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


mortal has at length disappeared from its place,
and no one can now mark with accuracy the To-
cality of is'grave.
A man by thcname of White was wounded
in the knee and another, Knight by name, was
shot in the shoulder, and for more than thirty
years carried the ball in his body A certain
Lieutenant Philip Stafford was in the court
house at the time the attack was made by the
Tories. Most of the Wings who were then in
possession of the building, fed after short
conflict through side entrances but he deter
mined to depart by a more honorable passage,
sailed out at the front door, club in hand,
knocked down a dozen or fifteen men who op-
posed him, and received in return several Sc
we're cuts on the head from o sword welded by
the Tory sheriff. Patterson.
Among the more trihing incidents connected
with the afray, tradition affirms that one Joseph
Temple, carried his food in quart pewter ba-
sin which, placed in kind of knapsack, was
strapped over his shoulders. During the firing,
the basin was struck twice by the bullets which
left their marks upon it but did not perforate
it, and its owner escaped unhurt. This novel
life-preserver was kept in the family of his de-
scendants for many years, but finally found its
way to that place of deposit Of things valuable
for their antiquity-the cart of tin peddler.-
Another brave man, John Hooker by name, es-
| capped with the loss Of the soles Of his boots,
which were raked off by chance shot from the
enemy. Many man, more distinguished but
less valiant than John Hooker, has in time of
battle found safety in trusting to his soles, and
that too, in manner not one-half as honora-
BILE.
Soon after the affray, number of Tories
who had escaped imprisonment set out for New
York, and on arriving in that city, gave in their
dispositions relative to the transactions which
had lately occurred. In these affidavits, it was
stated that the rioters were armed with guns
and pistols, and that they not only made use of
them, but that several of the Court party were
injured in consequence. On the other hand
the Wings declared that there were no firearms
among them, and this statement is substantial
ed by eye witnesses who until within q few
years were living, and by sufficient amount of
unbiased evidence. That some of the Court
party were wounded in the affray, there is no
doubt, but the injuries they received were from
their own friends, for the fight being carried on
in darkness, it was impossible to distinguish
friends from foes. The dispositions, although
given under oath, had been previously prepared
by the Tory representatives in the Legislature
of New-York, from Cumberland county, and
were colored by them in such manner as to
make the cause of the Wings appear in its
worst light. Men most violent in the measures
which they are ready to adopt to suppress the
first outbreakings of liberty and right, are not
those who will scruple to exaggerate and falsify,
in order to carry out the ends which they have
proposed.
To dignity the events Of the 18th Of March.
the muses. were not ashamed to lend their as
sistance Achilles had his Homer, Kneas his
Virgil, Adam and Eve their Milton, the sofa its
Cowper, and the Westminster massacre" a
faithful literal but unknown poet. OF the pro-
ductic ms of this unknown poet but one remains,
and this would probably have been lost to the
world, but for an incident, the mention of which
will, it is hoped, be pardoned. AS the writer
of this paper was tarrying for day in Green
Mountain village, he paid visit to veteran
whose arm had been raised for the defence of
his country in the war of the Revolution. As
the memories of former days began to warm
the heart of the old soldier and send the blood
leaping in liveier currents through his veins,
his body began to sway backwards and forwards,
and his voice accompanying the motion, uttered
sounds unintelligble at first but subsequently,
comprehended and recorded. The revelation
which came from his lips, was as if from the
dead, so surprising was its theme. History
seemed to assume quaint dignity from the odd
old-fashioned dress in which it was presented
and the adage "poeta nascitur, non fit" rose
grotesquely to the mind, as the production OF
the unknown climber of the sleeps of Parnas-
sus was gradually exhumed from the brain Of
the old man, where it had slept undisturbed for
more than three quarters of century. The
bardie story thus singuarly discovered was an
account Of the Westminster Massacre" The
verses are these:
March We 18th, in Westminster, there was dismal
clamor,
mob containg 500 men, they came in a riotous man.
ner,
Swearing the courts they should not set not even tc
adjournment,
But for fear Of the Sheriff and his valiant men they
for their firearms sent.
| The Proesants that stood by the law they all came
here well armed
They demanded the house which was their own, O
which they were dcbarred.
The Sheriff then drew off his to consult upon the
matter
How he might best enter the house and not to make
slaughter.
The Sheriff drew up his men in order for battle,
And told them for TO leave the house, they should
feel his bullets rattle.
But they resisted with their clubs until the Sheriff
fired,
Then with surprise and doeful cries they all witt
haste retired.
Our valiant entered the house, not in the leas
confounded,
And cleared the rooms of every one except of those
who were wounded"
have spoken of this incident as a mob, {
riot and an affray the names which the crown
adherents gave it, and as "massacre, the more
dignifed title by which it was known among thu
Wings. 1t was properly an insurrection, st
rising against civil and political authority"
was an inSmrection but it was one that wal
justifable, and that too on principles whicl
do not admit of dispute. If we examin,
closely into facts, we shall find that in tn,
history of Cumberland county-a type OF tht
history of the colonies, there We're presen
the three conditions which alone can Justify al
insurrecton. First, there was oppression oil
the part of the government, against which re
sistance was made secondly, every peaceabl
means by petitions and remonstrances for re
moving this oppression had been tried but il
vain; thirdly, forcible measures were not resort
ed to, until the probability of success had be
come so strong as to amount for the time being
almost to a certainty. Trusting thus to thu
Justice of their cause. and to the favor of Hin
who is ever ready to succor the oppressed, thes
determined men achieved for themselves thos
blessings, the fruits of which, we to-day, enjo,
in their fullness.
In claiming for William French, the title o
the proto-martyr to the cause of American lib
erty, it may be but that few will be found will
ii L l.