.MTAxNQ.NjcxNTM
60 by the magistrates, & so after the adjounmt. of the court ye council orderd ye taking ou tof some of the most suspicious Inds. from the Wamesits who did not properly belong to them, but were come into them since the war, these being ga?bled out & secured in prison. The rest of the Wamesit Inds. being about 20 were sent back to their wives & childrn. at Wamesit. But as they passd. home being under the guard of Lieut.James Richardsn. [[inserted: & a file of Eng. Solds. ya were to march thro' a village called Woburn, at wh time ye trainband of that place were exercising, Lieut. Richardson & crossed out his Inds. with their guard, before they drew near ye Eng. Solds, made halt, & he held out his handkerchief as a flag of truce, whereupon the Cap. & officers of the band sent to Richardson also showing then his Comsn. from Council to conduct those Inds. safely to their homes, whereupon the Capt. & officers gave very strict charge to call the Solds. not to shoot a gun until all the Inds. were past & clear nor yet to give any approbrious words. But notwthstng. this strict prohibition when the Inds. were passing by, a young fellow a soldr. named (1) Knight superscrtipt (1) dischargd. his musket & killed one of the Inds. stone dead, being very near him. The person slain was a stout young man, very nearly allied to the principal praying Inds. of Natk. & Wamesit, whose grandfather & uncle were pious men, his father long since slain in the war with the Magues [Maquas?] The murderer was presently apprehended & committed to prison, & not long after tried for his life, but was acquited by the jury, much contrary to the mind of the bench. The jury alleged they wanted evidence, & the prisoner pleaded that his gun went off by accident, indeed witnesses were mealy mouthed in giving evidence. The jury was sent out again & again by the Judges who were much unsatisfied with the Jury's proceedings, but yet the jury did not see cause to alter their mind & so the fellow was cleared. (1) Perhaps John Knight, whose name with 28 crossed out others in to a petition to the gen. Court concerning ministers, in 1653. 3 Col. Mas. H. Soc. I, 44. No. See Copies of Doc. fr. Mas. Archives, 156 Knight's name was Joseph. ?