The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1875-09-10
AGED ONE HUNDRED AND NINE.
A Queer Old Citizen OF Troy-His Habits
and Opinions.

A Queer Old Citizen of Troy-His Habits
and Opinions.
He is right here in Troy, and his name
is John Henry Blackwell, and he has
seen 100 summers (when August is OUT
and 10S winters. He was, therefore,
born i'll the spring. John Henry lives
in little old house III the hollow, be-
side babbling but nasty little brook,
just off Lincoln avenue, under the hill.
The house is an old style frame, with
wooden shutters. and has stood where it
now stands about forty-five years.
Neither outside or in has ever been mo-
Tested by n painter. The house is
weather-beaten like its owner (for Black
well owns it), and looks as if the ups and
downs of this world had had no effect
upon it. John Henry lives all alone in
the house. 1t cannot be called bache-
lor's hall, because John Henry is not
bachelor. He has been married, but it
was SO long ago that he has almost for
gotten how it feels. His house is not a
hall either. 1t is more like den or q
hermitage. No one is ever invited into
the place, and no one is ever allowed TO
look into it unless he does SO stealthily.
John keeps the doors and windows
securely fastened, and at night he never
uses a light unless he is looking for
something that has been mislaid in the
chasm of disorder that exists there
Then he uses tallow candle. He is not
very sociable. He has lived SO long that
he imagines the present generation is a
pack of fools, and he wise man. The
first statement may be all right, but
there is room for debate on the latter.
John Henry is an Irishman. and has
been in this country sixty years. He
lived in New York fifteen years, and re-
members the city when it was, he
says, no bigger than Troy. He has
lived in Troy forty-fve years,
and recollects Troy as small
country village. He lost his wife fifty
years ago. He had three sons and one
daughter, but they have all gone to the
other world, and now the old man is
alone.
He has lived alone for twenty-five
years, ever since his daughter died, who
was 65 years old. He has no relatives
now, having outlived the whole of them,
grandchildren and all.
About ninety years ago he learned the
tailoring business, and has worked in
different cities, but within the last thirty
years he has lived In very mysterious
way. He does not work, but goes away
sometimes for weeks ut time, nobody
knows where. He returns as mysterious
ly as he goes, and seems TO have money.
OF late years he has turned his attention
somewhat to the study of medicine; and
no A,,lxy 4lo ofr1,1x- lNr1f f1,n oti
He inagines that he can cure any dis
case, and will always solicit trial Of his
skill on any one whom he sees sick or
suffering. Instances have been known
where he has relieved pain and cured i'll
ness, but III more cases an opposite effect
has followed.
Blackwell seems as vigorous as q man
of 80. In fact, he is the type of q very
lively old man. He can walk n mile
without n cane rs fast as almost any one
seventy-five years younger. He never
rides. He is q thorough pedestrian. He
was never on street car, and only once
on a railroad. Then he went to Albany
on the cars, got lost there, and walked
back. He thinks jackasses superior to
horses for general use, and often ex-
presses surprise that they are not now III
use. The old man may not be aware of
it, but the jackasses are just as numer-
ous as ever; they have two legs though,
instead of four, and are balky. Black
well will not ride behind horse. 1t is
against his principles. He believes in
ancient instead of modern civilization.
The good old Oriental times are the
times for him. He believes in an eye
for an eye, and tooth for a tooth. He
is opposed to lawyers, and puts no faith
in newspapers. Relgiously speaking,
John Henry Blackwell is Protestant
He scarcely ever goes to church, how
ever, but he evidently reads the Bible,
rs he is conversant with its passages
He has no fear of death, and acts as
though he expects to live forever. Troy
Press.