The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1886-07-29
A MODERN SAMSON

l propose to give short sketch of
the life of a man who was 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 and mo-
dern times, excepting, of course, the
Biblical Samson. His name is or was,
Stearn Carpenter His occupation
was that of farmer. Being natur-
ally OF very quiet, peaceable DISPOSE
ton and member of the society of
Friends, he never did anything for
display to attract attention, but the
feats of strength he performed were
done more to satisfy himself and to see
how much he could lift than for any
thing else All his lifting was done
by main strength. without harness of
any kind.
One OF his greatest feats was lifting
box filed with iron, which weighed
l,900pounds, which Is equal to lifting
$500 lbs. in a harness. He lifted It
with ease with his hands by grasp
ing 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 afterwards heard
to say that had he known it weighed
SO near ton he would have put on
the other 100 pounds and lifted the
whole. At another time he lifted a
cannon 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 Merchandise, he lifted a
barrel of white lead with ease 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 big one
weighing four hundred or five hun
bred 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 Oh
its weihgt'
He performed one of the greatest
feats of strenhgt on record after he
had reached the age of seyenty-fve
years. He lifted two twenty four foot
iron rails by grasping one in each
| hand, and walked of with them. The
rails were resting on wooden horses
so he did not stoop down to lift them
One day in haying he was going
house for dinner They We're walk
ing along the road together when
one of his men, for mischief, came W
behind him, and, by a skillful trip
threw Carpenter down. He gathered
himself up and said nothing about it
He walked to the house, and after din
ner, when returning to the field with
his men, they came along to the place
where the man give him the fall. He
suddenly turned upon the man, and
grasping him by the shoulders 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 III the
meadow rod or more from the fence,
considerably shaken up, but not badly
hurt Mr. Carpenter was not q gigan-
tic 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 crowd, a casual observer would
not be likely to pick him out for one
of the strongest men that ever lived.
Mr. Carpenter is living at the present
time at Granville Corners, Washing
ton county, N. Y, his old home, or
was living the last I heard of him
He must be over eighty years of age.
TrOy Times.