Joseph Dusorc
Joseph Dusorc , actually Henri Joseph Cot , (born January 30, 1883 or 1884 in Mounes-Prohencoux , † after 1907) was a French sideshow actor who earned his living as a man of unusual height.
Life
Henri Joseph Cot was born into a French farming family. Both his parents and five brothers were of normal height, but Henri Joseph Cot had reached five feet by the age of eight. At twelve he was 1.70 meters tall, at 16 years 1.95 meters and by the age of 20 he was 2.28 meters tall and wore size 62 shoes. According to an article in the Sun of July 24, 1906, he was consuming he had a dozen eggs for breakfast and eight pounds of meat and six pounds of bread for lunch.
Accompanied by a manager, Cot first traveled to England, where he allegedly became engaged to hotel employee Emily Faraday, and then went on a tour of the United States .
To avoid competition from the Russian “giant” Feodor Machnow (1878–1912), who was traveling to the southern states at the same time as Cot and who attracted more audiences than Cot with his Cossack uniform , his manager moved the route further north. However, Cot, who was apparently ill health, could not stand the cold and returned to France to recover.
Reports of his further life exist in two different versions.
After one of them he did not recover from the illness and died in 1907 at the age of 23. The coffin maker is said to have determined when measuring his body that Cot was "only" 2.27 meters.
After the second version, Cot recovered in France and traveled again to the USA in January 1908 and later to England again. He is said to have been traveling in France in 1909 and not only changed his name but also his appearance in 1910. Henri Joseph Cot is said to have become Joseph Dusorc, the drum major, who from then on had a beard and appeared in uniform. In this guise, which is also documented on photographs and postcards, he traveled through Germany, the Netherlands, Czechoslovakia and Hungary before returning to France on September 11, 1912. Nine days later, according to this version of his biography, he died of an embolism at the age of 29 .
His coffin was transported from Lyon via Montpellier to his homeland. Participants at the funeral allegedly testified that this coffin was too short to hold the huge young man and that the rumbling of stones could be heard when the coffin, which weighs around 500 kilograms, was moved. These rumors led to the assumption that the manager had sold the body of Joseph Dusorc to someone interested, perhaps a medical professor in Montpellier, and had filled the coffin with stones.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ A b Genealogy Aveyron
- ^ The Sun, July 24, 1906
- ↑ Article on the alleged engagement
- ↑ He may also have spent some time in North Africa. André Perié names detailed travel stops , including those from later years, but mostly without citing the source. On Thetallestman.com newspaper articles are shown from 24 July 1906 and on 11 September 1906 according to which was Cot at this time in London, another article from the July 29, 1906 announces a trip to the US. Overall, the travel dates don't seem to be all known.
- ↑ Postcard archive ( Memento of the original from August 1, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ The tallest man
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Dusorc, Joseph |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Cot, Henri Joseph (real name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | French sideshow performer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 30, 1883 or 1884 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Mounes-Prohencoux |
| DATE OF DEATH | after 1907 |