Page:Letter from a gentleman in Glasgow to his friend in the country.pdf/9

Rh accordingly, and all the time of their retreat, though no mob followed them, some of the soldiers faced about and fired upon people that were only looking after them, and not offering them any violence. When they came to the West-port, through which they were to march out of the town, one of the soldiers espying a shoe-maker standing at the head of a street, aimed at him and shot him dead, though there was no tumult there, and this poor man having been at another end of the town knew nothing of what had passed at the guard. There were in all nine persons killed and seventeen wounded.

This account of the foresaid bloody action, I have extracted from the declarations of near forty persons who were eye-witnesses of the facts, and whose declarations are in writing hereof in my hand. And now Sir, I submit to your judgment, whether captain Bushell's conduct in this matter be justifiable or not, or if he has not been guilty of the most unaccountable rashness. After the soldiers retired, they marched to Dumbarton, which is distant ten long miles from this place, but by the way they took, is fourteen miles; which abstracting from the foresaid declarations, is of itself a substantial evidence of that part of the foresaid narrative, that the soldiers received no mischief by the stones that were thrown at them.

About an hour after they marched from Glasgow, they were followed by a good number of people, who after their departure, were provoked to see so many of their fellow citizens destroyed; of these very few were in arms, and of such as were armed, few had fire arms, and as I am informed such fire arms as they had were unfit for service. They did not overtake them, but only came up with two stragglers, who through bodily indisposition, under which they had laboured for some days before, were not able to keep up with the rest in their hasty march; to these they offered not the least violence, only brought them prisoners to the town. Upon their first enterance, one of them by the assistance of some of the inhabitants, made his escape, the other was assaulted and beaten by the friends of the dead and wounded persons, but at length was rescued by other of the inhabitants and put unto safe custody, and a surgeon was appointed to