Seven foot nine inch tall James D. Porter, "the Kentucky Giant," dies in his sleep, aged 49

James D. Porter had been born in Portsmouth, Ohio but had lived most of his life in Kentucky. He had been of normal size as a child but shot up to his remarkable height after his seventeenth birthday. He opened and ran a coffee-house near Louisville on the Portland Canal. He became famous when Charles Dickens, during his visit to the United States, saw and wrote about him. He turned down all following offers of employment on the stage, including with P.T. Barnum, and died quietly in his sleep at his home near his business. (By John Osborne)