Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1879-08-15
Feats Of Strength Attributed to a Wis.
nnnAin HALF -Rraad.

eonsin Half-Breed.
The Hon. Sat. Clark, of Hericon, was
in town the other day, aud after telling
SOME Of his interesting. "reminiscences
OF the early DAYS wnen JEFF. Davis com
manded at old Fort Winnebago, where
Mr.. Clark was post sutlef, he said: "By |
the way, YOU have heard Of old Pete |
PauduetteP" The correspondent had |
heard, long ago and often, OF the re-
markable man, and know that Mr.. |
Clark could give interesting facts con-
ternlng him, and replied: 40, yes; he !
was the Samson of the Wisconsin. Tell
me something about him"
"Rather call him." said Mr.. CLARK,
/" the Samson OF the world; for without
doubt he wos, In his prime, the strong
est nan who has lived since the great
sates 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 Pauquette's
muscles we're capable of doing"
Then Mr.. Clark meditated awhile,
and remarked; "I must have known
Pauquette as long ago as 1880, and |
think the first stories | ever heard of
his prodigious strength were told me
by JEFF Davis; ah, jeff was a bright
young officer. You see, Pauquette, who
Is half-breed, used to make the vicin-
ity of the old fort his headquarters, and
every now and then, as occasion hap
pened, we would see some new evidence
of his wonderful powers of endurance
or strength. He was not a heavy man,
or rather, Is not, for he is still alive,
but was quite slim, although his arms
and legs were big with muscles. | al
most dislike to give instances of his
feaJs, as remember them, they seem
so incredible. The first remarkable ex-
ertion 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 could handle hun
dred pounds; and have got some mus
Gle myself. Quite a crowd of us saw
him do it, and we got the exact weight
of the iron; it was 1900 pounds. 1
don't believe a man has ever lived who
could do it, except Pauquette, and de-
clare he didn't seem to exert himself
much either. One day party was pro-
ceeding by boat up the Fox, intending
to go down the Wisconsin. When the
portage came to be made, yoke of OK
en- 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 didP'
"Picked the schooner up and threw
;f 0ff vanttrro1 tho nd l.
ent, anxious 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 and traps across all right, and
Pete didn't seem to mind the strain half
so much as the OK did. Now, know
that these assertions seem like rather
tough yarns"
80, not at all. Years ago heard OF
Pauquette's wonderful strength, but
never before had the opportunity of
listening to description of anything he
had done. Go ahead"
ellis muscles were like iron, in their
hardness. l 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 l know OF
Pauquette's doing, and to which there
were a number of witnesses, seems so
absolutely impossible that no one will
believe the story if l tell it, but it is
true. true as life"
The correspondent interrupted the
narrator to assure him that implicit
faith was matter of principle with a
tfnlyl GOOD REs0gle, and that the tale
"Well, it happened at Green Bay,
Everybody up that way had heard Of
Pete's power, and was anxious to see
some evidence of it. The Samson had
friend who kept grocery store, and
in the evening quite crowd gathered
there in hopes of seeing an exhibition
of strength. Pauquette came in in hi;
quiet way, noted the crowd, and tool
in the situation at a glance. A barre
of hickory nuts sat by the counter, and
without word, he took up handful
of the dry, hard nuts, held them out sc
all could see, and then crushed them tC
pieces by simply closing hand on them
just as you or L would crush handful
of birds eggs. JEFF Davis and Other
officers at 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 described it. Even more strange
stories of his great strength used to bt
common, but 1 have told you only O.
things that myself saw and know be
yond doubt. His powers of walking
running, etc., were almost equal to hi
great strength, and in fact are wei
preserved now; and he could probably
go 100 miles to Weston's 90 or 20. /
will never be positively known jus
how much Pauquette could lift wheI
he was in his prime, but, Judging from
the way in which he handled the 2, ,60t
pound pile driver, it is reasonable t.
suppose that at that time he could hav,
easily raised double, or nearly double
that weight. At any rate he ought Il
go upon the record as the modern Sam
son, the strongest man in the world"
Peter Panquette has long been know
as man of almost .superhumai
strength, and at one time, number o
years ago, Mr.. Clark prepared an,
read paper before the Historical So
| CloJy w III WHlCH dDuHudHJ PROOF wa
furnished of the half-breed having ac
tually performed the astonishing feat
Mr.. Clark has here ascribed to him
In the interest of what is rare an,
curious, the proof that is yet obtaina
BILE ought to be gathered and made
matter of record that could not be dis
puted, in relation to the physica
powers of the Samson of Wisconsin -
nrsSOVuWNee UUT. CHtedg0 Tunes.