People who knew Eduarde Beaupre claimed his feet were relatively small for his size. He wore a size 26 shoe. Twenty-three yards of material had to be taken to the tailor each time he needed a new suit. Eduarde was born in the Village of Willow Bunch, Saskatchewan, close to the Montana border. He grew to a height of 8 feet, 2 and half inches and weighed 396 pounds. He slept in a bed 12 feet long. Just to show off he could lift 600-pound horses to his shoulder height. It seemed natural Eduarde Beaupre would join the circus and travel Canada and United States as both a sideshow attraction and a strongman. He died from tuberculosis while performing at the St. Louis World's fair in 1904. He was only 21.
His father headed down to take his son back for burial. He was told he'd have to pay double fare on the train for his son's larger-than-life remains. Father didn't have the fare. Undertakers in Missouri embalmed the giant and charged to view the body. Police put a halt to the exploitation and the body disappeared. Later it surfaced in a Montreal museum. Then it was claimed by the University of Montreal and displayed in a glass case in the anatomy department.
In the 1970's, a nephew of the Beaupre family learned about Eduarde's body and asked the university for permission to have it buried back in Willow Bunch, Saskatchewan. They refused. The nephew persisted until 1989 and threatened court action. Then the university refused to pay transportation costs but did agree to pay for cremation. Eight decades after his death Eduarde Beaupre's cremains were buried beneath the lawn of the Village's museum. In tribute, a full-size statue of Beaupre was erected above his final resting place.
-Original account from the research of Fred Woodley, London, Ontario.
Information Source: dotcalm