Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1916-07-25
Pioneers OF
The Magalloway
FROM 1920 TO 1904
.r, n rrYsp

), FROM 1920 TO 19O4
By Granville p. Wilson
(sEcoND PAPER)
1 have hitherto refrained (perhaps IN
justify from especial notice OF the frs
Magallowsy settler, fearing the objec
tions which their posterity might rails
against having his name associated will
those of the WORTHLESS already mentioned
David Robbins (for that was the first set
tiers name) has ever been held in abhor
renee as robber and murderer, bu
Judged BY the identical standard b!
which our 90 called "Christian Govern
ment" is judged and approved by boil
pulpit and populaee, We shall find Mr.
Robbins to have been not only patriot
of the first order, but also an eminen,
philanthropist and most useful citizen
This much is certain, he was q pioneer ol
progress and Of commerce (fur trade) In
that wilderness. He WAS, moreover Ito
use the reported language of DR.. Lyman
Abbott), An "Anglo Saxon Ok" and ss q
consequence no native "barbaric dog
had 'any right to the crib where he
wanted to feed" or, We might say, to
the furs that be coveted, by whomsoever
caught or claimed. True, bis achieve
ments for expansion, and the open door
In the northeast, were diminutive and in
glorious, compared with those OF our
"Christian world.power" In the Philip
pine Islands. he never, as far as known,
robbed but three men, or murdered but
two, in the interest of civilization, COM
merce and ''good government" but 80
far, his operations were equally patriotic
and praisewortby, and his final excuse
just the same, which excuse. dlvested of
all its bombast, and unparalleled hypoc-
risy, is just this: both Mr.. Robbins and
the United States government coveted
that which was in the possession Of
others. They could not obtain the same
without killing those possessors; and
being able, they did so, and took posses
sion of the property. This is the "long
and short" of the whole matter. If the
whole moral law of God, since the time
of the Naboth and Jezebel episode, has
been reversed or annulled, to promote
the money getting ambitions of the
"Christian United States," az is the logi-
cal and unavoidable inference from the
recent teachings of our most prominent
and popular Doctors Of Divinity, and II
all the acts of the United States govern
ment during the last six years are to be-
come examples and standards of states.
msnship and Righteousness, as now
seems to be the popular demand, then
herewith propose the immediate erection
Of monument higher than Mount Axis
coos,* to the memory of David Robbins,
for the murders and robberies he COM
mitted In the cause of expansion, civili-
zation and the extension of United
States commerce, glory and world
power, In the ''unassimilated" region Of
the Androscoggin Lakes.
As to the precise date of Mr.. Robbins
advent on the Magalloway, or of his de-
parture therefrom, the writer OF this can
give no information. He went thither,
as is supposed, to escape justice, and it
is certain he left Lancaster, N. H., jail, q
few years later, for the same purpose, In
both of which mierations he appears to
have been eminently successful. He re-
sided on the Magalloway several years
cotemporarily with the Bennett, Leavit
and Lombard families, and Mr.. Nahum
Bennett now distinctly remembers see-
ing him when brought down the river In
irons, by the old hero, Lewis Loomis,
(of Colebrook) on the way to Lancaster
Jail. This must have been near the year
1885. His career in the Lake region has
long been the theme of both history and
romance, but of bis final fate, nothing
authentic is, or perhaps ever will be
known. The only mitigating traits of
his infamous character seem TO have
been that he was energetic, industrious
and thrifty. His wife, 1t Is said, never
could be persuaded or convinced of bis
guilt, the evidence of which was un-
questionable, though never brought be-
fore Jury. Tradition makes him out
to have been finally hung In Canada, for
a crime committed after his escape from
Lancaster Jail, but this has never been
substan tiated.
The next supper township settler,
after the Pickett brothers, was Joshua
Lombard Of Oxford, Me-, and from this
period we can almost say with the Scrip
ture that "tbere were giants In those
days." Mr.. Lombard was six feet or
more in height, two hundred and fifty
pounds or more in weight, had two sons
of nearly bis own size, and one even
larger. If our. Joshua had not the great
mission of his Scripture namesake to
perform, be certainly was endowed with
q fair share of bis heroic spirit and per-
sonal prowess. Though he never COM
manded the sun to stand still, he once
caused wild moose to do 30, without
hsrming the creature In the least. On
another occasion, when attacked by .
vicious bull, he is said to have thrown
the animal upon Its back, driven bis
horns into the sod, and left him to his
own reflections.
II all the traditions and representations
of the pioneer Methodist OF the Peter
Cartwright type were lost to the world,
they might largely be restored from rem
iuiscences of this Boanerges OF tho Ma
galloway, whose moral vigor was In
Keeping with his physical, and whose
courage was entirely commensurate with
both. He had been, according to his
numerous testimonies in''social meetin'," !"
Q most degraded drunkard, but having
las he expressed it) "speerenced relig-
ion" and '.jined the Methodists," bis
hatred of rum was ever afterward as ar
dent as his love of It had been before.
For long time after bis conversion he
is said to have kept q we'll filled bottle
on his cupboard at home, and when
sorely tempted by his former sb'sett'n
sin" to take drink, would 60 to the shelf,
seize the bottle, and giving 1t defiant
shake, exclaim In the thnnder tones OF
which he was we'll known to be capable,
"Pll conquer ye! I'll master ye" and
master It be did, with heroism worthy
of the name of Israel's ancient deliverer.
Mr.. Lombard was, as may be supposed,
great patron and supporter OF the Cos
pei ministry, and sometimes oficiated at
religious meetings himself. On such oc-
casious with his never failing Methodist
"hembook' at hand, he frequently led
the singing, and no church organ or
other musical machinery was necessary
when the choice OF hymns happened to
fall on his favorite, old Turner. The
bass of this glorious old melody - be
rendered 1t, would have been . caution
to Myron Whitney. He would almost
have imagined that seven thunders
uttered their voices. Il would hsve done
ones soul good, whether he Joined In
tho spirit Of the meeting or not, TO be
present st so hearty, 30 spontaneous, 30
ltremendous performance.
In the winter OF 1854, when the old
Christian R0ldiar Vaa wall Advanced