History of Northampton, Massachusetts, from its settlement in 1654;

346 HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTON. [1774.
on the next day he has the following entry : —
" hear this
Morning that 3 or 4000 People were collected that they
would not let the court sit. Afterwards they trimmed
some of the court all opposition was in vain every Body
submitted to our Sovereign Lord the Mob—Now we are
reduced to a State of Anarchy, have neither Law nor any
other Rule except the Law of Nature which [is] much
vitiated and Darkened to go by," Other authorities represent
that not over one thousand persons were present. At
a signal from the West Springfield bell, a body of men
marched into the town and took possession of the courthouse
steps, prominent among them being the committee
from the Hadley convention.
Proceedings of the The after proceedings of the mob are graph-
Mob described by ically sketched in the annexed letter from
Joseph Clarke of Northampton, law partner
of Major Joseph Hawley, who was an eye-witness of
the affair :
—
"Springfield, Aug. 30"', 1774.
* * * " Y^Q arrived in town aboiat noon this day and found all the
people gathered before us. A committee from the body of the county
had just waited upon the covirt to demand a satisfactorj' answer, that
is, whether they meant to hold their commissions and exercise their
authority according to the new act of parliament for altering the con-
stitution of the province, which being answered in the negative, It
was put to vote after the S"^ message & answer were read to the people
assembled before the meeting house, whether they were willing the
Court should sit ; it passed in the negative.
" Then the people paraded before Mr. Parsons's^ from thence marched
back again to the meeting-house and demanded the appearance of the
judges. The judges came according to desire, and amidst the Crowd in
a sandy, sultry place, exposed to the sun as far as they were able in such
circumstances, gave a reasonable, &, to the major part, a satisfactory
answer to such qiaestions as were asked.
"It was also demanded of them that they should make a declaration
in writing, signed by all the justices and lawyers in the County, renoimcing
in the most express terms any commission which should be
given out to them or either of them under the new arrangement, which
was immediately complied with and executed accordingly.
1 Mr. Parsons was Landlord Parsons, famous throughout the valley, who kept the
tavern which stood at the southeast corner of the present Court-House square, in
Springfield. The large elm still standing there was so near the veranda that there
was barely room for the passage of the stage-coach. Mr. Parsons was licensed as an
innholder in 1773, and was still at his post in 178(3.