The Opelousas courier., 1896-12-19

: p ht' N" VI 49,
giant of Penobscot County
~ and the most inyeterate wag
of his age. Cy was born out here at
Goodale's Corner, on tho side hill over
looking Dodham, about fifty years ago,
saws the Lewiston Journal.
Somewhere about the time that old
John Brown was getting hanged down
in Virginia, Cy, then q lad getting on
toward voting age, bought a dog that
was big and good naturea enough tc
allow himself to be harnessed to carts
and sleds, attached to which he ma lie
long journeys, hauling his master to
dances or other places OF amusement.
Hauling bees were all the rage then,
mud no man thought of building a new
house when he could find en- old one
for sale. As soon rs the purchase was
made the house was placed OIL two
stout logs called ''shoes," and the
farmers would come for miles with
their oxen to help at the moving.
One afternoon Cy was riding down q
long hill behind his dog when he met
g house moving.
"Get out of the road and let me
pass" cried Cy, hauling up. The
teamsters laughed at him.
eff you don't put that house out of
the way" said Cy, "Iol get off and do
it myself"
At this teamsters smiled so broadly
and made sn.h sarcastic remarks that
Cy grabbed one end OF the house,
showed it into the ditch, and served
the other end the same way, and, hay
ing offered to tip it yer on the roof
in case anybody doubted his ability to
do SO, he whipped up his dog and
went on. 1t was a small house, to be
sure, but men are scarce who can lift
one er d of q little house, aud nobody
doubted Cy Pnipps's strength after
that.
Still, he had rivals whom he was
glad to accommodate in any kind of a
contest they saw fit to suggest. One
Of these was "Sime" Gibson, who
worked on Mount Heagan in Prospect.
"Sime" had lifted 1900 pounds dead
weight and turned over an eight ton
granite stone with the aid of the great
quarry bar. This bar WAS used in the
quarry for pulling down stone that
had been loosenel by blasting. Tt
was about eight feet long apa weighed
200 pounds. After a seam had been
opened with powder the bar was forced
down into the crevice, a ring, was put
over the top, and oxen were hitched
to the ring to pull the stone away,
When Cy had performed all of Clio
sons feats easily, he put the bar into
q seam in a ledge and lifted until the
great rod of iron locked like a capital
Y.
Another feat of his was to launch a
loaded SEQ across mud fats at low
water. He also shouldered two bar
rels of -four at once-one on each
shoulder-and hauled up the anchor
of a good-sized schooner by pulling
in the cable hand-over-hand without
SO much as touching the windlass.
For the twenty years following 1860
Cy Phipps vas probably the strongest
man in Maine, and might have made a
lot of money had he chosen to give
exhibitions. Instead of that he mar
ried a nice little girl IN Orlsnd and
raised up a respectable family.
Instead of getting stuck up and 60
ing around with o chip on his shout
der OF challenging men through the
newspapers Cy grew better natured as
he got older, and whenever he en-
ployed his great strength at all it was
to forward his own work or to help
friend out of trouble. Having
gained some little property and feel
ing disinclined to work hard every
day, he moved to Lynn, Mass. In
1880 and for more than ten years he
served as an engineer at COOL wages.
During the time he worked there
every man from Eastern Maine who
went to Boston always made a trip
down to Lynn to see Cy Phipps, SO
that he often received as: many as
callers in a day. In short, he
was one of the local attractions, and
his proves DON became so we'll
known in Boston that sew. raS sporting
men made him good offers if he would
UNDERTAKE tours under their manage.
ment. Cy treated them all we'll, lis.
tened to what they said, and refused
every overture, no matter now much
money there was in it. He was get
ting along in years, and flesh had &C.
on his frame to such an x
tent that he weighed nearly 800
pounds. In view of these facts, he
believed it best to let we'll enough
About two years ago, when he was
happy and prosperous and lad every
chance of reaching a ripe cid age in
Lynn he suddenly threw up. his job
md went to D~anvers, where they put
lin in the violent ward of the insane
He is there to-day and is
glad to see all those who call on him.
He is ward master at O salary of
$1,000 a