New book highlights Cass County legend
With his first book, Out of the Borderlands into the Big Top: Adventures of the World’s Tallest Man, author Benny E. Prince delivers an inside look at Cass County legend Big Jim Patterson and his adventurous life in the Gilded Age as the World’s Tallest Man.
Based on generations of stories and an extraordinary collection of artifacts from the family Civil War chest containing wondrous and possibly historically significant tintype photos, extremely rare cabinet cards of famous circus performers and beautifully handwritten letters filled with remarkable stories from the era.
This piece of fictional history gives us details into Jim’s trials and tribulations, from growing up in post-Civil War Texas to becoming a Worldwide celebrity. Several articles have been written about his amazingly improbable life and folks in the region are certainly proud to call him their own, as is his nephew, the book’s author. Readers will not only learn of his incredible adventures but also discover that he was as kindhearted as he was tall and deserves to be celebrated.
Growing up in the Borderlands of reconstruction Texas, Jim witnessed his fair share of bloodshed and brutality as people fought to protect their families and way of life. Lawlessness and thievery were normalized out of perceived necessity, but this behavior never sat well with him. Giant and intimidating in appearance, his soul was warm and gentle. In many regards it was a scary time, growing up during a brutal war and around vicious outlaw cousins like Cullen Baker, but Jim made a conscious decision early in life, this would not be his path.
Being a highly spiritual man and truly believing that God had a plan for him, the premonition came true when he was discovered by the Sells Brothers Circus.
Although naive and reserved during his youth, the circus opened Jim’s eyes to a completely dissimilar World to the one he grew up in. Standing at 8’4”, Big Jim quickly became a popular attraction collecting a nice salary and up to $15,000 per week in today’s money for autographs and photos, both as the World’s Tallest Man… and Woman. He often complained about the price of his custom dresses however he and his fellow “freaks” (as they called themselves) worried little about money, often visiting the “treasure wagon” for a few thousand dollars in gold coins to cover the cost. By the time Sells Brothers made their famous Worldwide tour in 1890, Jim was a wealthy man owning properties throughout the United States as well as several animals in the circus’ menagerie. An animal lover by nature, he adored his horses and monkeys but felt a special affection for an albino gorilla which he would not take any amount of money for and the only of its kind at the time. His beloved gorilla was trained to trapeze, tight-rope, ride bikes and dogs, as talented as any human circus performer, according to Jim. When James Wesley Patterson died on Halloween night 1920 at the age of 73, his obituary was published throughout the United States describing the loss of the World’s tallest living man. Back home only a single, understated sentence was needed to convey the sadness of losing a local legend… James Patterson, the big man from Bloomburg was over Saturday.
Out of the Borderlands into the Big Top is currently self-funded by the author and scheduled for release April 2022 offered in eBook, softcover and limited hardcover editions. Readers can secure copies today by supporting the author’s Kickstarter campaign running now through October 6th.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/bennyprince/out-of-the-borderlands-...
For questions or comments feel free to contact via email: Benny.Prince@gmail.com