_Hutchinson’s_ house, which they besiege for an hour, though in vain, insisting repeatedly upon knowing whether he had not written in favor of the stamp act: at length, through the influence of some discreet persons, they withdrew and finished their evening’s entertainment at a bonfire. [August 26.] Eleven days after, the disorders grew more enormous and alarming. In the evening a number of persons, disguised and armed with clubs, sticks, &c. collect in King-street, in consequence of a preconcerted plan. They go first to Mr. _Paxton’s_, marshal of the court of admiralty and surveyor of the port; being assured by the owner of the house, that Mr. Paxton had quitted it with his best effects; and being invited by him to the tavern to drink a barrel of punch, they accept the offer, and the house is saved. Having finished the punch, they proceed to and attack the house of Mr. _William Story_, deputy register of the court of admiralty; break the windows; force into the dwelling; strip the office of the books and files belonging to the said court; burn and destroy them with many other papers; injure and ruin a great part of his furniture. It is the opinion of some, that the first movers in the affair, meant mainly an assault upon the house of the deputy register, who, by various mal-practices, had made himself highly obnoxious to persons doing business in his office. But mobs once raised, soon become ungovernable by new and large accessions, and extend their intentions for beyond those of the original instigators. Crafty men may intermix with them when they are much heated, and direct their operations quite differently from what was at first designed.