I just read about this guy in the book "Convict Conditioning" and did a little research about him. Was this dude for real?
One story tells about him beating the shit out of 6 beastly longshoremen who attacked him and he put them all in the hospital. Another talks about him taking out 20 Nazi supporters:
"#6.
It's 1939 New York, and a diminutive Jewish gentleman is strolling the streets, just generally going about his business, which may or may not revolve around being Jewish and tiny -- we're not here to assume. And then he spots a sign outside an unadorned building simply reading "No dogs or Jews allowed." Anger wells up within him, and despite all better judgment, our 5'4" hero storms off to fetch himself a ladder and a bat. When he returns, he tears the sign from the wall and hurls it to the ground, where it lands ... right at the feet of the 20 or so angry Nazis watching from below.
Yes, the building was a Nazi headquarters, and it was just chock full of violent, racist assholes. They knocked over the small man's ladder and closed in on him from all sides. One thing was for sure: Somebody wasn't walking away from this fight.
And that "somebody" was 20 Nazis.
Because our tiny hero was, at the time, the world's strongest man.
Joseph Greenstein, aka the Mighty Atom, was a renowned circus strongman, and he quite reasonably proceeded to beat the shit out of every Nazi he could lay his little hands on. He knocked back over a dozen men, breaking arms, noses, legs and presumably the hearts of treasure-hunting femmes fatales everywhere. Joe was arrested and taken to court after the fracas, where he was charged with dozens of counts of battery. The judge, being unable to fathom one man causing so much damage, asked the arresting officer if all of the men involved in the fight were standing before him. Surely, he thought, Joe had accomplices who simply got away.
And as expected, the officer answered, "No, they're not."
Then, before the judge could finish nodding smugly, the officer clarified that there were still half a dozen Nazis in the hospital too hurt to attend court. Presumably, this exchange was punctuated by a double-take, two spit-takes and a monocle pop.
The officer went on to point out, however, that the men attacked Joe, not the other way around. When asked why, the officer simply speculated: "They're Nazis."
The case was immediately dismissed. And Joe's bat was entered into evidence, crated up and stored in a massive government warehouse with all of the other mythical artifacts, never to be seen again.
http://www.cracked.com/article_19585_6-r...z1qbLn4Qp9
Here's some other links about the guy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Greenstein
http://thehumanmarvels.com/1235/joseph-g.../strongman
One story tells about him beating the shit out of 6 beastly longshoremen who attacked him and he put them all in the hospital. Another talks about him taking out 20 Nazi supporters:
"#6.
It's 1939 New York, and a diminutive Jewish gentleman is strolling the streets, just generally going about his business, which may or may not revolve around being Jewish and tiny -- we're not here to assume. And then he spots a sign outside an unadorned building simply reading "No dogs or Jews allowed." Anger wells up within him, and despite all better judgment, our 5'4" hero storms off to fetch himself a ladder and a bat. When he returns, he tears the sign from the wall and hurls it to the ground, where it lands ... right at the feet of the 20 or so angry Nazis watching from below.
Yes, the building was a Nazi headquarters, and it was just chock full of violent, racist assholes. They knocked over the small man's ladder and closed in on him from all sides. One thing was for sure: Somebody wasn't walking away from this fight.
And that "somebody" was 20 Nazis.
Because our tiny hero was, at the time, the world's strongest man.
Joseph Greenstein, aka the Mighty Atom, was a renowned circus strongman, and he quite reasonably proceeded to beat the shit out of every Nazi he could lay his little hands on. He knocked back over a dozen men, breaking arms, noses, legs and presumably the hearts of treasure-hunting femmes fatales everywhere. Joe was arrested and taken to court after the fracas, where he was charged with dozens of counts of battery. The judge, being unable to fathom one man causing so much damage, asked the arresting officer if all of the men involved in the fight were standing before him. Surely, he thought, Joe had accomplices who simply got away.
And as expected, the officer answered, "No, they're not."
Then, before the judge could finish nodding smugly, the officer clarified that there were still half a dozen Nazis in the hospital too hurt to attend court. Presumably, this exchange was punctuated by a double-take, two spit-takes and a monocle pop.
The officer went on to point out, however, that the men attacked Joe, not the other way around. When asked why, the officer simply speculated: "They're Nazis."
The case was immediately dismissed. And Joe's bat was entered into evidence, crated up and stored in a massive government warehouse with all of the other mythical artifacts, never to be seen again.
http://www.cracked.com/article_19585_6-r...z1qbLn4Qp9
Here's some other links about the guy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Greenstein
http://thehumanmarvels.com/1235/joseph-g.../strongman
Beyond All Seas
"The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe.
To be your own man is a hard business. If you try it, you'll be lonely often, and sometimes
frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself." - Kipling
"The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe.
To be your own man is a hard business. If you try it, you'll be lonely often, and sometimes
frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself." - Kipling