Bozeman avant courier. [volume] (Bozeman, Mont.) 1872-1882, 1877-11-15

III any otHef; ana closes in these words
Il have lived IN honest and useful lif,
{. mankind; my time has been spent in doin
u good, and | die in perfect coniposure an
resignation to the will of my create
God"
Twelfth-If Thomas Paine had recante
why do yon pursue him? If he recanted h
a dice! substantially in your belief; tor VIII:
: reason then. do you dcnounce his death ::
cowardly? If upon his death-bed he r,
!. norlced the opinions he had published. tn
business of def,ming him,should be don
by lniilels. not by Christians.
ask you if it is honest to throw ava
the testimony of his frends-the evideuc
OF fair and honorable men-lnd take tn
putrid words Of avowed and malignan
enemies?
When Thomas Paine was dying he wa
infested by fmatics-by the snaky spies o
b:gotry. In the shadow of death thel,
were the unclean birds OF prey waiting t.
tear with beak and claw the corpse of hin
who wrote the Rights of Man." Ant
there. lurking and crouching in the dark.
ness were the jackalS.. and hyenas OF super.
sf'tlon ready to violate his grave.
These birds OF prey-these lnclean beasts
are the witnesses produced and relied upon
By you.
One by one the instruments of torture
nave been wrenched from tie cruel clutch
OF the Church, until within the armorv of
orthodoxy there remains but one weapon
SANDER.
! Against the witnesses that | have pro-
dlced You can bring just two-slary Ros-
coe and Mary Ilinsdale. The first is re-
ferred to in the memoir of Stephen.Grcllet.
she had once been Il servant in his hO,lsc
Grellet tells what happened between the
CIR! and Paine. According to this account
Paine asked her if she had ever read any
OF bis writings, and on being told that she
had read very little of them. he inquired
what she thought Of them. adding that
from such one he expected correct ans
Wcr.
Let us examine this fllsehood. Why
WoIiti Fame expect a correct answer about
his writings from one who had read very
little of them? Does not such statement
devour itself: This young lady further
said that the Age of Reason" was put in
her hands. and that the more she read it,
the more dark and distressed she felt, and
that she threw the book into the fire.
Nhe"eupon Mr.. Paine remarked, Il wish
all had done as You did. for if the devil
ever had any agency in any work, he had
ii in my writing that book
The next is Mary Hinds,laie. She was a
servant in the family of Willet Hicks. She
like Mary Roscoe, was sent to carry some
delicacy to..Mr. Paine. 70 this young lady
Paine. according to her account, said pre-
clsely the same that he did to Mary Roscoe.
and she said the same thing to Mr. Paine.
My own opinion is that Mary Roscoe
and Mary Uinsdale are one and the same
person, or TIE same story has been by mis-
take put in the mouth OF both.
1t is not possible that the same CONVERSE
ton should have taken between Paine and
Mary Roscoe, and between him and Mary
llinsdala.
Mary lIinstlale lived with Willet Hicks
and he pronounced her story pious fraud
and fabrication. lie said that Thomas
Paine never said any such thing to Mary
llinsdale (See Vale's Life of Paine).
Another thing about this witness. A
woman by the name of Mary Lockwood, -
Hicksite Quaker, died. Mary IIinsdalc met
her brother about that time and told him
that his sister had rec;.nted, and wanted
her to say so at her funeral. This turned
out to be false.
1t has been claimed that Mary Hinsdale
made her statement to Charles Collins
Long after the alleged occurrence Gilbert
Vale, one OF the biographers of Paine, had
conversation with Collins concerning
Mary ilinslale. Vale asked him what he
thought Of her. He replied that some of
the Friends believed that she used opiates.
and that they did not give credit to her
statements. He also said that he believed
what the Friends said, but thought that
when a young woman, she might have told
the truth.
In ISIS William Cobbett came to New
York. lie began collecting materials for
a life Of Thomas Paine. In this he be-
came acquainted with Mary Hinsdile and
Charles Collins. Mr.. Cobbett gave full
account of what happened in letter ad-
dressed to the Norwich Mercury in 1919.
From this account it seems that Charles
Collins told Cobbett that Paine had re-
canted. Cobbett called for the testimony.
and told Mr.. Collins that he must give
time. place, and the circumstances. lie
finally brOughta statement that he stated
had been made by Mary IIinsdale. Armed
with this document Cobbett, in October of
that year, called upon the said Mary Hins-
dale. at No. 10 Anthony street, New York.
and showed her the statement. Upon be-
ing questioned by Mr.. Cobbett. she said,
THAT it was so lon" ago that she could
not speak positively to any part of the
matter-that she would not say that any
part of the paper was true-tllat she had
never seen the paper-and that she had
never given Charles Collins authority to
say anything about the matter in her
name And SO in the month of October.
in the year of grace 1918, in the mist and
fog of forgetfulness disappeared forever
one Mary Ifinsdale, the last and only wit
ness against the intellectual honesty of
Thomas Paine.
CONCLUDED NEXT WEEK.
Home and Social Wine Drinking.