A Tidbit from a Long Piece that Scott Syfert thought Was Lost Forever

I have not heard from Scott Syfert yet in response to a telephone message, but this is a tiny portion of the exceedingly long article Archibald Murphey published in the Hillsborough RECORDER in 1821. I am eager to show the whole article to Syfert, who on p. 236 of his THE FIRST AMERICAN DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE? says that it "no longer exists." I found it a few weeks ago when I was working intensively on the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence in order to be sensible in what I had to say about the Tryon "Association." It's a parable, almost, of my career. I worked for days on a topic meant to produce nothing new, just an understanding on my part. I did not seek out recent books. Instead, as always, I started from scratch, assembling material I could learn to think with. Not until I received and read Syfert's really admirable book did I realize that not everyone knew the item. I had been baffled by it because it was signed with what was obviously a pen name. It took me hours to run down the name of the writer, which I learned, back then, was Archibald Murphey, of whom I had never heard. Why did I waste hours running down the real name of the writer of a document I would never use in any article or book? Why do I live, except to learn? Anyhow, I can't wait to send this to Syfert, so here is a taste of it.