Backs Against the wall

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hoping to raise the attention of someone within the compound. As he pummeled the steps he yelled, “Turn out the main guard”. At this point, Captain Thomas Preston and his men made their way to Private White at the Common House placing themselves in a defensive position with Private White in front of the rioting crowd. Captain Preston according to his deposition on March 12, 1770 stated, “I suffered my troops to go to the spot where the unhappy affair took place without loading any their pieces, nor did I ever give orders for loading them”. Captain Preston and his men at this point had made their way to White with fixed bayonets and from all accounts only Private White had a weapon loaded and ready to fire.
As the British soldiers stood their ground there are reports for several eyewitness that the bells were rung and a call for “fire” was called out. During this period fire was a enemy fought by an entire town. At the sound of the bells, many the residence of Boston came out of their homes into King St, asking where the fire was. Of course, when they arrived they were told there was no fire, but that they were summoned because the British soldiers were harassing some of the local citizens. When the citizens realized what was going on they joined the already growing throng and continued to jeer and mock the British soldiers. However, most that came to fight the fires carried with them buckets, sticks and clubs to beat down and attempt to put out the fire according to Thomas Knight who was question during the trial. Here now, with no fire to fight, stood a frustrated and angry mob of about two hundred now armed with sticks and clubs facing Captain Preston and his soldiers. The crowd not only began to yell at the so...

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...the colonist, but he referenced a respected British lawyer whose reputation was neither marred or tainted by the Revolution. The first thing Adam’s did was cite four ideas or basis on which Chief Justice Hale based his decisions on when it came to someone life. 1) “it is always safer to err in acquitting, than punishing on the part of mercy, than the part of justice”. 2) “it is safer to err on the milder side, the side of mercy”. 3) “the best rule in doubtful cases, is, rather to incline to acquittal than conviction and 4) “ it is better five guilty persons escape unpunished, than one innocent person should die”. From the start, the seed of doubt was planted in the minds of each of those weighing the outcome of these eight soldiers. They had heard the testimony of nearly sixty people telling them person after person that the soldiers had fired into a crowd of

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