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Comment by XLFD on December 20, 2014 at 12:41am

That is a fascinating find, Willy; I've seen him before in the Guinness BOWR, but that's wild that he died in our neck of the woods.  This would be a ripe topic for the upcoming historyquest coming to our town.  Check out this video that came out in 1998 called "The Giant of Illinois", lyrics follow which starts off with his death at the young age of 22.  Check him out on Wikipedia to see his yearly growth totals.  He was still growing big time at the age of 22:

The giant of Illinois
Died from a blister on his toe
After walking all day through the first winter's snow

Throwing bits of stale bread to the last speckled doves
He never even felt his shoe full of blood

Delirious with pain, his bedroom walls began to glow
And he felt himself soaring up through falling snow
And the sky was a woman's arms
The sky was a woman's arms

A boy with a club foot
Had sat next to him in school
Once upon a summer's day they went wandering through the woods

They spotted a sleeping swan
On the banks of a muddy stream
And they stormed it with rocks till it collapsed in the reeds

They lay out on a green lawn full of chocolate and lemonade
But under the blue bowl the giant was afraid
Because the sky was a woman's arms
The sky was a woman's arms

Comment by Willy on December 19, 2014 at 10:21pm

He died in Manistee Mi. during a visit. He contracted an infection from a skin abrasion and died shortly after,