The Washington times., 1910-01-21
Remarkable Collection Is
Found In Attic of New
Bedford Home.
FRANKLIN LETTER
FULL OF INTEREST
Declaration Signers, Presidents,
Writers, and Foreign Notables
In the List

NEW BEDFORD. Jan 21--TTere has
come TO light in this city a collection
OF autographs which is among the most
remarkable assem5IaEes of letters and
SIGNATURES Of great men 10 be found IN
any collection Of Americans In the
country
y was discovered by the merest
chance and narrowly escaped being sent
10 the Junk dealer The collection was
made by Mrs William Hathaway, jr--
II 1872. and was stored for many years
10 the old mansion at the corner OF Ut
Ehard and Arnold streets.
The Hathaways were an old family
- great wealth, and Thomas Hath
svsv. the Rad OF the house, vas one
o. the founders OF Albany The Ior-
rune however, was gradually disslPat-
I'd The mansion was sold some years
ago for the support Of the last OF the
Inc, who has been in d sanitaT1um Tor
many. years, a sufferer from a IIialadS
q the mind.
The treasures in the way Of old fur
ufture. china, and paintings with when
The Hathaway house was filed nave
been sold al auction from time to time.
Finds Forty Volumes
last week Oliver Prescott, the con
sz-varor Of the estate. found forty mas
rve volumes which had been scGedHled
zpon the inventories as scrap bcohS'
and so lar as is known. had not oeeH
aDaned for generation Lhey narrowly
sEcapad being sold for old paper HOW
,-ar ona OF the volumes attracted
"a .osttv and an examination to-oV'ea-
zach OF the forty volumes. was Specl-
Al made Of large folio size bound IN
R7sszfa- especially -lertered- with printed
6tlA pages and all are extra ---LStff-~t7-
md skiIlfuHy mounted one OF tiE W
aTnes contains autCEra pms lpl S--7s
Fba sfguP~s Of the Declaration or LIlle-
bendence. but those Of the Federal
Constitution
Eases not one letter but several appear
Moreover. many Of the letters are long
and Of great interest NFrLlis liie eA--@
Illustrations of the volume contain
Hanv ufeces Of. Continental money The
collection includes long cocuLf2eLit
bzned by John Morton q SlEneE OF L-=
Declaration from PennsylyzTlia. as wei
Is numerous pieces OF Continental mon
~ bearing his signature
Franklin Letter
The following is the Benjamin Frank
in letter found in the collection II IS
4 personal letter to h1s0wife-
London. april 3, lT7A
Nv Dear Love- hoped 20 nave
been on the sea on my return oy
THIS time but find I must stay q few
weeks longer, perhaps 1oT the sum
r1er chips Thanks 70 God commune
wen and hearty, and hope 70 md
YOU so when have the happiness
once more Of seeing you
T07Tr Eod-dauEhrer- Amelia Evans
that was Cnow BaTry-) is gone again
with her husband and children 10
T--ufs where she is 70 I've some
time while her husband, VINO IS cap
tain of q ship. trades IN those seas
~
sensible letter she wrote me on TAX
ing leave
FIevrsov'= have lately had the small
pox-the eldest In Lhe common way
very fun. the youngest by lnOcUla-
ton, lightly, and oor1 are now Vel
But Mr. HewsOn Is down with a
terrible fever, and Till yesterday rs -
life was deSpaired Of VI now be-
sin 20 hope for his recovery
shan give YOU another line oy
the racket Of next week. and am, Is
Your afectIouate .rss5and-
B FIR Kiln
To Mrs. Franklin. Philadelphia
Favor Of Captain Ashmead-
4 letter Of Abraham Clark, OF New
Fe~-av Sfgne- Of the Declaration ad-
dressed 10 Colonel Dayton anC. VIII
len from philadelphia, June = az, al
taos the colonel not 10 think Of resign
s; al III, 7fs 156+ Gl-5 on n There are also
br,r1e~o11E letters from the -AcaUses
nd q very LONG one regarding ne
French Navy written BY Thomas JeI-
terEoI-
American Authors
There IS p volume Of American au-
frors- The completeness of this can be
1dge6 by the fact that Mrs Hathaway
made q list Of 100 Of the most repre-
tentative and checked the names as she
He'd her collection But seven names
II the list prepared are unified There
re letters signed by Nathaniel Haw-
horne. william H Prescott the his
torian: Noah Webster, William Cutler
Bryant. and Francis Key, the author Of
The Star-SoaDEled Banner"
There is another volume given I'D Il
American statesmen with letters from
Gunner and his -CCHIem pOraTles, one u
he Presidents, a very complete volume