Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1859-05-21

discharge, however, the guns were fired among
the inmates of the building, the immediate ef-
feet of which was to drive the sentries from
their posts. Crowded in the narrow passages
Of the lower story of the building, on the stairs
and among the benches of the courtroom,
amid total darkness the hostile parties sustain
cd, for time, a hand to had conflict. But the
strife was of short duration, for the shouts of
the victorious Tories soon announced that their
superior numbers had routed the small force
which had opposed them.
Some of the Wings escaped by side en-
trance, others were killed or wounded, and sew
en- were taken and imprisoned. In the south
west corner of the courthouse, on the lower
floor, was n bar-room- arranged most conven-
ienty for those among the "judges, jurymen
and pleaders' who were inclined to be bibacious.
Here the Tories, who Immediately before the
assault had aroused their courage by copious
draughts at the Royal tarern, renewed their
drinking and brawling frolic was kept
up until morning. while the wounded and suf-
fering prisoners, crowded in narrow prison,
destitute of the necessities which their situation
demanded, and deprived of light and heat,
were compelled during the long and dark watch
es to bear the insane taunts, and listen to the
vile abuse of their victors.
The next morning all was tumult and confu-
sion. The judges, however, opened the court
at the appointed hour, yet deemed it prudent to
adjourn it until the afternoon. But those of
the Wings who had fled the night previous, had
not in the meantime been idle. Messengers
had been dispatched in every direction to carry
the news and procure assistance. One man in
his haste, rode with uncovered head distance
of ten miles, and others performed longer Jour
neys with as little preparation. As in olGen
times when the cross Of fire. the emblem of i'm
pending war was borne from village to village,
so now, at the approach of the courier,
"In arms the huts and hamlets rise;
From the winding glen, from upland brown
They poured each hardy tenant down.
The fisherman forsook the strand,
The swarthy smith took dirk and brand;
With changed cheer the mower bthe
Leit in the halt-cut swaih the scythe
The herds without keeper strayed,
The plow was in mid-furrow stayed;
Prompt Mt the signal Of alarms
Each son of freedom rushed to arms"
BY noon more than four hundred men had
assembled at Westminster in obedience to the
summons they had received. Such a force as
tins the Court party were not prepared to en-
counter. Those of the Wings who had been
imprisoned the night previous were soon libe-
rated, and the judges with their assistants and
retainers were put in their places. The court
room in which they were confined, and which
had been the scene of part of the struggle,
presented a spectacle which told but too plainly
of the rage which had characterized the actions
of the combatants. The benches were broken,
and the braces, timbers and studs of the unfn-
ished room, were cut and battered by the bullets
which had been fired by the Tories. Blood was
to be seen in the entries, and the stairs were
stained with stfiened gore. Rendered furious
by these sights, the Wings now wished to burn
down the building with its inmates, their i'm
prisoned enemies, but this inhuman desire was
silenoed by Captain Bellows, afterwards of Rev
outionary no,oriety, who with its two hundred
men, kept by the people from violence, and re-
strained their angry feelings. Before evening,
there were collected, in the words of a chroni-
cler OF those times, five hundred good martial
soldiers, well equipped for war and by the fol-
lowing day so many had assembled. that there
were not houses nor barns sufficient to shelter
them, and food enough to support them was
with difficulty obtained.
The Court party were kept in confinement
until the following Sunday, during which time
they were visited by hundreds of those whom
they had oppressed, and who, now that their
prosecutors were bound were ready to return
upon them the bitterness which they had so
laviShly expended when in power Seven OF
them were afterwards set at liberty, having pre-
vously given bonds for their security to appear
and take their trials at some future day. The
rest were sent to Northampton, and were there
imprisoned for more than a month. Some OF
them reached the city of NewYork during the
following April. at which place they separated
te engage in such pursuits their changed cir
cumstonccs might allow. The war of the Rev
olution had then become a reality, and to its
progress was the attention Of all classes direct
ed
OF the Wings who were killed and wounded
in the affray of March 18th, the following facts
have been preserved. William French, son OF
Nathaniel French resided in marlborough
but SO near the boundary of Dummerston that
he was sometimes claimed as an inhabitant oI
that town. At the time of his death, he was in
the twenty-second year of his age, and among
his neighbors was regarded as a clever, steady
honest working farmer. He had come to
Westminster with number of others, his COM
panions in order to defend what he had before
supposed he had a right to demand, namely, the
privilege of being governed by sound laws and
sound principles, and of restraining the advance
of oppression. Being undoubtedly more ardent
than others, in expressing and enforcing his
sentiments, he was among the first to attract at
tention, and in the issue was most mercilessly
butchered. He was shot with five bullets in as
many different places-in the leg, thigh, mouth
face and forehead. In this horrible condition
still alive, he, with some twenty others wa'
thrust into the jail-room, which was much toe
small to accommodate one-half of that number
No care nor attention was paid to his wounds
no consolation was offered him, no kind frient
spoke peace to the soul that still fingered il
that mangled carcass, but enemies Knocked hin
as he gasped for the failing breath and made
sport for themselves at his dying motions. Thu
were spent the last hours of William French
A few days after an inquest was held on tn,
body the original report of which investigation
is still preserved. He was buried with mitar,
honors, his funeral being attended by all th
militia of the surrounding country, who paiC
their last final adieu to the ennobled dead, il
the salute which they fired over his grave. Th
smoke rolled off from the freshly turned earth
and as the thunder of the musketry echoed owe
the beautiful plains of Westminster and rever
berating among the distant hills, finally det
away into silence, those determined men VIII
had gathered around the corpse of the first vic
tim of American liberty and the principles O
freedom, vowed to avenge the wrongs of thei
oppressed country, and kindled in imagination
the torch of war, which so soon after blaze
like beacon-light at Lexington and Bunke