The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-05-23
BY MARTHA McCULLoCH Will
LAMS.

BY MARTHA McCOLLOCd WILL
LAMS.
The bluegrass section of middle
Tennessee is full of men who would
have been worlds wonders had they
taken to the ring and become duly
acquainted with science as laid down
by the Marquis of Queensberry," re-
marked a native of the state.
Stock has something to do with it.
Among the pioneers who came over the
Appalachian chain there were plenty
nearly approaching the famous Old
Man Francisco. Maybe you have heard
how, upon masters and court days, 1t
delighted him to pick a quarrel with
the lustiest wrestlers in the crowd, en-
gage two al once, squeeze them breath
less, crack their heads together. then
fling them fat and call for the next
pair of FOOLS" Ny grandfather knew
him well-and vouched for the story
which sayors of CULVER. Of how
another champion strong man came to
challenge Old Man Francisco, was met
at the gate, snatched of his horse and
flung over the barrier, then hidden to
wait until his horse was thrown after
HIM, which happened just about
minute later
"Of course he was not the usual sort
old Man Francisco-but there were.
plenty built on pretty much the same
lines. And they increased and multi
piled after their kind. until take EN-
man for man, believe the middle Ten
nesseeans can q little more than hold
their own in any company. To prove
it act me tell you about few of them.
Strength is not a matter Of color either.
Twenty years back when l was mud
clerk on the bully Tyrone there were
some GarkeyS working at the TenneS-
roll iVc mill HON oa lOad of
US thought it worth while to stop and
see, each trip. They were brothers,
nearly of an age, and standing six foot
four in stockings. One weighed even
400, the other was 20 pounds lighter.
They worked in a bloomery, / think
l know the mill ought to have had a
machine in their place, but did not miss
it while they stayed. Well, sirs, those
fellows had each a 200-pound sledge
hammer, and the way they made them
lily, the tunes they played with them,
the rushing, corruScatlng torrents of
sparks that flashed from beneath them,
were more than amazing. Most of the
time they worked naked to the waist,
and the Jumps and cords and punches
OF muscle that played underneath their
shiny black skins were enough TO make
you believe all the tales of giants and
Goliaths you had ever heard. The men
seemed to JOY in work. They sang at
it-and the faster and hotter the ham
mer tune got, the lustier were their
voices. If / had dreamed in those days
of ring-side potentialities, l might have
corralled those fellows, given them a
bit of training, and made fortunes for
US all, from the word go.
Arthur Nix, poor fellow, L reckon
was born what in these days you call
a degenerate. You couldn't hurt him,
no matter where nor how you hit him
then, TOO, he died insane. But it was
after he had shown that there were
precious few impossible lities to muscle
such as his. He was born a gentle
man, and early orphaned, so came at
p into fine estate. But gentleman
n the conventional sense was just
what he would not be. He hated books,
pictures, refinement of every sort, loved
work and dancing, and, most of all,
fighting. Not in regular fashion.
doubt if he ever heard of such a thing
as boxing. But in a rOugh-and-tumble,
catch he would best a
dozen bigger men, one after the other.
He was 10 infant himself-stood over
six feet, and weighed It's, with not an
ounce OF it fat. he had a deep, broad.
hairy chest. TOO, long arms, and the
squarest sort of pugnacious chin
Next TO fighting and wrestling it
was his delight TO maui rails-and his
NATL Was always twice as big as any
other man could handle. If a mule
grew refractory. all Arthur did was 10
lift him bodily of the ground, fling him
down sideways, then set his foot upon
the beasts neck and swear at him until
the mule brayed for mercy. He broke
the necks of one or TWO, dislocating