The Incredible Arthur Saxon
by David Gentle
The
inscription on Arthur Saxon's tombstone bears the legend, "Traveller stand
still and pray for me, soon comes another and prays for you", They say "only
the good die young", Arthur Saxon must have been good as his life span was
just a brief 43 years. In that short period Saxon was in his time a rightful
claimant to the title of Strongest Man in the World - this is just a part of
the incredible life story of Arthur Saxon. Saxon's real name was Arthur
Hennig a German born on April 28th 1878 in Leipzig, Saxony, Germany.
The strongest of three brothers, like so many other strength athletes of that era, Arthur began his professional strongman career with a travelling circus. With strength acts and the immortal Eugen Sandow proving in his case at least, what a lucrative profession it could be, Arthur with fellow weightlifter Oscar Hilgenfeldt were persuaded to travel to England by another circus performer, a man named Arno Saxon. There, after months of practise under their new name The Saxons, they commenced their English career at The Grand in Sheffield. As with other groups, several changes came about, including brief spells with an Englishman called Somerton and another German Adolph Berg - with the eventual line-up being Arthur, and his two brothers Hermann and Kurt, calling themselves the Arthur Saxon Trio.
As the Saxon trio, they toured the world with their fabulous feats of
strength, performing with the best circuses and at the top variety halls,
playing to audiences all over the U.K. and Holland, Belgium, Hungary, Denmark,
Germany, Austria, Switzerland, India, Ceylon, South Africa, Canada and the
U.S.A.
During 1909 and 1910, Arthur and his two brothers performed with the Ringling Bros. circus making their American debut in the old Madison Square Garden in New York on 26th March 1909. They later gave exhibitions in all of the then 48 states always receiving top billing - but after and inbetween all of this travelling they made their 'real home' and headquarters in Manchester.
Arthur's most famous lift must be his TWO HANDS ANYHOW in which he lifted overhead a total of 4481bs in Dresden, achieved by lifting 336lbs. in the right hand and a further 1121bs in the left. Like most other strongmen, Arthur had a favourite lift or strength feat. In his case it was specializing on the lifting of weights overhead Single Handed, in a popular lift of the day known as the Bent Press or screw lift. A difficult move to describe, the bar was lifted to one shoulder by one of several methods, then supported single handed at the shoulder. The lifter then bent down under the bar in a sort of 'screw' move, until the arm was straight, finishing off the lift by coming erect with strength of lower back, the weight being held overhead at all times with the one arm. Whilst it is debatable whether Arthur could have been truly rated Worlds Strongest in his era. With several contemporary strongmen exceeding him in other forms of power: for example - grip or back strength (e.g. Goerner, see previous article in series), for his size of just under 5'10", weight around 200lbs, chest 46.5 and arms of rarely more than 16 1/2 ins, he was certainly THE GREATEST even in the specialized Bent Press lift breaking records officially and unofficially on many occasions.
Arthur Saxons first official record on the bent press was made in South London Music Hall, England, on 8th April 1903, Arthur lifting a weight of 314Ibs/142.5kg. Later at the same venue, he upped that poundage to 335.75Ibs/152kg., with continual practise he pressed the amazing weight of 370Ibs/168kg. on December 12th 1905 in Stuttgart, Germany. Saxon reports this event on page 24 of his book The Development of Physical Power, claiming he completed the lift, i.e. stood upright at the end. Some controversy once raged over this claim, with a German journalist Emil Weng who reported the weight lifting at the time, saying that although Saxon straightened his arm, he did not stand up to complete the lift. Weng also mentioned that Arthur had been suffering from flu, (I suspect it may have been overindulgence i.e. his favourite tipple!). What has never been in doubt is the fact that Saxon in good health was certainly capable of such a feat of strength, fact easily proven by his lifting even....MORE.
On a fine summers evening 23rd July 1906, the editor of the famous strongman journal Health and Strength. John Murray, visited the Apollo weight lifting club on Newport Street with the three Saxons. The purpose of the visit was partly social. and partly to demonstrate to a mildly disbelieving, William Bankier ("stage name, Apollo) that Saxon was capable of the lifts he advertised with his stage act.
Fortified with a liberal amount of the original supplement, which second to lifting was the Saxon main recreation i.e. serious drinking, thur proceeded immediately substantiate his abilities by assembling a motley collection of weights to make up a respectable. poundage (remember this was In the days of solid weights). Starting with a 2401b barbell to which he attached by pieces of cord various weights, in his short sleeves heaved the lot to his shoulder. With two hands swung it into bent pressing position, and started to press overhead, only to have a solid weight fall off the hefty conglomeration. The whole lot went out of control, much to the distress of onlookers, who by the way were none too happy with the slightly uncontrolled exhibition taking place on the TOP floor of the building.
Removing his collar and tie, the still jovial Arthur had another attempt, this time getting a sobering thump on the head from a swinging 6Olbs kettle bell, resulting in the whole lot collapsing onto the floor. Bankier, who would have been happy to conclude the affair, readily admitted to Saxon, that he believed his capabilities, but Arthur who by now was becoming more exasperated then inebriated, said "The bell is going up even if I have to stay here ALL NIGHT". With a now hypnotic intensity, checking all weights were secure, he again approached the combination of bar and dumbbells.
He upended the bar swung it around into the single arm pressing position, slowly dipped and twisted under the massive collection of weights, and then gradually stood upright. He held the weight overhead single handed for several seconds and then under control lowered the mass to the ground. Immediately placed on the scales the barbell with its mixture of attachments was found to weigh 3861bs. or 175kgs. Saxon. still mostly dressed, apart from coat, collar and tie, and shoes, weighed 2051bs or 93kg. This lift, one of the most remarkable in the history of strength, was witnessed by amongst others strongman Bill Klein, John Murray (the respected editor of Health and Strength magazine), and William Bankier the fabulous strength athlete from Scotland, better known as Apollo, and Arthurs brothers Hermann and Kurt Saxon.
Other famous feats of Arthur Saxon reported by Bill Pullum were the lifting of a 3301bs sack of flour from the floor to chest with both hands, then jerk-heaving it overhead. This sack was designed so that there was no part of it that could be grasped with the hands, and to make it even more difficult to handle it was also smothered in French chalk. Using blocks, Arthur would grasp two half hundredweight blocks 56Ibs), in each hand (i.e. a total of 4 blocks) - taken from the floor simultaneously, then press them overhead in strict (military) fashion for six reps in succession. He usually did this without even taking off his coat. He could carry a 150lb barbell across his shoulders behind his neck with one of his brothers seated on it, and six other heavy men hanging onto it, three a side, he would then either swing the lot around, or else walk from one side of the stage to the other. Using Kettle bells he would swing two from the ground to arms length overhead with the right hand, one of which weighed 801bs and the other 701bs, then pick up a 1301bs kettlebell in the left hand and raise that overhead also.
The lifting of weights, had of course a limited appeal, and for showmanship value, more crowd worthy feats were practised. Travelling the world with their circus act, their most sensational act was a car supporting stunt. This consisted of a 69 foot run up and bridge. Arthur and brother Kurt would lay on their backs and support the bridge at the most crucial point with their feet. First a cycle with a rider would cross, then a horseman with horse, this led up to the FINALE which was a heavy (as were the old fashioned autos) motor car with up to a dozen passengers at one time reaching a total supported weight of 6.600lbs/2.994kgs. The whole set up was shaky to say the least, the motion of the shifting weight causing considerable strain.
First performed at Henglers Circus in London (on the site of the London Palladium) in 1908 and called "Brooklands on four legs", later, the act went to Brussels, Belgium, at the Cirque Royal. Kurt Saxon wrote ... "From London we went to Brussels, and on the 13th March, 1908 the bridge collapsed. severely injuring Arthur and myself. Arthur was out of action for almost a year because of this misfortune but we were young and adventurous n those days and despite minor accidents, we continued to include it and other hazardous feats in our act."