USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > History of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of its prominent men, Volume I pt 1 > Part 26
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David Talcott, Parker Talcott, Elisha Taylor, Noh Thomas, Joseph Tilloson. Wait Upham.
| Samuel Wadsworth, Joel Walker, Benjamin Warner, Noah Warner. Noth War- ren, Amariah Wheelock, Ithamar Wheelock, Levi Wheelock, Obadiah Wicelock, Joseph Wilson.
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GENERAL HISTORY.
WASHINGTON (Hartwood,
James Allen, Justus Allen, Moses Ashley.
Amos Beard, Aaron Bixby. Silas Blinn, Peter Brown
Thomas Chadwick, John Chaplin, Joseph Chaplin, Timothy Cole, Adam St George Collins.
Harvey Ensign. Frederick Frost. Ithamar Granger, Thomas Granger.
Ebenezer Handy. Joseph Isham, John Ingraham, Samuel Ingraham.
Jonathan Lynder.
Abel Mattoon, Patrick McGee, Robert MeKnight, Perez Moore, John Motse James Penrown.
Daniel Shaw, Samuel Sherman, George Sloan, John Stewart, John Sweeney. Isaac Tillotson.
John Wade, Stephen Warren, William Wilson.
WEST STOCKBRIDGE.
John Allen, Elias Armstrong, Josiah Arnold.
Nathan Baker, Daniel Ball, Lemuel Barnes, Silas Barnes, Thomas Barnes, Nathan Benedict, Felix Benton, Buler Buel.
Zebedee F. Cook.
Jeduthan Dickinson, Augustus Drake, William Drake, Frank Duncan.
Nathan Griffith.
Joseph Hull, Warren Hull, Israel Humphrey, David Hutchinson.
Artemas Ingersoll, Francis Ingersoll.
William Jacobs, Jabez Josselyn. Nicholas Louke, John Lynch.
John Mack. Andrew Messenger, Charles Morris, David Midge, John Mudge Boris Nettleton.
David Palmer, Ebenezer Pettit, John Pettit.
Jonathan Rawson, Nathaniel Rawson, Thomas Rogers.
Daniel Stevens, Jeremiah Stevens, William Stevens, Jesse Stokeham Benjamin Towsey.
Heman Watson, William West, Elisha Woodruff, Shubael Woodruff
WILLIAMSTOWN.
Jeremiah Allen, John Dix Allen, Simeon Allen, James Andrews, Jonathan Arnold, David Ashley.
Edward Bacon, Joseph Bairds, Absolom Biker, Ira Baker, John Barnes, Olyset Barrett, David Baxter, Benjamin Bennett, Ezekiel Blair, Theodore Boardman, Loneph Bowdich, Cary Briggs, Josiah Brown, Daniel Burbank, Samuel Burchard, jesse ligam, Joel Byam.
1 Ebenezer Cahoon, William Cahoon, Caleb Calking, Aaron Cannyn. Joseph Cary, Nathan Cartwright, Timothy Chase, Jonathan Chidester, Fura Church. Rowland Carpenter, Abijah Clark, Daniel Clark, Ejam Clark, John Clark, Zidocs Clark, AM Clothier, Samuel Cone, Joseph Corbin, Job Cotton or Colton. Joseph Crafout, Charles Crofoot, Isaac Cummins.
4
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HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE COUNTY.
Sterling Daniels, Jonathan Danforth, Joshua Danforth, Benjamin Davis, John Day, Titus Deming. John Dougherty, David Downing, John Downing, Matthew Dunning.
Griffin Eldridge.
John Fillemore, Elijah Flint, William Forsyth, Stephen Fountain. Andrew Fox, Asa French.
Thomas Gage, Jacob Galusha, Thomas Galusha, James Cangey, Joshuy Gand. ner, Elisha Gilbert, James Giles, Samuel Giles, William Gould, Cito Gregor (negro). John Grinman, Asa Guill.
Solomon Hakes, Jonathan Hall, Timothy Hall, John Hand, Jouah Higgins, Cyrus Hill, Nathan Hill, Elnathan Holnies, Seth Holmes, Benjamin Holton, Thomas Houston, Timothy Hurlbu:, Ebenezer Hutchinson.
David Jackson, Moses Jeffries, Barachiah Johnson, Comfort Jolinson, Daniel Johnson, David Johnson, Henry Johnson, Ozias Johnson
Nathaniel Kellogg, James Kilburn, Daniel Kinney.
Caleb Lamb, Elijah Lamb, Israel Lamb, Simon Larned, James Latimer, Mases Lee, Anthony Lemon, Archelaus Luce, Thomas Lyon.
William Manning, Lawrence MeCloth. Cyrus Markhill, James McManter, James McMichael, Abraham Meacham, Isaac Meacham, Jacob Meacham, Oliver Miller. Samuel Mills, Abel Morehouse, Jonathan Morey, Solomon Morse, John Murphy
John Nichols, Josiah Northrup.
Jabez Olmsted, Jeremiah Osborn, Joseph Osborn.
Daniel Parish, John Parker, David Parkhill, William Peet, David Perrigo, Aber Perry, Rowland Potter, Benjamin Reynolds, John Raymond, Zuriel Raymond, Elijah Rich, Israel Rich, Moses Rich, Ard Roberts, Ira Rood. William Royce, Jobs Ring, Sylvester Russell.
Charles Sabin, Zebediah Sabin, Robert Sadler, Ephraim Sandford. Robert Saun. ders, Jesse Saxton, Amos Sherman, Stiles Sherman, Stephen Sherwood. Tonotify Sherwood, Benjamin Skinner, Thompson J. Skinner. Alexander Sloan, Jantes Sinan. Samuel Sloan, Jedediah Smedley, John Smedley, Joshua Smedley. Leve Smedley. Lemuel Smith, Nathan Smith, Simeon Smith, Timothy Smith, David Saltthivick, Lemuel Southwick, Wright Spaulding, Alexander Spencer, Jesse Spencer, William Spencer, Stephen Squires, Pardon Stark, Lewis Stebbins, Barnabas Stevens, David Stratton, John Stratton, Jonathan Sweet.
Ishmael Thomas, Joseph Thompson, Nathaniel Tiffords, John Tooly, John Torrey, Nathaniel B. Torrey, William Torrey, David Town, Edmund Town, James Trask, Caleb Tree, John Tree, John Trotter, Hezekiah Tuttle. Ahasnel Turret. Samuel Tyler.
Cornelius Van Kier.
Timothy Watson, George Weaver, Samuel Welch, James Wells, Samuel Wells. David Wheeler, Joseph Wheeler, Nathan Wheeler, David Whitman, Joseph Whitney. Henry Wilcox, Samuel Wilcox, Lewis Wilkins, Elisha Williams Justus Winchell, Aaron Wood, Bartholomew Woodcock, Aaron Wright, Calvin Wright. Elias Wright, Luther Wright, David Wrightman.
William Young.
WINDSOR
John Abbey, Abram Adams, Benjamin Adams, Joseph Adams. Samuel Adeg. Samuel Addition, Josiah Alvord, James Angel. Roswell Avery
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GENERAL HISTORY.
David Bacon, Samuel Baldwin, Jonathan Bincroft, William Bancroft, Josiah Beals, Thomas Biddlecom, William Biddlecom, Charles Billany, Ebenezer Blanchard Charles Bodingley, John Burrows, Samuel Bradford, Allen Briggs, EBenerer Briggs, Benjamin Briggs, Daniel Brown, Dexter Brown, Eleszai Brown, Jobs Brown, Lothe; Brown, Obadiah Brown, Simeon Brown, William Brown, Christopher Buckingham, Oliver Butrick, Jesse Bussey, Thomas Bussey.
Francis Cabot, Phineas Cady, William Cady, Martin Caff, Joseph Chapel, Wik liam Charlow, Elijah Clark, William Cluth, Jedediah, Cleveland, Samuel ChHond, Ebenezer Clough, Benjamin Cole, John Cole, Philip Cole, Nathaniel Calentain Till Collins, Amasa Converse, Asa Converse, Benjamin Converse, Elisha Cowan, Joseph Cowan, Stephen Cowan.
Joseph Daniels, Francis Dodge, James Dodge, Rufus Dodge, ADrabsmy Dick
Amos Eddy, Andrew Eddy, James Eddy. Reuben Eddy, Samuel Eddy, Andrer Edmonds, Jeremiah Edwards, Daniel Eldridge.
Charles Filsher, Michael Filsher, Jedediah Fuller, John Fuller,
James Glass, Rufus Glass, John Gleason, Moses Gleason, Moses Gleason 5f. Wait Goodrich, Theophilus Graves, Henry Green, Hezekiah Green, Jusply Green Joseph Green jr., Lester Grosvenor, Resolved Grosvenor, Theo; hitas Grosvenor Alpheus Hall, Asa Hall, Daniel Hall, Levi Hanks, Jason Harwood or Heywood. Nathan Harwood, Oliver Harwood, William Hatfield, William Hatfield jr, Jobvy Hill, Ebenezer Howard, Francis Howard, Charles Hutchins, Lebbous Hurebins, Noah Hutchins.
Abel Janes (or James), James Janes, Joseph Jenkins, Amas Jones, John Jones. Thomas Joy.
Andrew Kennedy, Jacob Kennedy, Seth Kennedy, Elins Kingsley.
Nathaniel Lamberton, Elijah Lanfear. Ezra Lanfear, John Linfear, Salomon Larned, Joseph Lawrence, Josiah Lawrence, Jonathan Lee, Jesse Leonard, Arnold Lewis, Jacob Lyon, Peleteah Lyon.
Timothy Mason, David Miller, John Mills, Zebediah Morse. John Muscron Francis Norwood.
Cornelius Parker, David Parker, Michael Palmer, Hovey Parsons, Joseph Peinte, Oliver Peirce, William Perrin, Elijah Phelps, Elisha Phillips, Amos Preston of Prey- ser, David Prince, Samuel Prince, Timothy Puffer.
Gideon Randall. Abner Rawson, Jeremiah Reed, Joshua Reed, Obadiah iceed. William Reed, John Ridget, Joseph Riley, Samuel Roberts, Denfson Robins, Sken Robins, Eleazer Roos, Ezekiel Roos, Joseph Root or Roos, William Kirself
Damel Sabin, Elisha Safford, John Safford. Josiah Safford, Erra Simtion, Leel Sampson, Willard Shepard, Cornelius Smith, Ebenezer Smith. Ellina Sonb. Waaam Smith, Jabez Spaulding, Jesse Spaulding, Simeon Spaulding David Spencer. Theo. dore Sprague, Cornelius Syler, Samuel Statford, Abel Stevens, John Stevens, Joseph Stevens, Samuel Stoddard. John Street.
Lyman Taft. Amos Thayer, Levi Thompson, Robert Thumping, Hedry Tibbetts, Timothy Toplif. Luther Tophiff, John Terry, Nathaniel B Toits, Joseph Town, David Tracy, Lemuel Tracy, Nathaniel Tracy, Solomon Tracy, Jonathan Trupler.
Benjamin Wakefield, Daniel Walker. David Wallbir, Jegh. Walker, Rendet . Walker, Stephen Walker, John Wallick, Ichabod Warren, Stephen Waited Meal Watkins, Samuel Wells, Stephen Western. Daniel White Nathaniel White, Sylvimed Sylvonus Woodward. Asabel Wright
Dyer Young.
CHAPTER XL.
CONSTITUTIONALISTS OF BERKSHIRE AND THE SHAYS REBELLION.
THE CONSTITUTIONALISTS.
[N 1774, after the people of Berkshire county had become fully aware T of the dangers which threatened their liberties under the perverted charter then in existence, and under the tyrannical laws that had been enacted, they resolved that no court should be held in the county. Le. cordingly, on the day appointed for the sitting of the court, they assom- bled at Great Barrington to the number of 1.500, nurtured, and so com pletely filled the court house and the passages to it that, on the arrival of the judges, they found it impossible to enter, and the people ofati nately refused to make way for them. The example thusset in Berkshin was followed elsewhere, and the courts were obstructed throughone the province, except where they sat under the protection of royal troops This was the first example of the supression of the King's Court
From the summer of 1775 till the adoption of the constitution. in 1780, a party composed of a large majority of the people in Berkshire, under the acknowledged leadership of Rev. Thomas Allen, of Pittsfield. ruled the county in open resistance, so far as civil government was con- cerned, to the authority set up at Boston.
The political status of Berkshire during all that time was entirely anomalous. The nearest parallel which history affords is found in the opposition of those feudal barons who acknowledged an obligation to support their sovereign in his foreign was, while maintaining against him their own assumed rights of internal government. In like mariner the people of Berkshire, while for more than five years refusing to admit the civil administration of the State within their limits, granted it military aid by a more prompt and liberal contribution of men than any other county, paid their taxes as readily as the circumstances of a community on an impoverished and disturbed frontier permitted, and sent their reg. resentatives to the General Court, in which. however, they recognized powers more limited and temporary than that body cladnont. Cosur- passed in their devotion to the curse of national independence, they re
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GENERAL HISTORY.
sponded with ardor to every call made on them in that behalf ; but, that less earnest in their desire for constitutional liberty at home, they he- lieved it insecure if any State government capable of perfettoding itself should be erected. except on the basis of a constitution apol bill of rights established by the express consent of a majority of the people. So. thorough were their convictions on this point, and so essential did they deem these guaranties of civil and personal liberty that, in order to ob up them, they resorted to measures justifiable only in the last resort. and "utterly refused the admission of the course of law among them " until their demands were complied with.
The charters which Massachusetts, Connections, and Blade Telvent received from Charles the First invested all alike, as to their piteried at fairs, with almost the rights of independent States, In Rhode Island . and Connectiont these rights had been retained, but the charter of Maxsea chusetts, annulled in the reign of Charles the Second, had, in 1992. been replaced by a substitute obtained from William and Mary, so modlite! that many of the important privileges granted by the former were lost to the colony. This had led to the suspension of the civil goverment in 1774, and when, in 1775. rebellion against royal authority began to tale definite shape, it was proposed to restore the civil government of the basis of the defective and discordant charter of King William Status this restoration a very large majority of the people in Berkshire were firmly set. They had read the essays of advanced donkers on theties of government, and had discussed with each other the situation in which they found themselves, and the remedies for the evils by which they were surrounded. They had listened to the clear logie of Mr. Allen, Who food adopted the opinions of that school which enunciated the democrarin doctrines afterward championed in a more perfect form by Thomas Jellers son, and they were prepared to resist the restoration in the county af civil government under the strange device which the Continental Congress had evolved from the provincial charter. The fundamental ilogowy of this party was that political power can only rightfull; be derived From the express consent of the people : that the chanter government, Well but a mitigated usurpation, having been abrogated, the province plus into a state of nature. from which it could rightfully emergesonly through the establishment of a constitution and bill of rights by the free pops of a majority of the people; that, antecedent to this, the only authority which ought to be submitted to should be, from its men ly advisory bars acter, incapable of making itself permanent.
Under these circumstances, and with these views, the people of Berk- shire continued to ignore the judicial authority derived from the Provin cial Congress, while they admitted its advisory anthority in otlig masters. They responded with promptness and alacrity to the demons made by the military board, and sent representatives to the General Coupet, which they recognized as the only power that could carry on che war os loke the initiative in establishing government on a rightful lasis. They dia
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HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE COUNTY.
pensed with the judiciary, however, and declared that "the people of the county, under the lenient and efficient rule of their several committees, and in the most vigorous and permitted exertions in the country's cause, had lived together in the greatest love, peace, safety. liberty, happiness, and good order, except the disorders and dissensions occasioned by the tories."
The judicial system which had been imposed on the people was cumbrous, expensive, and oppressive ; and probably the grievousning of the burden which the people bore. led them to favor neistance In fore the abstract principles which justified that resistance had been much cousid ered by the masses.
It is well to bear in mind the fact that particular abokses were of tacked. not only to secure their own removal, but for the jajepuse of 68er- throwing a faulty whole of which they were the most vulnerable parts. The great principles which their proceedings tended toestablish were hept in view, and in their minds the ideas of national independence and cow stitutional liberty advanced with equal pace. While they regarded the destruction of British dominion over the colony as certain. they fare . disposition on the part of the General Court to build on the undermines foundation of the old system. and with the rotten material of the pro vincial ruins, a superstructure similar to that which was ermabling iway
Under the lead of Mr. Allen they maintained their position with a dignified firmness. The ordinary channels of justice, obstructed as they were when the king's judges were crowded from their seats at Great Bay rington in 1774, were not reopened until the reorganization of the judici ary under the constitution of 1780 : so that for six years no courts wop held in the county. During the interregnum the local authorities pre served public order, and restrained crimes against person and prigarty. not perfectly, but better than was to be expected. The absence of civil tribunals was less of a misfortune than it would have been in regions with more complicated commercial relations.
In 1777 the Provincial Legislature framed a draft of a constitution which was submitted to the people in March, 1778, and was rejected No bill of rights accompanied this proposed constitution. Pending the framing of this draft an appeal was made by the General Court to the counties to admit the courts. This the county of Berkshire by a very decided majority refused to do. An act of gourdon and oblivion for the violations of law in resisting the courts was passed, but, as elses hogy stated, this pardon was refused in this country. The question of a co vention to frame a constitution was submitted to the people of the State. who decided in favor of such convention, which met on the 1st of some tember, 1979; and the result of its labors was a bill of rights and comment tution which were ratified by the people in May. ITAL.
It has been said that "tolerable order was maintained" during the interregnum of the courts. This was done by the Resolutionars com. mittees, who regulated criminal, and, to some extent. civil affairs.
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GENERAL HISTORY.
THE SHAYS REBELLION.
Prior to the termination of the Revolution there had arisen in Mas- sachusetts a feeling of discontent that a few years later ripened into a disgraceful rebellion. The currency of the country was greatly depre- ciated, the expenses of the war had necessitated rigid taxation, public and private indebtedness weighed heavily on the people, and the harsh ness with which, by law and by enstom, debts and taxes were then cal lected operated to bring about this discontent and its deplorable results
The acts in which the people manifested their foodings and sought to dress from their grievances were the results of a false interpretation of precedent. and of the crude political knowledge of men who purchased clearly what the experience of every day taught them, that they and their fellows were harshly dealt with, yet who had not learned to The effects to their causes with statesman-like sagacity, and who did not com. prehend that the same means which, in default of better, are legitimite for the overthrow of an oppressive government become heinous offenses when applied to the reform of even oppressive laws under the plastic in stitutions of a republic.
The financial situation of the commonwealth was indeed most di- tressing, and such as, even in the most hopeful view, could find in per fect relief except in long years of toil endured by its people under the de pressing influences of debt and enormous taxation. It seemed inevitable that the greater portion of the generation then living must go down to their graves in poverty. leaving the same bitter heritage to their children
In addition to the debt of the State contracted in its own name, and the commonwealth's proportion of the national debt, every town was heavily indebted for money expended in local exigencies, such as filling quotas of men, demands for military supplies, ete. The payment of the interest alone on this crushing accumulation of liabilities was an undertaking which might well have dannted the financiers of the impoverished State. even at a time of happier promise for the future; but the unwise im patience of the people, dissatisfied with paying interest, which was com pared with a canker that consumed their substance without lessening their burdens, led to the imposition, in 1784. of a tax of $468,000, and in 1788 of 2333,000 additional. for the purpose of sinking that amount by the army debt. As might have been expected. all the taxes were found to be largely and hopelessly in arrears, notwithstanding the depreciation of the certificates of indebtedness issued by the State treasury, which were made receivable for them.
But the tax gatherer was not the only unwelcome visitor to the donts of the citizens of Massachusetts in those unhappy days: the tap of the sheriff or the constable was no less familiar. Private debes, which bol for various reasons been postponed doing the war, had accumulated fearfully, and a mania for bringing suits on them seemed to possess med itors: so that the courts were fairly clogged with his ings. No condition of things could have been more unfavorable to the inquisition of heavy
.
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HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE COUNTY.
taxes and the collection of long standing debts than that which then ex- isted in Massachusetts. A paralysis seemed to have strack the young vigor of the State. for the cure of which time and a process quite other than depletion were required. The sanctity of property and the obliga- tions of contracts had become impaired, not from the license of the people, nor because courts were obstructed in Berkshire or elsewhere, but from the unsettling of values through the excessive however unavoidable. emission of paper money, and from the legislation which vainly attempted to sustain its credit. Gold and silver had long before the flow of the war disappeared as a circulating medium: and the faith of the nation, which has since been found to furnish an adequate substitute, was with out the basis to do so then. The continental currency, despite the es hausting efforts of Massachusetts to redeem her proportion of it was fast sinking to an unappreciable value, and enemmbered rather than facilitate the course of trade, until the only practicable relief was found in the for- mal recognition of its total worthlessness. Under circumstances of which overwhelming depression manufactures, which. under the stimulus of war had attained a somewhat vigorous growth, now languished; the fisheries, fearfully narrowed in their markets, coused to be that source of wealth which had enriched the province: agriculture afforded but a scanty subsistence to farmers without the means of improving op sto King their lands, which were, in many cases, hopelessly mortgaged : while commerce had come to be little more than the means of draining what little of hoarded treasures remained in the State in payment for goods imported from markets that required few of the productions of Massachu setts in return. The thriftless habits acquired in camp life found little in the condition of things at home to stimulate of encourage reformation. and intemperance prevailed to an extent which had never before you known. Other results incident to a long and costly war conspired to in flame the discontent of the masses. Those who had served the great cause most faithfully had generally become impoverished, while men who deserved little had grown wealthy, and for the most part had invester what they had gained from the necessities of their country in something more substantial than worthless paper which clogged the knapsack of the returning soldier and the board of the rural patriot. In some large towns the ostentatious display of wealth and luxury by men of this class. W successful naval adventurers, and by others whom chance had favored in the general wreck, contrasted harshly with the struggling poverty of those whose long years of exposure and suffering had been cheered by the hope of a recompense very different from that which they received. It may perhaps be pardoned to these latter that some of them did not trace the causes of their disappointment with the nicety, or seek a remedy for it with the calm sagacity of philosophers. They had left men at home in charge of these things, and their wisdom seemed almost as much con- founded by the miserable entanglement of affairs as was their own. although it soon began to manifest itself in legislation which gradually
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GENERAL HISTORY.
brought, not only safety, but prosperity and harmony to the common- wealth.
Few are fully aware of the vast miseries that have been alleviated. and fewer still comprehend the measure of strength and stability which has been added to the State, during the past seventy-five years, by the tender regard shown for the poor and unfortunate, even more in the amelioration of laws and customs than in the institutions provided for the direct relief of suffering. When the constitution of 1780 went into effect the laws in force, and the customs universally in vogue. for the caller. tion of debts and taxes were ernel and inational to a degree which almost passes belief ; and they were carried out with less compunction than is now wasted on the fate of the most worthless criminal. Imprisonment for debt had no alleviation : and the sole remedy devised for inability to pay was enforced idleness. The prison door closed more remorselessly on the poor debtor than on the thief or the incendiary : for while bail or . pardon might obtain the release of the former, whose confinement, at the worst, had a fixed duration. no laws for his relief opened the prison door of the latter, or fixed a period to his incarceration within walls where too little regard was had to health, comfort, or decency. His only hope-and a long deferred one it often proved -- was that his creditor might at list despair of extorting money from the pity of his friends, or that his ro- sentiment might finally exhaust itself. There are some yet living who remember how they were shocked by the gaunt forms. long unlgenpt hair, grizzly beards, and claw-like hands of men who with sunken eyes peered from behind grated windows where they had lain for years. guilty of no worse crime than the incurring of a trifling debt, which perhaps some unforeseen political or commercial convulsion had rendered them unable to pay : and. in 1986, not a few of these poot creatures, blue with prison mould. were those who had fought long for freehan, and were will largely the creditors of the country, the laws of which made them the tenants of debtors's jails.
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