1763, Dec] ATTACK ON LANCASTER JAIL. 125 



the muzzles of tlieir pieces, in some instances, so 

 near their victims' heads that the brains were scat- 

 tered by the explosion. The work was soon 

 finished. The bodies of men, women, and chil- 

 dren, mangled with outrageous brutality, lay scat- 

 tered about the yard ; and the murderers were 

 gone.^ 



When the first alarm was given, the magistrates 

 were in the church, attending the Christmas ser- 

 vice, which had been postponed on the twenty- 

 fifth. The door was flung open, and the voice of a 

 man half breathless was heard in broken exclama- 

 tions, "Murder — the jail — the Paxton Boys — 

 the Indians." 



The assembly broke up in disorder, and Shippen, 

 the principal magistrate, hastened towards the 

 scene of riot ; but, before he could reach it, all 



1 Deposition of Felix Donolhj, keeper of Lancaster jail. Declaration 

 of Lazarus Stewart, published by Mr. Conyngham. Rupp, Hist, of York 

 and Lancaster Counties, 358. Ilecke welder, Narrative of Moravian Missions, 

 79. See Appendix, E. 



Soon after the massacre, Franklin published an account of it at Phila- 

 delphia, which, being intended to strengthen the hands of government by 

 exciting a popular sentiment against the rioters, is more rhetorical than 

 accurate. The following is his account of the consummation of the 

 act : — 



" When the poor wretches saw they had no protection nigh, nor 

 could possibly escape, they divided into their little families, the children 

 clinging to the parents ; they fell on their knees, protested their inno- 

 cence, declared their love to the English, and that, in their whole lives, 

 they had never done them injury ; and in this posture they all received 

 the hatchet!" 



This is a pure embellishment of the fancy. The only persons pres- 

 ent were the jailer and the rioters themselves, who unite in testifying 

 that the Indians died with the stoicism which their race usually ex- 

 hibit under such circumstances ; and indeed, so sudden was the act, 

 that there was no time for enacting the scene described by Franklin. 



