was answered by a few in the galleries of the house,
where the crowded assembly was convened. Silence was
commanded, and prudent and peaceable deportment again
enjoined. The savages repaired to the ships which contained
the pestilential tea, and had begun their ravages previous
to the dissolution of the meeting."

Extract from the log-book of the "Dartmouth:"

"Thursday, December 16. This twenty-four hours rainy
weather, terminating this day. Between six and seven o'clock
this evening, came down to the wharf a body of about one
thousand people, among them were a number dressed and
whooping like Indians. They came on board the ship, and
after warning myself and the custom-house officers to get
out of the way, they undid the hatches and went down the
hold, where was eighty whole, and thirty-four half chests,
of tea, which they hoisted upon deck, and cut the chests to
pieces, and hove the tea all overboard, where it was damaged
and lost."

* * * * *

John Andrews, an eye-witness, in a letter to a friend relates
particulars not elsewhere mentioned. While drinking tea at his house he
heard "prodigious shouts," and went to the Old South Meeting House to
ascertain the cause:

"The house was so crowded," he says, "that I could get no
further than the porch, when I found the moderator was just
declaring the meeting to be dissolved, which caused another
general shout out-doors and in, and three cheers. What with
that and the consequent noise of breaking up the meeting,
you'd thought the inhabitants of the infernal regions had
broke loose. For my part, I went contentedly home and
finished my tea, but was soon informed what was going
forward. Not crediting it without ocular demonstration, I
went and was satisfied. They mustered, I'm told, upon Fort
Hill, to the number of about two hundred, and proceeded, two
by two, to Griffin's wharf, where Hall, Bruce and Coffin
lay.... The latter arrived at the wharf only the day before,
and was freighted with a large quantity of other goods,
which they took the greatest care not to injure in the
least, and before nine o'clock in the evening every chest on
board the three vessels was knocked to pieces and flung over
the sides. They say the actors were Indians from
Narragansett; whether they were or not, to a transient