Chapter XI

Asserted Betrayal Of Nathan Hale

For some time after the death of Nathan Hale
a report was circulated, and apparently substantiated,
that he had been betrayed into the hands of
the British by a Tory cousin. Ultimately this
report was printed in a Newburyport (Massachusetts)
newspaper of the day, and read by Mr.
Samuel Hale of Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
This Mr. Hale was a prominent teacher and a
strong friend of the American cause, and uncle
both to Nathan Hale and to Samuel Hale, the
cousin who was said to have betrayed Nathan.

Mr. Samuel Hale never for a moment believed the
report, and set himself at once to disprove it. This
appears to have been done in the most effectual
way by the combined efforts of Mr. Samuel Hale
and Deacon Hale, who furnished proof that the
supposed betrayer of Nathan Hale had never
visited in Deacon Hale's family, and, not being in
his uncle's house when Nathan visited there, had
never so much as seen Nathan Hale.

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