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Hats Off to the Murder of Young
Seider
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February 3, 1770
Dear Diary,
I got up this morning and got dressed. It was such a
beautiful morning that I did not think I would have a bad day.
Ebeneezer was still lying in bed. I gathered eggs from the
chickens, and I made breakfast for us before leaving for work. I was
not looking forward to walking because it was a very cold morning. I
had to open the shop today because there was a large shipment of fabric
coming. The fabric is needed to make the hats, which I have been making
for ten years. Before I went off to work, I told Ebeneezer to
have a good day and not to work too hard on the farm, and then I left
for work.
When I walked down King Street, the wind was blowing and people were
hurrying into their different shops. As I walked pass the shop of
Theophilus Lillie, a Merchant, kids were gathering and one boy carried
a sign with’ importer’ written on it. There was a lot of shouting and
kids were being mean. After a while the kids ran away but I am ssure
they’ll be back tomorrow. The face of Boston has changed over the past
few months. A young boy by the name of Christopher Seider was
with those boys and he is one of my regular customers. His
parents send him down to get some hats for them. His parents were very
angry at the British Solders.
I got back to the shop and a customer came in. I had to wait on
him, it was a Lobsterback. He asked me to make him a hat. I
turned around and got his hat, I turned back around to give it to him,
and then he left. Some of the Lobster Backs that come in here are very
nice and I know that they don't want to be here.
February 4, 1770
Dear Diary,
Today it is very cold outside and I look outside and see snow on the
ground. I make breakfast for my husband and I get dressed ready for
work again. I was a little late leaving today and I was praying that
there were no customers outside my door waiting for me. As I passed
Theophilus Lillie’s shop those, kids were there again and this time
there were more of them. I noticed Christopher Seider was there and he
seemed to be helping someone climb up signpost to put up that”
Importer” sign. i hurried quickly to get past because I could see some
kids were getting angry and throwing stones.
Later that morning I was in my shop when one of my customers came in
and she told me that a young boy had been shot by a loyalist,
Theophilus Lillie and that all his windows had been smashed. She also
said that he was trying to defend himself. Once she left I closed my
shop and walked down to the street. I heard people saying that the
little boy who had been killed was young Christopher Seider. I could
not believe it. Why did this happen? People were saying that a British
customs inspector called Ebeneezer Richardson got his gun and shot him.
This is very sad and people here are very angry. I got home and told my
husband, we both cried together that night.
February 7th,2006
Dear Diary
Everyone in the town is united together after the shooting of Young
Christopher. Several days later was the funeral . Not a day had passed
that I had not’t thought or cried about the young boy. I decided to go
to
the funeral and I was amazed at how many people were there. Thousands
and thousands of people lined the streets. I could not’t even get
through
to any spaces so I was crushed by the masses of people swaying back and
forth along the streets near Faneuil Hall. Six young boys carried his
coffin to the burial ground. I walk with the crowd up towards the Town
House people were angry and sad at the same time. Eventually we arrived
at the granary to his grave.
I think that this will change things in Boston forever. Everyone seems
so angry and I think that there might be more bloodshed in the future.
I will keep my shop closed today as a mark of respect and will
open it again tomorrow. I went home and cooked some food for my husband
and me. I told him about the funeral and he was glad that so many
people went. Then I put on my night clothes and went to bed.
Tomorrow, everything will seem so much better and hopefully we can get
back to normal.
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Historical References:
Allison,Robert. A Short
History Of Boston.
Massachusetts: Commonwealth Editions, 2004
Hakim, Joy. From Colonies To
Country . New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.
Hoose,Phillip. We Were There,
Too! New York: Folkways Publishers Inc, 2001.
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Historical Terms
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Merchant
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Lobsterback
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Faneuil Hall
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Town house
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Loyalist
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Musket
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About the Historian
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Sylvia is a 7th grader at King Middle
School. She has been working on this for a couple of weeks. She drew a
picture of a girl that is a milliner. A milliner is a woman that goes
to a shop and makes hats for people to buy. This is her story and
I hope you like it.
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