The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1868-04-09
From the st. Louis Mo- Republican
EARLY LIFE OF H,P.LE CONNER,
BY HIS UNCLE.


Struck with the similarity of the life o.
the subject of this history to that of the
| Ledger'S, we have arranged to print it.
NUBBIN RIDGE, Kr, January, 1868.
In writing the early life of my nephew
labor under great difficulty in committing
my thoughts to paper. When very young
l acquired some facility in the use of the
pen. For many years l was made Sec.
retary of every corn -shucking which ]
attended, and this, with the experience
had in killing hogs, made the pen my
favorite instrument. OF late have prac-
ticed very little, and am not very ready
at writing. AS my subject was brought
up by Inc, whatever l write of him may
be relied upon.
| l voted for Gen. jackson nine times
| three times at each election at which he
WIS a candidate. | also frequently vote
for him now. At Une of the elections |
put in three votes for his opponent.
Ia reply to your request for my photo
graph, l adopt a response which recently
made to a similar application from a
committee Of old women in Cheyenne, who
askcd for my own and Hans Patrick's 8.
Ladies, my kind and gentle friends,
As you request, your servant sends
A salt-and pepper photograph
OF Ii. p. L. e. to make on lasgh.
The pictures good, the subject true.
Which (please send rice by return mail)
give TO you;
! also hSnl yOu SINE Of mine,
Not quite correct, bat genuine
This was taken forty years ago,
Before my head got bald, you know,
And now to you may look quite queer,
But night to those who love their beer;
My best respects l herewith send.
provided you've stamp to lendj;
And say to both, if anything you want,
That eggs is eggs, but two from one you
can't.
The measure Of this poetry is little
out of joint, but fully eQual IN every
particular, thiuk. to that of the father Of
the great Ulysses
never had much money in my life,
and still have. For this reason | have
siven the bulk of my fortune to my two
sons: thereby rendering them paupers.
My nephew declined to accept anything,
saying he thought he could get situatio n
on a street car, at dollar and a half a
day, which would place him beyond
immediate want.
Hans Patrick LIE Connor was born a
long time ago, between P. n. in the
evening and a. II. in the morning, and at
the same hour every succeeding day for "A
week. Tue house in which he was born
is still standing but the ground upon which
it WAS built has been removed. 1t is
popularity believed to have been carried off
in pots. by a small band of Fenians, to
fill up the Dutch Gap.
The infant Hans Patrick received his
mammarial balm in the usual way, and
not through the iDstrumentality of patent
bottle. One of his caprices when yet a
child, was to scream with all the force OF
his little lungs, when he was severely
chastised by his parents. This singular
habit was but a foreshadowing of that
genius which has rendered him SO eminent
in his maturity.
The early training of Hans Patrick was
unexceptionably moral. | remember on
one occasion, he was desired by party
of rude companions to go into field and
steal watermelon. He refused. and said
he had been taught that it was wrong to
take other peoples melons. The boys
first coaxed, and then threatened him, but
he held out stoutly to the end. / have
heard it intimated that he knew there was
a man concealed in the field with a double
barred shotgun and bull dog. Hence
his melancholy objection to entering. This
statement may or may not be true, or both.
l cannot say.
Almost as soon as he could go alone, the
subject Of my sketch manifested the
strongest kind of friendship for mules
The first time he ever rede mule by
himself he was about six years old. /
had left home to be gone all day, when
he saddled the critter and rode fourteen
miles to a camp-meeting and back again
He was so small he bad to stand on his
head to put his feet in the stirrups. Then
he would turn a half~handspring and
mount. He used to break all the mules
in the country, ard sometimes broke their
necks. have known him to harness a
mule colt when he had to climb ladder
to put the bride on. He hadn't much
taste for horses; they were too tall for
him Occasionally he would ride one.
His method of saddling and mounting the
animal displayed a wonderful ingenuity
for one so young. He would select a
horse from the pasture, drive him under a
shed, climb on top, with a saddle and
bride on his arm, and then drop down on
the horses back with the saddle underhlm.
He would then crawl out on the horses
neck and put the bride on. He would
often get upon horses in this way when he
was preparing to break them.
If ever a circus came to town, with q
pair of comic mules to amuse the public,