The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1879-09-19
PETE PARQUETTE.

ny the way you nave nearu OF Ola fete
Parquette p
oh, Yes he was the Sampson of Wiscon.
sin. Tell me something about him. 'Rath-
er call him. said Mr.. Clark, the Sampson
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. have never doubted the Bible stor-
les OF Samson's strength since / first saw
something. of what Pete Parquett'es muscles
were capable of doing Then Mr.. Clark
meditated awhile, and remarked Il must
have known Parquette as long ago as 1880,
and think the first stories l ever heard of
his prodigious strength were told me by
jeff Davis ah, jeff was bright young Of
ficer. You see, Psrquette, 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, !or he is still
alive. but was quite slim, although his arms
and legs were big with muscles. 1 almost
dislike to give instances of his feats, as l re-
member them, they seem 80 incredible. The
first remarkable exertion l ever saw Par
quette 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 could handle 100 pounds,
and l have got muscle myself Quite a
crowd of us saw him do it, and we got the
exact weight of the iron it was 1900
pounds. don't believe a man has ever
lived who could do it except Psrquette, and
| declare he didn't seem to exert himself
much either. One day party was proceed
ing by boat up the Fox, intending to 60
down the Wisconsin. When the portage
came to be made, yoke of oxen was pro.
cured 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. Parquette was along, and what
do you suppose he did p Picked the schoon.
er up and threw it across?' ventured the
correspondent, anxious to imply faith in
anything. 4.
We'll. 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 and traps scross
all right and rete didn't seem to mind the
strain half so much as the OK did. Now,
know that these assertions seem like rather
though yarns
'Oh, not all. Years ago heard of Par
quette's wonderful strength, but never be-
fore had an 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 arm to me
and have taken hammer and cracked
hickory nuts upon the muscles and it was
like cracking them on a stone. One feat
that know of Parquett'es doing, and to
which there were 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 it,
terrupted the narrator to assure him that
implicit faith was a matter of principle with
a 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 pow
er, and was anxious to see some evidence OF
it. The Samson has friend who kept a
grocery store, and in the evening quite a
crowd gathered there in hopes of seeing an
exhibition Gf strength. Parquette came in
in his quiet way, noted the crowd and took
in the situation at a glance. A barrel OF
hickory nuts set by the counter, and, with.
out word, he took up handful of the dry
hard nuts, held them out so all could see
aud then crushed them to pieces by simply
closing his hand on them, just as you or
would crush handful of birds eggs. JEFF
Davis and other officers at the fort saw hin
do the same thing repeatedly, and there il
no question of the fact-that Parquette real
ly did perform the wonderful feat as hav,
described it. Even more strange stories o
his great strength used to be common, but
have told you only of things that l mysel
saw and know beyond doubt. His power
of walking, running, etc., were almost equa
to his strength, and in fact are well preserv
ed now and he could probably 60 10
miles to Westons 60 or 20. 1t will never b
positively known how much Parquett
could lift when he was in his prime, bu
judging from the way in which he handle,
the 1900 pound piledriver, it is reasonabl
to suppose that at that time he could hav
easily raised double, or nearly double, tina
weight. At any rate he ought to go upol
record as the modern Samson, the stronges
man in the world
Peter Parguette has long been known as
man of almost superhuman strength, and a
one time, a number of years ago, Mr.. Clar
prepared and read a paper before the his
torical society ~ in which abundant proc
WAS furnished of the half-breed having act
ually performed the astonishing feats MI
Clark has here ascribed to him. In the in
terest of what is rare and curious, the proc
that is yet to be obtained ought to be gather
ed aud made matter of record that could nC
be disputed, in relation to the physical pow
er Of the Samson of Wisconsin.
FALL FLOWING.