Page:History of Gardner, Massachusetts (1860) - Glazier.djvu/68

64 that account of the public expenditures should be annually rendered to the towns; the removal of the General Court from Boston; separation of the business of the Common Pleas and Sessions, and inquiry into the grants of lands in Maine, in favor of Alexander Shepherd and others.

The first open act of insurrection, followed close upon the adjournment of the convention held at Leicester, in August. Although warning of danger had been given, confiding in the loyalty of the people, their love of order, and respect for the laws, the officers of government had made no preparations to support the Court to be held in Worcester, in September, 1786. On Monday night of the first week in that month, a body of eighty armed men, under Captain Adam Wheeler, of Hubbardston, entered the town and took possession of the Court House. Early the next morning their numbers were augmented to nearly one hundred, and as many more collected without fire-arms. The Judges of the Common Pleas had assembled at the house of the Hon. Joseph Allen. At the usual hour, with the Justices of the Sessions, and the members of the bar, attended by the clerk and sheriff, they moved towards the Court House. Chief Justice Artemas Ward, a General of the Revolution, united intrepid firmness with prudent moderation. His resolute and manly bearing on that day of difficulty and embarrassment, sustained the dignity of the office he bore, and commanded the respect even of his opponents. On him devolved the responsibility of an occasion affecting deeply the future peace of the community, and it was supported well and ably.

On the verge of the crowd thronging the hill, a sentinel was pacing on his round, who challenged the procession as it approached his post. Gen. Ward sternly ordered the