Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1880-05-22
BOB iNGEnsOi..
A Large Charge of Plagiarism
Against Him.
Chicazo Tribune,

Chicago Tribune,
A small but appreeiatiye audience
/ gathered at the Cemetery Church, on
( West MonToe street last week TO listen
10 lecture by Mr.. Frank Jeryis, we'll
known local journalist, entitled "Colo-
mel Ingersoll, the Champion Plagiarist
OF the Nineteenth Century" Among
the audience was quite a number oil
well-knOsn elergymen, who listened
with attention 10 the account OF how
and where lngersoll got portion, at
least, OF his ammunition. The lecturer
was introduced by the Rev. DIR. Thomas,
pastor of the church. The following
synopsis Of his remarks is given:
He began by stating that he should
not ask the indulgence Of his hearers in
regard to the matter embraced in his
lecture, AZ he thought IL was the bust
meas OF every man to do what he could
when the very foundations OF civic and
religious liberty were endangered. In
fidelity cropped out al stated periods
exactly like mushrooms. IngersOll, the
great ieonOclast OF the age, had been
collecting the accumulated fungus OF
inhdehty for years, and was nov atiiict-
ing the world with his stolen eloquence.
The speaker quoted from the Rambler"
JOhnsOn's definition OF the word pla-
giarism, and proceeded 10 score Col. In.
gersoll numerically. II Ingersolfs
mouthings were to perish every word
he had spoken, and every idea advanced
by him could be easily replaced by a
careful search among the inhdel writers
OF the past 200 years.
The speaker then proceeded 10 read
extracts iron Ingersoll's various lee
lures, and, 10 substantlate his charge
that he was guilty OF plagiarism, read
quotations from HolyOke's discussions
with Grant in London during 1858. lie
claimed that Ingersolls saying that che
would 20 to hell with all his reason
rather than u heaven without II, Was
stolen bodily from the writings OF Baron
HOlbach, a famous French iIee-thinker
OF the last century. THE System Of
Nature appeared 10 be the favorite
huutlng ground OF the successor 10
Thomas Paine, and from that book he
had CTibbed twO-thiTds OF his lecture on
Ghosts" In preparing his lecture on
The Gods, which he had stated was
AAtN btNN WV Ah AtAt NOhNotI hot
searched the slums OF the intidel wrl'
Tugs Tor material. His famous aphO-
nsm, An honest God the nOblest work
OF man" was cribbed from work pub
lished in London by Charles Blount in
1865, and some Of his pungent and foul
illusions 10 Christianity and the Clergy
were taken from work 50 foul that its
publication and circulation had been
suppressed by his own country, namely,
1.-THE Life OF the Gods, by Eugene
Baptist Parry, a Frenchman.
"The Mistakes OF Moses" was almost
a literal copy oi the doubts OF In
tidels," published in London IN 1883 by
James Watson, and the speaker quoted
passage alter passage from the two
works 10 prove the assertion. lngcrsoll
iii 4 layed IN all his writings,consIdeI able
Ingenuity in the way in which he pulled,
twisted ami entangled the language Of
the writer's from whom he Culled, but
not particle Of originality. In all his
writings the speaker traced the thoughts
al some writer of the past, and, sail he,
"ile never makes an epigram or all
vauCes an idea that stlll-hunt among
the works Of these old writer's on kin
dred subjects will not discover its prngen'
itor. Dean Swift's aphOrism that the
less a bottle has in 1t the more Of II row
il makes IN pouring II out, would APP
ply to lngersoll, and yet he had the all
mantine cheek 10 assert that any man
who did not DO his own thinking was a
slave
lie concluded by saying that the
church was in no danger OF disruption
from lngersOll's efforts 10 overthrow n,
and that such a religion as he advocated
could never obtain iOOthold among
people who believed in the purity ii
home and future existence beyond the
grave.