Centre Democrat. [volume] (Bellefonte, Pa.) 1848-1989, 1879-11-06

| Government on the terms extended: !:
sherfls volunteered to execute process.
es the really guilty took their rifles and
fled into the wilderness, and the com.
try was as peaceful and as loyal rs IL is
to-day.
But the "exilesm were not satisfied.
They wanted TO return in triumph, and
with power to wreak their revenges.
Hamilton had another purpose-a pur.
pose which he had cherished from the
first, and pursued with cold calculation
to the end. lie determined to make
this the occasion Of some signal display
of the "power of military coercion"
Notwithstanding the submission of the
people and the end OF the disturbance,
which had been styled an insurrection,
the army, fifteen thousand strong,
marched, and Hamilton marched withit.
George Washington never drew any
paper with such anxious care as he be.
slowed upon his instructions to Gen.
Lee. the commander. The military was
TO be held in absolute subordination to
the civil authority. No man was to be
molested, except upon n warrant regu.
larly issued. A United States Judge
accompanied the expedition to avoid
every excuse of military usurpation.
But these solemn orders were in vain.
Once over the mountains, Hamilton
pushed them aside and ignored them.
He organized a commission upon per.
fectly original plan, OF which he took
the head. and at the tail of which he
placed the timid and submissive FEEDER.
al Judge whom he had jim his train.
The other members were the District
Attorney, the inspector, one of the Eek
lies" and light.horseman. They paid
no regard TO law or rules. They bullied
the witnesses. and even tortured them.
The examinations, many Of them, were
for all the world like those of Jefireys
on the Bloody Assizes, just as the subse-
quent military proceedings were like
those of Kirk. Occasionally Secretary
Hamilton broke the monotony OF these
brutal examinations by a secret inquisi.
tion of his own, as in the case of Brack.
enridge, when no one was present but
the accused and his own selfappointed
judge.
At length Mr.. Hamilton found him.
self ready to make the signal display"
of power about which he was so much
concerned, and to strike terror into the
Hthlld VI AIlt litElNAAlk ItOIlfs hf
night of the 18th OF November, 1894,
was selected for the blow, 1t makes
the heart swell and the blood boil to
think OF it even at this distance Of time.
Between midnight and daybreak the
whole country was raided simultaneous.
ly by the dragons; three hundred Of
the most respected citizens were seized
in their beds. and hundreds OF families
reduced to the direst distress. Hamil.
ton had succeeded. Those were indeed
hours of terror. The strength of the
Government was felt in a manner never
to be forgotten; and, ever since, that
has been known in Pennsy lvania's his.
tory and tradition as the dreadful
night
The prisoners were not permitted to
ride their own horses or TO supply them.
selves with any of the comforts or even
necessaries of life. They were driven
like cattle through the muddy roads,
and beaten and reviled at every step.
Al night some of them were stalled like
beasts in stables, and one officer direct.
ed the mangers to be filled with oats
and raw meat for their refreshment. In
the wet cellar Of the public house at
Parkinsons forty were tied back to
back, and left to welter in mud and
darkness, without food, light or fire for
forty eight hours. Their fellow citizens
and the soldiers were alike forbidden to
relieve the suiferings Of these uniortu.
nate people.
All these men were taken without
warrant. The seizure was "a lawless as
| it was indiscrimiEate and cruel. II was
in fiat violation Of Washington's orders
but it was in strict accordance with
Hamilton's notions Of the powers OF n
strong government" Eighteen Of the
prisoners were driven on foot TO Phila-
delphia-a march Of thirty days--snd
paraded through the streets with slips
Of paper marked "Insurgent" on their
hats. Against some of them the Grand
Jury. foreign TO their vicinage and po.
litically hostile as it was, failed TO find
bills. None were convicted.
SO ended the Whiskey Insurrection.
The name of Hamilton, the Federalist,
was for many years spoken among the
husbandmen of that lonely land with
bated breath like that of Ciaverhouse
among the Presbyterians of Scotland.
On the whole, we should say that the
"strong government" men Of to-day
will take little by the re.opening of
this dark chapter OF our early history.