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yard looking into the street. While there our minister Mr. Barnard 

 came along and took my father by the arm, and they -walked down to- 

 wards the bridge beside the troojos. My father was very intimate with 

 Mr. Barnard, but was not a deacon of his church as some accounts state. 

 This is all I saw of the aliiiir myself; what I was afterwards told, the 

 subject being very often discussed in my hearing for a long time, ia as 

 follows : 



Col. David Mason had received tidinsjs of the approach of the British 

 troops and ran into the North Church, which was contiguous to hi« 

 dwelling, during service in the afternoon, and cried out, at the top of 

 his voice, "the reg'lars are coming after the guns and are now near 

 Slalloon's Mills." One David Boyce, a quaker, who lived near the 

 church, was instantly out with his team to assist in carrying the guns 

 out of the reach of the troops, and they were conveyed to the neighbor- 

 hood of what was then called Buffam's hill, to the N. W. of the road 

 leading to Danvers and near the present estate of Gen Devereux. Mj 

 father looked in between the platoons, aa I heard him tell my mo- 

 ther, to see if he could recognize any of the soldiers who had been sta- 

 tioned at Fort William on the Neck, many of whom were known to 

 him, but he could discover no familiar faces — was blackguarded by the 

 soldiers for his inquisitiveness, who asked him, with oaths, what he was 

 looking after. The northern leaf of the draw was hoisted when the 

 troops approached the bridge, which prevented them from going any 

 further. Their commander (Col. Leslie) then went upon West's, now 

 Brovm's, wharf, and Capt. John Felt followed him. He then remark- 

 ed to Capt. Felt, or in his hearing, that he should be obliged to fire up- 

 on the people on the northern side of the bridge if they did not lower 

 the leaf. Capt. Felt told him if the troops did fire they would be all dead 

 men, or words to that effect. It was understood afterwards that if the 

 troops fired upon the people, Capt. Felt intended to grapple with Col. 

 Leslie and jump into the liver, for said he "I would vallingly be 

 drowned myself to be the death of one Englishman." Mr. Wm. Northey, 

 observing the menacing attitude assumed by Capt. Felt, now remarked 

 to him, " don't you know the danger you are in opposing armed troops, 

 and an officer with a drawn sword in his hand" ? The people soon com- 

 menced scuttling two gondolas which lay on the western side of the 

 bridge and the troops also got into them to prevent it. One Joseph 

 Whicher, the foreman in Col. Sprague's distillery ,was at work scuttling 

 the Colonel's gondola, and the soldiers ordered him to desist and threa- 

 tened to stab him with their bayonets if he did not — whereupon he 

 opened his breast and dared them to strike — they pricked his breast so 

 as to draw blood. He was very proud of this wound in after life and 

 was fond of exhibiting it. 



It was a very cold day, and the soldiers were without any overcoats, 

 and shivered excessively, and shew signs of being very cold. Many of 

 the inhabitants climbed upon the leaf of the draw and blackguarded the 

 troops. Among them was a man, (name not recollected,) who cried 

 out as loud as possible, " Soldiers, red jackets, lobster coats, cowards, 

 d — na — n to your government!^'' The inhabitants rebuked him for it. 

 and requested nothing should be done to irritate the troops. Colonel 

 Leslie now spoke to Mr. Barnard, probably observing^ by his canoni- 

 cal dress, that he was a clergyman, and said, " I will go over this 

 bridge before I return to Boston, if I stay here till next autumn."— 



