The morning news., 1899-04-27
JEFFERSON a THEIsT.
He Has Been wrongly Called an
Atheist.

I
| patriotic solicitude by NJ. jefferson Levy,
! the present owner who is a lawyer in
! New York and has recently been elected TO
1 Congress as a Tammany Democrat. He
/ has owned the estate for about thirty
| years, and usually occupies it for two or
three months ia the spring and fall when
| the climate of this locality Is Particularly
attractive. Mr. Levy has placed some
ridiculous marble statuary upon the
| grounds, but otherwise has endeavored 10
retain everything as Mr.. jefferson left it.
The place came TO him from his uncle,
the late Commodore Levy of the United
States navy.
After the sage OF Monticello died his
daughter, Mrs. Randolph was left destI-
tute, and, unable to keep up appearances
upon property that was unproductive, she
traded it to a man named Barkley for a
modest brick house In Charlottesville.
Barkley carried on a desperate struggle
for years, but the land was worn out, and
he had not capital enough to replenish 1t,
so he offered 1t for sale
According TO the local traditions, Com
modore Levy, who was then on the retired
list of the navy, while sitting in a restau-
versatile among a party of gentlemen who
had met TO organize a movement to pur
chase and preserve Monticello as a historl-
cal museum. They appointed a committee
TO raise funds, and another to visit Char
lottesvie and buy the place The COM
modore was a great a1mirer of Jefferson,
as well as a man If enterprise so he
jumped on the cars rushed to Charlottes-
vile, bought the place for $4,000, or some
nd srha he 1r7,ff ffo.a
arrived he offered it TO Them for $1,000 900.
They declined to purchase. Several times
thereafter he offered IL to the government
and to various patriotic societies, but his
price was too high. He even found It diff
cult to get rid Of when he died.
A fun-length portrait of Commodore
Levy hangs in the great hall at Monticel-
10. In his hand he holds a scroll upon
which is inscribed a confession that he
abolished fogging in the United States
navy, but history awards that honor to
Commodore Robert Field Stockton, who
was not only n seaman but a statesman.
He commanded the fleet in the Pacific dur
ing the Mexican war. and was the first
Governor of California. In 1851 he resigned
from the navy and was elected to the
United States Senate from New Jersey
where he made 1t his business to pass a
law prohibiting the corporal punishment of
y
had his good points, and they tell some
funny stories of his eccentricities.
He was an irascible old gentleman, and
would not endure contradiction. Any man
who differed with him was compelled to
back up his opinions with force or with
draw them. One day his overseer happened
TO contradict the commodore about some
little matter OF business and was attacked
so violently that he was laid up In bed
fr.ra A. t,aw J. IL H..
out he brought suit for damages against
his employer. The commodore secured a
continuance from term to term of court,
and two or three changes of venue, but
finally his lawyer persuaded him to let the
case come TO trial, on the theory that il
was impossible for the plaintiff to get a
verdict. because the law required the tes-
timony Of a principal to be corroborated by
a least one witness, and the only wit
nesses to the assault were colored people,
who We're not allowed to testify in court.
The admission, however, by either party
of a question of fact was conclusive.
The court met. the jury was sworn, and
the lawyer for the plaintiff, a shrewd local
practitioner, began to state his case. He
explained that Commodore Levy and his
overseer came to blows over a difference
of opinion, and the latter, being much the
better man, punished his employer very
ing ability so exasperated the commodore
that he lost his temper, sprung TO his feet,
and, shaking his fist in the lawyers face
denounced him as an Infamous liar. He de-
clared that the overseer was a weak and
cowardly wretch, and that he (the commo-
dore) pounded the life out of him in two
minutes. When the explosion was over,
the old sailor had made complete confess
sion of his guilt. The plaintiffs lawyer
said he would submit the case without fur
ther evidence or argument. The COM
modore was fined $500. but the lawyer who
played the trick had to leave town until his
Indignation subs!ded.
When Commodore Levy died he be-
dueathed the estate of Monticello to the
government of the United States as a home
and school for the children of warrant Of
hcers of the navy. If the government
would not accept, 1t was offered to the
state of Virginia under the same condi-
| tions II the state refused, it was be-
queathed to the rabbi and congregation of
| a synagogue in Richmond, with a sum
of money for charitable purposes. The
| United States government declined the re-
sponsibility, and the heirs al law contested
| the will. When the case came 10 trial
| the war was on, so that neither the state
Of Virginia nor the Jewish synagogue was
| represented. The court ordered the prop
erty sold at auction, Mr. JeHerSon Levy,
nephew and one of the heirs, bid it in,
and the proceeds were divided with the
| rest of the estate.
| MIR. jefferson was not an atheist, as Is
| generally supposed. There is every evil
dence to the contrary. He died unita-
| rian. He was a man of deep religious SEN
| timent, but resisted the authority of the
! Church Of England In which he was born.
and disputed several questions of theology.
| Nevertheless, during his entire life he paid
! IS year to the support Of the Episcopal
| Church OF the parish in which he lived,
and was a regular attendant at religious
services. During his dying hours his
| daughter sent for the rector. Mr. Jeffer-
! son consented to see him as a friend. but
not as spiritual adviser. He believed
that ne knew the way to heaven as well
as a parson.
This incident has been generally used
90 prove his atheism, together with his
vigorous assault upon the bishops and
| clergy Of the Episcopal Church in Vir-
ginia for their interference in politics. and
his criticism of the narrow religious doc
triues that were taught In the divinity
school Of William and Mary College Ara