"The old
pine tree flag wuz a good flag to fight under. There wuz good blood
spilt under it in the old colony days. Thar wuz better times in this
'ere province o' Massachusetts Bay, under the pine tree flag, than
this dum Continental striped rag hez ever fetched, or ever will, I
reckon."
The dismay which the news of the extent and apparent irresistibleness
of the rebellion produced among those attached to the court party in
Stockbridge, corresponded to the exultation to which the people gave
themselves up. Nor did the populace lose any time in giving expression
to their bolder temper by overt acts. About nine o'clock in the morning,
Deputy Sheriff Seymour, who had not ventured to return to his house,
was found concealed in the corn-bin of a barn near the burying-ground.
A crowd instantly collected and dragged the terrified man from his
concealment. Some one yelled:
"Ride him on a rail," and the suggestion finding an echo in the
popular breast, a three-cornered fence rail was thrust between his
legs, and lifted on men's shoulders. Astride of this sharp-backed
steed, holding on with his hands for dear life, lest he should fall
off and break his neck, he was carried, through the main streets of
the village, followed by a howling crowd, and pelted with apples by
the boys, while the windows of the houses along the way were full of
laughing women.
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