Barney Davis

from Wikipedia: Waino and Plutanor were actually Hiram W. and Barney Davis, two mentally disabled brothers from a Pleasant Township, Knox County, Ohio farm, born in 1825 in New York and 1827 in Ohio respectively. The 1850 census for them suggests they were born slightly later in 1829 and 1831. Their parents were David Harrison Davis and Catherine Blydenburgh. After their father's death in 1842, their mother remarried to William Porter. They were each 40 inches tall and weighed about 45 pounds, yet could perform feats of great strength such as lifting heavy weights and wrestling with audience members on stage. Discovered and subsequently promoted by a traveling showman known as Doctor Warner in 1852, Hiram and Barney were given new names, Waino and Plutanor, and a sensational back story - they were said to be from the island of Borneo, where they had been captured after a great struggle with armed sailors. They initially had modest success, and at least one newspaper believed them to be dwarves from America.[1] The two soon went on to be exhibited at states fairs across the United States. At some point in the next few years management of the pair was transferred to a relative of Doctor Warner, Hanford A. Warner.

In 1874 they were valued at $50,000.[2] In January 1877 they were performing at the New American Museum located in Manhattan.[3] In June 1880 at the time of the federal census, they were touring with William C. Coup's circus and were enumerated under their assumed identities. By 1882 Waino and Plutanor became involved with P. T. Barnum and his traveling exhibitions. With Barnum's fabled promotional skill, the careers of the Wild Men of Borneo took off and over the course of the next 25 years, the pair earned approximately $200,000, which was an enormous sum in that era. Their exhibitions primarily consisted of performing acts of great strength, such as lifting adult audience members and wrestling with both audience members and each other. They were said to be able to lift up to 300 lbs each. In November 1887 they were performing at Eugene Robinson's Dime Museum and Theatre.[4] In the 1890s Hanford's son Ernest took over the management duties of the Davis brothers due the former having become blind.