The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1874-01-20
The Boston s'Tea Party" Of De-
cember l6. l77S.


AT Griain's wharf in the good old
city of Boston, on the 18th day of De-
cember, l773, lay three ships, the brig
Beaver" the Eleanor and the ''Dart-
mouth"
The cargo of each. ship was tea.
This tea, with which the Indiamen came
laden, was hateful to the inhabitants OF
Boston. Was it because they did NOT
like Tea? o no! Not by any means;
If any poor souls on the face of the
earth needed the comforting influence
of tea, then did the poor colonists OF
bleak, raw New England need it
TIE tea was hateful to them because
of the heavy tax which England placed
upon it. A number of ships had beeh
sent back to the ''motlier country" be.
cause the people of the colony would
have none of the fragrant Hyson and
Congou
A meeting of the indignant men Of
Boston was held in Faneuil Hall to de-
termine ways and means of getting rid
of the three obnoxious Icdiamen The
meeting increased so rapidly that Fan.
ueil Hall could not hold the members of
it, and Josiah Quincy, Jr, proposed
that it should be held in the old South
church.
AS a final effort, committee was
sent to appeal once more to Governor
Hutchinson to send off the ships, and
mean while Mr. Quincy undertook 10
keep the men and boys quiet BY making
good long speech to them Id the
church.
! Governor Hutchinson refused to dis.
miss the tealaden vessels, but the pooI
fellow himself was so greatly alarmed
soon after the committee LEFT by tie rd-
NOR that crowd of persons was ap:
preaching his house that he ran away
with his face only half shaven across
the fields, and hid himself Until the ex-
element was past i.sE.
The members of the committee who
made the demand upon Governor
Hutchinson, and been so decidedly re-
fused, got back to the old church about
sunset
Mr.. Quincy still held the crowd inside
by his eloquent words, and you may be
very certain that that little speech. which
was not reported, did not make Bosto-
mans one bit more willing to drink the
tea and pay the taxes demanded upon
it.
The instant that The committee reporii
ted that the Governor refused to send
the ships away a wild, Indian yell arose.
upon the air and penetrated the old
South church. A band of men dis:
guised as Mohawks filed the Streets
The citizens rushed from the church to
behold the Indians, blanketed,. painted,
bfandishing hatchets, and flying down
Milk street to the wharf where the three
Indiamen lay
Joseph Lowering. boy of twelve
years old, held the candle in a carpen.
ter's shop while the men disguised theif
white faces and covered their fine coats
and dainty ruffles with blankets. =
The men in charge of the ships obey,
ed the orders of the Mohawks for the
KEYS, "candIes and matches They
rushed into the hold Of the Dartmouth,
and in just no time at all had one huns
dred and fourteen chests Of tea on her
deck
9 After the Dartmouth was unloaded,
the Indians rushed upon the Eleanor
and the brig Beaver. and going into
their holds took out every chest Of ted,
9 three hundred and forty-two in all, and
: threw every one into the waters of the
harbor The tide was low, and the
crowd Of .'apprentice" boys which ha6
followed the Mohawks did what it coul6
: to help on the work of destriction BY
!, jumping into the mud and breaking th,
chests still more, so that not pound ot
, tea escaped
Sixty five names are left upon record
9 of persons who helped to make tea
\ pot out of Boston harbor An English
= fleet lay in the roads, and in the castle
= were many English soldiers, but The
= band of Mohawks was not disturbed il
y its work
: Thomas Melville, who was of th,
= tea-party, spilled some of the tea int,
his shoes, and when he reached hom
= his wife gathered it and put it. into
:, bottle, but so many persons came t.
: see it that either they looked it away o.
II stole it away, for it was found necessar,
= to seal the bottle to preserve It. Thi
! bottle of tea is now owned by Lemue
= Shaw of Boston.
- One poor fellow, John Crane, Will,
4 in the hold of one Of the ships, got 81
badly hurt by the falling Of chest Q
tea from the deck upon him, that Ri
friends, believing him to be dead. basti
ly hid him away under d pile of shs
wings. Going to-. the place after tn
:. work was done, great was their surpris
!, to find him alive.
: Hewes tells the following story !
- - "One Captain O'Connor, whom I wei
10 knew, came on board one of the ship
IN n for the purpose of secreting some &
10 10 the tea that he might carry it away wit
.. him, and when he supposed that he Wa
Of not noticed filed his pockets and ais
n the lining of his coat. But / had d,
N N tected him, and gave information to Il
- - captain of what he was doing "
~ were ordered to take him into custod
a and just as he was stepping from tt
to vessel, seized him by the skirt ;of h
r. coat, and in attempting to pull him bat
a. / tore it off; but springing forward b
al rapid effort he made his escape. n
n had, however, to run the gauntlet OF tn
N crowd upon the wharf, each one as b
90 passed giving him kick or stroke :
an The next day we nailed the skirt of b
" coat, which l had pulled of, to Ii
whipping post in Charlestown, the plat
of his residence, with label upon It.
Y. 81 --.
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