LANCASTER COUNTr. 269 



after consultation, "give an answer to Lord Baltimore's 

 expedition to acknowledge his authorit}^" 



For a short time, disturbances seemed to be settled; 

 but before long, through the instrumentality of Captain 

 Thomas Cressap, a restless, quarrelsome individual, an 

 association was formed with the knowledge of Governor 

 Ogle, of some fifty or sixty persons, under the auspices 

 of the Captain, to displace the Germans, being the prin- 

 cipal settlers; and to divide their lands, according to the 

 agrarian laws of Rome: "to distribute the lands of the 

 conquered among the conquerors ; for Cressap had 

 promised each of his associates two hundred acres of 

 land. 



In the prosecution of their design, they killed one 

 Knowles, who had resisted them. Tlieir leader, how- 

 ever, did not escape with impunity; the sheriff of Lan- 

 caster assailed him, and on the 23d of November, 1736, 

 after he was wounded, took him as prisoner and con- 

 veyed him to Philadelphia jail. 



"Governor Ogle, on receipt of this intelligence, 

 despatched Edmund Jennings and Daniel Dulany to 

 Philadelphia, to demand reparation, and the release of 

 Cressap. Both were refused by the president and coun- 

 cil, who earnestly remonstrated against the encroach- 

 ments of the people of Maryland, encouraged and pro- 

 tected by their Governor. 



"Governor Ogle immediately ordered reprisal. Four 

 German settlers were seized and carried to Baltimore, 

 and a band of associators, under one Higgenbotham, 

 proceeded forcibly to expel the Germans. Again the 

 council ordered out the sheriff of Lancaster, and the 

 power of his county, with directions to dispose detach- 

 ments in proper positions to protect the people; and they 

 despatched Messrs. Lawrence and Ashton, members of 



23* 



