Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1910-02-18
PATRIOTS OF '76 ARE KNOCKED
FROM PEDESTAL BY STARK
BENJAMIN Franklin, John Adams, Samuel Adams John Han
cock and Patrick Henry Called "UndesirabIeS' Boston
Citizens Accused of Being R ude to RedcoaS

came to this country when years old
lie is the founder of several important So
ceties in Boston, including the Dorchester
Historical society. South Boston Yacht
club an da member of the New England
IIie.o-'o-' Genealogical society.
John Adams, a sogned of the Declaration
of independence. was if we are to heed the
inexorable Stark. the original discoverer
of telling which way to hoRpolitically by
putting the ear to the ground. John Adj
ANS" he says. coined the disunionists
probably because he saw that if the rev.
olution was successful there would be
great opportunity for advancement under
the new government. This proved to be
the case"
Come on, Samuel Adams, signer of the
Declaration, and get yours. You were tax
collector at Boston, were you not. Mr.. Adj
ans, at a time when 5000 was considered
a lot OF dough? Yes? Well. what did you
do with it-that 5000 tax money you
swiped? ! now quote from a letter IN
your own handwriting, in which you con-
fess to this defalcation."
Mr. Stark uses language of which the
foregoing is free translation, and adds
that as the patriot who gave England
such a hard slap did not make good.
his sureties had to pay the $5,Om AS
a correlated matter the new lexicon Tor
the first families of Massachusetts says
that B. Franklin was 81 years old when
'he stole letters from the MALL an
inadvertency said to have cost him his
job.
CALLS HANCOCK A DEFAULTER
Passing to the next pillory, we tickle
the feet of the revered John Hancock.
who will be shown somewhat knight
of the jimmy and dark lantern. looting
a
writes Mr.. Stark, John Hancock was
elected treasurer of Harvard college In
this they considered their patriotism
more than their prudence. The amount
of college funds paid over to him was
upwards Of Is, 400 pounds, and, like his
friend Samuel Adams, he, too, proved to
be a defaulter. For 20 years the cor
poration begged and entreated him TO
make restitution. They threatened TO
prosecute him and also put his bond IN
suit as Adams was, but it was all of no
avail. He turned a deaf ear to their
entreaties, and it was only after his
death In 1893 that his heirs made restitu-
ton to the college, when a settlement
was made in 1895, in which the college
lost $526 Interest"
After telling that several of the signers
of the declaration of independence were
smuggles, Mr.. Stark takes up with care
full detail the Boston mobs and the events
leading up to the revolution. In telling
of the Boston massacre he says: THE
rioters repeatedly challenged the SOL
diers to fire if they dared, and the tor
rent of coarse and profane abuse poured
upon the soldiers is astonishing even IN
it's echoes across the century, and would
furnish material for an appropriate Ia
scription on the Attacks monument.
Concerning the Boston tea party Mr..
Stark Says: THE illegal seizure of the
tea was in a certain sense paralleled TO
the so-called respectable mob, which on
the 18th day of August, 1884, destroyed the
CharIestown convent, and year later
nearly killed Garrison and made the
Jail his only safe place of refuge.