The Dickinson press., 1889-01-26
A WONDERFUL WOMAN.
6AlD TO BE THE OLDEST PERSON
IN AMERICA WHEN SHE DIED.

Drinking Rum and Smoking Tobacco for
no Years-An Iron Constitution-Never
Sick but Few Months in Her Lite-A
Tour of the Farming Country.
Sylvia Dubois. the famous negress, is dead
at last, says The Philadelphia Times Her
death was reported last spring, because the
news that came from Sourland mountain,
where Sylvia lived, was to the effect that the
ancient negress had died during the blizzard,
having perished in the Storm This was a
mistake. She survived the great snowstorm
and lived through the spring and summer.
But that tremendous vitality that carried
the woman through century and quarter
Of existence began giving out and few days
ago she died She had just passed her l25th
birthday.
There is no doubt Sylvia Dubois was not
only the Oldest woman, but the oldest person
in America. Her memory and the records
she had at hand proved this fact. The story
of her life in detail has been published sew
cral times. She was born in lIunterdol,
county, N. j., on the very range of hills where
She eventually died She was the slave of q
man named Dubois, and kept that name all
her life. She had u number of children, but
they were all Legitimate. While Il mere
child she was taken by her master to Great
Bend, Pa, where she was reared.
KNOCKED OUT THE ruG1LIsTs.
The tales of her proves are many. She
was "a fighter all her younger days, and in fact
until she was 100 years old. She knocked
out every pugilist she encountered. From,
the time she was 10 years of age she was I,
hard drinker, brandy being her favoritc bcv-
eIasc Liquor never seemed to affect
Ecr. She always said the brandy she drank
preserved Eer. 1t is certain she was never
sick until few months previous to her
death. AT the tavern at Great Bend, of
which her master was the landlord, she was
the great attraction, owing to her trcmc,-
dous strength aud feats of endurance and
daring. She was rs profanc as she was pow
crful, and her biography, which she lctli-
Gated some years ago to school teacher in
this state, and which was published literally,
aboundcd with oatls.
When she was about 2j years of ago she
got angry at her nistre and nearly killed
her Before sho could be caught she
sLutchcd up her baby and rowcd across the
SO accomplished what few women in history
clay and night down through Pennsylvania
all the way until she got back to her old
home i'll Sourland mountain. Her mistress
recovered, but no attempt was made to ar
rest or capture Sylvia. On Sourland noun
tain she built hut, where she spent the last
century of her existence. She had, as already
related, number of children, but only tho
nj .;t1, I,oy
mother up to the day of her death. Hel
old. She is her mother over again. There
is net man on the mountains that can
whip her. Her pugilistic feats are almost as
numerous as her mothers, but she never
made such a business of prize fighting.
FoRAGING TRIPS TWICE YEAR
In the little hut on Sourland Sylvia lived
through all the cold aid stormy winters.
She learned to read n little and her daughter
got enough education to enable her 70
read to her mother They were always poor,
but managed to beg enough to keep them
comfortable. Twice year tho mother and
daughter would tramp down the mountain
and make tour Of the farming country be-
low. Everybody knew them and everybody
gave them something The two women
would load themselves down with provisions,
coal and clothing and then climb the noun
tam with their burdens. Sylvia always
asked for newspapers and books, and there
were few women better posted on the general
events of the day This long and tiresome
tramp never seemed to injure the old woman.
She took her last trip last spring.
Sylvia never made but two public cXhibi-
tions of herself She was witness in a MUIR
der trial at Pennington n numbyr of years
ago, and her opinions of lawyers, courts
and people generally growing out of her ex-
periencc in court were given in her Lios-
raphy. They were decidedly sensational and
emphatic Her second appearance was at the
state fair at Waverly, a year ago. She re-
ccived money enough for sitting in Il tent for
four days to last her until death. Her eye
sight grew poor toward the end, but her
tongue was as sharp and her memory as keen
as ever. If one could stand the string of
oaths that were part of her conversation,
the anecdotes that she gave and her recollec-
tions of past events were decidedly interest
ing.
Sylvia Dubois drank hard and smoked n
strong pipe all her life pretty nearly She
said she was better for both rum and tobacco
She had no religion to speak Of, and was un-
questionably one of the oldest and most in
teresting characters that tho Nineteenth CEN
tury has produced.