The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1916-09-22
he WHO WROTE IT
The Nan Who Penned the Dec
Iaration of independence.
WORK OF TIMOTHY MATLACK.
He Was Clerk In the Continental
Congress When Thai immortal Oocu-
nent Was Adopted and Was Also the
Finest Writer In the Country.

! ment Was Accepted ana was ALSO the
Finest Writer In the Country.
Who wrote the Declaration Of lnde-
Dendcnce? Thomas Jefferson, o. course;
every one knows that. But who held
the pen and formed the letters on the
great piece of parchment that the
members of the Continental congress
signed? 1t is one of the largest Official
papers in existence-one skin Of parch-
ment nearly three feet long and more
than two feet wide. The writing is
nearly twice the normal size and is
unusually handsome and clear.
The secretary who was ordered to
promulgate the work was Charles
Thomson, a man of high character.
who had been the principal Of school
at New Castle, Del, and an active pa
/ triot. The first congress chose him as
secretary in 1774, and he held the Of
fee until the Continental congress
passed out of existence on March 2,
1889. During all those fifteen years 1t
was only on rare occasions that any
other hand than his wrote In the jour
nal.
One Of the clerks in Thomson's Office
In 1775 and 1776 was Timothy Matlack,
who died at Holmesburg, Pa, in 1929.
when he was ninety-nine years Of age.
To carry out the order Of the con-
gress that the Declaration be pro-
claimed, Thomson needed more than
score of copies, for he had to send 1t
to every one Of the states and to the
army. So, to save time, he did not
attempt to have any copies written of
with the pen. but sent the original
draft, which the congress had passed,
; to the Official printer, John Dunlap.
The following morning the printed
copies were in Thomson's hands. They
were printed on one side Of the paper
on large sheets eighteen inches long
and fourteen and half inches wide in
the form known as broadsides.
1t was from one Of those copies that
Philadelphia first heard the Declara-
ton read. and it was one Of them that
became the official copy, for Thomson
had not copied the Declaration even
into the journal Of the congress before
he gave it to the printer; but. when he
wrote the journal for July he left
a blank space for the Declaration, and
the next day, with two waters Of red
wax. he fastened in the printed broad
side
have said that sometimes an entry
was made in the journal Of the con-
gress by another hand than Thomson's.
The first Of those occasions was on
June -. 1775. when Timothy Matlack
recorded a resolution to set aside a
day for fasting and prayer to avert the
desolating calamities that seemed to be
impending. Matlack had been appoint
ed clerk in Thomson's Office on May
Is. and five days later. on May 20. he
wrote out the most important docu-
ment that the congress had issued up
to that time-the commission to George
Washington to be commander in chief
Of the American army. The Identified
ton Of the penmanship Of the commis-
sion with that Of the entry in the
journal and Of both with an autograph
letter Of Matlack's that is among the
papers Of the Continental congress is
certain
Probably there was not at that time
a man in the country who was Mat
lacks equal as a penman. Forum
ately. Matlack was still a clerk in
Thomson's Office when the Declara-
ton of Independence WIS ordered to
be engrossed for final signature. and
the task Of copying it was assigned to
him. He copied from the printed
broadside. That is clearly shown by
the heading Of the broadside. I'm Con-
gress, July 4. 1776." which is repro
duced in the written Declaration In the
same form of lettering.
A few years ago some Of the officials
in the library Of congress, who kew
that Matlack was the best penman en-
ployed by Thomson, made a compari-
son Of General Washingtons commis-
sion, which was known to have been
written by him. with the Declaration.
The first peculiar letter in the COM
mission is the capital "N'' in New
Hampshire, and we find its counter
part in Natures" In the second line OF
the body of the Declaration. The
graceful flourish at the top Of the '"T''
in the word ITO" in the commission Is
repeated in the second of the sentences
beginning THAT" in the Declaration.
In the word "offer" in the commission
there is a marked popularity In the
double ''f.' The first ''f'' is made like
the old fashioned long IS" 1t appears
in the word effect in the Declaration,
then in suffer" and "suferable." That
is the most noteworthy peculiarly in
Matlack's writing. The capital I'D" in
the commission and in the last line Of
the Declaration, the capital "B'' in the
commission and In the word British"
In the Declaration, the whole word