down to the centry at the Custom-house,
[Double dagger reference mark indicates that there is a note below.]
I was afraid they
would hurt him, tho' I had not seen any person
insult him, some-
body said they were gone; I stood with John Green near
the
guard-house, saw the guns go off and heard the report ; after-
wards I heard a person say, which I took to be a soldier, that's right,
damn them, kill them all, they have no business there, and from
thence I went to the house of Mr. Burch, one of the
Com-
missioners, where I saw Mr. Burch and wife, Mr.
Paxton, ano-
ther Commissioner, and Mr. Reeves secretary to the
Board ;
one of the Commissioners asked me what was the matter, I
told him the soldiers had fired upon the inhabitants and had
killed two or three, and wounded some more, upon which Mr.
Reeves said, God bless my soul, and then went into the other
room. I left Mr. Burch's house and went to the barracks
at
Wheelwright's Wharf, and staid there
all night ; I heard seve-
ral soldiers say, they wish'd they were let
out, for if they were, there
should not be many people alive in the morning ; the whole of the
14th regiment being under arms, and the piquet guard went
to the main guard-house about 12 o'clock that night.
THOMAS GREENWOOD.
Suffolk, ss.
Boston,
March 24. 1770. Thomas
Greenwood,
above-named, after due examination, made oath to the
truth of the above-written affidavit, taken to perpetuate
the remembrance of the thing.
Before JOHN RUDDOCK, Just. Peace
and of the Quorum.
JOHN HILL, Just. Peace.
[Double Dagger reference mark:] It seems very difficult,
according to Greenwood's account, to
form even a conjecture of the reason of his fears, which he
ex-
pressed for the centry, when in the same
breath he declares that
he had not seen any person insult him. -- But probably the true
motives of his application to the main-guard were not of a
nature to be made public.