Welch, Abraham (fl. 1801) to Esquire Elmore
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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC02437.07563 Author/Creator: Welch, Abraham (fl. 1801) Place Written: Belfast, Maine Type: Manuscript letter Date: 11 July 1801 Pagination: 4 p. ; 21.1 x 17.7 cm. Order a Copy
Noted as a copy. Appears to be discussing an encounter he had with a "hellish gang" and reports on the information he learned. Mentions he was unwillingly "anisiated" [initiated?] this day into the "Diabolical Lodge" by one of the members of that society. Comments Elmore's and the others (likely the surveyors) lives are "very much exposed." Reports the people called "Liberty men" near the Waldo patent are gathering with the intention of releasing the prisoners and stopping the surveying. Notes the men received legal council and were told if they took 101 men it could not be called a riot. Says the men are armed and are threatening the lives of the surveyors. Says the men stated, "we shall meet and prepare ourselves in readiness, and if the [damned] gang (Elmore & his company) came to survey or streach [sic] a chain, within the Patent though they brought 200 men well armed, they should not return home alive..." Date and place added later in pen.
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