Lamoille newsdealer. [volume] (Hyde Park, Vt.) 1860-1877, 1873-12-24
The Centennial Tea.ParIy.

Boston harbor over three hundred aud
forty chests Of tea. 10 various parts Of
the land the event has been celebrated
with enthusiasm ssiaf, speeches, music
and-drinking OF the magic cup which
sometimes cheers aud never inebriaies.
Francis $. Drake IN the current number
Of the Old and Nee. gives some hisiOIi-
cal facts. new and otherwise. relative to
the original Atari
"Hutchius,n thus allowed the last op-
portunity for concession to pass,-a de-
e,,iop which 4 candid British historian,
Lord Mahon, characterizes as unwlse, and
thus made himself responsible for the con-
sequences. THIS meeting eau do nothing
more TO save the country said Samuel
Adams; aud, after a brief silence. shout
was heard at the door. A voice in the
gallery cried out, Boston Harbor q tea
Dot tonight! Hurra for Griain's wharf"
and a molten vas ade to adjourn. The
people composing the meeting having
manifested most exemplary patisnce aud
caution in the methods they had pursued
to pcrserve the property Of the East In
dia Company, aud 10 return it safe AMI
Untouched TO lis owners, perceivng that
at every ster they had been frustrated by
the consignecs aud their conductors, then
dissolved the,mceliug. The war-whooP
had. in the mean time. been sounded ;
and about fifty persons, disguised as ln-
dams, hurried to Griffn'S (uow Livcrpool)
Wharf, near the foot of Pearl Street,
boarded the ships, and in three hours time
had broken and emptied into the dock
three huudrad and torty.two chests of tea,
valued at SIS 600.
"Joshua Wyeth, at that time a jour
ncymau blacksmith, and one OF the actors
IN the affair. related in 1921 the follow
Ing particulars to Rev. Timothy Flint:
1t was proposed that Young men, not
much known in town, and not liable to be
easily recognized, should lead in the bust.
ness Most Of the persons selected for
the occasion were apprentices and journey.
men. not few Of them. as was the case
with myself living with tory masters. |
had but few hours warning Of what
was intended to be done. Our numbers
were bet ween tweuty-eight and thir.
ty. OF my associates, | only remember
the names Of Forthirgbam, Mead, Martin,
and Grant. We first talked Of firing the
ship but We feared the fire would COM
municate to tue town. We then proposed
sinking them; but We dropped this pro-
ject, through fear that we should alarm
the town before we could get through with
it. We had observed that very few per-
SOUS remained on board the three ships
and we finally concluded that We could
take possession Of them, and discharge
the tea into the harbor without dagger or
opposition, The greatest objection to our
plan was, that il would take such length
Of time to carry it through, and rem
der US more liable to detection. To pre-.
vent being recognized, we agreed to wear
ragged clothes, aud disigure ourselves as
much as possible. We were dressed to
with SCOT Or lamp black and We should
not have known each other, except by our
voices. We surely rcsembied devils from
the bottomIess pit rather than men.
.''At the appointed time, We met by
agreement 10 an old building at the head
of the wharf. and fell ip, one after anoth-
or, as if by accident SO as not to excite
suspicion. We placed Que sentry at the
head Of the wharf, one ia the middle aud
one on the bow Of each vessel as We took
possession, We boarded the ship, which
was moored to the wharFi and the loader
of our company, il very stern and reso-
lutte manner, ordered the captain and
crew to open the hatchways and hand US
the hosting tackle aud ropes. The cap
tain asked what we intended to do. The
leader tod him that We were going to I'M
load the ships of the tea, and ordered
him and the crew below, assuring him
that if they obeyed no harm was intend
cd them. They instantly obeyed Some
of cur number jumped into the hold, aud
passed the chests to the tackle. AS they
were hoistad on deck others knocked
them open with axes, aud others raised
them to the railing, and discharged their
contents overheard. All that were not
needed for dIscharging the tea from this
ship went 90 board the others, and warp
cd them into the wharf, where the cere-
monies were repeated While we were
at work, the people collected in great
numbers about the wharf, to see what
was going en-. They crowded about us so
as to be much in our way. Our sentrles
were not armed, and could not stop any
who insisted on passing They were par.
ticularly charged to give us notice, in case
any known tory came down to the wharf.
We were merry in an uudertonc, at the
idea of making so large a cup Of tea for
the fishes, but were as still as the nature
of the case would admit. No mere word,
were used than were absolutely necessary
Our most intimate acquaintance among
the spectators had not the least knowl
edge Of US. We stirred brlskly in the
business. from the moment we left oul
dressing-roOm. and wore so expedition
that, although it was late in the evening
when VIC begun, We had discharged thu
whole cargo before morning dawn
"The last survivor of the tea party
David Kinpistcn, died at Chicago, il
1852 at the great age of one hundred
Q and Gftoon. He was one of seventeen in
habitants of Lebanon, Maine, who ha'
associated themselves together as politi
cal club. and who had determined to de
Al. - oil b. rls Mhethnr rs