tion into the whole affair was begun at Princetown and in Plymouth before the magistrates, on the 21st April, and carried on to the 24th, Sunday included, in the presence of two Commissioners, who, as we have seen, drew up their report on the 26th.
It will be well now to look at the depositions of such witnesses as the Commissioners were pleased to summon, and to see how far they confirm or contradict the account of the transaction as given by Captain Shortland.
According to the Governor of the prison, the part he played in the "massacre" was almost nil He was the angel of peace hovering about, soothing excited feelings, urging a cessation of the firing, and ministering to the wounded. He gave no further directions than that to ring the alarm bell. He neither ordered the soldiery to form in line, nor to charge, nor to fire. It is impossible from his account to obtain any connected idea as to the sequence of events.
I can only summarize the depositions in reference to the "massacre."
John Mitchell, one of the clerks in the office of the Governor, deposed "that this informant saw Capt. Shortland in the front of the prison. … That Capt. Shortland advanced towards the prisoners, calling on the guard to follow, form and be steady, and directed them to keep possession of the Market Square. That this informant followed Capt. Shortland, keeping between him and the military, and this informant heard Capt. Shortland desire the prisoners to return quietly to their prisons. … But they still continued advancing, speaking in a riotous manner. That this informant observed a large body of prisoners assembled at the other gate, at the opposite side of the Market Square. … Hearing a noise he turned around and observed
