ed in King Street, and
the sheriff took him, but soon discharged him, and returned
to the council chamber, where he gave an account of his
taking him, and that Mr. Nathaniel Coffin, and several other
gentlemen, came to him and told him that it had been agreed
that the cadets, and many other persons, should appear in
arms the next evening, as a guard and security against a
fresh riot, which was feared, and said to have been
threatened, but not a man would appear unless Mackintosh was
discharged. The Lieutenant-Governor asked, 'And did you
discharge him?' 'Yes.' 'Then you have not done your duty.'
And this was all the notice taken of the discharge. The true
reason of thus distinguishing Mackintosh was that he could
discover who employed him, whereas the other persons
apprehended were such as had collected together without
knowing of any previous plan."

Mackintosh was styled the "First Captain-General of Liberty Tree," and
had charge of the illuminations, hanging of effigies, etc. Long
afterward, in speaking of the tea party, he said, "It was my chickens
that did the job." My informant, Mr. Schuler Merrill, then a boy of ten,
remarks that it was a mystery to him, at that time, "how chickens could
have anything to do with a tea party!" Mackintosh is described by
Merrill as "of slight build, sandy complexion, and nervous temperament."
He died in extreme poverty, at North Haverhill, N.H., about the year
1812, at the age of seventy. His unmarked grave can be pointed out by
Mr. Merrill, who still resides in North Haverhill, at the age of
eighty-two.

COLONEL JOHN MAY,

Born in Boston, November 24, 1748, died July 16, 1812. On the afternoon
of December 16, 1773, he went in haste to his home, on North Square, and
said to his young wife, "Nabby, let me have a beefsteak as quickly as
possible." While he was eating it, a rap was heard on the window, and he
rose at once from the unfinished meal and departed. He returned late,
tired and uncommunicative. In the morning, there was found in his shoes,
and scattered upon the floor, a quantity of _tea_. The inevitable
inference from these circumstances is strengthened by evidence of a very
different character. Near the close of Major Melvill's life, he gave,
while dining with a few friends, some anecdotes of the tea party, and
turning to Henry Knox May, the son of Colonel May, he said, "Harry,
there was one John there." Th