The Daily bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Hawaii]) 1882-1895, 1893-08-18
A HALE OLD DARKEY.
Passes His 1o3d Birthday and Walks
to the Circus.

to the Circus.
A negro writes a letter to the Ha-
waiian Star, defending his race
against slurs cast upon it in that
paper. He says his nationality is as
good as the next one, which none
will dispute after reading the follow
ing from the Springfield, Mass, Re-
publican of July Z, 1898:
"The day we celebrate is thought
to have been the 103d birthday of
Abram Parsons, better and more
widely known as ABE Bunter, one
of the famous characters of Will
Jamestown, known to every living
graduate of Williams college. The
facts about the age of this negro are
not as we'll established as the fixed
stars, for his family records are mea-
ger, but they have been ascertained
by writing to those better informed
than he is. Abe was once a slave,
but it was slavery at the North and
of the kindly sort that he expert
enced, for his story has been that he
was owned in New York state. But
the peculiar institution did not
last long in the free air Of that Sec
tion, and after his freedom was given
him, or he ran away, Abe Parsons
drifted to the white Oaks in Will
Jamestown. There he settled or
'squatted,' and in time became fix
ture, for he possessed powers all his
own.
"'Abe' probably has the hardest
head in the world. How he found
this out is not recorded, but he
early discovered that in butting he
had no equal, and he made the most
of his discovery. Plank which it was
desirable to split Abe would sever
by taking the heaviest board in his
two hands and splitting on his
Uranium. Tradition has it that
Bunter one broke grindstone into
splinters, and 20 years ago there
we're venerable and trustworthy citi
zens of Williamstown vouched fol
the feat. AS his power became
known the students and people o.
the village would bride him to test
it. A cheese would be put in q
bag and Abe told that he could have
the cheese if he would break it by
bunting. This proved so easy thai
a thin grindstone was substituted
for the cheese in the bag and Bunte
shivered the stone with comparative
ease. He claims to have killet
sheep with his head, and even tt
have battled with bulls in this way
In sober truth it may be said tina
those who knew Abe in his prim,
would hesitate about backing he bull
with money in such contest. HI
has not always been fortunate in hi
family relations, but in the main Alb
has had a happy and good-naturet
existence. His wants have not BEEF
large and his joys many. Although
Abe has lived beyond the century h
is much more lively than many hal
his age. Only Tuesday he walke'
over a mile and attended a circus
after which he gave several exhibi
tions of dancing. In truth Abe
skull is SO remarkable that it has OK
cited the interest of scientific mer
and when the old man gets through
with it it is to go to Williams col
lege, under contract signed AM
sealed. Meantime it looks as if j
might be long before Abe carries on
his part of the arrangement, for h
says he hopes to live a long time ye
; "The old fellow, by the way, is on
Of the few men who have lived t
see their obituaries in print. Wor
came to this office, some years age
that Abe had passed over to the m;
jority, and SO The Republican wrot
a sketch of his life. 1t afterwar
proved to have been a false alarm
but not everybody saw the state
ment that Abe was still living, fc
when the Spiritualists convened {
Lake Pleasant the next summer, on
Of the best known mediums receive
message from Abram Parson
whom he pictured as a resident {
the other world. 1t embodied til
facts of The Republicans sketcl
and was influential in making man
people skeptical as to the reliabilit
of such mediumistic information"