28 



CIVIL HISTORY OF VERMONT. 



Part IT. 



BEMONSTRAN'CE OF THE EXCEPTED PEKSONS. 



WESTMINSTER MASSACRE- 



crable race of men from the face of the 

 earth." 



Again, says that document : " we there- 

 fore advertise such officers, and all persons 

 whatsoever, tliat we are resolved to inflict 

 immediate death on whomsoever may at- 

 tempt the same ; (that is, the apprehen- 

 sion of any of the persons indicted as 

 rioters.) And provided any of us, or our 

 party shall be taken, and we have not no- 

 tice sufficient to relieve them; or whether 

 we relieve them or not, we are resolved to 

 surround such person, or persons, as shall 

 take them, whether ut his, or their own 

 house, or houses, or any where that we 

 can find him, or them, and shoot such per- 

 son, or persons, dead. And furthermore, 

 we will kill and destroy any person or 

 persons whomsoever, that shall presume 

 to be accessary, aiding or assisting in ta- 

 king any one of us, as aforesaid ; for, by 

 these presents, we give any such disposed 

 person, or persons, to understand, that al- 

 though they have a license by the law 

 aforesaid, to kill us ; and an ' indemnifica- 

 tion' for such murder, from the same au- 

 thority, yet they have no indemnification 

 for so doing from the Green Mountain 

 Boys ; for our lives, liberties and proper- 

 ties are as verily precious to us as to any 

 of tjie king's subjects: but if the govern- 

 mental authority o? Keio York insist upon 

 killing us, to take possession of our '■'■vine- 

 yards"' — let them come on ; we are ready 

 for a game of scalping with them, for our 

 martial spirits glow with bitter indigna- 

 tion and consummate fury, to blast their 

 infernal projects." 



The remonstrance, from which the fore- 

 going are extracts, was dated the 26t]i day 

 of April, 1774, and signed by Etlian Allen 

 and six others. About this time a plan 

 was concerted to avoid the jurisdiction of 

 New York, by having the New Hampshire 

 grants, and that part of New York lying 

 east of Hudson river, erected into a sepa- 

 rate royal government. To effijct this 

 object, Pliilip Skeen, a colonel in one of 

 the king's regiments, and the owner of 

 large possessions on lake Champlain, went 

 over to Great Britain, and seems to have 

 met with some success ; but nothing de- 

 cisive had been done when the revolution 

 commenced, which put an end to the ne- 

 gociation. 



The opposition to the claims of New 

 York had hitherto been confined, princi- 

 pally, to the inhabitants on the west side 

 of the mountains. The settlers on the 

 grants in the vicinity of Connecticut riv- 

 er, liad, many of them, surrendered their 

 original charters, and had laken new ones 

 under the authority of New York. In 

 Several of the towns they submitted qui- 



etly to the jurisdiction of that colony, and 

 stood, in a measure, unconcerned specta- 

 tors of the controversy in which the set- 

 tlers on the more westerly grants, were 

 so deeply involved. And where this was 

 not the case, they had not yet been driven 

 to desperation by the executive officers of 

 New York. They were not, however, in- 

 diffi^rent to the policy of Great Britain 

 towards her American Colonies. The 

 settlers on the New Hampshire grants 

 were, generally, emigrants from the other 

 New England provinces, and they readi- 

 ly sympathized with their kindred and 

 friends, and were by no means backward 

 in imbibing the growing spirit of ojiposl- 

 tlon to the oppressive and arbitrary meas- 

 ures pursued by the mother country to- 

 wards her colonies. 



The affairs of the colonies had assumed 

 so alarming an aspect, that delegates 

 from most of the provinces met at Phila- 

 delphia on the 5th of September, 1774, to 

 consult upon measures for the common 

 safetv. The meeting of this congress was 

 followed by an almost universal suspen- 

 sion of the royal authority in all the colo- 

 nies, excepting New York, which refused 

 its assent to the measures recommended 

 b}^ that body, and the courts of justice 

 were either sliut up or adjourned without 

 doing any business. Tlie first interrup- 

 tion of this kind in the colony of New 

 York, happened in the county of Cum- 

 berland, on the New Hampshire grants. 



The stated session of the court for that 

 county was to have been holden at West- 

 minster, on the 13th of March, 1775. 

 Much dissatisfaction prevailed in the 

 county because New York had refused to 

 adopt tlie resolves of the continental Con- 

 gress, and exertions were made to dis- 

 suade the judges from holding the court. 

 But, as they persisted in doing it, some of 

 the inhabitants of Westminster and the 

 adjacent towns, took possession of the 

 court house at an early hour in order to 

 prevent the officers of the court from en- 

 tering. Tlie court party soon appeared 

 before the court house, armed with guns, 

 swords and pistols, and commanded the 

 people to disperse. But, as they refused 

 to obey, some harsh language passed be- 

 tween them, and the court party retired 

 to their quarters. 



The people then had an interview with 

 judge Chandler, who assured them that 

 they might have quiet possession of the 

 house till morning, when the court should 

 come in without arms, and should hear 

 what they had to lay before them. But, 

 contrary to this declaration, about eleven 

 o'clock at night, the sheriff, with the oth- 

 er officers of the court, attended by an 



