upon this went up to him, and told him that,
"if he fired, he died;" to which he bravely
answered,
"that he did not care, and that, if
"they touched him, he would fire;" which it is
generally understood to be the duty of every centi-
nel to do that is attacked upon his post. The
people however continued to defy him, telling
him to fire and be damned: upon which Mr.
Knox, who seems to have done every thing
in
his power to prevent mischief on this occasion,
went to the people, and endeavoured to keep
them from going up; but without success. (See
Mr. Knox's deposition, No.55.) The centry,
being thus hard pressed, knocked at the custom-
house door very hard for assistance: and in a few
minutes a party of twelve soldiers, headed by
Captain Preston, came to him from the main-
guard, with their arms in a horizontal posture,
and their bayonets fixed. They drew up imme-
diately before the door of the custom-house with
their faces towards the people, and held their
guns breast high, in order to defend the centinel;
and Captain Preston stood before them near the
ends of their guns. Mr. Richard Palmes at this
time went up to the captain, and asked him if
the soldiers guns were loaded; to which the cap-
tain answered that they were loaded with powder
and ball. Mr. Palmes then said to him,
"I
"hope you do not intend they shall fire upon the
"inhabitants;" to which he answered,
"by no
"means," which indeed might have been con-
cluded from the position he had chosen to stand