Despite the lack of any contemporaneous evidence corroborating this story, Barton weaves a narrative that makes it appear that a source existed at the time of the event. Barton asserts that a newspaper editor reported Jefferson’s tearful proclamation, “following one of those occasions.” However, the only citations used by Barton in The Jefferson Lies are from the early 1900s and all lead back to the same source: Rev. J. P. Barrett, the Christian Church newsletter editor.
