The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1879-08-13


own reports the following: Blackf., Ill;
Black, All, $685. Blackf., 469 is Ind 1857;
Is Ind, 23l; "a Ind, 277; 35 Ind, 387; 40
Ind, AZ, 142; SIS Ind, 1873.
STORIES ABOUT PETE PAUQUErTE.
Feats of Strength Attributed to Wisconsin
HalfBreed.
-fr fChicago TimesJ 1s5 LIS
Hon. Sat Clark, of HORIZON, was in town
the other day, and after telling some of his
interesting "reminiscences of the early days
when jeff Davis commanded at old Fort
Winnebago, where Mr.. Clark was post suit
tier, he said: "By the way, you have heard
OF old Pete Pauquette?" The correspondent
markable man, and knew that Mr.. Clayk
could give interesting facts concerning him,
and replied: .'Oh, yes; he was the Samson
of the Wisconsin. Tell me something about
him.
.sRather call him." said Mr.. Clark, '.the
Samson OF the world, for without doubt he
was, in his prime, the strongest man who
has lived since the great gates of the city
were borne away. l have never doubted the
Bible stories of Samson's strength since l
first saw something of what Pete Pauquettes
muscles were capable of doing"
Then Mr.. Clark meditated awhile, and re-
marked: 81 must have known Pauquette as
long ago as 1880, and think the first stories
l ever heard of his prodigious strength were
told me by jeff Davis. All, JEFF was bright
young officer. You see Pauquette. who is
half breed, used to make the vicinity of the
old fort his headquarters, and every now and
then, as occasion happened, we would see
some new evidence of his wonderful powers
of endurance or strength. He was not
heavy man, or, rather, is not, for he Is still
alive, but was quite slim, although
his arms and legs we're big with
muscles. almost dislike to give instances
of his feats, as 1 remember them, they seem
70 incredible. The first remarkable exertion
1 ever saw Pauquette make was to take an
iron weight that had been used as a pile
driver, and lift it clear from the ground and
swing it around more easily than 1 could
handle 100 pounds. and 1 have got some
muscle myself. Quite a crowd of us saw him
do it, and we got the exact weight of the
iron; it was 800 pounds. don't believe a
man has ever lived who could do it, except
Pauquette, and declare he didn't seem to
exert himself much, either. One day party
was proceeding by boat up the Fox, intend
ing to go down the Wisconsin. When the
portage came to be made, a yoke of oxen
was procured to draw the boat across. The
boat was very heavy, and before half the
distance had been made one of the oxen gave
out completely. Pauquette was along, and
what do you suppose he did,"
Picked the schooner up, and threw it
ious to imply faith in anything.
well, not hardly that, but he took the
end OF the yoke vacated by the played-out OK
and pulled against the other OK, and the
novel team hauled the boat aud traps across
all right, and Pete didn't seem to mind the
strain half so much as the OK did. Now, l
know that these assertions seem like rather
tough yarns"
"Oh, not at all. Years ago heard of
Pauquette's wonderful strength but never
before had the opportunity of listening to a
description of anything he had done. Go
ahead"
"His muscles were like iron in their hard
ness. have had him bare his arms to me
and have taken q hammer and cracked
hickory nuts upon the muscles; and 1T was
like cracking them upon a stone. One feat
that I know of Pauquette's doing. and to
which there were q number of witnesses,
seems so absolutely impossible that no one
will believe the story if tell it, but it is
true, true as life"
The correspondent interrupted the mar
rator to assure him that implicit faith was q
matter of principle with truly good people,
and that the tale should be believed anyhow.
"Well it happened at Green Bay. Every
body up that way had heard of Pete's power,
and were anxious to see some evidence of it.
The Samson had a friend who kept Q grocery
store, and in the evening quite q crowd
gathered there in hopes of seeing an exhibit
quiet way, noted the crowd, and took in the
situation at 8 glance. A barrel of hickory
nuts sat by the counter, and without word
he took up handful of the dry, hard nuts.
held them cut so all could see. and then
crushed them to pieces by simply closing his
hand on them, just as you or would crush
a handful of birds eggs. jeff Davis and
other officers al the fort saw him do the
same thing repeatedly, and there is no ques-
ton of the fact-that Pauquette really did
perform the wonderful feat as have de
scribed it. Even more strange stories oil
his great strength used to be common, but
have told you only things that myself saw
walking, running, etc., were almost
equal to his strength. and in fact are
we'll preserved now, and he could probably
20 100 miles to Weston's 60 or 40. 1t will
never be positively known Just how much
Pauquette could lift when he was in his
prime, but, judging from the way in which
he handled the 2 Compound pile-driver, i
Is reasonable to suppose that at that time hs
could have easily raised double, or nearly
double, that weight. At any rate he ough
to 60 upon the record as the modern Sam
son. the strongest man IN the world"
Peter Pauquette has long been known as
man of almost superhuman strength, and q
one time, plumber of years ago, Mr.. Clari
prepared and read 8 paper before the HIS
torical society ~ in which abundant proc
was furnished of the half-breed haviu,
actually performed the astonishing feats Mr.
Clark has here:ascribed to him. In the in
terest of what is rare and curious, the proc
aud made matter of record that could no
be disputed, in relation to the physical pow
ers OF the Samson of Wisconsin.
jean Armour. rs
GMacmillan's Magazine.l M W