The weekly chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Craig County, Okla.) 1905-1913, 1912-05-03

against both" His egOtism was o
such vast proportions that he boastel
of his ability to quote from memory
The reader can surmise how correc
and literal his quotations would be
Paine's memory was known to havl
been OF that phenomenal type char
acterized as wonderful" He was 0
Quaker extraction, and had from BIZ
youth up been used to hearing tht
Scriptures quoted, and had also some
knowledge Of the Word in reading i
in a desultery manner himself. ant
after he drifted into infidelity he be
came unscrupulous in his misuse ot
the Bible.
Tom Paine misquoted that text
John 9Th chapter and 31st verse, pre-
cisely as has his scrub imitator, who
has stolen his thunder from his dis.
reputable forebear To any one con-
versant with Tom Paine's writings.
the foregoing statement will be recog-
nized as truer It would, therefore, be
an interminable task TO even attempt
to answer al 1.-The objections brought
against the Bible and the God it re-
yeals, although all these objections"
are cut out Of the same shoddy cloth
manufactured in the mills of infidelity
They are all remarkably alike in tex
ture and nature.
1t is evident Captain Whites recent
article has "hit the nail square on the
head, when he says the author of the
Observer articles dare not make
public his name, for if he did, the peo-
pie would say What else could you
expect from such a source-from such
a MANI"
When Robert lngersoll was in his
prime, he declared that If ministers
and editors did not cease their false
hoods about Thomas Paine he would
convict them at the bar of public con-
science of being liars. And not long
since one of Paines admirers wrote in
a daily paper that "the stories of his
(Paine's) drunkenness and licentious-
ness are the wicked INVENTION OF
THE CLERGY, whose path he dared
TO cross, and who only refrain from
the abominable cruelties of
past ages upon those who differ from
them, not because of want of will, but
because their strength is shorn.'
This assertion has been shown to be
false by the testimony of one who had
no sinister motives whatever for Civ
ing to the world this picture of Paine's
manner of life.
This scribe has no desire to be-
smirch any mans character. But when
men of Paine's stamp set themselves
up as monitors of the race, then they
become public property; and it is our
inalienable right to arraign them be-
fore the bar of public opinion, and
pronounce Judgment upon their teach
Ings whether they are living or dead.
Permit me to give, in illustration of
this fact, the testimony of an intimate
friend of Paine, and firm believer in
the doctrines that has made the noted
lnfidel's name noted among men. His
testimony must be received by his
friends as well as his enemies, for in
q private letter to the author of the
age of Reason dated December 2,
1906, and published in the New York
Observer, Nov. /, 1877, he (William
Carver) makes the following disclos-
ures:
"A respectable gentleman from New
Rochelle called to see me few days
back, and said that everybody was
tired of you there, and that no one
would undertake to board and lodge
you. thought this was the case. as
found you at a tavern in a most mis-.
cradle situation You appeared as if
you had not been shaved for a fort
night, and as to shirt, it could not be
said that you had one ont was only
The remains of one-and this likewise
appeared not to have ben off your back
Tor fortnight, and was nearly the
color of tanned leather; and you had
he most disagreeable smell possible
lust like that of our poor beggars in
England Do yon remember the pains
took TO clean you? that | got tub
If warm water and soap. and washed
'ou from head to foot and this | had
o do three times before | could get
'ou elean2 You also say that you
ound you rown liquors during the
ime you boarded with me; but you
hould have said, ! found only a small
,art of the liquor | drank during my
tay with you; this part ! purchased
# John Fellows, which was demi-
ohm of brandy, containing four gal
ons, and this did not serve me three
weeks. This can be proved; and
mean not to say anything I cannot
'rove, for | hold truth as precious