Democratic Sentinel, Volume 11, Number 14, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 May 1887 — Wonderful Richard Donovan. [ARTICLE]

Wonderful Richard Donovan.

There recently died at Potsdam, St. Lawrencce County, Richard Donovan, who was in some respects one of the most remarkable men in Northern New York. Twenty years agip, when a boy, Donovan lived in this ciity and worked in a flour mill. One daft he was caught in a belt and received injuries that necessitated taking off both arms at the shoulders. This great misfortune did not discourage him, and after recovering his health he set about earning his livelihood «s best he could without the use of hands or arms. Part of the time he had lived alone, and from the necessity of helping himself he became wonderfully adept in performing all kinds of work, using his feet and mouth principally. Ho owned a horse of which he took the entire care, harnessed it, fastened and unfastened the buckles with his teeth, and drove with the reins tied around his shoulders. Being in need of a wagon, he bought wheels and axles and built a box buggy complets and painted it. He went to the barn one winter day and built a cow stable, sawing the lumber with his feet, and, with the hammer in one foot and holding the nail with the other, he nailed the boards on as well as most men could with their hands. He dug a well twelve feet deep on a farm in this town and stoned it himself. He could mow away hay by holding the fork under his chin and letting it rest against his shoulder. He would pick up potatoes in the field as fast as a man could dig them. He would dress .himself, get his meals, write his letters, and, in fact, do almost anything that a man with two arms could do. He was engaged for some time with Thomas Collins, of Potsdam, in the sale of buggies and sleighs, and has lately been engaged in buying and selling hides and pelts. By his industry and frugality he succeeded in amassing a snug little property—owned a house and lot, and was worth in all about two thousand dollars.— Watertown Times. A leading real-estate agent and private banker, Mr. Ira Brown, Chicago, 111., writes: “1 feel it my duty to say of St. Jiteobs Oil that I lay on my back three months with rheumatism. I tried it, was cured, and have never been troubled since.”