File:San Diego Giant - Exhibitor (right) and W. J. McGee (left) of the Smithsonian, unknown date.jpg

Summary

The Salt Lake tribune. (Salt Lake City, Utah), 07 June 1908. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. <https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045396/1908-06-07/ed-1/seq-17/>

Article

The San Diego Giant.

The mummy of the "tallest human giant who over lived" was being barked by a side-showman at the Atlantic exposition while a number of these Smithsonian scientists were there. They asked permission to examine it and when consent was given applied their tapes and found that it measured eight feet four inches from crown to heel. The giant had been found in a cave near San Diego. Cal., by a party of prospectors, according lo the exhibitor. Over the head were the remains of a leather hood which appeared to have been part of a shroud. Worn teeth were visible in the mouth and the outlines of the ribs were plainly seen through the skin. The elongated, emaciated body stood erect in a great, narrow coffin ten feet long. The exhibitor agreed to sell it for $500 to the Smithsonian, which dispatched Mr. Lucas to the scene. He, Prof. W. J. McGee, and others made a careful test. A piece of the giant's dried skin was removed and when tested in the chemical laboratory of the Smithsonian was found to be gelatine. Professor McGee is shown on the left of the giant in the accompanying picture, and the exhibitor who was perfectly innocent of fraud, is shown on its right.

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