"Hungry Sam" - Columbia County's Champion Eater

Samuel L. "Hungry Sam" Miller

1859-1936

Sam was best known for his ability to eat incredible quantities of food in one sitting.

Samuel Lloyd Miller was born August 3, 1857 in  Schuylkill County, the  eldest of six children born to William and Lydia R. Miller

Sam worked a variety of jobs, in a variety of towns, including Wagon Driver, Laborer for AC&F, and night watchman at the Watsontown Door and Sash Company.  He frequently took employment as a farm laborer.   

And nearly as frequently, he engaged in wagers over how much food he could consume.

1911

 'HUNGRY SAM" GIVES ADDRESS TO SKEPTICS
The Morning Press, March 4 1915
 Still Ready to Do Some Eating Stunts, and Recalls Past History

 "Hungry Sam" Miller, who has been sojourning in Greenwood, Benton, Beach Haven, Berwick, Buckhorn, Dutch Hill and Jerseytown, was in town yesterday on his way to Strawberry Ridge from Berwick, where he has been indulging in stories of his I past. 
 Sam gets THE PRESS each day and he views with scorn these amateur come to his attention. 58 years of eating efforts that once. in a while age he is still in mighty good eating trim.

 With the question as to that which he counted his best eating performance 'Hungry Sam" replied: "About the best was in 1897 when I was working for William Yost in York State. Yost lived five miles from Waterloo and Waterloo is three miles from Fayette.  This was at Fayette where  on a bet of $25.00 I ate 144 fried eggs in two and a half hours. And I can do it again too. 

When I was up in  New York State, I ate an eighteen pound turkey. It was an 'old socker.' I picked it to the bones and didn't allow a scrap to get away. The fellows that lost the money made me suck the bones.

Then down at Shamokin Dam back in 1883 I ate thirteen pounds of fried  eels with my lunch. I  did lots of eating down there in 1883 and 1884.  That seems a good while back, don't it? There was more money in sight then than there is now"

 Sam is open for engagements. Address Samuel Miller, Strawberry Ridge.

From 1918 to 1921, during the war, Sam took a break from his gastronomic feats.

In 1921, while living on a farm 10 miles from Sunbury, he walked into town and announced his "fast" was over.

In 1924, Sam was working as a night watchman at the Watsontown Door and Sash Company, when three unidentified men attacked him.  Sam was able to draw his revolver and fire, and believed he wounded one of the men.

1928

In a 1932 article, Sam bemoans aging, saying he hopes to die soon, while he still has the money to bury himself.  "Sometimes I wake as early as 4 and 5 o'clock, ", Sam Said, "But I don't get up, because I'd only be in the way, and anyhow, it's better that I should get more sleep now than when I was younger."

Sam died December 7th 1936, in Danville State Hospital

Death Puts End To Gastronomic Feats Of Miller

 "Hungry Sam" Expired At Age of 79 After Three Years' Illness FEATS OF EATING WERE WIDELY KNOWN

 Bale of Hay at One Meal, 18 Pound Ham at Another Among His Records 

"Hungry Sam" Miller has come to the end of the gastronomic trail. Seventy-nine years of age, the man whose feats in breaking up chicken waffle suppers, eating whole hams and eating a dozen or two pies at one sitting were the talk of the countryside more than two decades ago, died Monday evening in the Danville State Hospital, where he had been ill for the past three years. 

Though a native of Schuylkill County, most of his life was spent in the Jerseytown and Dutch Hill sections, although late in life he worked for some years at Watsontown and resided for two years with his brother, Adam, in Berwick. His death occurred 7:50 Monday night from complications. 

"Hungry Sam" came by his nickname honestly, and defended it with zeal for years.He was quick to accept either a challenge or a wager based on his ability to eat, and he drew no fine lines.

 He was the nemesis of chicken and waffle suppers when they advertised "all you can eat for fifty cents," and more than one committee shuddered when they saw him walk into a church supper of that nature just when things were getting nicely organized.  But 'Hungry Sam" was never much given to that sort of thing. 

Ordinarily a small eater, he could gorge when the occasion warranted, and whenever there was a wager up or some other would-be eating champion appeared on the horizon, he was ready for action. One of his most remarkable feats was eating a bale of hay. That was done on a wager and was accomplished by the simple medium of burning the hay and eating the ashes.

 For some years, "Hungry Sam" was an attraction at numerous picnics, and there were times when an opponent could be found for him. Oysters by the hundreds were merely a snack for him on occasions, while on others he could make a meal on a couple of dozen pies. Once he confided to a reporter that he thought his greatest achievement was a an eighteen pound ham at one sitting. 

Working out on an order of fried eggs one night, "Hungry Sam" got away with 144, and on another occasion he consumed seventy -odd eggs shells and all. He was in his hey-dey in the years just before the world war, and after that he did comparatively little competitive eating. His life was spent as a farm hand, and never once was an employer heard to complain that "Hungry Sam" had eaten him out of house and home. He often remarked that he ate less than an ordinary man except when he really had some reason to try, Then his capacity was almost unlimited.

 He is survived by two brothers, Adam and Montgomery, of Berwick, and a sister, Mrs. Annie Edwards, also of Berwick. Funeral services will be held at 2 P. M. Thursday at the home of his brother, Adam, on Second Avenue,  Berwick, with burial in Roselawn cemetery.