This same story is corroborated by persons still living, and was told to the author of this work with more details. It was a very cold day in winter and there were several feet of snow on the ground. Father Bulger was walking from Hohokus, whither he had gone on a pastoral errand. He was in delicate health and so, when about half way between Hohokus and Paterson, he felt considerably relieved at hearing a wagon approach behind him. It was the wagon of a farmer residing in Paterson. Father Bulger was asked to ride but immediately after he had taken his seat the farmer and his wife suspected that he was a Catholic priest. They plied him with numerous questions to which Father Bulger gave evasive answers, for he was sick and fatigued and anxious to reach Paterson. They asked whether he was married and had children and he replied in the affirmative, adding that he had numerous children. The suspicions of the farmer and his wife increased and Father Bulger was finally asked whether he was not a Catholic and a priest. Rather than deny his faith Father Bulger would have faced death and he replied in the affirmative. He was compelled to leave the wagon and walk to Paterson. When he arrived here he told of his adventure; the brutal treatment he had been subjected to so incensed a number of Catholics and others who were employed in a quarry that they resolved to thrash the inhuman farmer. Father Bulger heard of this project and it was due to his entreaties that it was not carried out. This heroic conduct on the part of Father Bulger was reported to the farmer, who concluded that a religion, whose priests so faithfully carried out the Christ-given doctrine of "Return good for evil," could not deserve the opprobium heaped upon it by Protestants; he applied to Father Bulger for instruction and became a convert to the Catholic religion. The first number of the Sacred Heart Union published at Newark in March, 1881, contains some interesting reminiscences of an early settler near Macopin and among these is the following: "Our next priest was Father Bulger, a native of Ireland, a tall, handsome man, but with a beardless face. He was ordained by 'little Bishop Connolly,' as he was called, and came to us about 1820. Mr. Littell had been notified to expect a priest, and vainly looked among the passengers of the mail-coach for his Reverence. The driver told him that a passenger had booked for Macopin the night before, but had failed to put in an appearance. Late that afternoon a stranger drove up to the shop on horseback and thus addressed Mr. Littell: "'Did you expect a visitor, sir?' "'I did, sir.' "'How did you expect him?' "'By the mail.' "'Might I ask whom you expected?' "'Well,' said Mr. Littell, somewhat nettled by this cross-examination, 'I expect a Catholic priest.' "'Well, suppose you take me for a Catholic priest.' "Surveying the beardless youth from top to bottom, Mr. Littell tartly replied: