The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1879-02-05
A SILENT LIFE.
Remarkable Career of Asasl Imam.
The Eccsntricitiss of a Man Who SwoIe
OFF From Talking.
How EEe Enlisted to Fight. Not TO Talk
in Defense of xEfs Country.

Uetica N Y, was q highly eccentric charac-
ter Seventy years ago he built a log cabin on
| one of the hills that slope to the Mohawk
river. He was then Is years of age, had
/ wife and $50. Some time during the first
| year of his welded life Inman informed his
wife that he intended to preserve silence
/ for the remainder of his days. This con-
| cluson was the result OF an exciting eia-
logue which Inman overheard between his
| father and a near relative. Expressing
belief that more harm than coed is wrought
| by speech, he announced his determination
to place permanent paddock on his lips This
| was in 1910.
! The following year his frst child was born.
! When that interesting event was approach
! ing near climax Inman rode seven miles
in the night to Fort Herkimer in quest of
a physician. He carried slate and pencil,
/ wrote statement OF the situation, and re-
| turning with the medicine man received the
! announcement of his psternal responsible
ties in silence. The following year-in 1872
when the yeomen of central and northern
| New York were summoned TO the defense Of
Sackett's Hsrbor, Inman reported for duty
/ at post near Adams, Jefferson county,
riding alone nearly 100 miles through the
/ forests to the recruiting station. Producing
| his slate, he wrote: Il come to fight, not to
talk The commanding officer declined to
/ give him place in the ranks, and Inman
remained at the post, working without pay,
/ for many months.
He was noted for his strength. With Ezra
! GrinnelI (who is now living at the age OF so,
/ Inmau carried a cannon from the st. Law
renee river to Adams, Jefferson county,
distance of 10 miles. The men were four
days making the trip. Two days OF this time
were passed in search of lost trail. Both
were without food during this journey. but
! Inman uttered no word OF comment or COM
| plant. After five or six years of this re
| markable silence other eccentricitIes were
developed. He would never read after sun
set; he refused to drink well water, and for
G5 years slaked his thirst with rain water that
had not touched the ground. His diet was
extremely simple. Any article OF food sus.
ceptibie OF adulteration was Stunned. He
al ways sat BY wood fire. and of late years,
| when travelling, carried q box or trunk con-
tanning a supply OF fuel Inman visited New
York City once-some II years ago-riding
! as far as Albany one day and completing the
| has not been out of Goors after 6 O'Clock at
| night When asked why he remained in
| doors evenings. he wrote: Man should rest
/ with nature"
Some years ego Inman had occasion to
visit Buffalo, and as a suit at law was II
prospective he went prepared for seige.
! catering one of the leading hotels in Buifa-
10, the old gentleman wrote: BEST ROOM
No meals. I burn wood. Thought you
might not haYe enough SO brought some
oil NO frlr nj al Wi
ives taken up to his room, and it sufiiced to
keep the eccentric warm and cook his SIM
pie meals during his soiourn in Buffalo
Kerosene oil was g pet aversion. HIS theory
was that the glare strained the eyes, while
the oil left an unhealthy faint in the atmos-
phere He Was never known to sit by coal
fire, always avoided gas, aud his son, from
whom gather these details. assures me that
rather than sit in car heated by s coal fire,
the old gentleman preferred to ride twenty
six miles on the platform on a bitter cold
day in winter.
His wife. who survives him, says that no
woman ever had kinder husband. The re-
lation5 between the couple were always
pleasant ard Mrs. 1nElan has remarked to
her neighbors, IF Asael talked as much as
do, the Lord knows what might happen
Mrs. Inman is lightweight years old and
vigorous. She states tbet during the first
few years of her husbands silence, he would
frequently mutter in his sleep. Tue last
]
was in the campaign when Willard Fillmore
was candidate for the presidency on the
Know \ othing platform, with Donelson at
the tail of the ticket. 1nman was a strong
believer in the doctrine of which Fillmore
was then the principal exponent and had
attended some barbecues got up in the inter
est OF Know Nottingham. One of the songs
popular with the friends of Fillmore ran II
this vein:
~ heard noise like cannon roar.
1t sounded along from shore to shore;
, heard a shout like thunder tone
, For Fillmore and for DOnelsOn.
Get out of the way, old Jim Bucky.
You can't run, for you're unlucky:
: Get out of the way, Jacky Fremont,
Your new bulgine can't get steam ont"
? Mrs Inman says her husband, while asleep
repeated the above quoted lines with dis
> tinctness. On two occasions he was betrayed
into speech during the daytime. In til,
summer OF 1917, while assisting SONS neigh
bors at "log raising" prop under one o
the logs gave way, and lnman's lett hant
was badly crushed. A single exclamation
? 'Oh!'' was the only verbal indication of thu
intense pain the man suffered. When TIT
1 hand was being dressed he did not groan.
: Some of his written replies to the question
of acquaintance curious to know why b.
: preferred silence to speech are worthy o
mention. One retort. frequently used, was
!. "a good listener is to be preferred to poo
{ talker." Another was: 81 want to prov
;, that o man can be happy and hold hi
& tongue" Another: Il am trying to thin
y OF something good enough to say out loud.
g A clergyman once asked Inman whether b
e didn't think the Lord gave him his toIgu
= to be used. The penciled reply was: ''Th
e Lord gave me mind that tells me when t
u use my tongue"
e In 1912, while travelling with his wife in
t stage between Syracuse and Rochester, th
D. vehicle was halted IN front of a small! couI
try tavern. child was sleeping on tn
porch. Inman, looking out, saw a larg
blacksnske crawl to the side of the infan
Grasping his wifes arm, he shouted; "Ssel
n and, pointing to the snake, sprang from tn
sr stage, pursued the reptile some distance, an
D. finally killed 1t.
II Inmsn was fond of reading, and was on
e. OF the earliest patrons of the New Yor
" World. He lost faith in that journal in th
re campaign of 1S6S after It's attack on Sc,