Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1888-01-20
STORIES OF A STRONG MAN.
He Could Lift a Ton and Could Garry q
Cannon ON His Shoulders.

He Could Lift Ton am, Could Garry a
Cannon on His Shoulders.
propose to give a 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, says a correspondent of the
Troy On. " 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 modern times, excepting, of course,
the biblical Samson. His name is or
was, Stearn Carpenter; his occupation
was that of farmer. Being naturally
of very quiet, peaceable disposition,
and member of the Society of Friends,
he never did anything for display to at
tract attention, but the feats Of strength
that he performed We're 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 a
box filled with iron, which weighed
1000 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 afterward heard to say
that had he known it weighed so near
n ton he would have put on the other
100 pounds and carried the whole. At
another time he lifted cannon that
weighed 1.400 pounds and shollldered
it. At Comstocll'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 a hog just killed. II it hap
pened to be big one weighing four or
five hundred 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 rs years. He lifted
two twenty-four foot iron rails by
grasping one in each hand, and walked
off with Them The rails We're resting
on wooden 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 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 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 his trousers, lifted him
and hurled him high in the all above
him and over a seven-rail fence by the
side Of which they happened to be
walking. The man came down in the
meadow rod OF more from the fence,
considerably shaken up, but not badly
hurt. Mir. Carpenter was not gigantic
man in size. He was about six feet
tall, and appeared much less than that,
owing to his massive build There
was no supertIuous 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 a
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 l
heard of him. He must be over so
years of age.