Yesterday I posted an old photograph of Charles Decker, who billed himself in the 1800s as “The Smallest Person in the World.” Here’s another one I found recently. Somewhere I had seen a photograph of the little fellow labeled “Memphis” and I wondered if he was from our city.
Well, it only took reader Phoebe Neal a few hours to send me several fascinating old newspaper articles on Decker, which confirmed that he was indeed a Memphian.
Several of the articles (which I have posted below) are lists of famous “society” people staying at various hotels throughout the South. But one is a much longer article from the July 25, 1883, issue of the Galveston Daily News, which tells us quite a bit about Decker:
“Among the notable visitors here is an individual for whom is claimed the distinction of being the smallest human adult in existence. His name is C.R. Decker, and since the death of his illustrious contemporary, General Tom Thumb, he enjoys a clear title as to lilliputian laurels, with only Barnum’s manikins, the wild men of Borneo, as possible rivals.
