568 



APPENDIX. 



mcnt of these occurrences was sent to the Council, with the assurance 

 that, without the interposition of the government, order could not be 

 preserved. 



"The Council took action in regard to the matter on the 25th of 

 June. The chief justice and one of the judges attended, and a confer- 

 ence was held relative to these disturbances. The following were the 

 proceedings, as found in the minutes : 



"A letter from two of the magistrates in Huntingdon county, stating that the daring 

 and violent outrages were committed by a lawless set of men, that the officers of the 

 government have been insulted and their lives endangered, and that part of the records 

 of the court have been destroyed and erased, was read, praying the support of the 

 government, etc. Thereupon, 



'■'■Resolved, That the most proper and effectual measures be immediately taken to 

 quell the disturbances in Huntingdon county, and to restore order and good govern- 

 ment, and that the Honorable the Judges of the Supreme Court be informed that the 

 Supreme Executive will give them aid and assistance, which the laws of the State will 

 warrant, and shall be found necessary to accomplish this end. 



"The language of this resolution was more vigorous than the action 

 which followed it. Nothing further was then done to suppress these 

 high-handed acts, approaching so nearly to a revolt that they can 

 scarcely be called by any other name. 



"After the Council had been informed of them, and before the pas- 

 sage of the resolution, other violence had been committed. Samuel 

 Clinton, who had made himself notorious as a rioter, Abraham Smith 

 and William McCune, came into town at the head of about twenty men, 

 and beat Alexander Irwin, a citizen. The same party, joined perhaps 

 by others, assaulted the houses of the county officers at night with 

 showers of stones. The persons against whom there seemed to be the 

 greatest hatred were Robert Galbraith, President Judge of the County 

 Court of Common Pleas, etc., Thomas Duncan Smitli, Justice, Andrew 

 Henderson, Recorder of Deeds, etc., and Benjamin Elliott, Sheriff and 

 Lieutenant of the County. 



" Threats were sent from all parts of the county that death, cropping, 

 tarring and feathering, should be inflicted upon these or any other offi- 

 cers who should attempt to enforce the laws. And these threats were 

 not made without an intention of carrying them into execution. Aboui 

 the middle of August, one hundred and sixty men, collected from all 

 parts of the county, some of them from Huntingdon, led by General 

 McAlevy, Abraham Smith, John Smith and John Little, paraded thr 

 streets, not armed as before, but with muskets secreted, as was sup])osed 

 by those who had reason to fear them. The officers and a few others, 

 who gave their support to the government under the constitution^ took 



