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Show Recalling Some "Tea Parties SIk of 100 Years Ago .IliKotlOU Years Ago ? ' v Scene of the Boston Tea Partu ?T - ' ' V s" A Contemporary Cartoon Enqraved by Paul Revere 4 By ELMO SCOTT WATSON "ECEMP,ER 16 Is the one hundred and D sixtieth anniversary of an event which Is more or less familiar to . a11 Americans the Boston Tea Tar--Kjrj ty. But how many of us know that the Massachusetts capital was not WjiV the on'.T scene of a "tea party- Id KSifl those turbulent days when the Thlr-?rv Thlr-?rv teen CoIomes were beginning to reft, re-ft, :pj bel against what they considered -ij the injustice of their rulers? And how much do we know about similar sim-ilar affairs which took place at Newport, New-port, It. I.; New York city, Philadelphia, Annapolis, An-napolis, Md., and Charleston, S. C? All of these had their origins In the Town-shend Town-shend acts of 1TGT which levied a tax on colonial Importation of tea, glass, lead, paper and similar sim-ilar articles ; in a colonial boycott which took the form of "non-importation agreements" ; and in the repeal in April, 1770. of all duties, except that on tea, which was retained as King George's method of saying to his American subjects, "I have the right to ta you if I want to." Added to this fact were enough other irritations irrita-tions between Mother Country and her colonies so that by the end of 1772 the radicals among the colonists, chief of whom was Samuel Adams of Boston, were convinced that "this country must shake off its intolerable burdens at all events." Then In 1773 came another event to add fresh fuel to the fires of discontent. The East India company, which was in financial difficulties, dif-ficulties, obtained from the king permission to carry tea to America free of the usual duties charged for transhipment in England and to establish colonial stores In which to sell Its goods. The effect of this was to weaken the boycott on tea by tempting colonial tea-drinkers with a cheaper price. It also meant that the American Amer-ican merchant who tried to support the boycott would face cut-throat competition from a trading trad-ing company which had a virtual monopoly. Faced by ruin. It was only natural that such hitherto conservative merchants as William Phillips, John -Rowe and John Hancock should be driven into the ranks of the American radicals. rad-icals. Either blind or indifferent to this fact, the East India company proceeded to send out its tea ships headed for various American ports. The three which set out for Boston were Nantucket Nan-tucket craft the Dartmouth, Capt. James Hall; tie Eleanor, Capt. James Bruce: and the brig Beaver, Capt. Hezekiah Coffin. They had taken cargoes of whale oil to England and were en gaged by the East India company to carry the cargoes of tea on the return journey. On November 28 the Dartmouth appeared In Boston harbor, followed soon afterwards by the Eleanor and the Beaver. "On Friday arrived , Captain Bruce from London, having on board a : quantity of the detestable article of tea, his ship lays at the same wharf with Captain Hall's i that so the persons who watch the one may the ' more easily take care of the other also." Thus ; reads an item In a contemporary newspaper on December 6, 1773. i Erery effort was made to have the tea sent i back to England in the ships that had brought It, but all these efforts failed. The captains of i the ships, which were moored at Griffin's wharf ! at the foot of the present Pearl street in mod ! ern Boston, were In a quandary, as was Francis i Rotch, a peaceable Quaker, who was the owner of the Dartmouth, for they had other cargoes ! on board besides the 342 chests of tea. 1 The collector of the port refused to issue clear ance papers until all dutiable goods had been I discharged. A self-appointed guard of citizens ! was keeping watch at the wharf to prevent the I unloading of the tea. In the meantime Cover i nor Hutchinson had taken measures to prevent ! the departure of the ships past Castle William. : which guarded the entrance to Boston harbor. : The law provided that unless duties were paid ', after 20 days, a ship and its cargo could be I Monday Morning, December if, 1773. ' THE Tea-Ship being arrived, every Inhabitant ho wilhei to prefcrve the Liberty of America, u dcGrcd to meat at the Stati-Houji, This Morning, precifely t TEN'o'Cloci, to ! advife what is bell to be done on this alarming Crifis, Notice in a Philadelphia Paper seized for non-payment. So', as December 16, the date of expiration, approached, affairs rapidly rap-idly drew to a climax. During the 19 days which elapsed between the arrival of the first ship and that climax. Samuel Adams and his followers held a series of meetings to determine upon a course of action. ac-tion. The first of these was In Faneuil hall and It immediately adjourned to Old South church where the suhsequeut meetings were held. At one of them the county sherifT appeared with a proclamation commanding the patriots to disperse. dis-perse. They listened to him quietly and then unanimously voted to continue their meeting. On December 10 a great crowd gathered In Old South. Rotch had been sent to see Governor Gov-ernor Hutchinson to secure his aid In getting clearance papers. While the meeting waited for his return, there were speeches many of them. Hancock spoke, as did Josiah Quincey, Jr. But the most significant speech was that of John Rowe In which he boldly exclaimed: "Who knows how tea will mix with salt water!" The shout of approval that went np clearly indicated indicat-ed what was In the minds of most of those there. Finally Rotch returned with the report that the governor would give him no aid. Then Samuel Adams arose. "This meeting can do no more to save the country," he said gravely but significantly. As though this were a prearranged prear-ranged signal, there was the sound of an Indian war-whoop outside and It was echoed by the crowd Inside. Darkness was gathering as a party of men, most of them dressed In Indian costume but others with only black paint on their faces as a disguise, marched down to Griffin's Grif-fin's wharf and quietly but quickly threw overboard over-board every pound of tea on the three ships. There was no resistance and no other property ' damaged. Their job done, the "Indians" dispersed quickly quick-ly and doffed their disguises. For years the identity of those who took part in this premeditated premed-itated act of violence and direct defiance to the king and his ministers was carefully guarded. I'.ut In later years, when the Revolution had been a success, the Identities of many of them became generally known. One of the most Interesting In-teresting of these, so far as his later history was concerned, was Thomas Melvill, who became be-came a fire-warden In Boston and is said to have been the last Bostonian to cling to the custom cus-tom of wearing the cocked hat of colonial days. He became a familiar sight on the streets of Boston. Living to a shriveled old age, his venerable ven-erable mien and quaint costume were Immortalized Immor-talized by Oliver Wendell Holmes In the poem, "The Last Leaf," for which Melvill Is more remembered than for his being a member of the Boston Tea Party. But there is another reason why he should be remembered. When he returned home on that historic night 160 years ago there was some tea in his boots. He preserved It in a bottle and that bottle and Its contents may be seen In the Old State House today. "You cannot imagine the height of joy that sparkles In the eyes and animates the coun-lenances coun-lenances as well as the hearts of all we meet," wrote Samuel Adams after the whole thing was over. The crown authorities knew that it would be futile to try to Identify the participants partici-pants and punish them. So they decided to punish pun-ish the whole city of Boston instead. The port of Boston was closed, the famous "Intolerable Acts" were passed. Gen. Thomas Gage came to Boston to succeed Hutchinson as governor and events moved swiftly to the opening of hostil ities at Lexington and Concord. But the rejoicing over the act of the "Indians" had already spread to other colonies and with it spread the spirit of resistance. In Philadelphia Philadel-phia the patriots took precautions early to prevent pre-vent the landing of tea from the ships which were en route to the Quaker city. On Christmas Christ-mas day, 1773, came the news that the ship folly was down the Delaware river near Chester. Ches-ter. A meeting attended by 5,000 persons was held and the temper of this meeting Influenced the East India company's agent In Philadelphia to resign his office and It also Influenced the captain of the Polly to sail back to London the very next day. On New Year's eve a half chest of tea was burned on Boston Common as a further demonstration demon-stration of what that town would do with any more such shipments. On January 12, 1774, a town meeting was held at Newport, R. I., at which strong resolutions resolu-tions were passed warning the East India company com-pany against attempting to bring its tea Into that colony. On January 20 three more barrels of tea were burned on Boston Common and on January 25 John Malcolm, a customs official who had been indiscreet In his remarks about what the king and his ministers were going to do to the members of the Boston Tea Party, was treated to a tarring and feathering and a free ride through the streets. In New York the patriots became impatient to show that they knew as well as their Massachusetts Massa-chusetts brethren how to handle that "detestable "detest-able tea." The ships of the East India company bringing Its cargo of tea to the old Dutch city were delayed by the winds. But when a vessel ves-sel not belonging to the East India company showed up with a similar cargo there was another an-other "Indian costume" party and some more mixing of tea and salt water. In April, 1774, one of the company's tea ships did arrive and the captain was soon made aware of what would happen to his cargo if he didn't do as he was told. So he tarried no longer than was necessary to provision his ship and then spread his sails again for London. In Annapolis there was an Incident even more dramatic than that which had taken place In Boston. On October 14, 1774, the ship Peggy Stewart arrived with a double cargo of tea and indentured servants. Anthony Stewart, an An-napells An-napells merchant and owner of the ship, paid the duty on the tea so that he might get the servants ashore. The patriots of Annapolis were angered at this and, although Stewart made a public announcement that he would burn the tea as soon as it was unloaded, a ' party, led by one Charles Warfield. made it plain to him that this was not enough. The upshot up-shot of the matter was that Stewart with his own hands set fire to the ship and both it and its hated cargo of tea went np In flames. In Charleston, S. C, the tea brought there by East India company ships was unloaded but It was immediately placed In storage There It was kept until several years later when it was sold and the money used to obtain provisions for the Continental troops then waging the battle bat-tle for liberty against the British. So the Boston Bos-ton and New York and Annapolis "tea parties" were more spectacular affairs, but who shall say that the Charleston "tea party," which is the least known, was not the most worth-while one, In that it advanced the cause of liberty by using the tea In a practical manner Instead of mixing It with salt water or giving It to the flames? B by Western Newspaper Union.) |