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Kay's Originals Vol. 2

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Volume 9 Page 256
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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 191 rally intrusted to act as purveyor for the men of the room to which he belonged. The butcher with whom he had dealt for some time used frequently to quiz him about his reputed strength, and was perhaps inclined to think, from the silence maintained by Sam on the subject, that it was not just so great as report stated. One day, while higgling a little about the price of some purchase- “ Come, come,” said the knight of the cleaver, and pointing to a bulk of very excellent appearance, “take that on your shodder; and if you carry it to Richmond, you shall have it for nothing.” The proposed task, strong as Sam was, seemed infinitely beyond his power, Richmond barracks being distant nearly two miles. The offer, however, wi~s extremely tempting ; and he well knew what eclat such a prize would obtain for him among his fellows. Sam therefore got the carcase on his back ; and, to the astonishment of the chop fallen butcher, succeeded in carrying it triumphantly to the barracks. Many of the Highland Fencible regiments were accompanied by stags of a large size, which were at once the pets of the men, and the wonder of the different towns they lay in. Big Sam was not the only human giant paraded in a similar way, as a specimen of what the north could produce. The.Argyleshire regiment had their champion in the person of a George Euchanan, who marched at their head with a fine stag. He was fully as tall as Sam, but wanted the symmetry and muscle that rendered him so remarkable ; neither was his voice so gruff as M‘Donald’s, which had something ventriloquial about it, as if he spoke from the inside of a barrel. Sam treated every other bully as a conscious Newfoundland dog does the impertinences of a troublesome cur. Euchanan had many wrestling bouts, however, with strong men in various places, but uniformly threw them with great ease. When in Falkirk (during the American war) he exhibited his muscular prowess by holding a heavy cart-wheel upon his arm, which was afterwards passed through the nave, the wheel being made to spin round like a mill-wheel on its axle., No. CCXXXVII. MR. CHARLES SINCLAIR, ONE OF TEE DELEGATES TO THE BRITISH CONVENTION. SINCLAIwRa s apprehended along with Margarot, Gerrald, and others ; but neither he nor Citizen Browne were tried. Little is now known either of their lives or characters. Sinclair is understood to have subsequently become an informer ; and there is reason to suspect that from the first he had acted merely as a spy.
Volume 9 Page 257
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