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20 upon that Arror: wch things were [don?] before. And though afterward thise indians by the procurement of some of their backe freinds were to be removed from this place: to one of the other 5 alowed places which order before mentiond was made but the same day they were seased viz the 30th of August 1675 & so it tooke not yet place and these indians were orderly setled here at this time; & it had beene well for the country & for marlborow in particular if they had never beene disobliged or removed from thence; I conceiv it might have beene instrumtall to save many a mans life & much loss otherwise: for this company of indians in this plase had they beene cherished, conducted & assisted by the english, it would according to an eye of reason been as a wall of defense to the westerne frontier of massacusetts colony; where most of our danger lay & where most mischeife was afterward don; But the counsill of the lord must stand; and his purpose to chastise the poore english very sharp & Indians also must be accomplished; thereforr good counsel was hid from us & jelousies & animosities increased & fomented among us; I shal not here recite the reasons moving the instigators unto this action; though I have seene & could produse the copy of the petition of Senonatt unto the counsill; about this time But there are some redy to conjecture that the ocult & mayne reason induseing som of them to desire to bee rid of the neighbourhood of these indians; was in respect of a fair tract of land: belonging to them neare marlborough not only by natural right but by a grant from the generall court of the massacusetts: coloney: and this is more latent now than hertofore for some of the people of those parts have very latly in the spring 1677 not not [sic] only taken away the fencing stufe from about the indians land but takne some cart loads, of thr young Apll trees & planted ym on yr own lands And when some of those indians made some atempt by order from Authority to plant upon there owne lands in the spring 1677: Some person of ye place expresly forbid them & thn threatened them it they came there to oppose them the poore indians beeing put into fears returned & dared not proceed: & yet those indians ye went to plant was as had; been with the english all the war & we not at all obnoxious; : But I have beene longer yn I intended in the preface to ye matter I am to relate; the Shame? of seasing these 15 marlborow indians & sending them down prisoner was this that eleven of them had comitted a notorius murder upon seaven english persons at Lancastre upon A Lords day August 22th. the next & immediate accuser of these 11 indians was one David an indian one of the fiftene who beeing suspected for shooting at a Lad belonging to ye english of marlborough that was sent out by his master to looke up some sheepe this david being a apprehended by the afforsaid captane upon ye former suspition & fastened to a tree to bee shot to death; & fearing to drnk of the same cupp as his Brother Andrew had done a fortnight