The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1883-02-10
A Modern Sampson.


A letter to the Troy, N. Y, Times, says
In the Troy Times recently appeared an
article giving short history of the life
and doings of Abner McIlrath, of Euclid,
Ohio, and in that article he was represent
ed as the strongest man in America while
living, with the exception Of that famous
strong man of northern New York, Joseph
Call. The greatest feat of strength claim
ed for McIlrath was the lifting of an iron
shaft which weighed !, 200 pounds, and it
is also stated that he lifted it by grasping
it with his hands, which, it is claimed,
would be equal to lifting twice that weight
in harness. 1t would be useless to deny
the fact that Abner McIlrath was mighty
man. But | propose to give a short
sketch of the life of man who was but
little known outside of the village of
Granville Corners in Washington county,
where he was born and spent the most of
a long life. 1t is known of him, and can
be proved, that he has performed feats OF
strength unsurpassed by any man that has
lived in ancient or modern times, except
ing, of course, the Biblical Sampson. His
name is or was Stearn Carpenter, his occu-
patton was that of farmer Being natur-
ally of a very quiet, peaceable disposition
and a member of the society of Friends,
he never did anything for display to attract
attention, but the feats of strength that he
performed were done more to satisfy him.
self and to 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 feats was
lifting box filled with iron which weigh
ed ], 900 pounds, which is equal to lifting
$500 pounds in harness. He lifted it with
ease with his hands by grasping rope or
chain which was bound around The box to
secure it. He did not know the weight of
the box of iron at the time, and was after
ward heard to say that had he known it
weighed so near ton he would have put
on the other hundred pounds and lifted the
whole. At another time he lifted cam
non that weighed 1,400 pounds and
shouldered it. At Comstock's Landing,
on the Champlain Canal, near Whitehall,
one day while waiting for load Of mer-
chandise, he lifted barrel of white lead
with ease. The writer of this article was
an eye witness to this feat, besides a num-
Der of Others His neighbors when killing
hogs, if Stearn happened to be around
would ask him to guess the weight of a
hog just killed. If it happened to be a
big one weighing 400 or 500 pounds he
would stoop down and twist his fingers
into the bristles, and in that way would
lift the carcass clear from the ground and
guess on its weight. He performed one Of
the greatest feats of strength ON record
after he had reached the age of seventy
five years. He lifted two twenty -four-foot
rails by grasping one in each hand, and
walked off with them. The rails were
resting on wooden horses, so he did not
stoop down to lift them. One day in hay
ing time he was going from the field with
his men to the house to dinner. They
were walking along the road together,
when one of his men, for mischief, came
up behind him and by skillful trip threw
Carpenter down. He gathered himself up
and said nothing about it. He walked to
the house, and after dinner, when return
ing to the field with his men, they came
along to the place where the man gave him
the fall. He suddenly turned upon the
man, and grasping him by the shoulder
and the seat of his trousers, lifted him and
hurled him high in the air above him and
over a seven rail fence, by the side of which
they happened to be walking. The man
came down in meadow rod or more
from the fence, considerably shaken up but
not badly hurt. Mr., Carpenter was not a
gigantic man in size. He was about six
feet tall, and appeared much less than that
owing to his massive build. There was no
superfuous flesh upon him, but the muscles
of his arms, shoulders and neck seemed to
be piled upon him, so great was their size.
This gave him STOPPING appearance. In
a crowd a casual observer would not be
likely to pick him out for one of the
strongest men that ever lived. His
strength would equal if not surpass that of
the great Roman gladiator Milo. Mr..
Carpenter is living at the present time at
Granville Corners, Washington county, n.
Y, his old home, orcwas living the last [
heard of him. He must be over eighty
years of age. H-r.<!
A little pale woman in flashing diamonds
is absurd the silent pearl, the dull, soft
turquois, the evasive, mysterious opal,
even the little inexpensive. moonshine, the
topaz, the amethyst, all these are ornaments
becoming the ninety mine women where the
diamond is becoming to the hundredth.
That woman with delicate personal
charms should utterly extinguish them by
the brilliancy of her dress, seems like the
blind taste of savage. For most women,
a single Jewel, if it is handsome, which