Show 11 BOSTON TEA A PARTY YEARS AGO THIS TIllS WEEK On Dec 20 1773 there Utere met Inthe in inthe the offices of Boston Doston Gazette ia resolute band ot of American i colonists a as IndIans The Then Gazette Gazettes was was the organ of such patriots as John and Sam Adams and had done much to sentiment for the whip up American cause in opposition to the tory p paper pa Indeed It has been called the spokesman Arou d alt of the Revolution Around it rallied those who for lor various reasons hoped to fling o off oU f the British The was a Thursday Tuesday d a g group of men met metat metat On the thed Old at the Old South Meeting MeetingHouse MeetingHouse House to demand an inquiry asto asto as asto to why the three tea ships of the East India company were still tied up In Boston The I company was offering the tea at a cost lower than American smugglers could provide it ft but that cost included a small tax taxI exacted more as a matter of principle than as a means of 01 revenue Americans had recently recent recent- ly rebelled again the stamp tax and the small tea tax was Great Britain's way of assertIng asserting assert assert- ing mg authority The captains of the ships were told to request clearance This the collector of customs custom s refused to do until the vessels had discharged cargo At a meeting the following day the captains were advised to petition petition peti peti- tion lion the governor He too refused refused refused re re- fused clearance until the ships ship s were re emptied To do otherwise would have been to admit defeat defeat de do l feat at of the government nt Having tried peaceably to send the ships home the Ute more zealous patriots took matters into their own hands Immediately after alter the governors governor's ultimatum on Thursday the band of painted Indians emerged from the offices of flees of the Gazette and boarded the vessels In four hours every chest of tea had been thrown into the Charles river The captains captains cap cap- now having been discharged discharged dis dis- charged of their cargoes sailed home unmolested |