Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1896-12-15
TAE SINGLE COMBAT BETWEEN
CHAMBERLAIN AND PAUGUS.
e.. W. LEwIS SHOWS THAT rpE STORY
or sJCH 4 COMBAT Has No FoUNpA-
TON ~ TEJ III.

~ meeting Of the New England
Historic Genealogical society, ! >omtr-
81 street. Boston. ou the afternoon of
"Wednesday. Dec "a &. W Lewis read s.
paper ON the alleged >iaviug, 10 Love
we'll, Fight. Of the Indian sachem
Psugus hy John Chamberlain in single
combat between them. Mr.. Lewis pa
per REQUIRED al hour and a half ia the
reading. aud his full and exhaustive eN-
position Of his subject made IL clear that
the tradition OF this killing OF faugu> by
Chamberlain In single combat has no
foundation In truth. Mr.. Lewis show
ed that there i no mention of the alleged
single combat In the accounts of Love
wells Fight % DE found 10 either OF the
three new spapers published AZ the time
in Boston which were all the newspa-
pers then published in New England or
In The accounts Of the night written by
historians Who we're living &C The time.
though those newspapers aud historians
gave minute sud cirCUmStsutid de-
scriptious of the battle. To such a
single combat not the slightest reference
can be found ant, dating the year l.'',
which was seyt uty-fuUr years after
LoyeAtlI', Fight took place, and forty
three Years after the death OF Chamber
lain. II Chamberlain had slain PauguS,
a. the tradition SAYS, he would have been
a notable man for the rest OF ms lite.
and vet. after this alleged feat Of bis 10
killing the famous ludi-u Sschem, ne
fell into such complete oblivion that II i
impossible % discover the date OF his
death. ON March =, 1876, an applica-
tion WAS made for the appointment OF
an administrator Of the estate which ne
left al his death. and his death UndOuot-
edlv took place shortly before that date.
This application for the appointment Of
an administrator of his estate, which l.
one of the legal papers on Tie In the
MiddleseN Probate Office az East Gam
bridge. Mass. is the only means by
which the date Of his death can be ap-
proximated IL he hSd performed such
q feat a. the Staying Of the Indian chief
Paugus. il i Incredible that We should
be obliged 20 rummSge among the musty,
time-staiued files Of a probate office 10
find out when he died. After such Al
achievement. he would have been
notable man TO the end Of his life, and
al his death the newspapers would have
made some mention of 30 distinguished
a person and of the achievement which
gave him his distinction; and the Tact
that no such pOsthumOus mention OF
him can De found shows that AZ the
time Of his death he did not have the
honor OF being known "a the slayer OF
Paugus. This man Chamberlain, who,
since his death, has been singled out a.
the leading hero OF LOyewelrs Fight
aud upon whom pOsthumOus fame has
been as lavishly heaped as though he
had performed the Twelve Lsbors OF
Hercules. did nothing in the light 10
signalize himself above his companions
in arms. and there Is as little justifica-
ton for the clOnds Of incense burned In
his honor "a there was for tne remark OF
the fiy on the wheel Of the stsge~eOach,
.'See Whist a dust | am Faising." The
story Of this single combat is no more
entitled 10 be regarded as veraeiOgs his
tory than l. the story which the no
toriOas Rev. Samuel Peters, in his His
tory Of Connecticut" tells 20 the effect
that the water of Connecticut River. IN
passing between the rocks at Bellows
Falls. is compressed Ito such degree
of induratiOn that Il Is harder than
marble" and that "nC iron crow bar
can be forced into it," The story Of
this Observation-Disclosures DUE il as
devoid Of truth as the fictiOns OF swift
and Defoe. and belongs, therefore, not
to history. but TO farce. The story is
the product Of the inventive faculty Of
an INSCRIPTIONS romaneer who let his
imagination run smuek, and this frost
work Of the Imagination is at once dissi-
pated as soon as the sunlight Of truth is
brought 10 bear upon It,