The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1879-02-28
NUMBER 6.
HE HELD HIS TONGUE.

Agael p. Inman, whose funeral took
place two miles east Of Utica, n. Y, jan
uary "a, was highly eccentric character.
Seventy years ago he built . log cabin on
one of the hills that slope to the Mohawk
river. he was then "a years Of age, had .
wife and $50. Some time during the frat
year of his welded life 1nman informed
his wife thai he intended 20 preserve silence
for the remainder of his days. This con-
clusion was the result OF an exciting dia-
logue which Inman overheard between his
father and a near relative. Expressing q
belief that more harm than good is wrought
by speech, he announced his determination
to place permanent paddock upon bis lips.
This was in 1910. The following year bis
first child was born. When that interest
ing event was reaching . near climax In
man rode seven miles in the night to Fort
Herkimer in quest Of a physician. He
carried slate and pencil, wrote a statement
OF the situation, and returning with the
medicine man received the announce ment
of his paternal responsibilities in silence.
The following year-in 1S12-uhen the
yeomen Of Central and Northern New York
were summoned TO the defense Of Sackett's
Harbor, Inman reported on duty at post
near Adams, Jefferfon county, riding along
nearly one hundred miles through the forest
to the recruiting station. Producing his
slate he wrote q. 'I come 20 fight, not to
talk" The commanding officer declined
to give him a place in the ranks, and In
~,
pay for several mouths. He was noted for
his strength. With Ezra Grinnell, (wbo is
now living at the age OF 81, Inman carried
a cannon from the St. Lawrence river to
Adams, Jefferson county, a distance Of
forty miles. The men we're four days max
ing the trip. Two days OF this time were
passed IN search Of a lost trail. Both were
without food during this journey, but In
man uttered no word OF comment or CON-
plant. After five or six years of this re-
markable silence other eccentricities were
developed. He would never read after
sunset he refused to drink uell-water, and
for 66 years slaked his thirst with rain wa
ter that. bad not touched the ground. His
diet was extremely simple. For fifty years
he had not been out OF doors after G, O'Clock
at night. When asked why he remained
in doors on evenings, he wrote "Man
should rest with nature" His wife, who
survives him, says that no woman ever had
3 kinder husband. The relations between
the couple were always pleasant, and Mrs.
Ihmsn has remarked to her neigbbors {:
eff Aseal talked as much as do the Lord
knows what might happen" Mrs. Inman
is eighty eight years old and vigorous. She
states that during the last few years of her
husbands silence he would mutter in his
sleep. The last time he said anything
audible while asleep was in the campaign
when Millard Fillmore was candidate for
the Presidency on the Know Nothing
platform, with Donelson at the tail of the
ticket. Inmsn was q strong believer in the
doctrine Of which Fillmore was then the
principal exponent, and had attended some
barbacues got up in the interest of Know
NOthingism. One of the songs popular
with the friends of Fillmore ran in this vein:
heard noise like cannon roar.
1t sounded along from shore to shore
heard a shout like thunder tone
For Fillmore and for Donaldson.
Get out OF the way. old Jim Bucky,
You can't run for you're unlucky;
Get ont OF the way, Jackey FremOnt,
Your new bullgine can't get steam ont.
Mrs. Inmsn says her husband, while
asleep, repeated the above quoted lines
with distinctness. On Two occasions he
was betrayed into speech during the day
time. In the summer Of 1917, while as
sistiDg some neighbors at '1og- raising"
prop under one of the logs gave way and
lnman s left hand was badly crushed. A
single exclamation, Sch ~ was the only
verbal indication of the intense pain the
man suffered. When his hand was being
dressed he did not groan. In 1912, while
travelling with his wife in stage between
Syracuse aud Rochester, the vehicle was
halted in front of a small country tavern.
child was sleeping on the porch. Inman
looked out, saw large blacksnake crawl
to the side of the infant. Grasping his
wife's arm he shouted, ''See ~ and, point
ing TO the snake, sprang from the stage,
pursued the reptile some distance and
finally killed it.
Inman never used tobacco in any form,
never tasted liquor, avoided tea aud coffee,
and never had personal occasion to seek
medical advice. He confidently expected
to live to be one hundred years old, and
but for the accident which was the i'm
mediate cause of his death it is highly pro-
ba5le he would have tailed the century.
Last spring be sowed 35 acres with oats
assisting in the fall harvest and performing
from choice the full quota of a farm labor
er's work. The oats were stored away in
a gransry connected with the yelling by
: covered passage way. Mrs. Inman re
turning from the granary one day informed
her husband that the mice were making
some havoc with the oats. The old gentle
man mounted high stool to look into the
oat-bin, lost his footing, aud falling, sus
tanned injuries that speedily resulted in
his death.
He leaves a carefully written record of bis
life during some sixty years of his silence.
Portions of these diaries are quite interest
ing but as a rule be enlarges upon the ab.
furdity of giving utterance to frivulous
thoughts. He seemed to have regarded
speech as a sacred gift, to be INDUCED in
only when it promised benefit to the hu-
man race. Here are some of his ''axioms -
"Most lives are productive of empty noise"
Gas one million is to one, so is sense to
sound" "He who talks most feels least"