”In the vicinity of the year 1800, Daniel Lambert and his son Moses lived in that part of Canaan now called Bloomfield. They were men who were not generally regarded as of ordinary powers of mind, but the sequel will show that they circumvented the most acute of their neighbors. The father and son were very poor and needy, but suddenly their fortunes began to mend. Daniel Lambert, the father, gave out, that by aid of witch-hazel rods he had discovered untold wealth. To substantiate his declaration, he produced a battered brass candlestick, brightly polished, which he declared he dug from the earth. He obtained permission to dig on the farms of his neighbors, but at length his ambition and plans extended, and he excavated in other towns. Finally, he wrought as far north as Anson, and as far south as the mouth of the Kennebec river. He even went to the State of Rhode Island, and his pits, (which many a poor man’s all fell into,) were scattered along the shores of Maine and Massachusetts. At last he declared that he had discovered the long lost treasures buried by Robert Kidd. The proofs he adduced were battered candlesticks and polished brass, which he liberally showed, and the sight seemed to inoculate the people with insanity. He declared that he had sent the gold to Philadelphia to be coined, and that when it returned he should freely scatter it among the people of this vicinity, and that they should all be rich. Hundreds of infatuated men flocked to Lambert, and urged him to accept their cattle, horses, and other effects, which he readily did, and converted them immediately into cash. Thus he seized the property of hundreds of families, and became apparently very wealthy. So extravagant and lavish did he become, that he was often known to light his pipe with valuable bank notes.
He announced that the first arrival of the coined gold might be expected September 1st, and handbills were issued, calling a meeting at Norridgewock on that day. Many of the goldfinder’s victims assembled, but Daniel Lambert, as may be supposed, had fled. The bubble burst, and with it the hopes of the deluded. But those who assembled, determined not to be balked, procured a suit of clothes of Mr. John Ware, and hung their deceiver in effigy, and then cut off his head. Probably Lambert was well satisfied with his punishment. The son, however, did not fare as well. He was arrested and imprisoned. The father afterward returned and settled a few miles above Bangor, on the Penobscot. ” Lambert’s Day,” September 1st, was observed for several years, with a good deal of mirth.
The excitement, so universal and intense, can hardly be realized at the present day. It is still remembered as one of the most remarkable events in the history of Somerset County.”
Reference Data:
History of the Old Towns Norrdigewock and Canaan, by John Wesley Hanson, 1849, pages 148-50
And so this was the beginning of the Bible that was written and used by our elected officials. It has been studied and practiced ever since for centuries. Great article Vicki.