disperse at once; and he added that if they didn't come out in fifteen minutes he "would blow a lane through them!" The men in the building answered that they would not disperse, but would let the sheriff and the court officers come in if they would lay aside their arms. The clerk of the court drew his pistol, and swore that that was the only way in which he would parley with such rascals. Judge Chandler, however, found a chance when the sheriff's men were seeking refreshments at the tavern to tell the citizens that the arms had been brought without his consent, and added that the Whigs might stay in the court-house until the next morning, when the officers would come in without arms and would listen to any petitions. Dusk encircled the little town that lay close to the broad Connecticut River. The Whigs stayed in the court-house, a single sentry stationed at the door. The people shut their houses for the night, while the tavern did a good business. Some of the Whigs fell asleep on the court-room benches, others listened to the stories of old Indian-fighters. Then, about midnight, the sentry at the door saw the sheriff and his men coming from the tavern, where they had been drinking all the evening. He gave the word to the men in the court-house to man the doors. The sheriff's force marched to within ten rods of the main door and halted. The order was given to fire. Three shots answered the order. A louder order was given, followed by a volley that killed one of the defenders, fatally wounded another, and severely wounded a number of others. Then the sheriff's party rushed in on the defenders, who were only armed with clubs, and taking some of them prisoners, carried them off to jail. Some of the Whigs escaped, fighting their way through the sheriff's force with their clubs. Here, at the town of Westminster, in the Grants, the first blows were struck that preceded the coming Revolution. Those of the men who escaped from the court-house carried the news of the bloodshed to the Whigs all through the neighboring country, and so quickly that before noon of the next day two hundred armed men reached Westminster from the province of New Hampshire. Before that night every one who had had a part in the shooting of the citizens at the court-house was seized and held under a strong guard. Still more Whigs, roused by the story of what the king's officers had done, poured into the little town from the southern part of the county, and even from the colony of Massachusetts, so that by the following day it was said there were in the little village five hundred soldiers all ready for war. All these men met and voted to choose a committee to act for them and see that justice was done. This committee ordered that all those who were known to have taken part in the shooting should be put on trial at the next court. Then the men of the Grants, and those from New Hampshire and from Massachusetts, went back home.