The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-05-18
HARDEST HEAD IN THE WORLD.
Death of Abe hunter, Centenarian,
whose Head Made Him Famous.
From the Springfield Union

From the Springfield Union.
WiIiamstown-Abraha Parsons, the
famous old negro, known throughout the
country as abe H3unter." died at the
town poor house, fur miles south OF
here this afternoon. He had been i'll sew
eral weeks with pneumonia, and for the
last week had been apparently dying
every minute. He chung 20 life with a
persistence that was sustained by tre-
mendously strong constitution, surprising
the physicians in attendance.
"Abe Bunter," as he was more COM
monty called, had long been a character
of note in the college town Born of hum
BILE, and probably slave par,ns, for moth
ing of his ancestry is known, he suddenly
came into great prominence by the won
derfully developed head which he carried
on his shoulders 1t was the development
of the outer part of the old negro's head,
rather than that OF The inner, that
brought the darby Into the ranks of IA
nous men, and made the name OF Abe
Bunter known all through the state and
for half century he has enjoyed the un-
disputed honor and distinction of being
che hardest headed man in the Bay state.
He had a head that could have competed
successfully with a stone crusher, If 1t
had been applied TO that line OF work,
and will never be known what would have
been the limit of his accomplishments had
| he engaged himself absolutely in the Vo-
cation for which his head was seemingly
intended. The only known instrument that
ever made any impre ssion upon his head
was the sharp edge. Of an ak. That wea-
pom in the hands of mighty and angered
son, gave proof that it was a little 100
| hard for the old Negroes pate, for in a
| family row, in which the son and father
| became involved, Abe was laid low He
recovered quick ky. however, and his only
| admonition to the son was that he ought
! to be careful lest some one should be
| hurt
| 1t was not the whole of Uncle Abe's
! head that was so hard, but simply a knob
! or bunch about the size of the half of a
hard-shelled clam. 1t rose on the front
part of his head, exactly in the position
to make it possible for him to bunt to
the best advantage, and for Abe il made
a living, SUCH as it was The old negro
! became cognizant early in life of the
value of the hardness Of his head, and his
| accomplishments with it, according to his
| own stories, were exceeded only by his
| imaginative powers. There was nothing
! too hard in Abes way of thinking for that
| head to break, and from all reports, none
| of which has ever been eontradicted the
| old man thought about right. Certainly no
| OilS ever became COnN1lCcQ l1dI ne tndQ a
! head sufficiently harder TO challenge Abe
20 bunting match, though Abe was al
| ways anxious TO find such a man.
Kitchen dances and cider-drunk parties
were common in those days, and at one
| of these revelries. held in White Oaks,
| Abe was invited to furnish the amuse-
| ment for the occasion. Abe possessed
| an ancient violin, which, when in motion
| sounded like the believing of a COW in
| distress, and he Yves very handy on his
| feet. He went prepared to give one of
his breakdown" entertainments for
| which he was famous in those days, and
| to fiddle" for the dance. But a much
easier task had been assigned him, and
none was more pleased than he. The
stories of the wonderfully hard head on
| the shoulders of the old negro were then
! the source of much amazement, and the
| festive youths who arranged the party
! decided that no better fun could be had
| than to sound the hardness of the old
| negroes head, and by flooring him detract
| from the fame which was then becoming
widespread. To make a long story short,
Abes part of the programme was to
stand perfectly still, while the men pres
ent engaged themselves, in splitting two
inch planks over his head. This was fun
| for Abe and he stood the onslaught with
| little concern. until one youth, melted by
an over-indulgence in the fermented juice
of the apple struck him with the edge
of plank and laid him low. Abe jump
ed back upon his feet instantly, and turn
ing to the guilty youth, said: Look
heah, young man, yo' can hit me all yo'
want wild de fiat side, but if yo' take
that corna agin I'll put dis yere head
| right thro dat pesky body of yos''
Another instance which gave Abe great
delight to have mentioned in his presence
was the tale of his smashing in a door at
a fire. The door had withstood all at
| pened on the scene. With the strength
| of a Hercules and the rams mode of at
tack, he heroically went at the door
| which after two or three cracks gave
way amid the cheering of a large crowd.
| The breaking &c srindstone which bad
been substituted for q cheese in a bag by
| Williams students without the knowledge
of the old negro is another WORKOUT
| story but one that was always new to
| Abe. He was always a great favorite
with Williams men, and few there were
who graduated from the Berkshire col
| lege who did not become acquainted with
! Uncle Abe during their college course.
Until few years ago he spent much of
| his time about the college and enjoyed
the extremely difficult tests to which his
| head was subjected by the students. The
grindstone incident was thoroughly pleas
| ing 90 him, and he always boosted of 1t.
| The agreement was that he should have
| "
| have killed a man with an ordinary skull,
but 1t had no effect upon the hard head
| of old Abe. Other exploits, when Abe
| battled TO victory with rams and bulls,
| attacking and conquering them in their
own mode of fighting and on their own
ground, were told by Abe with a conf
! dence that every word he said was be-
| leved and any evidence of doubt on the
| part of his audience aroused a feeling of
| anger beneath that dusky skin as moth
| ing else would do.
His exact age is not known, but every
one spoke Of Abe as being a centenarian.
| He claimed TO be 107 years old and said
! that he could prove 1t by his "massa' s
| books" These were never placed on rec
| ord, however He arrived in Williams
town about a half century ago, and soon
| after his arrival became acquainted with,
| courted and welded Elsie, who has been
| his life partner and who survives 10
| mourn his death. With the exec ption of
| occasional uprisings. when the furniture
| few like kindling wood and the life of
| both was in immediate danger, their life
! has been one sweet song. Their abode