USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Shrewsbury > History of the town of Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, from its settlement in 1717 to 1829, with other matter relating thereto not before published, including an extensive family register > Part 8
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In the afternoon of Tuesday, a petition was presented from Athol, requesting that no judgments should be rendered in civil actions, except where debts would be lost by delay. and no trials had unless with the consent of the parties; a course correspond- ing with the views entertained by the Court. Soon after, Capt. Smith, of Barre, unceremoniously introduced himself to the judges, with his sword drawn, and offered a paper purporting to be the petition of " the body of people now collected for their own good and that of the Commonwealth," requiring an adjourn- inent of the Courts without day. He demanded, in a threaten- ing manner, an answer in half an hour. Judge Ward, with great
* On the site of the Exchange Coffee House, 1836.
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dignity, replied, that no answer would be given, and the intruder retired. An interview was sclicited, during the evening, by a committee, who were informed that the officers of government would make no promises to men in hostile array : an intimation was given that the request of the people of Athol was consid- ered reasonable : and the conference terminated. A report of the result was made to the insurgents, who voted it was unsatis- factory, and resolved to remain until the following day.
During the night, the Court House was guarded in martial form : sentinels were posted along the front of the building, and along Main Street : the men not on duty, bivouaced in the hall of justice, or sought shelter with their friends. In the first light of morning, the whole force paraded on the hill, and was har- rangued by the leaders. In the forenoon, a new deputation waited on the Court, with a repetition of the former demand, and re- ceived a similar reply. The justices assured the committee, if the body dispersed, the people of the county would have no just cause of complaint with the course the Court would adopt. The insurgents, reinforced with about two hundred from Holden and Ward, now mustered four hundred strong, half with fire arms, and the remainder furnished with sticks. They formed in col- umn, and marched through Main Street, with their music, inviting all who sought relief from oppression to join their ranks, but re- ceiving no accessions of recruits from our citizens, they returned to the Court House. Sprigs of evergreen had been distributed, and mounted as the distinctive badge of rebellion, and a young pine tree was elevated at their post as the standard of revolt.
The Court, at length, finding that no reliance could be placed on military support, and no hope entertained of being permitted to proceed with business, adjourned, continuing all causes to the next term. Proclamation was made by the sheriff to the people, and a copy of the record communicated. After this, about two hundred men, with sticks only, paraded before the house of Mr. Allen, where the justices had retired, and halted nearly an hour, as if meditating some act of violence. The main body then marched down, and passing through the other party, whose open ranks closed after them, the whole moved to the common, where
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they displayed into line, and sent another committee to the Court.
The sessions, considering their deliberations controlled by the mob, deemed it expedient to follow the example of the supe- rior tribunal, by an adjournment to the 21st of November. When the insurgent adjutant presented a paper, requiring it should be without fixed day, Judge Ward replied, the business was fin- ished and could not be changed.
Before night closed down, the Regulators, as they styled themselves, dispersed ; and thus terminated the first interference of the citizens in arms with the course of justice. Whatever fears might have been entertained of future disastrous conse- quences, their visit brought with it no terror, and no apprehen- sion for personal safety to their opposers. Both parties, indeed, seemed more inclined to hear than strike. The conduct of Judge Ward was dignified and spirited, in a situation of great embar- rassment. His own deprecation, that the sun might not shine on the day when the Constitution was trampled on with impunity, seemed to be realized. Clouds, darkness and storm brooded over the meeting of the insurgents, and rested on their tumultuary assemblies in the county at subsequent periods.
The state of feeling here, was unfavorably influenced by the success of the insurgents. At a meeting of the inhabitants, on the 25th of September, delegates were elected to the county convention at Paxton, with instructions to report their doings to the town. The list of grievances received some slight additions from this assembly. The delay and expense of Courts of Pro- bate, the manner of recording decds in one general office of registry, instead of entering them on the books of the town where the land was situated, and the right of absentees to sue for the collection of debts, were the subjects of complaint in a peti- tion, concluding with the request that precepts might be issued for meetings, to express public sentiment in relation to a revision of the Constitution, and if two-thirds of the qualified voters were in favor of amendment, that a State Convention might be called. The existence of this body was continued by an adjournment to Worcester. The petition was immediately forwarded to the
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General Court. A copy was subsequently submitted to the town, at a meeting held October 2, for the purpose of receiving a report from the delegates. It was then voted, "That Mr. Daniel Baird be requested to inform the town whether this peti- tion was according to his mind, and he informed the town it was : but that he did not approve of its being sent to the General Court before it had been laid before the town." The petition was read paragraph by paragraph, rejected, and the delegates dismissed.
On the 16th of October, in compliance with the request of 34 freeholders, another town meeting was called: after long and warm debate, the former delegates were reelected, to attend the convention, at its adjourned session. A petition had been offered, praying consideration of the measures proper in the alarming sit- uation of the country, and for instructions to the representative to inquire into the expenditure of public money, the salaries of officers, the means of increasing manufactures, encouraging agri- culture, introducing economy, and removing every grievance. Directions were given to endeavor to procure the removal of the Legislature from the metropolis to the interior; the annihilation of the Inferior Courts; the substitution of a cheaper and more expeditious administration of justice ; the immediate repeal of the supplementary fund granted to Congress; the appropriation of the revenue, arising from impost and excise, to the payment of the foreign debt ; and the withholding all supplies from Congress until settlement of accounts between the Commonwealth and Continent. Resolutions, introduced by the supporters of govern- ment, expressing disapprobation of unconstitutional assemblies, armed combinations, and riotous movements, and pointing to the Legislature as the only legitimate source of redress, were rejected. The convention party was triumphant by a small majority. While the discussion was urged, a considerate citizen inquired of one of the most zealous of the discontented, what grievances he suffered, and what were the principal evils among them ? " There are grievances enough, thank God !" was the hasty re- ply, " and they are all principal ones."
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The jurisdiction of the sessions was principally over criminal offences, and its powers were exercised for the preservation of social order. No opposition had been anticipated to its session, on the 21st of November, and no defensive preparations were made. On that day, about sixty armed men, under Abraham Gale, of Princeton, entered the north part of the town. During the evening, and on Wednesday morning, about one hundred more arrived, from Hubbardston, Shrewsbury, and some adjacent towns. A committee presented a petition to the Court, at the United States Arms Tavern, for their adjournment, until a new choice of representatives, which was not received. The insur- gents then took possession of the ground around the Court House. When the Justices approached, the armed men made way, and they passed through the opening ranks to the steps. There, triple rows of bayonets presented to their breasts, opposed farther ad- vance. The Sheriff, Col. William Greenleaf, of Lancaster, ad- dressed the assembled crowd, stating the danger to themselves and the public from their lawless measures. Reasoning and warning were ineffectual, and the proclamation in the riot act was read for their dispersion. Amid the grave solemnity of the scene, some incidents were interposed of lighter character. Col. Greenleaf remarked with great severity on the conduct of the armed party around him. One of the leaders replied, they sought relief from grievances : that among the most intolerable of them was the sheriff himself : and next to his person, were his fees, which were exorbitant and excessive, particularly on crimi- nal executions. " If you consider fees for executions oppressive," replied the sheriff, irritated by the attack, "you need not wait long for redress ; for I will hang you all, gentlemen, for nothing, with the greatest pleasure." Some hand among the crowd, which pressed close, placed a pine branch on his hat, and the county officer retired, with the justices, decorated with the evergreen badge of rebellion. The clerk entered on his records, that the court was prevented from being held by an armed force, the only notice contained on their pages that our soil has ever been dis- honored by resistance of the laws.
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To this period, the indulgence of government had dealt with its revolted subjects as misguided citizens, seduced to acts of vio- lence from misconception of the sources of their distress. Con- ciliatory policy had applied remedial statutes wherever practica- ble, and proffered full pardon and indemnity for past misconduct. Reasonable hopes were entertained that disaffection, quieted by lenient measures, would lay down the arms assumed under strong excitement, and that reviving order would rise from the confu- sion. But the insurgents, animated by temporary success, and mistaking the mildness of forbearance for weakness or fear, had extended their designs from present relief to permanent change. Their early movements were without further object than to stay that flood of executions which wasted their property and made their homes desolate. That portion of the community, who condemned the violence of the actors in the scenes we have des- cribed, sympathized in their sufferings, and were disposed to con- sider the offences venial, while the professed purpose of their commission was merely to obtain the delay necessary for seeking constitutional redress. All implicated, stood on safe and honor- able ground, until the renewal, on the 21st of November, of the opposition to the administration of justice. Defiance of the au- thority of the State could no longer be tolerated without the pros- tration of its institutions. The crisis had arrived, when govern- ment, driven to the utmost limit of concession, must appeal to the sword for preservation, even though its destroying edge, turned on the citizen, might be crimsoned with civil slaughter. Information was communicated to the executive of extensive levies of troops for the suppression of the Judiciary, and the coercion of the Legis- lature. Great exertions were making to prevent the approaching session of the Court of Common Pleas, in Worcester, in the first week of December. Gov. Bowdoin and the council, resolved to adopt vigorous measures to overawe the insurgents. Orders were issued to Major General Warner, to call out the militia of his di- vision, and five regiments were directed to hold themselves in instant readiness to march. Doubts, however, arose, how far re- liance could be placed on the troops of an infected district. The sheriff reported, that a sufficient force could not be collected.
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The first instructions were therefore countermanded, a plan, baving been settled to raise an army whose power might effectually crush resistance, and he judges were advised to adjourn to the 23d of January following, when the contemplated arrangements could be matured to terminate the unhappy troubles.
The insurgents, unapprised of the change of operations, be- gan to concentrate their whole strength to interrupt the courts at Worcester and Concord. They had fixed on Shrewsbury, as the place of rendezvous. On the 29th of November, a party of forty, from Barre, Spencer and Leicester, joined Capt. Wheeler, who had established his head quarters in that town during the preceding week, and succeeded in enlisting about thirty men. Daniel Shays, the reputed commander-in-chief, and nominal head of the rebellion, made his first public appearance in the county soon after, with troops from Hampshire. Reinforcements came in, till the number at the post exceeded four hundred. Sentinels stopped and examined travellers, and patrols were sent out towards Concord, Cambridge and Worcester. On Thursday, November 30, information was received, that the Light Horse, under Col. Hitchborn, had captured Shattuck, Parker and Paige, and that a detachment of cavalry was marching against them- selves. This intelligence disconcerted their arrangements for an expedition into Middlesex, and they retreated, in great alarm, to Holden. On Friday, Wheeler was in a house passed by the horsemen, and only escaped from being captured by accident. Another person, supposed to be commander, was pursued, and received a sabre cut in the hand. The blow was slight, but af- forded sufficient foundation for raising the cry that blood had been shed, and rousing passion to vengeance. The wounded insur- gent was exhibited and bewailed as the martyr of their cause. As the Light Horse retired, it was discovered they did not ex- ceed twenty. About a hundred of Shays's men rallied, and re- turned to Shrewsbury, following a foe whose celerity of move- ment left no cause to fear they could be brought to an encounter. Search was made for the town stock of powder, removed by the vigilance of one of the selectmen, Col. Cushing, whose house they surrounded, and whose person they endeavored to seize, but
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he escaped. Consultation was held on the expediency of marcuing directly to Worcester, and encamping before the Court House. Without clothing to protect them from cold, without money, or food to supply the wants of hunger, it was considered impracticable to maintain themselves there, and on Saturday, they marched to Grafton, and went into quarters with their friends.
The party left at Holden, found one object of their meeting, the junction with the insurgents at Concord, frustrated. Those who belonged to the neighboring towns were therefore dismissed, with orders to assemble in Worcester on Monday following. Shays retired to the barracks in Rutland, and sent messengers to hasten on the parties from Berkshire and Hampshire, in anticipa- tion of meeting the militia of government at Worcester.
On Sunday evening, the detachment from Grafton entered the town, under the command of Abraham Gale, of Princeton, Ad- am Wheeler, of Hubbardston, Simeon Hazeltine, of Hardwick, and John Williams, reputed to be a deserter from the British army, and once a serjeant of the continental line. They halted before the Court House, and having obtained the keys, placed a strong guard around the building, and posted sentinels on all the streets and avenues of the town to prevent surprise. Those who were off duty, roiling themselves in their blankets, rested on their arins, on the floor of the Court room.
However the fidelity of Worcester might have wavered, its citizens had now become aware of the peril of their rights, when the mustering power of rebellion was attempting to upheave the foundations of government. The whole military strength of the town rallied to its support. Two full companies of our militia, enrolling one hundred and seventy, rank and file, paraded on Monday, at the South Meeting House, under the senior captain, Joel Howe. In the afternoon, they formed in column, and marched down Main Street. On approaching the United States Arms tavern, the head quarters of the insurgents, the drums beat to arms, and their lines were formed across the road. Capt. Howe, advancing in slow time, sent forward an adjutant to de- mand by what authority the highways were obstructed. A con- temptuous answer was returned, that he might come and see.
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Another officer was detached, to order them to remove, as the militia intended to pass over the ground they occupied : the re- ply was, they might pass if they could. Capt. Howe then halted, and addressed his men in an animating tone, expressing his de- termination to proceed, and his reliance on their intrepidity. The bayonets were fixed and the company then advanced : in a few paces they came to the position for a charge. The front rank of the insurgents stood in readiness to use their muskets, while the band of Captain Howe moved steadily down upon their line. For a moment, civil war seemed about to drench our streets in blood. Veterans of the revolution were arrayed on both sides, who had been too often amid the shot of battle, to shrink from danger in any form. Fortunately, the insurgents were not prepared to stain their cause by the slaughter of their brethren. Their line wavered, and breaking, by a rapid wheel, gained a new position on the hill. The militia went by their post, to the Hancock Arms,* beyond the North Square. It is doing no injustice to their gallantry to believe, their congratula- tions were sincere on the innocent result of appearances so men- acing. After brief rest, they returned, and were dismissed, until the next morning, with merited commendations. Their spirited conduct was productive of salutary effects. It ascertained, that their opponents were too apprehensive of consequences to sup- port their demands by force, and the dread their formidable array might have inspired, was changed to contempt and derision of their pretensions.
As the evening closed in, one of the most furious snow storms of a severe winter commenced. One division of the insurgents occupied the Court House : another sought shelter at the Hancock Arms. The sentinels, chilled by the tempest, and im- agining themselves secured by its violence from attack, joined their comrades around the fire of the guard room. The young men of the town, in the spirit of sportive mischief, contrived to carry away their muskets, incautiously stacked in the entry-way, and having secreted them at a distance, raised the alarm that the
* This building was afterwards the Brown & Butman Tavern, and destroyed by fire, Dec. 24, 1824.
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Light Horse were upon them. The party sallied out in confu- sion, and panic struck at the silent disappearance of their arms, fled through the fast falling snow to the Court House, where their associates had paraded. The guns were discovered, at length, and the whole force remained, ready for action, several hours, frequently disturbed by the fresh outcries of their vexatious persecutors.
The increasing fury of the storm, and the almost impassable condition of the roads, did not prevent the arrival of many from Holden and the vicinity, on Tuesday, swelling the numerical force of malcontents to five hundred. The Court was opened at the Sun Tavern,* and in conformity with the instructions of the Governor, adjourned to the 23d of January, without attempting to transact business. Petitions from committees of Sutton and Douglass, that the next session might be postponed to March, were disregarded.
Worcester assumed the appearance of a garrisoned town. The citizens answered to the frequent challenges of military guards : the traveller was admonished to stay his steps by the voice and bayonet of the soldier. Sentries paced before the house of Mr. Allen, the clerk, where Judge Ward resided, and the former gentleman was threatened with violence on his own threshold. Mr. Justice Washburn, of Leicester, was opposed on his way, and two of his friends, who seized the gun presented to his breast, were arrested and detained in custody. Justice Baker, on his return homeward, was apprehended in the road, and some of his captors suggested the propriety of sending him to prison, to ex- perience the corrective discipline, to which, as a magistrate, he had subjected others.
On Tuesday evening, a council of war was convened, and it was seriously determined to march to Boston, and effect the lib- eration of the State prisoners, as soon as sufficient strength could be collected. In anticipation of attack, the Governor gathered the means of defence around the metropolis. Guards were mounted at the prison, and at the entrances of the city : alarm
* United States Hotel, 183G.
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posts were assigned ; and Major General Brooks held the militia of Middlesex contiguous to the road, in readiness for action, and watched the force at Worcester.
During the evening of Tuesday, an alarm broke out, more ter- rific to the party quartered at the Hancock Arms, than that which had disturbed the repose of the preceding night. Soon after par- taking the refreshment which was sometimes used by the military, before the institution of temperance societies, several of the men were seized with violent sickness, and a rumor spread, that poi- son had been mingled with the fountain which supplied their water. Dr. Samuel Stearns of Paxton, astrologer, almanac man- ufacturer, and quack by profession, detected in the sediment of the cups they had drained, a substance, which he unhesitatingly pronounced to be a compound of arsenic and antimony, so dele- terious, that a single grain would extinguish the lives of a thous- and. The numbers of the afflicted increased with frightful rapidity, and the symptoms grew more fearful. It was suddenly recollected that the sugar used in their beverage had been pur- chased from a respectable merchant of the town,* whose at- tachment to government was well known, and the sickness around was deemed proof conclusive that it had been adulterated for their destruction. A file of soldiers seized the seller, and brought him to answer for the supposed attempt to murder the levies of rebellion. As he entered the house, the cry of indig- nation rose strong. Fortunately for his safety, Dr. Green, of Ward, an intelligent practitioner of medicine, arrived, and the ex- ecution of vengeance was deferred until his opinion of its pro- priety could be obtained. After careful inspection of the sus- pected substance, and subjecting it to the test of different senses, he declared, that to the best of his knowledge, it was genuine, yellow, Scotch snuff. The reputed dying raised their heads from the floor : the slightly affected recovered : the gloom which had settled heavily on the supposed victims of mortal disease was dispelled, and the illness soon vanished. Strict inquiry fur- nished a reasonable explanation : a clerk in the store of the
* The late Daniel Waldo, {Sen.) Esq.
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merchant had opened a package of the fragrant commodity, in the vicinity of the sugar barrel, and a portion of the odoriferous leaf, had, inadvertently, been scattered from the counter into its uncovered head. A keg of spirit was accepted in full satisfac- tion for the panic occasioned by the decoction of tobacco so in- nocently administered.
Bodies of militia, anxious to testify their reviving zeal, were toiling through the deep snow drifts. Gen. Warner, finding that no benefit could be derived from their presence, sent orders for their return to their homes, and the insurgents enjoyed the tri- umph of holding undisputed possession of the town.
On Wednesday, December 6, they went out to meet Shays, who arrived from Rutland, with 350 men. As they re-entered the street, the appearance of the column of 800 was highly im- posing. The companies included many who had learned their tactics from Steuben, and served an apprenticeship of discipline in the ranks of the revolution : war worn veterans, who in a good cause, would have been invincible. The pine tuft supplied the place of plume in their hats. Shays, with his aid, mounted on white horses, led on the van. They displayed into line before the Court House, where they were reviewed and inspected. The men were then billeted on the inhabitants. No compulsion was used : where admittance was peremptorily refused, they quietly retired, and sought food and shelter elsewhere. Provision having been made for the soldiers, Shays joined the other leaders in council. At night, he was attended to his quarters, at the house of the late Col. Samuel Flagg, by a strong guard, preceded by the music of the army, with something of the state assumed by a general officer. Precautions against surprise were redoubled. Chains of sentinels were stretched along the streets, planted in every avenue of approach, and on the neighboring hills, exam- ining all who passed. The cry of "all's well," rose on the watches of the night, from those whose presence brought danger to the Commonwealth.
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