IGl 



retaking the Prisoners as well as to apprehend the Prin- 

 cipals concerned in breaking the Gaol. On the other 

 Hand it was given out that the Marblehead People, to 

 the Number of six or eight hundred, were arming and 

 were determined to repel to the last Extremity, any 

 Force that should be brought against them. In this 

 critical Situation of' Things, a Number of the principal 

 Gentlemen of Marblehead were happily instrumental in 

 effecting a Compromise : the Proprietors of the late Es- 

 sex Hos[)ital being influenced to relinquish all Demands 

 that they might have either on the County or Sheriff, in 

 Consequence of the Rescue and Escape of the above 

 mentioned Prisoners, and to discontinue all Proceedings 

 respecting the Burning of the Hospital. This Measure, 

 which restored Peace, was reported al)r()ad just l)efore 

 the Time at which the People were ordered to assemble, 

 and was the Cause of crvcat Jov and Satisfaction to the 

 Town in general." With the subsequent beating of Clark, 

 one of the four who were first tarred and feathered, and 

 who was again dragged from his bed at night by twenty men 

 and whipped at the post before the Town House in Mar- 

 blehead, this disgraceful transaction seems to have closed. 

 Unfortunate as the occurrence was, it barely escaped 

 more serious consequences of a political nature. Such 

 was the sense of outrage on the part of the Proprietors 

 of the Hospital, that they declined all further service in 

 town affairs and threatened to leave town. This action 

 not only vacated the places of deputies in the Assembly, 

 but left Marblehead without a committee of safety and 

 correspondence at that critical moment when, the Boston 

 Port Bill being but a few days off, the second town in New 

 England was about to be called on to render incalculable aid 

 and comfort to the distressed capital of the Province. To 

 avert this catastrophe Samuel Adams made it his special 



ESSKX INST. BULLETIX, VOL. XII. 11 



