Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1886-08-16
\ STRONG MAN.
He Could Lift "a Ton and Could Carry a
Cannon on His Shoulders.


propose TO give a short sketch of the
life of a man who was little known out
side of the village of Granville Corners,
IN Washington county. where he was
born and spent the most of long life,
says a correspondent of the Troy IN.
W Times 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 mod
ern times, excepting of course, the
biblical Samson. His name is, or was,
Stearn Carpenter; his occupation was
that of a farmer. Being naturally of
very quiet, peaeeable disposition, and a
member of the Society of Friends, he
never did anything for display to at
tract attention, but the feats of strength
that he performed were done more to
satisfy himself. and to see how much he
could lift than for anything else. All
his lifting was done by main strength,
without harness of any kind.
One of his greatest feats was lifting
box filled with iron, which weighed l.
goo pounds, which is equal to lifting s.
SOO pounds in harness. He lifted il
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 so near
a ton he would have put on the other
100 pounds aud lifted the whole. At
another time he lifted a cannon that
weighed 400 pounds and shouldered
il. 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. His neighbors, when
killing hogs. if Stearn happened to be
around, would ask him to guess the
weight of hog just killed. II it hap
pened to be a big one weighing four or
five hundred pounds, he would stoop
down and twist his fingers into the brist-
les, and in that way would lift the car
cess clear from the ground and guess on
its weight.
He performed one of the greatest feats
of strength on record after he had reach
ed the age of rs years. He lifted two
twenty-four-foot iron rails by grasping
one in each hand, and walked off with
them. The rails were resting on wood
en- horses, so he did not stoop down to
lift them. One day in haying he was
going from the field with his men to the
house for dinner. They were walking
along the road together when one of the
men, for mischief came up behind him,
and, by a sklllful trip, threw Carpenter
down. He gathered himself up and
said nothing about it. He walked TO
the house, and after dinner, when re-
turning 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 his trous-
ers, lifted him and hurled him high in
the air above him and over a seven-rail
fence by the side of which they happen
ed to be walking. The man came down
in the meadow rod or more from the
fence, considerably shaken up, but not
badly hurt Mr.. Carpenter was not
gigantic man in size. He was about
six feet tall, and appeared much less
than that, owing to his massive built
There was no superfluous flesh upon
him, but the muscles of his arms, shout
ders, 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 Mr.. Carpenter is
living at the present time at Granville
Corners, Washington county, N. Y, his
old home, or was living the last heard
of him. He must be over 80 years of
age.