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

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Here is the translated text as follows:

THE TRIAL OF EDWARD MANWARING, JOHN MUNRO, HAMMOND GREEN, AND THOMAS GREENWOOD, FOR MURDER, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, 1770

THE NARRATIVE AND TRIAL

On the 12th of December, following the trial of the eight British soldiers (ante, p. 415), four civilians described in the indictments as Edward Manwaring, Esquire; John Munro, gentleman; Hammond Green, boat builder; and Thomas Greenwood, laborer, were put on trial. They were charged with being present, aiding, and assisting in the murder of the citizens who were killed on the fifth of March. The evidence for the prosecution tended to show that the prisoners, or a part of them, fired on the crowd from the windows of the customhouse at the same time as the soldiers fired in the street.

However, the principal witness, Charles Bourgat, a French boy and servant of Manwaring, was contradicted on every material point and was deemed unworthy of credit. Consequently, the jury acquitted all the prisoners without leaving their seats. As in the case of Captain Preston's trial, no minutes of this trial exist. However, at the end of Hodgson's long report of the Trial of the Soldiers, there is this note: "It may be proper here to observe, that Edward Manwaring, John Munro, Hammond Green, and Thomas Greenwood, who were charged by the Grand Jury with being present, aiding, abetting, assisting, etc., William Warren in the murder of Crispus Attucks, as is at large set forth in the indictment, were tried on the 12th of December following, and all acquitted by the Jury, without going from their seats."

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References:

2 Ante, p. 419, 2 Chandler, p. 415.

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