[The following takes place during Colonial American riots which occurred in response to the British Stamp Act of 1765. In particular, the following is in regards to the crowds’ desire to target individuals who were to become tax collectors for the Stamp Act, where they often confronted these men violently and destroyed their personal property.]
As night approached, this capricious mob, now caught up in the carnival spirit of the moment, dragged Oliver’s effigy to one of the many buildings he owned in Boston, a handsome red brick office on the South End wharves. In the half light of early evening, the crowd prompt tore down the structure, then tossed the effigy on a bonfire built from the debris, a blaze that cast a ruddy light over Boston harbor. By the time the fire burned itself out, night had settled over the city, and the mob, exhilarated and restless for yet more action, surged in the starry darkness to Oliver’s residence.
Oliver subsequently claimed that to protect his dwelling he “stood alone, a single man against a whole People.”
Hutchinson recollected differently. He said Oliver and his family had fled “in terror” and that he, the sheriff, and a royal officer from the admiralty court stayed on and sought to restrain the crowd.
Source:
Ferling, John E. “A Loss of Respect and Affection.” A Leap in the Dark: The Struggle to Create the American Republic. Oxford University Press, 2003. 38. Print.
Further Reading:
[Thomas Hutchinson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Hutchinson_(governor\))
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