Omaha daily bee., 1908-12-13
REVERE GETS KNOCK
Famous Revolutionary Ride to MED
ford Town" Pronounced Fiction.
SIMPLY A LoNGFELLow CREATION
o Hahcock's Letter to E1bridEe
Gerry Raises a Large DOubt-
Historical Features OF Hal
lowed Incident.

Walter BENJAMIN Of New York. publisher
Of The Collector, has In his possession a
letter which he believes proves conclu-
sively that Paul Revere never made the
midnight ride attributed to him by Long
fellow and tradition.
The document Is a letter from John
Hancock to Elbridge Gerry, dated Lex
ington, April Is. 17B. at . o'clock. This
was the night before the memorable bat
tie and three hours before Paul Revere,
according to Longfellow, "crossed the
bridge into Medford town" The message
reads:
Dear Sir: am much obliged for your
notice. 1t is said the officers are gone
along the Concord road. and 1 will send
ought TO be serious. and / hope your de-
cision will be effectual. l intend doing
myself the pleasure Of being with you TO-
am your real friend. JOHN HANCOCK.
Mr.. Benjamin says that II Hancock OF
the committee Of safety, knew at 3 o'clock
that the troops had gone along the Con-
cord read and hoped they would be "se-
rious,' that Lexington and Concord were
fully aroused to the danger Of the coming
of British troops, and that there would
be no need for Paul Revere to send
Through the night his cry Of alarm
To every Middlesex village and farm.
The guarded expressions in the note, Nj.
BENJAMIN says, are due to the troublous
times, when Hancock might expect to
have his mail seized and did not want to
have his correspondence betray more in
formation than was absolutely necessary.
His position is that this letter proves that
by o'clock the committee Of safety was
well acquainted with the British plans
and had sent troops to Concord TO be
ready. Therefore IL the patriots were fully
prepared at 8 o'clock, why make the mid
night ride to carry news which they had
already had for some time?
a Question Of Time.
The evidence Of the Hancock letter to
Gerry has been known, fer . was pub
lished In 1923 in a rare Life of Gerry
but the date with the 20 O'Clock" was
omitted, so that printed with others 1t
caused no comment. In the ~originay copy
the date is there in Hancock's writing.
Paul Revere was never famous until the
Longfellow poem appeared. Since then
historians, remembering that the stone
tower, which the poets hero of 9TH
Skeleton in Armour had built for his
lady turned out to be the old round mill
which Benedict Arnold's grandfather had
erected, have been looking rather askance
at Paul. particularly as Longfellow painted
him. Still historians are agreed that Paul
Revere actually did exist and did some
riding, although not as Longfellow made
him do 1t.
After the learned professors had declared
their distrust of poetic history, they did
manage to find a plain prose version of
Paul Revere among the old manuscripts
of the Massachusetts Historical society
papers. II proved to be a letter written by
Paul Revere in 17ss to their secretary, DR..
nalnaH Di-IN tha., aAA HhaEA DoHl nu
Longfellow wrote him, and Paul, as he
wrote himself. began to disagree.
The first trouble was over the lantern to
be hung in the old North church for a Sig
nal light. Even now historians are not
decided whether the tablet hung in Boston
commerorating the spot Is placed In the
right church, or whether 1t was Robert
Newman or John Pulling who climbed
the tower Of the old North church by the
wooden stairs with stealthy tread to the
belfry chamber overhead" Paul just calls
him a friend, and so does Longfellow.
Having established the fact that there
was a church somewhere and a Lantern
troubles begin to arise. Paul Revere him.
self wrote that the signal was invented by
him for the benefit OF some American Of
ficers. ""Colonel Conant and others" ir
Charlestown, to let them know when the
British crossed, fearing that any messenger
from Boston might be taken by the British
A Borrowed Horse
When DR.. Warren asked him TO go e
Lexington 10 warn Hancock and Adami
there, he told his friend to raise the Ian
tern as n signal 10 Conant In case he (Re
vere) couldn't leave Boston. Having or
dered the lantern TO he placed. Revere
quietly iowed across to Charleston and
borrowed Deacon Larkin's horse. In hi
letter Paul assures DIR, Belnap that th'
horse. though belonging to the deacon, wa
a good one. The historians do not rails,
any great objection to the Revere docu
ment so far. but it inconsiderately de
stroys the first six stanzas of Longfel
lows poem.
while Deacon Larkin's horse was belnI
saddled, Revere met Richard Devens O
the committee of safety, who told hir
that ten British officers mad been see
going up the Lexington read at sundowr
This supports Mr.. Benjamin's argumer
aIAA ~ - 49, A. 49,