The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1899-01-27
HOUSES GRAND OLD MAN.
Cant. Sasser Sullivan is Seventy cne
Years Old.

assembly, Il pre-ttulucnl a. Ac'S'
headed, honest, conscientious, con-
,istant and capable law maker.
Those who visit the house OF repre-
are attracted by the APP
pearance of firm looking, white
haired member, who occupies
front seat at the lett of the chamber.
His mustache and small goatee are
as white as his hair. His is a we'll
knit, erect frame, without pound OF
superhuous flesh. He always wears
a black suit of the Prince Albert
styie and is welded to a silk hat OF
a pattern that was in vogue several
years ago.
THIS man is Captain Sasser SulIi-
van, the oldest member OF the legls-
lature. No one would Judge that
on next Sunday he will be seventy
one years old. Everybody calls
him "captain" but his proper title
would be ''iieutenant," il he were
called by his army title. His given
name of Sasser, which naturally at
tracts a good deal OF comment, is an
old family name.
Sasser Sullivan was born on a
farm in North Carolins Jan. %,
1928, and it is a matter in which he
takes a great deal of pride that he
4, has spent all his life on farm. Il
was natural born farmer, he says.
His father moved to Laurel county,
\ Kentucky, when Sasser was very
young, and there it was that be
grew up to manhood.
He evinced a taste for military
life early in his career, and before
he was Of age he enlisted in the
Third Kentucky as private in the
Mexican war. The regiment was
transported by boat from Louisville
to the gulf, and by ship thence to
THE Mexican border. Gen. Scott
had taken the Mexican capital be
fore the regiment to which MIR. sui
+, ,llivan belonged reached that object
/, i've point, and the hardest servic
! he saw during the war was in tn
line of skirmishing. He remalne'
? on garrison duty in the city OF Mex
leo from Dec. 16, 1916, until Jan
I'll, 1917, and then came home wit
his regiment.
s BACK FROM MEXICAN WAR.
The regiment was discharged a
Louisville. Mr.. Sullivan recall
: very vividly how he got home iron
I that point. 1t was the day whel
railroads were almost unknown, an
$ he rode in hack all the way fror
: Louisville to Frankfort. In SCI
y Itember, 1S4S, he married daughte
: of Lieut. John Book Of his company
and came with his new wife to Pix
county, Indiana, where he ha
lived fifty years, fourteen miles froI
Petersburg, and near the Duboi
n county line. He has farm G
r ninety-three acres which he hs
! earned and improved by har
knocks.
! During the civil war he perform
r ed valiant service for his countr,
| He first enlisted in the Forty-eight
q Indiana as a private. 1t was n
N long before he was promoted to Sc
= ond lieutenant, but he and the cal
N tain did not get along well togethe
- so he left the company, came hon
l. and recruited company for Il
st Eightieth Indiana regiment.
ID Because of some difference
it opinion between him and Governs
m Morton he was never commissioner
to but he went to the front anyhow
rs and it is remarkable fact tn
" without authority of any kind e.
n cept his own indomitable will an
% the affection his men bore for hi
n and confidence they reposed In hi
7e he commanded not only his con
he eIpanybut regiment through the fier'
I'd battle at Perryville, Kentuck,
IN After being in the service for OF
month and three days, without con
at mission or authority even as pr
es vate, for which time he never Il
OF ceived cent of pay, he came hon
o, and enlisted as private in Il
u same company. He was transferr'
is TO the one hundred and twent
re ninth Indiana and mustered o
iy with that regiment in Septembe
e. 1855. Those who were with him
'e. the war say they never knew b'
ed ter or braver soldier.
Nv During the war he lost his fl
wife. Two years later be was mi
ried to Miss Laura b. R.chardso
- of Pike county. There have be
ne sixteen births in Capt. Sullivai
ny family. OF the first marriage fo
- children are alive, all marie
~ There are six surviving children
cr the second marriage, four OF VIII
'he are unmarried and living with Ia