Sam Harris
SAM HARRIS
Newspaper.
CORPSE AND COFFIN WEIGHTED 1330 POUNDS
Sam Harris believed to be the heaviest man in the United States at one time, died at his home in Farmersville of pneumonia. He was well known in McKinney and his last appearance here was in 1923 when he was with a show at the annual picnic. He weighed 720 pounds at the time of his death. The year before his death, he had a special casket built and friends believe he had a premonition of death. The casket is 79 inches long, 35 inches deep, 45 inches across and weighs 610 pounds. When Harris was ready for burial, the coffin weighed a total of 1,330 pounds. The picture of Harris was taken in his Woodmen of the World uniform when he attended a convention held in the tabernacle on the old Rail lot in Fort Worth. He weighed only 563 pounds in the photo.
SAM HARRIS WON FAME AS ONE OF THE BIGGEST MEN IN THE WORLD
Dallas Times Herald, March 30, 1914
Texas has always been proud of her big men. And that is why Texas is proud of Sam Harris of this county. San has the distinction of being not only the biggest man in the state, but the largest in the nation. He tips the beams at 692 pounds and swears that he is “still gainin’.” But his avoirdupois is not all fat as might be supposed. Sam is solid as a rock, according to those who know him intimately, and is as powerful as a team of oxen. He admits that he “can life anything that is loose at both ends,” and has come pretty near demonstrating that he is right on more than one occasion. Years ago when he was city marshal of Farmersville, the town was visited by a disastrous fire. Entering one of the threatened buildings he pushed a safe, weighing a ton, out onto the sidewalk without assistance. The next day it took two of the largest horses in town to return the safe to the spot from which he had moved it. Passing the scene of the fire the next day, Sam saw another safe, which was no small one, lying in the wreckage and debris. “Wisht I had of seen that one yesterday,” he drawled. “I’d a put her in my vest pocket and toted her out.”
Has Jolly Disposition.
Sam Harris, according to his friends, is just a big, happy-go-lucky boy, always jolly and full of fun. He refuses to take anything seriously and enjoys a more or less indolent existence as he says “work don’t agree with me now how.” He owns a beautiful farm, two miles south of Farmersville, and spends his winters there. In the summer he packs his grip, which is in reality a steamer trunk, and tours the country with a carnival company.
He has his special attendant, a regular “man Friday,” who caters to his every need, and spends the day “jollying” the more fragile and unfortunate mortals who clink silver into the coffers of his manager to enter the tent and take a peep at him.
But Sam admits that life has its little inconveniences. He is getting so heavy on his feet he finds it difficult to “get about” much. Most of his traveling is done in a specially built buggy drawn by a team of white mules. He has a Ford car but he had to abandon it because he said it was too much trouble to put the top down every time he wanted to get in or out. Then, too, he found the going rather rough as the springs would sag until the body rested on the axles when he was aboard and every bump in the road was transmitted directly to him. “It is kind of cramped riding in the back seat alone, too,” he says. At home Sam has his furniture made to order, but when he goes visiting he has many difficulties to overcome.
Has to Sleep On Floor.
“I can get pretty comfortable,” he says, “by placing two chairs together and sitting in them. but I haven’t yet found a bed that will bear my weight. Usually I put a mattress on the floor and place a chair under my head so I won’t lie down flat. It chokes me to lie flat on my back.”...
Sam is married and has four sons and four daughters.... He has two sisters and two brothers, but none so large as he, although all are of considerable size.
Newspaper.
CORPSE AND COFFIN WEIGHTED 1330 POUNDS
Sam Harris believed to be the heaviest man in the United States at one time, died at his home in Farmersville of pneumonia. He was well known in McKinney and his last appearance here was in 1923 when he was with a show at the annual picnic. He weighed 720 pounds at the time of his death. The year before his death, he had a special casket built and friends believe he had a premonition of death. The casket is 79 inches long, 35 inches deep, 45 inches across and weighs 610 pounds. When Harris was ready for burial, the coffin weighed a total of 1,330 pounds. The picture of Harris was taken in his Woodmen of the World uniform when he attended a convention held in the tabernacle on the old Rail lot in Fort Worth. He weighed only 563 pounds in the photo.
SAM HARRIS WON FAME AS ONE OF THE BIGGEST MEN IN THE WORLD
Dallas Times Herald, March 30, 1914
Texas has always been proud of her big men. And that is why Texas is proud of Sam Harris of this county. San has the distinction of being not only the biggest man in the state, but the largest in the nation. He tips the beams at 692 pounds and swears that he is “still gainin’.” But his avoirdupois is not all fat as might be supposed. Sam is solid as a rock, according to those who know him intimately, and is as powerful as a team of oxen. He admits that he “can life anything that is loose at both ends,” and has come pretty near demonstrating that he is right on more than one occasion. Years ago when he was city marshal of Farmersville, the town was visited by a disastrous fire. Entering one of the threatened buildings he pushed a safe, weighing a ton, out onto the sidewalk without assistance. The next day it took two of the largest horses in town to return the safe to the spot from which he had moved it. Passing the scene of the fire the next day, Sam saw another safe, which was no small one, lying in the wreckage and debris. “Wisht I had of seen that one yesterday,” he drawled. “I’d a put her in my vest pocket and toted her out.”
Has Jolly Disposition.
Sam Harris, according to his friends, is just a big, happy-go-lucky boy, always jolly and full of fun. He refuses to take anything seriously and enjoys a more or less indolent existence as he says “work don’t agree with me now how.” He owns a beautiful farm, two miles south of Farmersville, and spends his winters there. In the summer he packs his grip, which is in reality a steamer trunk, and tours the country with a carnival company.
He has his special attendant, a regular “man Friday,” who caters to his every need, and spends the day “jollying” the more fragile and unfortunate mortals who clink silver into the coffers of his manager to enter the tent and take a peep at him.
But Sam admits that life has its little inconveniences. He is getting so heavy on his feet he finds it difficult to “get about” much. Most of his traveling is done in a specially built buggy drawn by a team of white mules. He has a Ford car but he had to abandon it because he said it was too much trouble to put the top down every time he wanted to get in or out. Then, too, he found the going rather rough as the springs would sag until the body rested on the axles when he was aboard and every bump in the road was transmitted directly to him. “It is kind of cramped riding in the back seat alone, too,” he says. At home Sam has his furniture made to order, but when he goes visiting he has many difficulties to overcome.
Has to Sleep On Floor.
“I can get pretty comfortable,” he says, “by placing two chairs together and sitting in them. but I haven’t yet found a bed that will bear my weight. Usually I put a mattress on the floor and place a chair under my head so I won’t lie down flat. It chokes me to lie flat on my back.”...
Sam is married and has four sons and four daughters.... He has two sisters and two brothers, but none so large as he, although all are of considerable size.
