451 Sheet – American State Trials 1918 Volume X Leo Frank Document

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Here is the translated text as follows:

WILLIAM WEMMS AND SEVEN OTHERS

William Wemms and Hugh Montgomery, British soldiers of the 29th Regiment of Foot, were placed at the bar today charged with the murder of five citizens of Boston, namely: Crispus Attucks, Samuel Gray, Samuel Maverick, James Caldwell, and Patrick Carr. They pleaded not guilty.

The trial was documented in a publication titled "A Short Narrative of the Horrid Massacre in Boston, Perpetrated in the Evening of the Fifth Day of March, 1770, by Soldiers of the 29th Regiment, Which with the 14th Regiment Were Then Quartered There: With Some Observations on the State of Things Prior to That Catastrophe. Printed by order of the town of Boston, and sold at the printing-office in Queen Street, and T. & J. Fleet, in Cornhill, 1770." In the appendix to this work, there are a large number of depositions taken in perpetuam relating to the subject. This publication was intended principally for the English market, and the work was sent there by a vessel hired by the town for the purpose. It was reprinted with Paul Revere’s engraving (see post, p. 443) and a plan of the town of Boston by John Doggett, at New York, in 1849.

References:

- Chandler’s American Criminal Trials, See 1 Am. St. Tr. 116.
- Lynde, Benjamin. (1700-1780.) Born Salem, Mass.; Judge Superior Court, 1745-1772.
- Cushing, John. (1695-1778.) Born Scituate, Mass.; Judge Supreme Court, 1747-1771.
- Oliver, Peter. (1712-1791.) Born Boston, Mass.; graduated Cambridge, 1730; Judge Court of Common Pleas, and then Judge of the Supreme Court; Chief Justice, 1772-1776; was a royalist, and went to England in 1776, and died in Birmingham; LL.D, Oxford.
- Trowbridge, Edmund. (1708-1783.) Born Newton, Mass.; graduated Cambridge, 1727; Attorney General of Massachusetts; Judge Supreme Court, 1750; died at Cambridge.

Court Proceedings:

At His Majesty’s Superior Court of Judicature, Court of Assize and General Gaol Delivery, begun and held at Boston, within and for the County of Suffolk, on the second Tuesday of March, in the tenth year of the reign of George the Third, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, etc.

The jurors for the said Lord, the King, upon their oath present, that Thomas Preston, Esq., William Wemms, laborer, James Hartegan, laborer, William McCauley, laborer, Hugh White, laborer, Matthew Kilroy, laborer, William Warren, laborer, John Carroll, laborer, and Hugh Montgomery, laborer, all now resident in Boston, in the County of Suffolk, and Hammond Green, boat builder, Thomas Greenwood, laborer, Edward Manwaring, Esq., and John Munroe, gentleman, all of Boston aforesaid, not having the fear of God before their eyes, but being moved and seduced by the instigation of the devil and their own wicked hearts, did, on the fifth day of this instant March, at Boston aforesaid, within the county aforesaid, with force and arms, feloniously, willfully, and of their malice aforethought, assault one Crispus Attucks, then and there being in the peace of God and of the said Lord the King, and that he, the said William Warren, with a certain hand gun of the value of twenty shillings, which he, the said William Warren, then and there held in both his hands, charged with gunpowder and two leaden bullets, then and there, feloniously...

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