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

460 HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTON. [1782.
An Agreement with A lengthy coiisiiltation "between the comthe
Mob. mittees resulted in an agreement that a petition,
praying for measures of relief, signed
by both parties, should be sent to the General Court, and
that Ely should be given up. As he could not be produced,
three hostages were given by the mob for his return. To
meet this last requirement, Capt. Abel Dinsmore of Conway,
Lieut. Perez Bardwell of Deerfield, and Paul King,
probably of Northampton, were selected. All attempts to
find Ely were unsuccessful, and the hostages were lodged
where Ely ought to have been, in the jail. When this fact
became known to the mob, they began to clamor for the
release of their men, claiming that the hostages were to be
held for punishment, as leaders in the affair. The mob,
which had begun to disperse, again assembled in increased
numbers and threatened to burn the town unless the men
were released. The jail was so strongly guarded night and
day, that no attempt at rescue was made. On the following
day the crowd continued to increase, and Col. Porter
called out the posse comitatus from all the adjoining towns
and soon had an ample force to protect the jail. About
twelve hundred militia responded to the summons of the
sheriff, and with them the mob declined to try conclusions.
Capt. Dickinson Com- Matters remained comparatively quiet
mandstheMob. duriug the 15^'\ though the mob still
lingered. There was no relaxation of
vigilance on the part of the authorities night or day.
Capt. Reuben Dickinson of Amherst had collected about
three hundred men at Hatfield, and succeeded in capturing
a company of the sheriff's posse on their way down from
Deerfield. During the day he sent messengers to Porter,
proposing a conference one mile from Northampton, in two
hours and a half after the delivery of the message. But
Porter had had enough of negotiations, and declined the
overture. Once more the insurgents demanded the release
of the hostages and again threatened to burn the town.
And makes another In the meantime the belief that the terms
Demonstration. of the treaty had been violated by the con-
tinued confinement of the hostages, especially
fomented and encouraged by the tory element, spread