People's Pilot, Volume 3, Number 19, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 October 1893 — A HISTORY EXHIBIT. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

A HISTORY EXHIBIT.

Interesting Relics of a Departed Genius at the World's Fair. Chairs Made for the Presidents from the Horns of Elk by Seth Kinman, the Great California Hunter—A Unique Character. (Special Chicago Correspondence.] In the state buildings of the wonderful White City there are a great many objects of rare and historic interest which have been gathered up from out-of-the-way corners of the country and brought to the great Columbian exposition for exhibition. Many of these are articles whose histories are closely interwoven with the lives of some of our great men, Americans who have come up from obscurity and poverty and richly blessed our great nation with their useful lives and are now with us only in the grateful and affectionate remembrance of their noble deeds.

Coming under this head is a collection of curious articles displayed in the Humboldt section of the California building, one of the most extensive and imposing state structures at the fair, around which cluster memories of some of the grand men who have been at the head of this glorious nation. This collection is .composed of the belongings of Seth Kinman, the great California hunter and trapper, who was known during the later years of his life as the presenter of elk-horn chairs to the presidents of the United States, and who was widely known as being one of the most unique characters this country has ever produced. Among the articles in the collection are some of the beautiful and ingeniously-con-structed chairs which were made for several of the presidents by the old hunter from the horns of animals he had slain iu the wilds of the western mountains.

There is the Garfield chair, fashioned in a very skillful manner from the antlers of an enormous elk, which, owing to the sudden and deplorable death of the president at the hands of a demented assassin, was never presented. And there is also the Johnson chair, or Bear chair, constructed of the hide, head and paws of a monster grizzly. The paws, with their enormous claws, form the feet of the- chair, and the hide, with the hairy side out, covers it throughout. The head is arranged in a very life-like manner beneath the seat in such a way that when the seat is pressed it springs forward in a very startling fashion. There is besides a queer looking chair made from the larger bones of a whale, obtained by old Seth, as he was wont to be called, from the Indians of Alaska, among whom he spent some years of his early western career. This chair is a plain and unattractive affair, but bears evidence of the marvelous mechanical skill of its eccentric maker. In addition to these historic chairs and a large variety of Indian implements there is one of the queerest violins that ever was made. It was fashioned from the skull of a musical mule that was the close companion of the old hunter for many years. It is indeed a rare instrument, and it has been coveted by parties in England who have offered large sums for it, but without effect The bow of this remarkable instrument

was made from a rib of the mule and is strung with hairs from the animal’s tail. There is quite a pathetic story connected with this curious violin, in which old Seth’s peculiar notion of turning his mule’s head into a musical instrument is accounted for. According to relatives of the old hunter who still live in Tazewell county, 111., and from whom many incidents of his remarkable career are learned, he was considerable of a violinist and performed many strange and difficult feats with the instrument, playing with the violin held behind his back or across his shoulders fully as well as in the natural position. During his spare moments he was very fond of playing the ■old tunes of his boyhood and such pieces as “The Arkansaw Traveler,” at which he was especially expert, always including the conversational part of the piece with great gusto, and “Old Dan Tucker,” which he also rendered, it is said, in true backwoods fashion. The mule was for several years during hi* later career the old hunter’s sole

companion, sharing with him his quarters in a rude little eabin in the Sierra Madre mountains; and whenever Seth felt blue or despondent he would get his violin and saw away at it to raise his spirits. On such occasions the mule would draw near and stand in an attitude of deep interest, with his long ears turned appreciatively toward the instrument, and at intervals, when the piece was executed in a manner espe cially praiseworthy, the queer little quadruped would raise his anything but melodious voice in a vigorous and jerky bray of approval. According to his master the little animal would leave his feed at any time to listen to the music of the violin. When the mule died, which he did in a full and rounded mulehood, his affectionate master conceived the idea of perpetuating the memory of his musical pet by turning his bones into the instrument of whose music the animal was so fond. The task was an exceedingly difficult one and, notwithstanding Old Seth’s skill as a boneworker, it took him a long time to complete it, but when it was done he felt amply repaid for his labor, for the instrument proved to be much superior to the one he used to play for the mule’s benefit.

This remarkable violin tha old hunter pliv«- • upon nnip tin* >tnv <>f his death, which occurred about five years ago in his mountain home where he had lived so long among his warm friends, the Humboldt Indians, who, in all. his career among them, regarded Seth Kinman as a great and wonderful paleface whose power was second only to that of the “Great Father” at Washington. Old Seth was not only a genius himself, but he came from a family of geniuses. One of his brothers, Jesse by name, conceived the idea of the corn planter and constructed the first machine of the kind ever used for his own use. The invention was copied before he had perfected and secured a patent on it; and from that crude machine has been evolved the great success in farm implements known as the check-rower. Another brother, John, invented the first device for packing flour in barrels that was known in this country. The rest of the family were more studious and steadj- in their habits than was Seth. He possessed the true bohemian spirit, and took greater pleasures in a nomadic life than in the straight-laced manners and customs of civilization. At an early age he began to roam, leaving Williamsport, Pa., his home and birthplace, in 1830 at the age of fifteen and taking his way westward until he came to Tazewell county, IIL, where he remained until 1849, when he broke loose again and braved the unknown dangers of the great plains of the far west, arriving finally, after many blood-curdling adventures, upon the Pacific coast, set-

tling among the few hardy pioneers who were then located in Humboldt county. He tried mining for a time on the Trinityj-iver but followed hunting mainly for a living. In the winter of 1856 it occurred to Seth for the first time that it would be a good thing to do to make an elk-horn chair and send it to the president of the United States. He speedily worked out the idea and went himself with the chair to Washington and was present with a number of state officials when the chair was presented by one Dr. Wozencroft, who was chosen to make the speech. President Buchanan was greatly pleased, and in return presented Seth with the best gun to be found in the east and a brace of fine pistols. The president also appointed the hunter to corral the Indians on the Humboldt reservation. Upon his return to California Seth made a contract to supply the government troops and sawmill hands of Humboldt with fresh meat at the rate of twenty-five cents a pound, which contract kept him very busy killing bears and elk. It is said that he killed as high as two hundred and forty elk in one month, and he claimed to have shot in his time over eight hundred grizzly bears. In November, 1864, Mr. Kinman arrived in Washington with an elk-horn chair for President Lincoln. Chief Clerk Clinton Lloyd, of the house of representatives, made the presentation speech in very happy form, and President Lincoln was much impressed and pleased with the gift, and marveled greatly at the devotion which prompted the donor to make so long and difficult a journey for the sole purpose of presenting him with the chair. Next in turn Presidents Johnson and Hayes received chairs from the hands of the great hunter, Mr. Hayes receiving his while yet governor of Ohio, though nominated for the presidency. The very fine chair intended for President Garfield was never presented for the reason stated. At the time of his death, at'the age of seventy-two, old Seth was still intent upon presidential chairs and was preparing one for President Cleveland, which he declared was going to surpass any of his previous productions. But his life work had to remain unfinished, and the old hunter closed his eyes forever upon the strange fruits of his genius, the trail of the elk, and his well - loved mountain home and went away to the great hunting grounds beyond the border of life. A Kansas City man calls his dog Christopher. Columbus. This is rather overdoing the matter. Christopher had three barks while the Kansas City canine has but one. —Rochester Post. Yachts take spins to show whether they tie tip top or noh—Boston Transcript.

PRESIDENTIAL CHAIRS.

GOV. HAYES AND SETH HINMAN.

MULE’S-HEAD VIOLIN AND INDIAN IMPLEMENTS.