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Which famous polymath and probable genius had tremendous physical strength, described in one contemporary account as “so strong he could withstand any violence; with his right hand he could bend the iron ring of a doorbell, or a horseshoe, as if they were lead”?

1857 – The SS Central America sinks some 160 miles east of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, drowning 426 passengers and crew, including Captain William Lewis Herndon. The ship was carrying 13 to 15 tons of gold from the California Gold Rush, worth perhaps US $600 million today. More at: History