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| New Evidence of the Boston Massacre
Found in Printer's Journal by Gabe T.
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March 2, 1770
I rushed down the stairs of my shop and hurried down the cold, snowy
street to get some water from a town well. I sighed at the coat
of black ink on my hands. It is the second day of March, in our
Lord’s year 1770. The city of Boston has really seemed to be
boiling over. Only yesterday, I witnessed a herd of schoolboys
ridiculing the British Redcoats. They seem to be everywhere you
turn, always asking your name and your business wherever you go.
I always answer them, “Matthew Johnson, printer.” Four thousand of the
blasted soldiers! All this hubbub of the city just adds to the
soup boiling in the pot. Since that dreary year of 1767 when the
Townshend Acts took effect in Boston, it has been nothing but anger and
heat. Of course, the snow falling on the ground is proof that it
is winter, but a fellow would think it was summer!
It’s a hard life and a dangerous one for a printer in these
times. It is dirty and tiresome to produce a printed
product. Our presses at the shop are all run by hand, and the
paper we use is just in one long roll before we separate it. The
paper is not even paper, but made of old linen clothes. We use
individual letters covered with ink made of varnish and lamp black to
make the letters on the paper. All of the type we use has
to be individually placed by hand onto the printer. Today we are
running a story on the quartering act of 1765 and the evil ways of
Parliament. Fourteen hours of work a day just to put out a single
edition of a newspaper! My room above the shop, the one I have
had since I was an apprentice, is where I get most of my ideas for
stories.
I came back to the shop and checked that the tools were all
there. One composing stick was out of place, so I put it back to
where it should be. A tax collector was there in the shop telling
my friend James that we had to pay the Stamp Act tax on all printed
documents. James sent him away with no luck on his part.
When I was out, I saw the mulatto, Crispus Attucks, and a few other men
heating up a vat of tar. There was going to be a tarring and
feathering tonight, I could tell. All of our fonts of type are in
the corner, waiting to be used. What a tiring day! We had
dozens of customers come into the shop, as the shop also serves as a
stationer’s, a post office, a place to publish advertisements, a
newsstand, and a place to bind books. A patrol of soldiers is
passing below the window. It was 1768 when they first came to
Boston. What will become of all this anger? I only hope for
the best that we may be able to work through these troubled
times.
I leave thee for now,
Matthew Johnson
March 5, 1770
Woe upon woe to the city of Boston, whose snowy streets are now stained
with the blood of good men. It is late on the evening of March
fifth, 1770, a cold, snowy night. The pot has boiled over into
bloodshed. I was in the shop and had just finished conversing
with a young apprentice about the next story we would run when I saw a
lad exchanging phrases with a Redcoat near the Town House. All of
a sudden, the lobsterback butted the boy’s head with the end of his
musket. I saw the boy to be a young apprentice to the wigmaker
down the road. Hurrying out of the shop, I began to talk to the
soldier, almost scolding him about hitting the boy. The soldier
was Hugh White, a soldier in the 29th regiment. At this time, I
was standing in front of the Town House( White had tried to move away)
when I slowly noticed a large mob of men forming behind me. My
leather apron was still on when I was quickly pushed back by the
crowd. I strained to see what would happen next, and I saw White
get knocked down by a club thrown by an onlooker. He then called
for help and aid from anyone. Fortunately for him, the Redcoat
barracks are placed near the Townhouse, and eight more soldiers lined
up beside the sentry with bayonets fixed. I saw that the
commanding officer was Captain Thomas Preston, and he (thankfully) was
holding the fire of the soldiers present.
Suddenly, the church bells started ringing, adding to the noise of the
mob. This was normally the fire alarm of the city, and there must
have been a thousand people running to the streets with buckets asking
where the fire was. Preston told his men to hold their fire. I
saw people running to the shop, as our shop is one of the best sources
of information in this part of Boston. There was a fortnight’s
worth of confusion on the street, the Town House being witness to what
would happen. Suddenly, a club knocked down another
soldier. I had just gotten to the front of the mob when one of
the soldiers leveled his gun and fired. I had heard someone say
fire, but I did not know who it was. The others followed suit,
and shots rang out into the night. One musket ball narrowly
missed me where I stood, and hit the man I was standing next to.
He slowly fell into my arms, and I knew that the Lord had claimed his
soul. I saw Governor Hutchinson saying something from a balcony,
but my eyes were too clouded and the noise too great for me to
notice. I carried the man back to the shop and handed him over to
the man on duty. He saw the man to be James Caldwell.
Neither of us knew him well, but we mourned for him all the same.
When I got back to the shop,I took down all the playing cards,
advertisements (of which we have very few), newspapers, and things for
sale from the window. As I closed the shutter, the soldiers had
been joined by more of their kind on King Street. I was taken
aback at what I had seen that night, and I only wish I had stayed from
that moment of violence. The dead had been taken from off the
street, and now, silence reigned, only interrupted by the faint cries
of the wounded. We had witnessed a bloody massacre and seen the
British soldiers killing without hesitation. I only hope that the
Lord saves us all from what we have just done. I don’t know what
will become of this, only that a spark has been struck by the flaring
muskets.
-Matthew Johnson
March 12th, 1770
It was a bleak day in Boston, the streets were stone silent.
People have been in silent mourning for over a week. The funerals
of the victims of the massacre were just last week. Thousands of
people followed the coffins of James Caldwell, Crispus Attucks, Sam
Grey, Patrick Carr, and Samuel Maverick. It was a crowd like I
have never seen, nor ever will. The funeral was organized by
Samuel Adams at Faneuil Hall. I attended the sorrowful train, as
the public was welcome to join in with the mourning. After the
funeral I wrote to my family in Roxbury about the events. As the
news of the funeral came to the print shop first, we published it in
the papers, so people would know what would be happening. The
victims of the massacre were buried in the Granary Burying Ground, next
to the young boy, Christopher Seider. Even more people have now
come over to the Patriot side. More good news has come of this
bloodshed. At a town meeting, the Sons of Liberty demanded the
removal of the British troops from Boston. A reluctant and
mortified Governor Hutchinson then withdrew them to Castle Island in
the harbor. At last we have some peace, but at what a price it
came.
At last came the day we would run the story of the massacre on King
Street. We would print the normal 800 editions today. We
got the press ready and then got to work. We first put our type
into the galley, or the place where it is held. We needed to put
the type backwards in the press so it will show up correct on the
paper. We then locked the galley in a frame the size of a page,
and darkened it with our ink balls. Then, a large weight was
pushed onto the paper that we put on top of the ink covered type and we
then had a newspaper. It took 25 hours to get this paper to the
public. People bought our papers because we are Patriot printers,
not Tory. We portrayed the victims of the massacre as coffins
with the man’s name on it. We also included an engraving by Mr.
Paul Revere of Boston of the massacre. The soldiers I hear will
be put on trial! They deserve much worse, but it will be bad for
Boston’s image if we do not give them a trial. We listed the
names of the hated soldiers of the 29th regiment in the story: Cpt.
Thomas Preston, Cpl.William Wemms, James Hartigan, William McCauley,
Hugh White, Matthew Kilroy, William Warren, John Carrol, and Hugh
Montgomery. They are all in jail, awaiting their trial.
Once we got the papers done, we washed them in water and hot lye.
We hung the wet documents on the lines outside the shop that we call
the flies. There seems to be a rumor going around that the
soldiers will be defended by John Adams! I cannot see how a
devout Patriot as he could do such a thing. The organizers of the
trial have begun the quest of finding a jury. I must say that
they will have a long road ahead of them. As I came back to the
shop, I saw all manner of people coming in to look at our wares and to
hear the latest news. Us “journey men” are proud of our
work. We are some of the most respected people in Boston. I
slipped off my apron and began to put on my brown suit and a brown
tricornered hat. I restrapped my shoes, and stepped out into the
brisk March day. As I walked out, I saw the apothecary coming in
with his medicines, tools, St.John’s Wort and powdered toads. I
do dare say that his remedies are as mad as anything. I only hope
that we do not see more bloodshed, but I am hopeful we will gain our
independence soon. I am now off to the baker’s for some bread and
perhaps a pastry. Until the next time comes, I bid thee farewell.
-Matthew Johnson
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Historical References:
Boston Massacre.
4/28/06.<http://www.answers.com/Boston%20
Massacre>.
Boston Massacre Historical Society. Boston Massacre. 4/26/06.
<http://www.bostonmassacre.net>.
The Common Press. 4/6/06.
<http://www2.sunnysuffolk.edu/
oconnog/story/commonpress.html>.
The Dangerous Lives of Printers:The Evolution of Freedom of the
Press.4/10/06.
<http://www.assumption.edu/ahc/
1770s/ppressfree.html>.
Eyewitness. American Revolution. 2002 DK Publishing, Inc.
Hakim, Joy. From Colonies to Country. 1993 Oxford
University Press,New York.
Harness, Cheryl. The Revolutionary John Adams. 2003
National
Geographic Society, Washington D.C.
Hildeburn, Charles R. Sketches of Printers and Printing in
Colonial New York. 4/10/06.
<http://www.dinsdoc.com/ hildeburn-
1-10.htm>.
Liberty! The American Revolution. PBS broadcast.
The Printer. 4/7/06.
<http://www.ohlone.paloalto.ca.us
/Williamsburg/printer.htm>.
Printer and Binder. 2006.
<http://www.colonialwilliamsburg.com
/Almanac/life/trades/tradepri.cfm>.
Printer. 4/7/06.
<http://www.esd.k12.ca.us/Matsumoto
/TM30/Trades/pr/pr1.html>.
Reynelson & Patrick. The Printer. 4/3/06.
<http://www.pocantohills.org/tradesmen/printer.htm>.
Saari, Peggy. Colonial America Almanac. Boston:The Gale Group,
2000.
Savers, H.DeLea. Colonial Printing. 4/3/06.
<http://www.colonialprinting.org/index_files/page0006.htm>.
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