudeville must lead a clean, H : wholesome life or he can't stand the pbysi- H cal strain. That and the exercise keep H j him healthy and he lives longer than ordi- H nary men, hairing, of course, fatal acci- H ' dents. Theie is an clement of danger in H the work, but the life itself docs not age H Luke Wilson proicd his contentions by returning to lhe bar and swinging about Iit like a pinwhccl. Then he flew through the air and caught .another bar, aud for ten minutes continued to endanger Jifti laud limb in (he manner common to aero- batic performers. H "It's a little cold in here now and makes mc a bit stiff," he said. H It wa.s half-past eight in the morning IH and the stage was draughty, "When the houee is full and the cur- tain up it gets warmer and makes you IH more limber. It's kind of sad working jf round here on an empty stage. I sup- H pose 1 ought to be willing to quit now H and grow old, but I can't get ued to he idea. Most of my old pals are dead or out of the business, but I'm going to try it alouc. I want to sec the crowded H house once more nnd feel the suspense H of a gaping audience just at the critical H K)ii:l of a ditl'cult stun: "It's great und it keeps one oung, I H want to know it all again and I'm going H to. You can't tell. I'm going to bow to a H full houso yet before I do my last turc." H |