The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-06-25
MAGU|RE WRITES ABOUT PLAGIARISM

we're,
And out of old bookes, in good faithe
Cometh al this new science that men
lere. --Chaucer.
A few days after hearing the lecture
on "Ruts and Anti uts'' by the Rev.
Father MacCorry at the opera house,
which T am sure was enjoyed by the
thousand people who had attended, and
by no one more than myself my pleas
ure was very much married by the
common street rurnor that 1.-The whole
thing was a dead steal from lnsersoll.
l was in company with an eminent
divine on the main street and at the
very time was exchanging compliment
tary remarks with him on the lecture
and the lecturer. Another party pass
ing by at the same time, who had been
to hear the Rev. MacCorry, remarked
that it was too bad that MacCorry had
to go to Bob Ingersoll for material
for his lecture. / must say that / was
shocked at the bold accusation, but ex-
pressed my disbelief that such could be
the case. Seeing that l was "a doubt
ing Thomas" the gentleman promised
me that he would produce Ingersolfs
printed lectures, and convince me that
a monstrous plagiarism had been per-
petrated. / was still dsbeliever The
following morning the Standard came
similar sayings of Ingersoll and the
Rev. Father MacCorry. AS there is
but one great Ingersoll. and as his
name will appear many times in this
article, it will not be taken as a mark
of any discourtesy of mine to the eIo
quent gentleman, who for his great
talents has no greater admirer than
myself, if / drop all honorary titles in
abiding to him.
1t is the province of "a live paper
to give the news of the day to all it's
readers. 1t is a duty it owes to its
clientele, and whether he be preacher
or politician, an actor or an agitator
so long as the man appears either IN
the pulpit or on the rostrum, on the
stage or on the platform, he is public
character and subject to the criticism
of the public press. The press in turn
becomes amenable to the criticism of
public opinion, and on this account
ought to be careful in it's statements
whenever mems business and reputa-
ton are at stake. l am induced to
make these remarks from the knowl-
edge that there is absolutely nothing
in common between the lectures as
was intimated, of the Rev. MacCorry
and the clergyman of Butte who coined
the Royal seizure of thought and
used it as synonym for one of the
most fragrant plagfarisms that has ever
case it was not a royal seizure of
thought" but a wholesale robbery of
a series of lectures, and by him deliv-
cred verbatim ct literatim.' There is
indeed a vast difference between rank
plagiarism and Seizure OF thought y
as will be proved in the matter here
submitted on these subjects / want it
understood that I am not obtruding
myself at this time to defend any in
dividual who would deliberately take.
so to speak, without due process of
law. the mental property of another,
and who having acquired through the
methods of the highwavman or the
burglar the results of the brain work
er's toll, stand out with brazen exulta-
ton and say. this is mine"
This is what the Butte clergyman
did. This the Rev. MacCorry did not
do The Rev. MacCorry has appro-
priated the style and construction Of
Ingersoll, and I am sure he could have
no better model as an orator. And to
this may be traced 1.-The head and front
of his offending" TnconsciouSly ne
may have borrowed a group of those
sentiments and words which lngersoll
as unconsciously borrowed from some
body else. He may have CLEANED from
Webster and others, ne laid the poet
Wordsworth under tribute for he said,
"Thy soul is like a star that dwelleth
apart" What matter IT the houqust
which graces your dinner table. SO
pleasant to the sight and agreeable to
the smell, is culled from 20 different
nlants: is it less DELIGHTFUL to the senses
because one bush did not bear all the
blossoms? The difference between the
CLERGYMAN of "royal seizure notoriety
and the. Rev. Mr.. MacCorry reminds me
of the story of the two broom sellers.
Il do not understand how you under
sell me-" said one, "for / steal my ma
&c civ la
the other replied; Il steal mine ready
made"
| have heard MacCorry's "Ruts and
Anti-Ruts" as I have already stated
have read Ingersoll's "Individualism,
outside of the few paragraphs pub
lished in the parallel. While both lee
lures are really on the same subject
they are in their diction and senti-
ments as divergent as the Lewis and
Clark forks of the Columbia river. The
most reprehensible thing in MacCorry'
lecture is that his style Is saturated
with Ingersoll. A most excellent model
to be sure to mould on, but dangerous
If impregnated with too much admlra-
ton. I can imagine the Rev. MacCor-
nv, a young priest liable at any time
to controvert an attack upon his
church. He reads Ingersoll so as to
find out the vulnerable points of the
agnostic by and by, While he con
dennis he cannot but admire the artful
casuistry of the famous agnostic; he
commits perhaps to memory many OF
his most attractive passages, with a
view of using the same as some future
occasion may present itself, just as he
would use the words or passages of the
pagan authors whose works he had te
be familiar with in order to success
fully prepare himself for his sacred call,
ing. That in an ebullition of emotiona
enthusiasm he may have to conjure Ut
words to express certain ideas and q
something like flash gives the cue
from an Ingersoll or Paine or a New
man or a Gladstone-some felicitous
expression which we suppose in oul
ardor is born at the time. and think sc
until some few days after the sciolist
the man of one book and one ideal re-
minds us that the whole thing was
"stolen from Tom Jones or Bill Smith,
do not care to insinuate even d
shadow of defense of any imputatior
against the Rev. MacCorry as being
subject to any alteration of memory
ram a1l-