alarm, the deponent opened his window, enquiring the cause of such
disturbance; was answered by a woman who lives opposite, that it
was to raise the inhabitants against the soldiers; a short time after;
captain lieutenant Goldfinch, of the above mentioned
regiment,
call'd out,
"that the drum beat to arms;" upon which the deponent
immediately ran to his sword, and on coming down the stairs met with
lieutenant Brown of the said regiment, who was also going out
to
join it; whose barracks is about a quarter of a mile distant from
the place where the said lieutenant Brown and the deponent
then
was; shortly after entering the street, several persons called out,
"There goes two of the villains; knock them down, kill them,"
which was evidently intended for the said lieutenant Brown and
the
deponent; upon entering
Quaker-Lane on the way to the
regiment,
the deponent received a blow upon the shoulders, with a stick or
some other weapon, which was thrown at him by some of those
men who came running after them, crying out,
"Stop the villains,
kill them, murder them, kill every soldier you meet." On going
a little farther, several blows were aimed at them, with clubs, sticks,
&c. which providentially escaped both; but the deponent was parted
from the said Lieutenant Brown in the hurry and confusion both
was
in when attacked by such numbers endeavouring to
murder them,
after which the deponent was pursued by numbers in like manner,
crying,
"Kill him, murder him;" but upon getting nigher the
regiment, they left off the pursuit.
ALEXANDER ROSS.
Suffolk, ss.
Boston, March 13th, 1770.
Sworn before me, JAMES MURRAY, J.P
(No. 119)
I Daniel Mattear, lieutenant in the 14th regiment of foot,
being
duly sworn, depose, that on Monday evening, the 5th of March,
1770, betwixt 9 and 10 o'clock, I was in my barrack room, in
comp-
pany with lieutenant Brown, , jun. ensign
Napier, and ensign Hall-
wood of the same regiment, when I heard the fire bells ringing,
and
some of the inhabitants running past the door, crying,
"Turn out,"
repeatedly; about half an hour afterwards, captain lieutenant
Gold-
finch of the said regiment came and informed me the drum was
beating to arms, and desired I would immediately follow him to the
regiment, which was about a quarter of a mile from the house where
I live; upon which I took a brace of pistols, and, in company with
captain lieutenant Goldfinch, ensigns Napier,
Hallwood, and Laurie
went to join the regiment. In our way we passed a number of the
inhabitants, who made a great noise on seeing us and used some very
threatening language, but the particular expressions I do not
recol-
lect; and on going on farther, eight or nine men came running
after me with clubs in their hands, threatening to knock me down,