The Vinita daily chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1902-1913, 1912-02-14

the dawn. He died as if going to sleep,
and just before taking his last breath,
he said to his valet: "Adieu. my dear
Morand, am gone He went through
the farce of the last sacrament of the
Catholic church in order to secure a
burial spot in the cemetery where he
wished his dust to repose.
The priests that administered the
sacrament knew that it was a farce
and what it was for, and later the
priest received a menacing letter from
the bishop ordering that Voltaire's
body be not allowed "a little earth for
charity" But it was too late, as Vol
taire's body had already been laid
away, to be later resurrected by a ma
ton and received into the French
Pantheon With the acclaim of the
whole French people.
Voltaire's writings number some 45
volumes and | would suggest to Cap
tain White that he secure Coume
and 2 and read THE White Bull" and
The Atheist and the Sage" also
'Zadig, or The Mystery of Fate be-
fore he again repeats the foolish and
baseless charges of the church. Vol
taire will be revered and loved when
all of his calumniators will be dust
and vermin. His personality was gen
ial and he was touched with human
sympathy, and it was of him that Vic
tor Hugo said
Between two servants of Humanity,
who appeared eighteen hundred years
apart, there is a mysterious relation.
Let us say it with a sentiment
of profound respect: JESUS WEPT;
IVOLTAIRE SMILED. OF that divine
tear and of that human smile is COM
posed the sweetness of the present
civilization.
Now as to the charge against
Thomas Paine, that he died bloated
and drunken sot and begged in his dy-
ling hours for mercy. This falsehood
has been so often repeated by the
clergy and their dupes that it is pos.
sible that some of them actually be-
lieve it. Like the punishment meted
out to the liar, that he finally concludes
that his lies are true, the church has
finally concluded that this story is
true.
This deathbed story of Paine was re-
futed by Col, Robert G. lngersoll, in
.l1S77, and in controversy with a
presbyterian religious periodical The
New York Observer. he forced the pa
per to publish this retraction over
the editors signature The issue of
November /, 1877:
I'VE have never stated in any form
nor have we ever supposed that Paine
Iactually renounced his infidelity. The
Iaccounts agree in stating that he died
a blaspheming infidel."
This paper mentioned, the New York
lObserver had made the charge that
Paine died begging for mercy. and the
paragraph just mentioned was the re-
traction that the editor published after
Bob had driven him to the wall This
Presbyterian paper, this worshipper at
the shrine of Jno Calvin, the mur.
derer Of Seryetus, and Jno. Knox, the
murderer of Geo. Wishert, could see
no reason why that Paine, who hadn't
murdered anyone, would be allowed
by the Presbyterian God to have a
lpeaceable death, and so the charges
that Captain White has so glibly quot
ed were sent out to the world The
paper, however, had the honesty to re-
tract when the facts were shown and
ICol. Ingersoll never let an opportunity
pass in the 80 years of his life as pub
lie speaker to call. attention of the
public to the lire and public services
of Thomas Paine.
Paine was the author of three politi
cal works either of which would have
made him place in the Pantheon OF
any country, had he not written as his
crowning achievement, THE Age OF
Reason" No churchman objects to
Common Sense" "The Rights OF
Man." or "The Crisis" but as soon as
the "Age of Reason" is mentioned, the
face of the church becomes liyid with
hate, and the ever-ready weapon of
the church, SANDER, is invoked to sup
press the illustrious friend of man
the man who was patronized by Wash
Iington, worshipped by Jefferson ad-
mired by Franklin, and who fought
with Washington in the battles of the
revolution. His Crisis was pillar
of fire by night and a cloud by day"
to the starving continentals, and when
his Rights of Man." with its famous
epigram, These are the times that
try mems souls" came out, the strug-
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