History of Northampton, Massachusetts, from its settlement in 1654;

593 HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTON. [1806.
The Picture Highly Tlie abovG statement, evidently hiiglily colcoiored.
orecl by tlie imagination of an ardent Catli-
olic, is undoubtedly intended to give a fair
representation of the position of affairs at tliat time. But
when the strong anti-catholic spirit prevailing at that time
is considered, it is evident that the biographer of M. Cheverus
made the most out of the facts at his command. Very
probably the opposition to Romanism, implanted among
the first settlers in the wilderness, had before this become
tinctured by a more liberal feeling, yet it is easy to
conceive that even then the great majority of the people,
including Parson Williams, who was then pastor of the
church, would consider the pulpit contaminated by the
presence of a Catholic priest within its sacred precincts.
The Execution. Tucsday, Juue 5"', 1806, was a day of great
excitement in Northampton. On that day
the prisoners suffered the penalty of their deeds. The
largest crowd probably ever gathered here up to that time,
assembled, it being estimated that 15,000 people were pres-
ent. The services were held in the third church (built in
1737), in which Jonathan Edwards preached, or it may be
that the preacher spoke from one of the upper windows of
the edifice, to the crowd assembled in the street. No such
crowd could have been accommodated within the building.
This certainly, as far as known, was the first public appearance
of a Catholic priest in Northampton.