act
to a centre the people who were drawn by the alarm-bell out of their
homes on this frosty, moonlight, memorable evening; and in various
places individuals were asking where the fire was. King Street, then, as
now, the commercial centre of Boston, was quiet. A group was standing
before the main guard with firebags and buckets in their hands; a few
persons were moving along in other parts of the street; and the sentinel
at the Custom-House, with his firelock on his shoulder, was pacing his
beat quite unmolested. In Dock Square, a small gathering, mostly of
participants in the affair just over, were harangued by a large, tall
man, who wore a red cloak and a white wig; and as he closed, there was a
hurrah, and the cry, "To the main guard!" In another street, a similar
cry was raised, "To the main guard!--that is the nest!" But no assault
was made on the main guard. The word went round that there was no fire,
"only a rumpus with the soldiers," who had been driven to their
quarters; and well-disposed citizens, as they withdrew, were saying,
"Every man to his home!"

But at about fifteen minutes past nine, an excited party passed up Royal
Exchange Lane, (now Exchange Street,) leading into King Street; and as
they came near the Custom-House, on the corner, one of the number, who
knew of the assault on the apprentice-boy, said, "Here is the soldier
who did it," when they gathered round the sentinel. The barber's boy now
came up and said, "This is the soldier who knocked me down with the
butt-end of his musket." Some now said, "Kill him! knock him down!" The
sentinel moved back up the steps of the Custom-House, and loaded his
gun. Missiles were thrown at him, when he presented his musket, warned
the party to keep off, and called for help. Some one ran to Captain
Preston, the officer of the day, and informed him that the people were
about to assault the sentinel, when he hastened to the main guard, on
the opposite side of the street, about forty rods from the Custom-House,
and sent from here a sergeant, a very young officer, with a file of
seven men, to protect the sentinel. They went over in a kind of trot,
using rough words and actions towards those who went with them, and,
coming near the party round the sentinel, rudely pushed them aside,
pricking some with their bayonets, and formed in a half-circle near the
sentry-box. The sentinel now came down the steps and fell in with the
file, when they were ordered to prime and loa