Democratic Sentinel, Volume 14, Number 11, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 April 1890 — A FRENCH SAMSON. [ARTICLE]

A FRENCH SAMSON.

Even Rhode Island has gone Democratic. Thanks to Senator Turpie for favors leceived. The farmer will be rejoiced to notice that diamonds and oil paintings are on the free list in the new tariff bill. In the municipal and township elections held in several states this spring the Democrats have generally been successful. Section 1,988 of the Revised statutes provides that sexto js of churches may arrest any one who interrupts or molests a religious gathering. AVhere ver elections have been held under the Australian system the utmost satisfaction is expressed. In this state the republicans have t tken the initiatory steps to kill the law.

Major Bitters of the Rochester Republican, is madder than a hor* net because he was overlooked in the selection of a new postmaster for that town. He roasts our congressman for the oversight. Th* Van Antwerp, Bragg & Co. school book trust is working night and day to secure the election of its friends as township trustees. The people must bo on the alert or the octopus will accomplish its purpose. It is said that the Indiana School Book Company proposes to sue the bondsmen of those officia’s who have failed to furnish the Indiana series of school book ß to their schools. Will this hu/ anybody in Jasper county? The Republican is very wrothy over our charge that the republican school board of Jasper county by its refusal to obey and enforce the new school book law “has caused the loss of thousands of dollars to the school patrons of the county. While our neighbor does not dispute the charge, he offers what he thinks will be accepted as mitigating reasons for the action of the county board, and puts it thus mildly: “The board simply decided not to force the books into the schools, against the wishes of the patrons, until the questions of the constitution alyand scope of the law were fuhy settled and determined.” We did not say more than that. The book monoply declared the law would not pass the scrutiny of the supreme court ,as organized. The county superintendent, and trustees were continually harping over the great inferiority of the Indiana school book series, and the county board of edw ucatiou, 1 Atgely republcan, resolved it would not obey the law. The supreme court has decided the law constitutional, p'ainly worded, very mandatory, and that noteven by inference did it leav* any discretion in the matter in th hands of the trustees. The law in force, under their solemn oaths they were obliged to obey it, and had they done so, we repeat, nearly 83,000 would have been saved to the school patrons of Jasper county the past winter.

Men who presume to obey just such laws as suit them should be set down on very hard. Give the republican candidates for trustee a black eye next Monday.

It will, perhaps, be of interest to some p< liticians io know that under the new bribery law the promise of appointment to a person to secure his assistance is illegal. A candidate who ‘loans, pays or gives, promises to loan, pay or gives any money or other things of value to a deb ga+e or elector or any other person * * * to work for the nominatk n of any person to any office ” is not only punishable by fine, but also made ineligible to hold the office for which he is a candidate. □Voters of J asper county ITh rottie the school-book trust at the polls. Monday, April 7th. Nullifiers of a law enacted for the neo** pie ought not to have a single trustee in the county. Vote them down with your little ballots. — ■ All ©ver ths county Democrats have made grst-class nominations. Vote for them. They will not nullify the laws in the interest of the book trusts. Mrs. McCoy and Miss Blanch j Lough ridge returned Wednesday evening from their southern trip.

Astonishing F*ats of Strength Displayed for the Amusement of Londoners. There are many Delilahs, but only one Samson, and he is performing at the Royal aquarium at present, where his feats of strength are certainly of an original and marvelous character, says the Pall Mall Gazette. The spectator is he watches feels that it is better to be friendly with such a man; with a blow of his fist he breaks an iron chain that will bear a pressure of 3,000 pounds. With his two hands grasping a short chain of 2,000 pounds ascertained pressure, he makes a momentary effort and pulls the chain to bits, and in what seems the most wonderful fact—namely, fastening two tight iron chain bracelets or armlets round his biceps—the spectator may view the process from beginning to end. One hears the strong man take a long breath, sees the muscles of his arm growing bigger and bigger, the chords of his neck swelling with the sustained effort, his face crimsoning, and then, in the silence, those nearest the stage can hear a curious little sundering snap; it is the double chain armlet that has broken and that the next second falls ringing to the floor. When Samson’s fist is clenched, and he is ready to strike, the measurement of his upper arm is 19 J inches, which, we may casually remark, is considered a tolerable waist for a young lady. Among some of his minor feats—if such displays can be called minor— Samson took a penny piece from one of the audience and at one trial bent it with his fingers as one • may bend a railway ticket, held it up to view for a second and then deliberately broke it in half and returned the pieces, to the owner. The strong man next bent a four foot gas tube round his neck and cheerfully straightened It again by repeated blows on his left arm, such arm being for the nonce a species of anvil. Fourteen men came upon the stage, by invitation, to pull against him; but Samson not deeming them enough, or sizing up their athletic capabilities with a professional eye, expressed a wish for four more. These men he divided into nine a side, the two sides nearly the stretch of a man’s width apart, and each side being provided with and grasping a strong and lengthy iron rod. Before placing himself between them Samson stimulated their ardor by promising £IOO to them if he failed to move them, and apparently there was a grateful determination on the men’s faces to win the pour-boire. Then there was a short, sharp struggle; the men held their ground for a brief space, were pulled together and the next moment thrust apart, and finally, swaying as they went, were carried away by the intensity of one straining man in their midst. Samson is a man of 31, of French origin, a native of Alsace-Lorraine. He comes from America, and this is his first appearance in England. At 16 years of age he entered the Circus Banz as an athlete and pulled against horses and elephants; at 18 he commenced to wrestle, and from that time till the present he has left untried no means whereby he can maintain, train and develop his extraordinary strength.