and it was
surrendered to them with cursings, and they brought the men away, and
made Captain Fairweather commander in it. Now, by the time the men came
back from the Castle, all the guns, both in ships and batteries, were
brought to bear against the frigate, which were enough to have shattered
her in pieces at once, resolving to have her."
Captain George, who had long nursed a private quarrel with the
arch-disturber of Massachusetts, and chief adviser of the Governor,
"cast all the blame now upon that devil, Randolph; for, had it not been
for him, he had never troubled this good people;--earnestly soliciting
that he might not be constrained to surrender the ship, for by so doing
both himself and all his men would lose their wages, which otherwise
would be recovered in England; giving leave to go on board, and strike
the top-masts, and bring the sails on shore." The arrangement was made,
and the necessity for firing on a ship of the royal navy was escaped.
The sails were brought on shore, and there put away, and the vessel
swung to her anchors off Long Wharf, a harmless and a ridiculous hulk.
"The country-people came armed into the town, in the afternoon, in such
rage and heat that it made all tremble to think what would follow; for
nothing would satisfy them, but that the Governor should be bound in
chains or cords, and put in a more secure place, and that they would see
done before they went away; and to satisfy them, he was guarded by them
to the Fort."
The Fort had been given in charge to Nelson, and Colonel Lidgett shared
the Governor's captivity. West, Graham, Palmer, and others of his set,
were placed in Fairweather's custody at the Castle. Randolph was taken
care of at the common gaol, by the new keeper, "Scates, the
bricklayer." Andros came near effecting his escape. Disguised in woman's
clothes, he had safely passed two sentries, but was stopped by a third,
who observed his shoes, which he had neglected to change. Dudley, the
Chief Justice, was absent on the circuit at Long Island. Returning
homeward, he heard the great news at Newport. He crossed into the
Narragansett Country, where he hoped to keep secret at Major Smith's
house; but a party got upon his track, and took him to his home at
Roxbury. "To secure him against violence," as the order expresses it, a
guard was placed about his house. Dudley's host, Smith, was lodged in
gaol at Bristol.
To secure Dudley against popular violence might well be an
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