Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1883-03-16

4 Man Who Could Lift 1890 Pounds without
Harness

4 Man Who Could Lift 1890 Pounds Without
Harness
LNTHtoHDINi STRENGTH Vt
~IIr>Il -FiNi. YEARS oF iai..
In the Troy Iin,cS recently AZ
l.earcd an ;liici" giving ii short his
tory # the If" and doings of Abn"r
NeIlrath. Of Euclil. Ono. and III
that article he V lis represented is the
strongest lAan III America, whllo
living. with the exception Of that
famous strong man Of Northern New
York. Joseph Call. The greatest
feat Of strength claimed for McIlrath
was the lifting Of an iron shaft which
weighed Zoo pounds. and it is also
stated thai be lifted il by crashing II
with his hands. which. it is claimed.
would he equal to lifting twice that
weight III harness. 1t would be use
less t. deny the fact that Abner
Mcllrath was a mighty man. But |
propose to give a short sketch of the
life Of man who WAS but little
known outside OF 'he village Granville
Corners. in Washington equity.
where he WAS born and spent the
most Of Il long life 1t is known of
him. and can be proved, that he has
performed feats OF strength unsur
PASSED by any man that ha. lived III
ancient on modern times. oEcrpting.
Of course. the Biblical SAMSON. His
name Is. or WAS. Stcarn Carpenter:
his occupation was that of farmer.
Being naturally of ii very quiet.
pcacsabie disposition. and Q member
Of the Society Of Friends. he never
did anything for display to attract
attention. but the fcats Of strength
that he performed were done more to
satisfy himself and 10 see how much
he could lift than for anything else.
All of his lifting was done by main
strength. without harness of any
kind. One of his greatest fcats was
lifting Il box filled with iron which
weighed 1900 pounds, which Is equal
to lift'nr $500 pounds III harness.
He lifted it with case with his hands
graspin" rope or chain which was
bound around the box to secure it
He did not know the weight Of the
box of iron Il. the time. and was after
wards heard to say that had he known
il weighed SO near ton he would
have put on the other hundred
pounds and lifted tho whole. Al
another time he lifted a cannon that
weighed 400 pounds and shouldered
it. At Comstock's Landing. on tn,
Chaplain Canal near Whitehall. one
day while waiting for load Of mer
chandisc. no lifted barrel of whits
lead with ease The writer Of thi.
article was an eye witness of thi:
feat. besides a number of others
His neighbors when killing hogs, i
Stearn happened to be aronnd. woult
ask him to guess the weig ht Of hog
just killed. If it happened to be 4;
big ono weighing 400 or 500 pounds
he would s.oop down and twist hi.
fingers Into the bristles. and i'll tina
way would lift the carcass clear from
the ground and guess on its weight
He performed one of the creates
feats Of strength on record after h'
had reached the age of seyeniy-6v,
years. He lifted two twenty fou
foot iron rails by grasping one II
each hand, and walked off with them
, The rails were resting on woodel
horses. so that he did not stoop dcwi
to lift them. One day in haying tim,
he was going from the field with hi
men to the house for dinner The,
were walking along the road together
when one of his men, for mischief
came up behind him and by skillfu
trip threw Carpenter down. He gath
cred himself up and said nothin;
about it. He walked to the house
and after dinner. when returning t,
the field with his men, they cam
along to the place where the maj
gave him the fail. He suddenl,
turned upon the man. and graspin:
him by the shoulder and the seat O
his trousers, lifted him and hurle,
him high in the air above him ant
over a seven-rail fence, by the side o
which they happened to be walking
!, The man came down in the meadow
a rod or mo from the fence, con
siderably shaken up but not badl
hurt. Mr. Carpenter was not gigan
+, tic man in size. He was about ST
feet tall, and appeared mnch les
than that. owing to his massive build
, There was no superhuous flesh upol
him. but the muscles of his arms
. shoulders and neck seemed to b
piled upon him, so great was thei
size. This gave him stopping ap
pearance In crowd a casua
observer would not be likely to pic
him out for one of the strongest mel
that ever lived His strength woul,
equal if not surpass that of the grea
Roman gladiator Milo. Mr. Carpen
ter is living at the present time a
Granville Corners, Washington coun
ty, n. Y. his old home, or was Twin,
the last l heard of him. He must b
over eighty wears of age.