The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1886-08-20
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He Ceu..l LIN . Ton and C0ald Garry .
Cannou on HIS Shoulder

He Ces,.l Lin . To. and Coald Garry .
Caanoa Oh His Shoulders.
Propose to give short sketch Of
the life of . man who was little known
outside Of the village of Granville Cor
ners, in Washington County. where he
was born and spent the most of long
life. 1t is known of HIM and can BE-
proved. that he performed feats of
strength unsurpassed by any man that
has lived in ancient and modern times.
excepting, of course. the Biblical
Sampson. His name is, or was,
Stearn Carpenter; his occupation was
that of farmer. Being naturally of
. very quiet. peaeeahle disposition.
and q member of the Society of
Friends, he never did any thing for dis
play to attract attention, bu. the feats
of strength that 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
a box filled with iron which weighed
1900 pounds, which is equal to lift
ing $500 pounds in harness. He
lifted it with ease with his hands by
grasping a 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 afterward heard
to say that had he known it weighed
ka hax- th.,
other one hundred pounds and lifted
the whole. At another time he lifted
cannon that weighed fourteen hun
dred pounds and shouldered it. At
Comstock's Landing. on the Cham
plain canal, near Whitehall, one day
while waiting for load of merchan-
disc, he lifted 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
hog just killed. If it happened to
be big one weighing four or five hun
dred 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-tive years.
He lifted two twenty-fOur foot iron
rails by grasping one in each hand,
and walked oii with them. The rails
were resting on wooden horses. SO he
did not stoOp down to lift them. One day
in having he was going from the field
with his men to the house for dinner
They were walking along the road
together when one of his men. for
mischief, came up behind him. and. Ivy
a skillful trip. threw Carpenter down.
He gathered himself up and said moth
ing about it. He walked to the house.
and after dinner, when returning 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 shoulders
and the seat OF the trousers. lifted him
and hurled him high in the AIR above
him and over q scvrn-rail fence by the
side of which thy happened to be
walking. The man came down in the
meadow a rod or more from the fence.
considerably shaken up, but not badly
hurt. Mr.. Carpenter was not Gil
gantIc man in size. He was about six
feet tall. and appeared much less than
tat, owing to his massive build.
There was Ito superfrous fesh upon
Kim. but the muscles of his arms.
shoulders and neck seemed to be piled
l non him. so great was their size.
'inev gave him STOPPING appearance.
/, a crowd acasual observer would not
bc 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. Washington
County. n. T.. his old home. or was
living the last l heard of him. He
must be over eighty years OF age
Ger. Troy (N y Times.