Carl Moerke
by George Jowett
Carl Moerke, the West Haven, Connecticut German in a feat that is as unusual as it is extraordinary.
Carl Moerke, reminds me of Cyr, in build, except that Cyr was a much bigger man. Carl is only five feet two inches and weighs two hundred and twenty pounds, but his bulk for his height can be compared with Cyr’s. Moerke is also tremendously strong. If you want to give yourself an idea of what his capabilities are, ask yourself what you could do with one of the steel rails that lie on a railway track. Perhaps you do not know much about them, but the next time you see the men laying railroad rails, see how many men it takes to carry one. A long rail weighs about one thousand pounds. On one occasion, Moerke carried one of these rails in his hands, with the rail balanced across his abdomen, to its resting place on the track. No wonder he can do a deep knee bend with nearly six hundred pounds. When he was visiting me, I saw him snatch a bar bell of one hundred and sixty pounds overhead with one finger. Not off the floor as you might imagine. First he stood erect with the weight hanging at arms’ length on his finger, then with a quick knee bend he took the weight to arms’ length overhead. He is not lacking in the real stuff, and I have often had the pleasure of seeing this for myself.
Credit: The Key to Might and Muscle by George Jowett