Historic Hood River
“Strongest Policeman in the World”
Notes
A while back I shared some autographed face shots from local theater impresario Art Kolstad. I skipped this one because we don’t have an ID, but I think I do now. The text reads, “To My Friend Art Kolstad: Yours for Success. Sylvest Strongest Policeman in the World”
A 1925 article from the Indiapolis Star indicates George Sylvest won some sort of award for runner up in the “Most Courteous Policeman” contest. Two years later an article indicates he has resigned from the police force to do a “strong man” act on the vaudeville circuit. Apparently George Sylvest made it to the Rialto Theater in Hood River. What feats of strength does the world’s strongest policemen perform? An account of his November 1927 performance in Eatonville, Washington says he “pulls against motor trucks, twisys horseshoes in his teeth, breaks rocks with his bare fists and bends steel bars with his little fingers.”
I wonder how much extra business his visit generated for the town’s dentists?
Jim Mason
We need an audio file of your voice in the Notes section asking these questions! I’d pay money to witness a man attempt to break, say Beacon Rock, with his bare fists.
L.E.
Police life must have been boring.
nels
But what did he do when he got old, lost his strength, and no retirement? Hopefully the wife had good retirement. Unable to find later life, although there is an Alaskan oil and water color artist with the same name.
Jeffrey W Bryant
See FamilySearch.org for George Henry Haas, G93H-FJX. He died in 1944.