USA > Massachusetts > Hampshire County > Pelham > History of Pelham, Mass. : from 1738 to 1898, including the early history of Prescott > Part 29
USA > Massachusetts > Hampshire County > Prescott > History of Pelham, Mass. : from 1738 to 1898, including the early history of Prescott > Part 29
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Joseph Huntingdon came to Pelham and remained several days
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and during his stay on several occasions addressed the pretender Davis, by his true name Burroughs. This was noticed by those that heard it and it excited suspicion that Davis was not his real name. Huntingdon, concluded his visit, and set out on a Monday morning for Coventy, Conn., on horseback. Burroughs accompanied him, and when the two young fellows were riding past the house of Rev. Mr. Forward, the pastor of the church at Belchertown, the latter came forth and desired them to call, saying that Rev. Mr. Chapin from Windsor was within and he wished Davis or Burroughs to make his acquaintance.
Burroughs knew Chapin already and declined, stating that he was in haste to move on with his friend Huntingdon, but while making excuses, Rev. Mr. Chapin came forth from Mr. Forward's house and addressed the supplyer as Burroughs. It was in vain that he tried to convince Chapin that his name was Davis. Chapin was not deceived by talk of that sort and persisted that he knew the man before him and that his name was not Davis but Burroughs. Burroughs and Huntingdon then rode on towards Palmer, the former leaving Mr. Forward and Mr. Chapin with not a little assumed indignation at being addressed as Burroughs instead of Davis.
Burroughs and Huntingdon parted some distance below Belcher- town. Huntingdon to pursue his journey to Coventry, Conn., and Burroughs turned back towards Pelham, by the same road that led past Mr. Forward's house ; and after passing the house he heard some one shouting from the parsonage to him calling Mr. Davis, and also Mr. Burroughs, but he turned not back. Continuing along the hilly road toward Pelham, the supplyer had time to reflect upon the effect which the unpleasant interview with Mr. Chapin and Mr. Forward would have upon the people of his charge at Pelham when they came to know all about it as it was plain they would, the next day at farthest, when his true name and character would be laid bare to the people of Pelham, already suspicious, and who lacked but the information that Mr. Chapin could give them to cause the indigna- tion of the people to burst forth and fall upon him in full measure. He had preached fifteen of the sixteen Sundays of his second engage- ment, and to meet the cost of new and fitting ministerial robes and his new horse, saddle and bridle had drawn all the salary that would be due after another Sunday's labors should be given, and as any further engagement was now impossible, he hastily decided upon leaving the
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town without the formality of bidding the people farewell. Arriving at his boarding place at Pelham that evening he put his horse in the usual place at the barn and went to bed as usual. When the family were all asleep he gathered his personal effects together, passed quietly from the house, took his horse from the stable, mounted and rode to the house of a trusted friend whom he calls Lysander. Who" this man was or in what part of the town he lived is not known, probably in the easterly part. To Lysander he told the incidents of the day and what would befall him on the morrow if he fell into the clutches of those before whom he had been parading as a minis- ter. Lysander secreted the guilty pretender in his house and hid the horse in his barn, and then they waited to see what a day would bring forth.
When the landlord of Davis, the supplyer, rose on that bright September morning in 1784 and learned that his guest of the summer had departed in the night, leaving not a trace, he was greatly astonished and excited. He informed the neighbors and the news spread like wildfire. A man came from Belchertown and gave information showing that the supplyer who said his name was Davis was a fraud and impostor, which added fuel to the flames of indignation that had begun to blaze. The whole town was in uproar. They mounted their horses and rode in all directions seeking for information that would lead to the discovery of Davis. Just what they proposed to do if they could find him cannot be clearly understood now but it is enough to know that those good people had been outraged, scandal- ized, by this unsanctified pretender who had been occupying the sacred desk of their meeting house, and they were all intent upon discovering the way he had gone and his whereabouts if possible.
During all that day of exciting thought and action among the people Burroughs was in the house of his friend, Lysander, and a witness of the hurrying to and fro of the angry people to whom he had been preaching for five months.
About 12 o'clock at night, after the people had quieted down, Burroughs mounted his horse and took leave of his friend Lysander and family and rode out into the darkness, going eastward towards Greenwich. He could, and doubtless did have a review of the past five months of his life in Pelham, now so suddenly terminated as he rode out of the town alone in the darkness of night. About one o'clock Burroughs overtook a man in the town of Greenwich named
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Powers whom he had known before coming to Pelham. He accused Powers with having been searching for himself with the Pelham people, which Powers at first denied but later confessed that it was true. Burroughs explained the situation to Powers and endeavored to have the latter promise not to divulge his whereabouts. Powers hesitated and then Burroughs frightened him into taking a solemn oath that he would not, and they rode along together until Powers reached his house and Burroughs kept on, having decided to ride to Rutland, and reached there about eight o'clock in the morning.
As soon as Burroughs had parted with Powers the latter forgot his oath and turned back to Pelham, giving the alarm and rousing the people into the greatest excitement again on learning the direction Burroughs had taken.
A goodly number saddled their horses and pushed on after the fleeing imposter. Burroughs was in the store of a friend named Frink when he heard the tramping of horses hoofs. Looking out the window near which he was standing he recognized a crowd of Pel- ham people rushing into town on horseback, and he very well knew the errand that brought them there. His first thought was to elude them by flight ; he made a rush for the rear door of his friend's store or shop, when near the door he met a Mr. Conkey, one of the angry Pelham men, who tried to lay hold of him. Burroughs struck Conkey across the arm with a stick with such force as to break his arm. Rushing past Conkey, now disabled, he ran around the end of the shop or store and turning the corner he met two of the Pelham deacons ; turning again to avoid them, all of the angry Pelham people gave chase, shouting " Stop him! Stop him !" as they chased Burroughs down the hill. The fact of being pursued by the people he had been preaching to for the past five months, the shouting, and not very complimentary language of his pursuers angered their late Supplyer and he halted, picked up a stone and faced them, declar- ing that he would kill the first man who came near him. At this defiant attitude, the pursuers all halted in astonishment except Dr. Hinds, a prominent man of Pelham, who coming within reach of Burroughs, received a blow on the head which felled him to the ground. Burroughs seeing a crowd of Rutland people coming to see what it was all about, moved forward towards a small barn, his late people following at a respectful distance. Entering the barn, he +climbed to the top of the haymow, taking a scythe snath along for
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defense. Rutland people came into the barn with the angry men from Pelham, and the former wanted to know what the disagreement was. based upon.
Deacon McMullen of Pelham then explained that the man on the haymow was an imposter who had come to Pelham, calling his name Davis while it was Burroughs and had grossly deceived them by claiming to be a preacher, and preached to them all summer, and they had paid him for one Sunday that he had not preached.
The last statement seemed to strike the Rutland people as wrong, but as the Sunday had not yet come on which he had been engaged to preach, it constituted a mitigating circumstance.
Deacon McMullen then charged that Burroughs had nearly killed Dr. Hinds and Mr. Conkey and ought to be arrested and punished,. he also spoke of the intimidation and threatening of Powers at Green- wich the previous night.
There was a wordy discussion between the pursuers of Burroughs. from Pelham and the Rutland people who had followed into the barn where Burroughs had taken refuge. Dea. McMullen and the party with him insisted that the law should take hold of Burroughs, and the Rutland people were not sure that he had done any great wrong by preaching under an assumed name if his preaching was good ; neither did they think that collecting money in advance for a Sunday's preaching, that he had not given them, was any very grave offense. Finally the Rutlanders proposed, that as Burroughs had collected five dollars of the Pelham people beyond what he had given an equivalent for, the whole business should be settled up by an adjournment to Wood's tavern where Burroughs was to expend the five dollars at the bar for the benefit of all those who were thirsty, whether native Rutlanders or people from Pelham. This proposition was finally adopted. Burroughs descended from the hay loft, where he had climbed for safety, and the party went to the tavern where Burroughs called for drinks for all hands, and an era of good feeling and satisfaction was rapidly setting in when Dr. Hinds, who had been knocked down for venturing to near while Burroughs was retreating to the barn, put in an appearance and began to foam with rage at the turn things had taken. Dr. Hinds was a prominent man in Pelham, was the heaviest tax payer as well as a noted physician at home,-and smarting under the pain of the blow from the stone in the hands of Burroughs was in no mood to condone the grave ;
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offences of an imposter, such as he had ridden from Pelham to Rut- land to overhaul. There was a consultation between the leading Pelham men to decide upon what their action should be, and it is said they decided to take Burroughs back to Pelham. The result of the consultation and the decision to force their late supplyer to go back to Pelham was made known to Burroughs in some way, prob- ably by the Rutlanders, and having decided objections to returning to Pelham as a prisoner, he decided on a plan to escape. Being in a room on the second story of the tavern, Burroughs locked himself in. The Pelham men went to the room to take the fugitive supplyer, finding the door locked, an axe was sent for. Burroughs jumped out of a window to the slooping roof of a shed and from that to the ground, landing close by where the men were looking for an axe to break down the door of the room. Burroughs then ran and obtained a good lead before the fleetest of the irate Pelham men knew that their hoped for prisoner had escaped. Burroughs eluded them. Being unable to find their man, they gave up the idea of taking him back with them and returned to the tavern, mounted their horses and set out for Pelham, filled with vexation and anger over the failure of their expedition to secure and punish the wicked supplyer.
Burroughs returned to Frink's store after Dea. McMullen and party had departed, spent the night in Rutland and the next morning started towards Providence, enquiring as he travelled, for a place to preach. On the way to Providence he learned that the people at Attleboro were without a preacher and desirous of obtaining one.
Arriving in Attleboro he offered his services to the proper per- sons and was engaged for a short season. Burroughs ministered to the people of Attleboro for four Sundays only, refusing to remain longer, because he had engaged to preach at Danbury, Conn., and desired to visit his friend Huntingdon at Coventry in the same state.
While it is not our purpose to go fully into the life of Stephen Burroughs there is one episode which should be given in connection with what has gone before. Burroughs was intimate with the man Lysander, a citizen of Pelham and with whom he was a guest for twenty-four hours after he disappeared from his boarding place as already stated. Who this Lysander was or what his family name was cannot be determined with certainty, but it was through Lysan- der that Burroughs became interested in a process of transmuting ยท copper into silver which Lysander informed him was known to one
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Phillips, who was working with the noted Glazier Wheeler, a coun- terfeit money-maker at New Salem. This secret Phillips had agreed to communicate to Lysander. Burroughs was greatly interested in the story, and Lysander wished to have his friend share in the wealth which he (Lysander) believed was to come from transmuting copper into silver, and personally had the greatest confidence in the practi- cability of the business, but his wife was not hopeful, on the contrary was doubtful. In order to make sure that there was no deception practiced by Phillips it was arranged that Burroughs should accom- pany Lysander to New Salem and together witness the process and note results. The visit was made in the night because it was thought it might cause unpleasant suspicions should it become known that they had been seen in the vicinity of Glazier Wheeler's place in the daytime, especially for one supplying the pulpit of the Presbyterian church at Pelham.
They arrived at New Salem at ten o'clock at night, and informed Phillips of the purpose of their visit. Phillips kindly consented to gratify his visitors with practical evidence of his power to transmute ordinary copper to the best of silver.
Phillips weighed out half an ounce of copper and put it into a crucible,-put the curcible into the fire; after a short time had elapsed Phillips put something wrapped in a paper into the hot crucible containing the copper.
The contents of the crucible then began to foam and boil, contin- uing in that state for ten minutes when it settled down into a clear fluid which was poured off and cooled. It was good silver and weighed half an ounce. It withstood nitric acid and other well- known tests, so that there was no doubt as to the quality of the product turned from the crucible. The only unsatisfactory thing with Burroughs was the nature of the so-called powder in the paper which Phillips had thrown into the crucible at a certain stage of the process. Phillips contended that it absorbed the verdigris of the copper leaving the remainder pure silver.
Burroughs desired to see some of the powder, and after satisfying himself that it was really a powder as claimed, he then wished Phillips to perform the experiment again and put the powder in open, with- out the covering of paper. Phillips said it was not quite as good a plan to do that way, but consented to gratify his visitors' curiosity. The experiment was then repeated in all respects the same as before,
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except that the transmuter, Phillips, laid a large flat piece of coal over the mouth of the crucible after putting in the copper. The result was the same ;- half an ounce of pure silver was poured from the crucible as before.
Burroughs then desired Phillips to furnish him with materials and allow him to proceed, with the details of the experiment and the handling of the crucible, while Phillips should remain at a distance from the fire. Phillips assented to this proposition. Burroughs weighed out the copper, put it in the crucible and at the proper time put in the powder and when the contents were foaming Phillips, standing at a distance from the forge, cried out to Burroughs to stir the contents of the crucible. The only thing at hand with which the crucible's. contents could be stirred was an iron rod about the size of the old-fashioned nail rod, such as blacksmiths of those days ham- mered out their own nails for horse and cattle shoes. Burroughs seized the rod and stirred the contents of the crucible, although he did not remember that Phillips stirred the crucible when attending it himself. On pouring out the contents of the crucible they weighed up a half ounce of pure silver as on the two previous occasions.
Burroughs begged for still further indulgence in the investigation and this time he stipulated that Phillips should not be even a specta- tor; that he should leave the room and remain out while Burroughs and his friend Lysander selected the materials for the crucible and manipulated it in the fire; to this Phillips gave assent. The two weighed out the half ounce of copper, placed it in the crucible, and when it was fully melted added the mysterious powder and stirred the contents with a short piece of walking stick, the nail rod not lying handy at the time. In stirring the contents of the crucible, about four inches of the stick was burned away, but as the stick of itself was worthless no thought was given to it at the time. After pouring out the contents of the personally managed crucible and giving it time to cool, a half ounce of pure silver was weighed up as in each of the former tests.
Satisfaction could not be more complete, and late that night Bur- roughs and his friend Lysander returned to Pelham filled with visions of fabulous wealth which was within easy reach, and they began per- fecting plans to get this wealth in hand.
After two years in Dartmouth college, which he was forced to leave before the completion of the course, by fault of his own rather than
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that of others ; he left his father's house at Hanover, N. H. and went to Newburyport and shipped on a packet having letters of marque for Nantes, France, shipping in the capacity of physician for the ship. On the passage out the packet halted at Sable Island, a lonely uninhabited island on which there was only a hut for the protection of such as might be shipwrecked on the surrounding reefs, and some wild hogs that might be used as food by such unfortunates, if by any possibility they could be killed.
The proposition which Burroughs and his friend Lysander con- sidered was to charter a vessel, load her with copper, coal and pro- visions, besides the necessary outfit for transmuting copper into silver and then take up their residence on Sable Island so that they might pursue the wealth getting business without interruption, expect- ing, doubtless to bring back a ship load of silver instead of copper.
The consideration of this money making scheme was an all-absorb- ing one with Burroughs and Lysander, when the sudden exposure of Burroughs came by the visit of his friend Huntingdon, and the unfor- tunate collision with Mr. Chapin and Mr. Forward at Belchertown, made it imperative for Burroughs to leave Pelham. This broke off the consideration of their plans for a time, but Burroughs who had become an ardent believer in free silver, was desirous of completing the plans already begun, and after visiting his friend Huntingdon at Coventry, several weeks subsequent to his escape from the clutches of the enraged Pelham people at Rutland, he determined to return to Pel- ham to renew the consideration of the plans so suddenly broken off. He made the journey to Massachusetts and to Pelham, arriving at the house of his friend Lysander at one o'clock in the night.
He was received with hearty expressions of satisfaction by Lysan- der and his family, and Burroughs was as effusive in his greetings as they. There was a mutual recapitulation of the exciting occurrences connected with his departure from Pelham and the scenes at Rutland of which Lysander had of course received exparte statements from his neighbors who were witnesses of the doings at Rutland. They laughed over the ludicrous antics of the leading citizens when they learned that Mr. Davis, the supplyer had disappeared, and over the anathemas and execrations that his pursuers heaped upon the Rut- landers for not joining heartily with them in securing the imposter- and bringing him to punishment.
23
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After all the incidents and happenings of the chase after Bur- roughs had been rehearsed and nothing of information concerning the great business of securing wealth by changing copper to silver had been voluntered by Lysander, Burroughs ventured to ask how he was progressing in the business, and with much show of distress and disappointment was informed by Lysander that the scheme for get- ting rich was exploded. " Burroughs, we have all been deceived by Phillips, that king of villians," said Lysander, and then he went on to explain how the deception was practised and made so plain as to fully convince them of its being a real transmutation of copper to silver.
When the half ounce of copper was placed in the crucible at the first test, Phillips put in a half ounce of silver wrapped in the paper with the powder which consumed the copper and left the silver. The second test was made to appear real by resorting to the following manipulations which neither Burroughs nor Lysander detected at the time.
As Burroughs desired to see the powder the silver could not be enclosed in the paper containing it, so Phillips unobserved laid the silver on the forge and covered it with a flat piece of charcoal broad enough to cover the top of the crucible, and with the tongs raised the silver with the charcoal and laid the coal across the crucible, the silver falling from the under side of the charcoal into the crucible when the tongs were removed. The third test was the one which Burroughs managed with Phillips standing at a distance from the forge and was directed to stir the contents of the crucible, which he did with a horse nail rod that lay handy on the forge. On the end of this rod the silver was fixed and blackened to look exactly like the iron rod itself, -when used to stir the contents of the crucible the silver melted off.
The last test was performed by Burroughs and Lysander alone, they weighed out the copper, put in the mysterious powder at the right time and stirred the mass in the crucible with a short piece of walking sticking,-the only thing in reach at the time,-no thought being given to the disappearance of the iron rod which had been laid aside unnoticed and the innocent piece of walking stick left within easy reach to be sought to stir the contents of the crucible at the right stage of the operation. The handy portion of walking stick was burned off for about five inches at the end and there was hidden the necessary half ounce of silver to complete the test and show up when cool as pure silver.
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. This statement of fact by Lysander caused a collapse in the hopes of great wealth which had filled the mind of Burroughs and had caused him to journey from Coventry to Pelham, when he was aware that neither Dr. Hinds nor Dea. McMullen cared to see him except to put him under arrest as the worst imposter they had ever known. Burroughs had lost in his expectations but his pocket had not suf- fered from the skillful manipulations of the one-armed bunco man, Phillips at New Salem, but Lysander and others had been fleeced in. the sum of $2000, for Lysander was not the only one that Phillips was letting into the secret for a money consideration. It cost Lysander $100 in money and a fine horse to learn that he had been duped. Phillips, having secured all that he thought it possible with safety to seek, disappeared and left his dupes in the lurch, including Glazier Wheeler, to whom he had promised half the swag he should collect from those anxious to learn the business of transmutation of metals.
According to the statement of Burroughs, Lysander then decided to try to better his financial condition by securing a quantity of Glazier Wheeler's counterfeit silver dollars, which the latter turned out at the rate of three spurious for one standard dollar, and in the face of the pleadings of his wife and the arguments of Burroughs against it signified his intention to put them in circulation. He pro- posed to go to Springfield after certain drugs which Wheeler was in need of to fill an order he had placed in Wheeler's hands for more spurious money, and to take some of the bad money along to make the purchases. Arguments and pleadings were in vain, and because of his high regard for Lysander and his family Burroughs offered to take twenty counterfeit dollars and ride to Springfield to purchase the drugs which Lysander said must be obtained and for which he had determined to go in person.
Burroughs arrived in Springfield at 11 A. M. called at the drug store, ordered the drugs, and turned over some of the twenty bogus dollars in payment, and was arrested in a printing office opposite the drug store a few minutes later.
Burroughs was thrown into jail to await trial, and it was while in prison that he decided upon the course which he would pursue at the trial. Instead of implicating Lysander in the business of passing bad money he concluded to keep his mouth closed and take the punishment dealt out by the courts because of the great suffering the
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