THE BOSTON MASSACRE : An Episode of Dissent and Violence

Hardback. 200th Anniversary Edn. On the eve of the bicentennial observance of the American Revolution came this lucid and unsparing account of the famous massacre of March 5, 1770, when a squad of British soldiers, called out to protect a sentry from a Boston mob, fired on civilians, killing 4, fatally wounding a fifth, and injuring 6 others. Was it a massacre, as Boston called it, or "the first battle of the American Revolution," as some writers styled it, or merely a street brawl, as the testimonies of witnesses seem to indicate? Whatever its character, it had great influence in consolidating colonial opposition to the British Government. This is the story of one of the most famous and controversial murder trials in American history, in which John Adams and Josiah Quince, Jr., confirmed patriots, toiled to get the soldiers acquitted to save Boston from retaliation, against the violent opposition of Samuel Adams, who wanted the soldiers convicted as murderers. Here is the question-and-answer testimony of witnesses, some perjurers, others confused, who admitted carrying sticks and swords and throwing chunks of ice at the soldiers. Here is a running account of the vandalism that accompanied protests against the Stamp Act, and the rowdiness of the British regiments quartered in Boston. The author sketches the leaders : Crispus Attucks, half Negro, half Indian, whom some authors call the first martyr of the American Revolution; Thomas Hutchinson, the Tory Governor, adept at nepotism; James Otis, Jr., who popularised "Taxation without representation is tyranny," and Samuel Adams who endorsed these words and then fought every attempt to get representation. Here are Paul Revere who appropriated the design for his famous engraving of the Boston Massacre; Benjamin Franklin, who told the patriots to pay for the private property they destroyed at the Boston Tea Party, and Captain Thomas Preston, British officer of the Day, who knew how to get himself acquitted by suborning jurors. A wonderful look at the ingredients that went into the cauldron where the American Revolution was about to come to a boil. Illus. with photographs by Samuel Chamberlain and others + Index. 191pp. 8vo. h/back. From the library of true crime writer, Wilfred Gregg, with his personal b/plate. V. lightly browned pp. Vg+ in G++ dw. showing signs of shelfwear.