272 HISTORY OP tte unfortunate men to the rights of citizenship in September, 1846, a short time previous to the expiration of their sen- tences. The arrests made in Roxbury in March — the trial and sen- tence of the prisoners, if anything, had a tendency to add fuel to the flame. The excitement assumed a far more angry and threatening aspect than it had hitherto presented, but no blood had as yet been shed on either side, until the seventh of Au- gust, when the public ear was startled by the lamentable death of Steele. The following are the particulars of the painful tragedy, which put the climax on anti-rentism, as sworn to by Peter P. Wright, before the coroner's inquest, held over the unfortunate man : On the fourth of June last, I was called upon profession- ally to draw a warrant of distress for John Allen, the agent of Charlotte D. Yerplanck, to collect sixty-four dollars, the arrears of rent due from Moses Earle, on the premises occupied by him, in the town of Andes. The levy was made, and the sale had been postponed until the seventh of August, at one o'clock. I went at the request of Mr. Allen, from this place in company with sheriff More, in a one-horse wagon, and arrived on the premises of Mr. Earle about ten o'clock in the forenoon. A number of spectators had then assembled. Our first business was to see Mr. Earle, to whom we pro- posed a settlement of the rent ; his reply was, ^ You will have to go on and sell, I shall fight it at the hardest.' Something was then said about his having written a letter to the sheriff in regard to it, and he stated in substance that he had since altered his mind, and should make no settlement. We discovered from appearances, such as killing of sheep, &c., that prepara- tions had been made to meet us, and we apprehended that there might be some difiiculty. About eleven o'clock we dis- covered a company of six Indians, armed and in disguise, cross
