The Great Salem fire of 1774

In between the abortive call from Governor Thomas Gage for the legislature to convene in Salem on the 5th of October 1774, and the formation by those same legislators of a Provincial Congress on the 7th October 1774, a terrible fire took place in Salem.  The fire destroyed more than a dozen buildings and numerous homes and caused more than £20,000 in damage.  Join Professor Robert Allison in conversation with retired National Parks Ranger Curtis White as we examine the evidence of the fire and debate the causes of the fire.  Was it carelessness or a deliberate attempt to prevent the formation of the Provincial Congress.

Transcript

WEBVTT
 
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 Hello, everyone.
 
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 Welcome to the Revolution
 
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 Two-Fifty podcast.
 
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 I am Bob Allison.
 
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 I chair the Rev Two-Fifty Advisory Group,
 
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 also teach history at Suffolk University.
 
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 We are a collaboration among
 
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 seventy-five organizations
 
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 in Massachusetts looking at
 
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 ways to commemorate the
 
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 beginnings of American independence.
 
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 And our guest today is
 
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 actually someone who's been
 
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 very active in one of our partner,
 
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 several of our partner organizations,
 
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 Curtis White.
 
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 who is a retired ranger from
 
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 the Saugus National Park,
 
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 Saugus Iron Works,
 
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 as well as the Salem Maritime Site,
 
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 one of the real authorities
 
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 on what's happening in the
 
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 Revolutionary Period in Salem.
 
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 So Curtis, thanks for joining us.
 
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 Thank you.
 
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 Glad to be here.
 
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 And you're going to tell us
 
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 about the Great Fire of Salem in
 
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 Yeah,
 
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 so after the destruction of the T in
 
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 Boston, word got back to Parliament,
 
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 and they initiated the Coercive Acts,
 
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 which I believe were a
 
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 series of acts maybe contrived altogether,
 
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 but they were implemented one by one.
 
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 And on June first, seventeen seventy-four,
 
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 Gage moves, or June second,
 
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 he moves into Danvers and to
 
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 implement those coercive acts.
 
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 And the first of them was
 
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 the Massachusetts Port Act,
 
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 which closed the Port of Boston,
 
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 didn't allow goods to come in,
 
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 and customs was reorganized
 
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 to kind of take up the slack in Salem.
 
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 And all of this is building up tension.
 
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 They've been building up
 
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 tension for ten years since
 
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 the end of the French and Indian War.
 
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 Oh good, this works.
 
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 Just before Gage moved into town,
 
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 the town of Salem was
 
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 reorganizing things.
 
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 They painted up the townhouse.
 
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 They painted up the school.
 
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 They were doing work on the
 
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 courthouse in Salem.
 
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 They renamed the road to
 
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 Marblehead as the Hanover Street in Salem,
 
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 all in welcoming Gage.
 
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 But within a few short days,
 
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 the Massachusetts Government Act,
 
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 the information for it was
 
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 coming down quickly.
 
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 So people were really
 
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 struggling to find out what
 
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 they were going to do.
 
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 And again,
 
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 the tension just kept building
 
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 in between the people in Salem,
 
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 the merchants, the customs officials,
 
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 the shippers.
 
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 All of this tension was
 
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 building up and nobody
 
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 really knew which side they
 
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 were going to be on.
 
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 And that's two of the citizens in Salem.
 
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 Two of the people that came
 
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 with Gage is Thomas Flucker and his wife,
 
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 Hannah, and at least one daughter.
 
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 And the other daughter was
 
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 kind of hanging back in Boston.
 
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 And on June ninth,
 
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 she married Henry Knox
 
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 against her family's wishes.
 
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 And that's interesting in
 
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 that Knox would eventually
 
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 be the one who drives out.
 
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 his in-laws from Boston in
 
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 in one person that I talk
 
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 about here is John Mascarene.
 
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 He was a customs official.
 
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 He obtained his customs
 
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 commission in in London.
 
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 He had gone to London to try
 
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 to recover some money for
 
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 his father's estate,
 
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 which he thought was due
 
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 after his father died.
 
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 And in so doing, he eventually,
 
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 he met with George
 
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 Grenville and Grenville said, well,
 
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 where am I going to get this money from?
 
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 We don't have it in the budget.
 
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 And I think the best offer
 
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 that they had for Mascarene
 
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 was to make a customs official.
 
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 And it also met with
 
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 Benjamin Hollowell while he was there and
 
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 Let's see,
 
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 so Mascarene and some other
 
 00:04:02.899 --> 00:04:04.819
 people were friends with
 
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 the Fluckers and with William Brown,
 
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 who became one of the
 
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 mandamus counselors.
 
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 They had dinner together,
 
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 but they would go there
 
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 different ways as the
 
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 summer and as the fire took place.
 
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 On the seventeenth of June,
 
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 Flucker had come into Salem
 
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 to try to break up a
 
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 meeting and they met
 
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 despite Flucker being there
 
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 pounding on the door.
 
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 But you can imagine these
 
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 conversations that were
 
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 taking place between the
 
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 Masquerines and Browns and the Fluckers.
 
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 On the twenty-fourth of June,
 
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 The customs from Boston consolidated.
 
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 Since they were no longer
 
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 needed in customs in Boston,
 
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 they came to Salem and were all sworn in.
 
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 And a lot of those records
 
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 still survive of the oaths
 
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 that these customs
 
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 officials took when they
 
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 were reassigned in Salem.
 
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 One of them was Owen Richards,
 
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 who had been infamous in
 
 00:05:05.434 --> 00:05:07.274
 Boston in his involvement
 
 00:05:07.295 --> 00:05:10.055
 with Hancock and had been
 
 00:05:10.134 --> 00:05:11.014
 tarred and feathered.
 
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 Another one, just as aside,
 
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 is this Lemuel Cox.
 
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 After the war,
 
 00:05:16.735 --> 00:05:18.197
 he would be involved in
 
 00:05:18.877 --> 00:05:20.297
 designing the bridge that
 
 00:05:20.317 --> 00:05:21.677
 went from Beverly to Salem,
 
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 a bridge in Charleston,
 
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 and a number of bridges in Ireland.
 
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 Also in the summer of
 
 00:05:36.422 --> 00:05:38.002
 seventy four and the twenty seventh,
 
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 customs added a schooner
 
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 into their operations.
 
 00:05:45.423 --> 00:05:46.944
 When the Port of Boston was closed,
 
 00:05:47.004 --> 00:05:47.805
 nothing was going to be
 
 00:05:47.824 --> 00:05:50.644
 allowed in between Nahant
 
 00:05:51.064 --> 00:05:52.706
 and Point Allerton.
 
 00:05:53.286 --> 00:05:55.146
 And if anything was coming into Boston,
 
 00:05:55.165 --> 00:05:56.086
 which was only going to be
 
 00:05:56.386 --> 00:05:57.666
 relief materials such as
 
 00:05:57.826 --> 00:06:00.507
 rice and wood for people to use,
 
 00:06:00.826 --> 00:06:02.127
 the customs officials would
 
 00:06:02.148 --> 00:06:03.067
 have to board the ship and
 
 00:06:03.088 --> 00:06:04.168
 they'd stay on the ship.
 
 00:06:05.708 --> 00:06:07.088
 until the ship had been
 
 00:06:07.129 --> 00:06:10.569
 cleared to go back out again.
 
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 So that meant that the only thing, again,
 
 00:06:12.410 --> 00:06:14.071
 going into Boston was wood and rice.
 
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 Other things would come by
 
 00:06:15.511 --> 00:06:16.511
 land and some of the
 
 00:06:16.531 --> 00:06:17.891
 merchants were attempting
 
 00:06:17.951 --> 00:06:19.872
 to survive by moving to
 
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 Salem to have their
 
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 operations take place.
 
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 Curtis,
 
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 weren't a lot of the customs
 
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 records destroyed when they
 
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 were shipped off to London?
 
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 That's the belief,
 
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 but the fire has a
 
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 different story to tell.
 
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 Okay, okay.
 
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 On the twentieth of August,
 
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 a notice went out, a public notice,
 
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 where they were asking
 
 00:06:43.396 --> 00:06:46.177
 Salem officials to elect
 
 00:06:46.697 --> 00:06:48.478
 representatives to the
 
 00:06:48.559 --> 00:06:49.920
 Ipswich Convention.
 
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 That was a public notice.
 
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 Gage caught wind of that
 
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 public notice and decided
 
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 he was going to attempt to
 
 00:06:58.880 --> 00:06:59.920
 break up that meeting.
 
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 So soldiers from the
 
 00:07:02.742 --> 00:07:04.322
 Fifty-Ninth Regiment from
 
 00:07:04.401 --> 00:07:06.242
 Winter Island were marched
 
 00:07:06.322 --> 00:07:08.942
 in towards the townhouse in
 
 00:07:09.043 --> 00:07:11.324
 Salem in order to break up that meeting.
 
 00:07:11.343 --> 00:07:12.004
 And I think it was that
 
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 force of those red coats
 
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 that they hoped would break
 
 00:07:17.144 --> 00:07:18.665
 up the meeting, but that didn't happen.
 
 00:07:18.685 --> 00:07:19.906
 The meeting took place anyway.
 
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 This,
 
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 the illustration that I have here is
 
 00:07:23.807 --> 00:07:24.747
 a button with a number of
 
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 fifty nine on it.
 
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 And that was found during
 
 00:07:27.750 --> 00:07:28.610
 the archaeological
 
 00:07:28.689 --> 00:07:30.430
 excavations of the Narburn
 
 00:07:30.471 --> 00:07:33.012
 House in Salem in the late sixties,
 
 00:07:33.093 --> 00:07:34.673
 early nineteen seventies.
 
 00:07:34.694 --> 00:07:36.675
 And the archaeologists at
 
 00:07:36.694 --> 00:07:38.035
 the time weren't sure what
 
 00:07:38.055 --> 00:07:39.975
 the meaning was of that
 
 00:07:40.016 --> 00:07:41.197
 fifty ninth because they
 
 00:07:41.237 --> 00:07:42.398
 were pretty much decimated
 
 00:07:42.418 --> 00:07:43.098
 at Bunker Hill.
 
 00:07:43.737 --> 00:07:44.738
 But they had been encamped
 
 00:07:44.778 --> 00:07:46.399
 in Salem and were used by
 
 00:07:46.500 --> 00:07:47.781
 Gage in an attempt to break
 
 00:07:47.821 --> 00:07:48.461
 up that meeting.
 
 00:07:50.348 --> 00:07:50.850
 Instead,
 
 00:07:51.129 --> 00:07:53.170
 what Gage did was he put out Peter
 
 00:07:53.211 --> 00:07:57.973
 Fry to arrest those people who had met
 
 00:07:59.115 --> 00:08:01.557
 against the Massachusetts Government Act,
 
 00:08:01.596 --> 00:08:03.057
 as it was in effect at that
 
 00:08:03.137 --> 00:08:03.716
 point in time.
 
 00:08:04.377 --> 00:08:06.718
 And a lot of uproar took place in Salem,
 
 00:08:07.158 --> 00:08:08.978
 forcing Peter Fry to
 
 00:08:09.019 --> 00:08:10.199
 release those people that
 
 00:08:10.218 --> 00:08:11.098
 had been arrested.
 
 00:08:11.459 --> 00:08:13.500
 Now, who was Peter Fry, Curtis?
 
 00:08:13.519 --> 00:08:15.040
 Peter Fry was a,
 
 00:08:15.661 --> 00:08:17.440
 I'm not sure at what point
 
 00:08:17.480 --> 00:08:18.581
 in time he was what thing,
 
 00:08:18.622 --> 00:08:20.362
 but I believe he was a merchant.
 
 00:08:20.401 --> 00:08:21.521
 He had a warehouse in Salem
 
 00:08:21.541 --> 00:08:23.322
 right across from the townhouse.
 
 00:08:25.120 --> 00:08:26.182
 He was a judge,
 
 00:08:26.242 --> 00:08:27.661
 he was a justice of the peace,
 
 00:08:27.701 --> 00:08:29.302
 and one thing I read says
 
 00:08:29.343 --> 00:08:30.923
 he was a colonel in the militia.
 
 00:08:31.444 --> 00:08:32.404
 So he's this person of some
 
 00:08:32.445 --> 00:08:33.985
 authority in the town.
 
 00:08:34.046 --> 00:08:34.326
 Yes,
 
 00:08:34.446 --> 00:08:39.768
 and apparently well regarded until
 
 00:08:39.849 --> 00:08:41.428
 these events were taking
 
 00:08:41.469 --> 00:08:44.030
 place regarding the merchants,
 
 00:08:44.130 --> 00:08:45.230
 non-importation acts,
 
 00:08:45.510 --> 00:08:47.072
 and all of these people
 
 00:08:47.111 --> 00:08:48.873
 were interrelated to each other.
 
 00:08:48.893 --> 00:08:51.254
 And when the families broke up,
 
 00:08:51.293 --> 00:08:52.774
 they did go in different directions,
 
 00:08:53.115 --> 00:08:54.383
 Now they're all having to
 
 00:08:54.423 --> 00:08:55.388
 choose sides now.
 
 00:08:55.568 --> 00:08:55.909
 Correct.
 
 00:08:55.971 --> 00:08:56.152
 Yeah.
 
 00:08:58.792 --> 00:09:01.533
 So on September eighth,
 
 00:09:01.773 --> 00:09:05.193
 this is a September ninth illustration.
 
 00:09:05.874 --> 00:09:07.913
 It's a newspaper report
 
 00:09:08.274 --> 00:09:11.115
 where Fry says that he was
 
 00:09:11.294 --> 00:09:12.634
 asked by Gage to follow
 
 00:09:12.674 --> 00:09:13.956
 through and arrest these people.
 
 00:09:13.995 --> 00:09:15.495
 And he realized that he had
 
 00:09:15.556 --> 00:09:16.316
 lost a lot of his
 
 00:09:16.375 --> 00:09:17.756
 credibility and people were
 
 00:09:18.277 --> 00:09:19.697
 basically starving him out.
 
 00:09:20.517 --> 00:09:21.878
 He wanted to get back into
 
 00:09:21.918 --> 00:09:24.057
 the good graces of the people in Salem,
 
 00:09:24.418 --> 00:09:25.298
 but there was a lot of
 
 00:09:25.357 --> 00:09:26.479
 pressure on him for the
 
 00:09:26.499 --> 00:09:27.399
 work that he was doing.
 
 00:09:28.485 --> 00:09:29.068
 for the crown.
 
 00:09:34.767 --> 00:09:35.648
 October third,
 
 00:09:36.087 --> 00:09:37.730
 as people are meeting in Salem,
 
 00:09:38.410 --> 00:09:40.131
 they're meeting with the
 
 00:09:40.192 --> 00:09:42.794
 intent of establishing
 
 00:09:43.735 --> 00:09:45.376
 Massachusetts Provincial Congress.
 
 00:09:45.397 --> 00:09:46.859
 Salem had voted people to
 
 00:09:46.918 --> 00:09:49.041
 represent them and to vote
 
 00:09:49.081 --> 00:09:50.863
 for the Provincial Congress
 
 00:09:50.923 --> 00:09:52.924
 if they thought that that was necessary.
 
 00:09:53.544 --> 00:09:55.067
 So people had been in Salem
 
 00:09:55.287 --> 00:09:56.288
 representatives all through
 
 00:09:56.307 --> 00:09:57.369
 the summer because
 
 00:09:59.110 --> 00:09:59.931
 This was where the
 
 00:09:59.971 --> 00:10:01.130
 government was taking place,
 
 00:10:01.211 --> 00:10:02.633
 even though it was going away,
 
 00:10:03.092 --> 00:10:04.254
 and they were threatened by
 
 00:10:04.293 --> 00:10:05.995
 this elimination of government.
 
 00:10:07.735 --> 00:10:08.596
 So they were trying to fight
 
 00:10:08.616 --> 00:10:09.576
 back in all different ways,
 
 00:10:09.616 --> 00:10:11.239
 on the county level, on the town level,
 
 00:10:11.678 --> 00:10:13.019
 and on the provincial level.
 
 00:10:14.442 --> 00:10:15.403
 So October third,
 
 00:10:16.004 --> 00:10:19.467
 a wagon comes into Salem
 
 00:10:19.807 --> 00:10:21.429
 with a cask of tea on it.
 
 00:10:21.470 --> 00:10:24.133
 The person who wrote it into
 
 00:10:24.173 --> 00:10:25.433
 town didn't know what it was.
 
 00:10:25.474 --> 00:10:26.975
 The person who was unpacking
 
 00:10:27.014 --> 00:10:28.876
 it apparently didn't know what it was,
 
 00:10:29.136 --> 00:10:30.839
 but they discover it was a
 
 00:10:30.918 --> 00:10:32.500
 cask of bohea tea.
 
 00:10:33.061 --> 00:10:35.744
 And that caused a huge uproar in town.
 
 00:10:36.524 --> 00:10:36.825
 And
 
 00:10:37.639 --> 00:10:38.659
 they burned the tea.
 
 00:10:38.679 --> 00:10:40.259
 And not only did they burn that tea,
 
 00:10:40.299 --> 00:10:42.282
 according to the newspaper article,
 
 00:10:43.062 --> 00:10:45.222
 that other people who had
 
 00:10:45.302 --> 00:10:46.484
 tea in town were bringing
 
 00:10:46.504 --> 00:10:48.065
 it in to contribute to this
 
 00:10:48.164 --> 00:10:49.504
 fire on School Street.
 
 00:10:49.865 --> 00:10:52.206
 And that's what's now the
 
 00:10:52.246 --> 00:10:55.128
 head of Washington Street in Salem.
 
 00:10:55.589 --> 00:10:57.149
 So the townhouse was right
 
 00:10:57.168 --> 00:10:58.049
 in the middle of the road
 
 00:10:58.090 --> 00:10:59.311
 and the road to Marblehead.
 
 00:11:00.831 --> 00:11:02.893
 And it was at the top of Townhouse Cove,
 
 00:11:03.232 --> 00:11:04.432
 which was the center of
 
 00:11:04.493 --> 00:11:06.855
 trading area in Salem at the time.
 
 00:11:07.455 --> 00:11:09.837
 The South River turned
 
 00:11:09.878 --> 00:11:11.940
 around at Townhouse Cove
 
 00:11:12.480 --> 00:11:15.703
 and stopped right at a mill
 
 00:11:15.724 --> 00:11:16.144
 that was there.
 
 00:11:16.183 --> 00:11:17.706
 I believe it may have been a scythe mill.
 
 00:11:17.725 --> 00:11:19.106
 I'm not sure it was at
 
 00:11:19.607 --> 00:11:20.688
 particularly that time.
 
 00:11:20.849 --> 00:11:22.431
 But it had tidal influence
 
 00:11:22.510 --> 00:11:23.912
 up to that point.
 
 00:11:24.373 --> 00:11:25.673
 Mm-hmm.
 
 00:11:26.274 --> 00:11:28.115
 So that big fire took place
 
 00:11:28.174 --> 00:11:29.355
 and really making a big
 
 00:11:29.395 --> 00:11:31.697
 deal over this tea that
 
 00:11:31.756 --> 00:11:33.336
 they thought shouldn't be in Salem.
 
 00:11:34.018 --> 00:11:37.839
 And Peter Fry in a newspaper
 
 00:11:37.918 --> 00:11:40.059
 article basically said that
 
 00:11:40.681 --> 00:11:41.520
 the persons who were
 
 00:11:41.561 --> 00:11:42.740
 involved in shipping the
 
 00:11:42.780 --> 00:11:44.302
 tea in really didn't know
 
 00:11:44.341 --> 00:11:45.062
 anything about it.
 
 00:11:45.101 --> 00:11:46.283
 He was trying to defend them
 
 00:11:46.802 --> 00:11:47.884
 so that they wouldn't be
 
 00:11:48.524 --> 00:11:50.705
 harassed by the population as well.
 
 00:11:51.105 --> 00:11:51.445
 So again,
 
 00:11:51.485 --> 00:11:53.586
 this is just two days before that
 
 00:11:53.666 --> 00:11:53.966
 meeting.
 
 00:11:55.427 --> 00:11:56.427
 that's taking place in
 
 00:11:56.467 --> 00:11:58.028
 defiance of gage on october
 
 00:11:58.068 --> 00:12:01.311
 fifth so peter peter so the
 
 00:12:01.431 --> 00:12:03.591
 t is coming in that's you
 
 00:12:03.611 --> 00:12:04.932
 think what leads to the
 
 00:12:04.952 --> 00:12:05.653
 fire we're talking with
 
 00:12:05.673 --> 00:12:07.274
 curtis white retired ranger
 
 00:12:07.315 --> 00:12:08.375
 from the saugus ironworks
 
 00:12:08.416 --> 00:12:09.996
 national historical site as
 
 00:12:10.037 --> 00:12:11.457
 well as the salem maritime
 
 00:12:11.817 --> 00:12:13.198
 national historical site
 
 00:12:13.599 --> 00:12:14.720
 about what's happening in
 
 00:12:14.799 --> 00:12:16.360
 salem in this period when they
 
 00:12:16.806 --> 00:12:17.967
 Government has moved here.
 
 00:12:18.028 --> 00:12:19.529
 Gage is trying to hold on.
 
 00:12:19.649 --> 00:12:20.831
 But as Curtis had said,
 
 00:12:20.871 --> 00:12:21.613
 there's all of this
 
 00:12:21.673 --> 00:12:23.375
 resistance on the local level,
 
 00:12:23.716 --> 00:12:24.876
 the county level,
 
 00:12:24.996 --> 00:12:26.980
 as well as on the provincial level.
 
 00:12:27.400 --> 00:12:28.422
 And it's all focused in
 
 00:12:28.481 --> 00:12:29.903
 Salem because this is where
 
 00:12:29.943 --> 00:12:30.725
 the government is.
 
 00:12:30.745 --> 00:12:32.827
 And now a couple of casks of
 
 00:12:32.868 --> 00:12:33.929
 tea have arrived in town.
 
 00:12:35.134 --> 00:12:35.313
 Right.
 
 00:12:35.374 --> 00:12:36.634
 And so those were destroyed.
 
 00:12:36.674 --> 00:12:38.057
 And Peter Fry was trying to
 
 00:12:38.657 --> 00:12:39.518
 settle things down.
 
 00:12:39.817 --> 00:12:41.120
 So he's been involved in a
 
 00:12:41.159 --> 00:12:43.942
 couple of events already in Salem.
 
 00:12:44.001 --> 00:12:45.203
 And on October fifth,
 
 00:12:45.224 --> 00:12:46.884
 they met in defiance of Gage.
 
 00:12:47.284 --> 00:12:48.466
 And who would be the person
 
 00:12:48.506 --> 00:12:50.869
 that might be likely to
 
 00:12:51.009 --> 00:12:52.210
 arrest anybody who is
 
 00:12:52.250 --> 00:12:53.851
 meeting in defiance of Gage?
 
 00:12:54.312 --> 00:12:57.575
 But Peter Fry and Peter Fry
 
 00:12:57.995 --> 00:12:59.317
 lived at Salem.
 
 00:13:00.777 --> 00:13:02.880
 right across the street from
 
 00:13:03.982 --> 00:13:04.844
 the townhouse.
 
 00:13:06.399 --> 00:13:07.720
 at a corner of what's now
 
 00:13:07.801 --> 00:13:10.160
 Washington Street and Essex Street.
 
 00:13:10.682 --> 00:13:11.501
 At the time it would have
 
 00:13:11.522 --> 00:13:12.501
 been School Street,
 
 00:13:12.741 --> 00:13:17.364
 King Street and Hanover Street.
 
 00:13:17.583 --> 00:13:19.325
 So in Peter Fry's warehouse
 
 00:13:19.365 --> 00:13:20.605
 at three o'clock in the morning,
 
 00:13:21.004 --> 00:13:25.366
 someone lit a fire or it's
 
 00:13:25.567 --> 00:13:26.687
 unclear what happened,
 
 00:13:26.787 --> 00:13:28.248
 but the fire started at his
 
 00:13:28.288 --> 00:13:30.548
 warehouse at a storage area
 
 00:13:30.568 --> 00:13:32.408
 where he had firewood about
 
 00:13:32.448 --> 00:13:33.509
 three o'clock in the morning.
 
 00:13:34.269 --> 00:13:36.510
 And that fire spread very quickly.
 
 00:13:37.551 --> 00:13:40.351
 Down at the bottom of the
 
 00:13:40.393 --> 00:13:42.352
 highway to Marblehead, again,
 
 00:13:42.413 --> 00:13:45.934
 was the South River in Salem.
 
 00:13:46.075 --> 00:13:46.254
 Well,
 
 00:13:46.534 --> 00:13:48.875
 it was low tide at that particular
 
 00:13:48.936 --> 00:13:49.196
 moment.
 
 00:13:49.235 --> 00:13:51.076
 It was two hours from low tide.
 
 00:13:51.317 --> 00:13:52.476
 So it would be another six
 
 00:13:52.517 --> 00:13:53.918
 hours or so before tide was
 
 00:13:53.937 --> 00:13:55.097
 going to be high enough so
 
 00:13:55.138 --> 00:13:56.399
 that they could get buckets
 
 00:13:56.458 --> 00:13:58.659
 and so forth in there to fight the fire.
 
 00:13:58.700 --> 00:13:59.259
 And by that time,
 
 00:14:01.174 --> 00:14:03.755
 the fire was way out of control.
 
 00:14:05.255 --> 00:14:07.076
 The fire started about where
 
 00:14:07.515 --> 00:14:08.476
 in present day,
 
 00:14:08.797 --> 00:14:12.177
 the bewitched sculpture is
 
 00:14:12.777 --> 00:14:14.998
 in Salem and spread to the
 
 00:14:15.077 --> 00:14:17.918
 Northwest in all different directions,
 
 00:14:17.999 --> 00:14:19.318
 taking out a number of
 
 00:14:19.359 --> 00:14:23.120
 buildings in domestic units,
 
 00:14:23.500 --> 00:14:26.720
 in warehouses and shops.
 
 00:14:27.941 --> 00:14:28.880
 I'll get into those.
 
 00:14:32.816 --> 00:14:35.077
 So there's a map of Salem
 
 00:14:35.937 --> 00:14:37.298
 from seventeen ninety four.
 
 00:14:37.339 --> 00:14:38.519
 Massachusetts had a whole
 
 00:14:38.559 --> 00:14:39.900
 series of these maps done
 
 00:14:39.921 --> 00:14:41.822
 for almost all of the individual towns.
 
 00:14:42.503 --> 00:14:45.304
 And the South River was all
 
 00:14:45.345 --> 00:14:47.125
 lined with docks and
 
 00:14:47.167 --> 00:14:48.847
 warehouses and was probably
 
 00:14:51.669 --> 00:14:53.750
 marsh grasses and fish
 
 00:14:53.770 --> 00:14:55.692
 stages on one side of the
 
 00:14:55.732 --> 00:14:58.134
 river and just population
 
 00:14:58.195 --> 00:14:59.274
 on the other side of the river.
 
 00:15:01.812 --> 00:15:03.676
 The shops and so forth and
 
 00:15:03.716 --> 00:15:06.320
 the customs had been down
 
 00:15:06.360 --> 00:15:07.522
 at that corner of the river,
 
 00:15:07.542 --> 00:15:11.067
 but had been moved up to King Street.
 
 00:15:12.128 --> 00:15:14.392
 And that was involved in that fire.
 
 00:15:14.412 --> 00:15:14.471
 Hmm.
 
 00:15:17.129 --> 00:15:18.892
 The custom house as it was
 
 00:15:18.991 --> 00:15:23.115
 in between in the fall of
 
 00:15:24.235 --> 00:15:26.878
 was down at that corner in the river,
 
 00:15:27.038 --> 00:15:28.720
 if anybody knows about Salem now,
 
 00:15:29.039 --> 00:15:31.883
 down where the post office is now,
 
 00:15:32.503 --> 00:15:33.403
 and there's a Dunkin'
 
 00:15:33.423 --> 00:15:34.205
 Donuts down in that area.
 
 00:15:34.924 --> 00:15:36.546
 It had iron gates out in
 
 00:15:36.625 --> 00:15:41.750
 front with the king's coat of arms on it.
 
 00:15:41.789 --> 00:15:43.211
 There was a sign there for
 
 00:15:43.230 --> 00:15:44.011
 the custom house.
 
 00:15:44.432 --> 00:15:48.554
 And inside was a bookcase
 
 00:15:48.855 --> 00:15:50.937
 that included a dozen or
 
 00:15:50.976 --> 00:15:52.157
 more books that were all
 
 00:15:52.216 --> 00:15:54.339
 listed as to what they were
 
 00:15:54.359 --> 00:15:54.739
 supposed to have.
 
 00:15:54.759 --> 00:15:57.100
 So it was ships coming in, ships going out,
 
 00:15:58.101 --> 00:15:59.261
 where they were coming from,
 
 00:15:59.442 --> 00:16:02.304
 oaths of office, notes, memorandum books,
 
 00:16:02.644 --> 00:16:04.306
 all these things listed.
 
 00:16:04.426 --> 00:16:06.106
 were kept track of in that.
 
 00:16:06.126 --> 00:16:07.187
 And they were moved up to
 
 00:16:07.207 --> 00:16:09.408
 the top of the hill and
 
 00:16:09.509 --> 00:16:11.669
 were at the end point of the fire.
 
 00:16:12.051 --> 00:16:13.471
 The custom house itself,
 
 00:16:13.971 --> 00:16:15.452
 what was acting as the custom house,
 
 00:16:15.493 --> 00:16:17.153
 was torn down in order to
 
 00:16:17.173 --> 00:16:18.455
 prevent the spread of the fire.
 
 00:16:19.754 --> 00:16:21.756
 Living in the custom house was
 
 00:16:22.796 --> 00:16:26.139
 The son-in-law of the person
 
 00:16:26.158 --> 00:16:27.279
 who owned the custom house,
 
 00:16:28.400 --> 00:16:29.942
 Abigail Pittman Epps,
 
 00:16:30.363 --> 00:16:32.565
 and she had just been recently remarried,
 
 00:16:32.946 --> 00:16:34.888
 Gardner, Sylvester Gardner,
 
 00:16:34.908 --> 00:16:36.149
 who was a prominent Boston
 
 00:16:37.910 --> 00:16:39.812
 doctor and drug importer.
 
 00:16:40.072 --> 00:16:40.852
 And I believe they may have
 
 00:16:40.873 --> 00:16:43.176
 been living in Maine at
 
 00:16:43.216 --> 00:16:44.456
 that particular point in time.
 
 00:16:45.062 --> 00:16:48.365
 But Abigail's daughter, Abigail,
 
 00:16:48.745 --> 00:16:50.225
 and her husband, Richard Ralph.
 
 00:16:50.346 --> 00:16:53.048
 Richard Ralph was the deputy
 
 00:16:53.087 --> 00:16:56.530
 customs collector in Salem.
 
 00:16:57.010 --> 00:16:59.032
 And they had two young kids.
 
 00:17:01.514 --> 00:17:02.434
 And a third one that had
 
 00:17:02.455 --> 00:17:03.615
 just been born two months
 
 00:17:03.875 --> 00:17:04.715
 before the fire.
 
 00:17:10.660 --> 00:17:11.740
 So from...
 
 00:17:13.538 --> 00:17:15.881
 Noah get the tides for
 
 00:17:15.961 --> 00:17:18.343
 seventeen seventy four for October six.
 
 00:17:18.722 --> 00:17:20.845
 And there was reports in the
 
 00:17:20.884 --> 00:17:22.105
 newspaper at the time that
 
 00:17:22.185 --> 00:17:23.326
 water was hard to come by.
 
 00:17:23.366 --> 00:17:24.367
 They may have been working
 
 00:17:24.407 --> 00:17:25.347
 from a town pump,
 
 00:17:25.969 --> 00:17:27.750
 but since the water was hard to come by,
 
 00:17:28.570 --> 00:17:31.272
 they had to come up with
 
 00:17:31.313 --> 00:17:32.554
 some other options.
 
 00:17:33.795 --> 00:17:37.458
 And the fire just got ahead of everything.
 
 00:17:37.478 --> 00:17:37.917
 Well, now the.
 
 00:17:39.284 --> 00:17:40.384
 The quickest way to fight a
 
 00:17:40.444 --> 00:17:43.346
 fire at that time was with the buckets.
 
 00:17:43.365 --> 00:17:43.705
 I mean,
 
 00:17:43.746 --> 00:17:44.926
 immediately you could throw a
 
 00:17:44.967 --> 00:17:45.866
 bucket of water on.
 
 00:17:47.248 --> 00:17:48.107
 One of the things you tried
 
 00:17:48.127 --> 00:17:50.328
 to do was escape the fire.
 
 00:17:50.808 --> 00:17:52.710
 And if you knew a fire was
 
 00:17:52.789 --> 00:17:54.151
 potentially coming your way,
 
 00:17:54.211 --> 00:17:55.250
 you'd put all your goods
 
 00:17:55.671 --> 00:17:57.451
 into a fire salvage bag,
 
 00:17:57.491 --> 00:17:59.212
 put it out in front of your house,
 
 00:17:59.413 --> 00:18:00.353
 disassemble whatever
 
 00:18:00.393 --> 00:18:02.114
 furniture you could to try
 
 00:18:02.134 --> 00:18:06.316
 to preserve that, put it out on the curb.
 
 00:18:08.023 --> 00:18:10.506
 There's a fire bucket that survives.
 
 00:18:10.566 --> 00:18:11.807
 I believe it's at the
 
 00:18:12.468 --> 00:18:14.210
 Peabody Essex Museum in Rowley.
 
 00:18:14.790 --> 00:18:18.074
 It belonged to Edward Augustus Holyoake.
 
 00:18:18.114 --> 00:18:20.856
 And he was a member of the fire club.
 
 00:18:20.876 --> 00:18:21.617
 And I don't think he was
 
 00:18:21.637 --> 00:18:23.460
 a... The fire club is what dates to
 
 00:18:26.584 --> 00:18:28.467
 And if you had the fire bucket,
 
 00:18:28.507 --> 00:18:29.367
 you were meant to have
 
 00:18:29.407 --> 00:18:31.833
 these fire salvage bags
 
 00:18:31.853 --> 00:18:33.075
 sort of tied up inside.
 
 00:18:33.095 --> 00:18:34.135
 And if you saw a fire,
 
 00:18:34.737 --> 00:18:36.019
 if there was a fire in your community,
 
 00:18:36.039 --> 00:18:37.040
 you'd take the bucket out
 
 00:18:37.501 --> 00:18:39.325
 and attempt to fight the fire.
 
 00:18:44.109 --> 00:18:45.329
 Another surviving thing from
 
 00:18:45.369 --> 00:18:49.191
 the fire is this hand tub, hand pumper.
 
 00:18:49.550 --> 00:18:49.751
 Now,
 
 00:18:50.352 --> 00:18:53.051
 it was difficult to get water to the
 
 00:18:53.132 --> 00:18:53.792
 fire tub.
 
 00:18:53.833 --> 00:18:55.553
 It had to be brought up the hill.
 
 00:18:55.593 --> 00:18:57.232
 So they established lanes
 
 00:18:58.114 --> 00:19:00.074
 which were two-sided.
 
 00:19:00.094 --> 00:19:02.615
 It came out to be like a human chain pump.
 
 00:19:03.555 --> 00:19:06.336
 Pumpers didn't have suction hoses,
 
 00:19:06.356 --> 00:19:07.478
 so they couldn't put them in.
 
 00:19:07.758 --> 00:19:09.358
 They had to be fed by hand.
 
 00:19:09.759 --> 00:19:11.640
 So one side was typically the men.
 
 00:19:12.039 --> 00:19:13.740
 They would line the fire buckets up,
 
 00:19:14.040 --> 00:19:15.241
 take them from the water source,
 
 00:19:15.301 --> 00:19:17.282
 dump them into the pumper,
 
 00:19:17.323 --> 00:19:18.564
 and then the crew would be
 
 00:19:18.604 --> 00:19:20.365
 pumping on that to squirt
 
 00:19:20.424 --> 00:19:22.865
 water onto the fire to try to resist,
 
 00:19:23.567 --> 00:19:24.707
 try to put the fire down.
 
 00:19:26.428 --> 00:19:28.148
 And then it would be... Curtis,
 
 00:19:28.589 --> 00:19:30.250
 was there fire insurance in
 
 00:19:30.330 --> 00:19:31.570
 Salem the way there was in
 
 00:19:31.671 --> 00:19:32.791
 Philadelphia at this time?
 
 00:19:34.076 --> 00:19:35.576
 I believe there was because
 
 00:19:35.636 --> 00:19:38.998
 when Abigail Pickman
 
 00:19:41.439 --> 00:19:46.099
 established her house as a customs place,
 
 00:19:46.839 --> 00:19:47.660
 they had to have the
 
 00:19:47.700 --> 00:19:49.040
 insurance in order to cover it.
 
 00:19:49.201 --> 00:19:50.921
 There was already tension with the family,
 
 00:19:51.340 --> 00:19:53.821
 and they demanded upon the
 
 00:19:53.862 --> 00:19:55.781
 customs that they had some
 
 00:19:55.801 --> 00:19:56.803
 sort of insurance to cover it.
 
 00:19:56.843 --> 00:19:57.623
 So I believe there was.
 
 00:19:57.663 --> 00:19:57.903
 Okay.
 
 00:20:04.586 --> 00:20:05.747
 As the fire burned,
 
 00:20:06.807 --> 00:20:08.548
 it was visible from Marblehead,
 
 00:20:09.128 --> 00:20:10.769
 and they were representative,
 
 00:20:11.309 --> 00:20:12.510
 Representative Elbridge
 
 00:20:12.931 --> 00:20:15.011
 Gary was one of the
 
 00:20:15.051 --> 00:20:16.192
 representatives from Marblehead,
 
 00:20:16.212 --> 00:20:17.413
 but they could see the fire.
 
 00:20:17.933 --> 00:20:20.255
 And they responded with two
 
 00:20:20.295 --> 00:20:22.375
 more fire pumpers that they
 
 00:20:22.836 --> 00:20:23.777
 brought to Salem,
 
 00:20:24.136 --> 00:20:25.218
 along with a couple hundred
 
 00:20:25.278 --> 00:20:27.219
 people in order to help to save the fire,
 
 00:20:27.519 --> 00:20:28.980
 to keep the fire from spreading.
 
 00:20:29.460 --> 00:20:31.141
 And Marblehead was profusely
 
 00:20:31.181 --> 00:20:32.662
 thanked by the
 
 00:20:33.501 --> 00:20:35.262
 town of Salem for really
 
 00:20:35.403 --> 00:20:36.983
 saving the east side of
 
 00:20:37.044 --> 00:20:38.644
 School Street and the fire
 
 00:20:38.684 --> 00:20:43.228
 spreading anywhere to the east.
 
 00:20:43.268 --> 00:20:45.209
 So, well,
 
 00:20:45.229 --> 00:20:48.010
 there's a photograph here of what
 
 00:20:48.050 --> 00:20:49.771
 was Hanover Street in the
 
 00:20:49.811 --> 00:20:52.094
 corner of where the fire
 
 00:20:52.153 --> 00:20:53.334
 started and where the
 
 00:20:53.694 --> 00:20:55.596
 Bewitched sculpture is today.
 
 00:20:59.453 --> 00:21:00.435
 One of the buildings that
 
 00:21:00.615 --> 00:21:02.117
 was first to burn after
 
 00:21:02.178 --> 00:21:04.721
 Peter Fry's structures was
 
 00:21:05.102 --> 00:21:06.825
 the meeting house of
 
 00:21:07.226 --> 00:21:09.248
 Reverend Nathaniel Whitaker.
 
 00:21:10.009 --> 00:21:12.993
 He had been a, he was a,
 
 00:21:15.374 --> 00:21:16.996
 minister from Connecticut
 
 00:21:17.576 --> 00:21:19.578
 and he had latched on and
 
 00:21:19.618 --> 00:21:20.660
 was trying to build a
 
 00:21:20.720 --> 00:21:23.722
 school for natives to teach
 
 00:21:23.863 --> 00:21:24.943
 Presbyterianism.
 
 00:21:25.084 --> 00:21:28.067
 So he had gone to England
 
 00:21:28.126 --> 00:21:29.909
 and Scotland with
 
 00:21:32.480 --> 00:21:35.582
 Yeah, the first Presbyterian native,
 
 00:21:35.862 --> 00:21:40.002
 Samson Oakum,
 
 00:21:40.022 --> 00:21:42.403
 had gone to England to try
 
 00:21:42.443 --> 00:21:46.224
 to collect money to establish the school.
 
 00:21:46.265 --> 00:21:47.805
 But somehow this all didn't
 
 00:21:47.884 --> 00:21:48.944
 work out right and he
 
 00:21:48.984 --> 00:21:51.226
 wasn't looked at in a very positive way.
 
 00:21:51.546 --> 00:21:52.866
 But he took that money and
 
 00:21:52.946 --> 00:21:54.547
 it helped to form Dartmouth College.
 
 00:21:54.727 --> 00:21:55.527
 One of the major
 
 00:21:55.547 --> 00:21:57.607
 contributors was the Earl of Dartmouth.
 
 00:21:58.709 --> 00:22:00.351
 uh so it was his the third
 
 00:22:00.371 --> 00:22:02.535
 church in salem that burned
 
 00:22:03.075 --> 00:22:04.156
 on the day of that fire
 
 00:22:04.176 --> 00:22:05.018
 that was one of the biggest
 
 00:22:05.078 --> 00:22:06.601
 buildings and it was next
 
 00:22:06.641 --> 00:22:08.804
 to uh the custom house what
 
 00:22:08.844 --> 00:22:09.726
 was functioning as the
 
 00:22:09.766 --> 00:22:13.491
 custom house in this um
 
 00:22:16.564 --> 00:22:18.105
 He's against Toryism.
 
 00:22:18.185 --> 00:22:18.846
 Right, right.
 
 00:22:19.067 --> 00:22:20.189
 So he had written that
 
 00:22:20.328 --> 00:22:23.133
 sermon and sent it to
 
 00:22:23.173 --> 00:22:26.698
 Washington at Valley Forge in Washington.
 
 00:22:26.738 --> 00:22:27.659
 He attributed it to
 
 00:22:27.719 --> 00:22:30.282
 Washington and he got a
 
 00:22:30.323 --> 00:22:31.744
 nice response from Washington.
 
 00:22:34.576 --> 00:22:36.417
 So getting back to Abigail
 
 00:22:36.518 --> 00:22:37.877
 Pickman Epps Gardner,
 
 00:22:38.699 --> 00:22:40.679
 their house was totally destroyed.
 
 00:22:41.099 --> 00:22:43.621
 And in order to stop the flow of the fire,
 
 00:22:44.240 --> 00:22:45.381
 the house was torn down.
 
 00:22:45.821 --> 00:22:47.582
 And this is in some of the
 
 00:22:47.602 --> 00:22:50.603
 descriptions that the customs officials,
 
 00:22:53.044 --> 00:22:54.525
 the local firefighters had
 
 00:22:55.005 --> 00:22:56.986
 long poles with hooks on them,
 
 00:22:57.306 --> 00:22:58.846
 went in and tore the building down.
 
 00:22:59.186 --> 00:23:00.487
 And so the customs records
 
 00:23:00.527 --> 00:23:01.448
 that were in there that
 
 00:23:01.488 --> 00:23:02.548
 were in the bookcase were
 
 00:23:02.627 --> 00:23:03.969
 scattered all over the place.
 
 00:23:04.368 --> 00:23:05.590
 and the customs officials
 
 00:23:05.611 --> 00:23:07.694
 were attempting to gather them up,
 
 00:23:07.795 --> 00:23:09.116
 but it seems that they were
 
 00:23:09.196 --> 00:23:11.761
 unable to gather all of those records.
 
 00:23:15.613 --> 00:23:16.513
 Again, Richard Ralph,
 
 00:23:16.594 --> 00:23:18.476
 that was her son-in-law.
 
 00:23:19.356 --> 00:23:20.917
 They lost everything in the house.
 
 00:23:20.958 --> 00:23:24.520
 And in October, I think it was,
 
 00:23:24.560 --> 00:23:26.383
 they were a number of people,
 
 00:23:26.442 --> 00:23:28.345
 including Peter Fry and Richard Ralph,
 
 00:23:28.384 --> 00:23:30.205
 were getting things like card tables,
 
 00:23:30.246 --> 00:23:30.967
 bedsteads,
 
 00:23:31.007 --> 00:23:32.949
 and chairs to sort of replace
 
 00:23:33.028 --> 00:23:34.549
 all of the materials that
 
 00:23:34.589 --> 00:23:37.553
 they lost in the fire.
 
 00:23:37.573 --> 00:23:38.753
 Just so that they could survive.
 
 00:23:39.335 --> 00:23:40.996
 Where did they go when the
 
 00:23:41.036 --> 00:23:41.576
 house burned down?
 
 00:23:42.693 --> 00:23:43.835
 They seem to at least for a
 
 00:23:43.894 --> 00:23:45.494
 short time stayed in Salem.
 
 00:23:46.996 --> 00:23:50.577
 I believe eventually Abigail
 
 00:23:50.837 --> 00:23:53.098
 and Sylvester Sr.
 
 00:23:53.480 --> 00:23:55.961
 went to England and she got
 
 00:23:56.040 --> 00:23:58.201
 sick in England and died.
 
 00:23:58.241 --> 00:23:59.722
 And her internment record is
 
 00:23:59.782 --> 00:24:01.284
 interesting because she's
 
 00:24:01.324 --> 00:24:03.704
 listed as a North American.
 
 00:24:05.226 --> 00:24:07.847
 So these people have become in exile,
 
 00:24:07.907 --> 00:24:09.429
 perhaps hoping that they come back.
 
 00:24:09.750 --> 00:24:12.491
 Her husband, Sylvester Gardner,
 
 00:24:12.531 --> 00:24:14.173
 did come back and he was
 
 00:24:14.232 --> 00:24:15.294
 from Rhode Island, I believe.
 
 00:24:15.314 --> 00:24:17.214
 I don't know if he died in
 
 00:24:17.255 --> 00:24:18.415
 Rhode Island or Virginia.
 
 00:24:19.257 --> 00:24:19.958
 Richard Ralph,
 
 00:24:20.258 --> 00:24:21.419
 he went off and became
 
 00:24:21.719 --> 00:24:23.840
 customs official in Newfoundland,
 
 00:24:24.901 --> 00:24:26.021
 but they had moved off.
 
 00:24:27.563 --> 00:24:29.104
 The portrait here is from
 
 00:24:29.163 --> 00:24:31.785
 the Dictionary of Canadian Biography.
 
 00:24:31.845 --> 00:24:33.086
 So it's sort of a
 
 00:24:33.526 --> 00:24:34.967
 substantial person in that
 
 00:24:35.307 --> 00:24:40.068
 relocation in the Maritimes.
 
 00:24:40.108 --> 00:24:43.790
 Now, these two books,
 
 00:24:43.830 --> 00:24:45.912
 there's three that I know of actually,
 
 00:24:46.352 --> 00:24:48.413
 I believe are surviving customs books.
 
 00:24:48.472 --> 00:24:49.472
 And the one on the left is
 
 00:24:49.512 --> 00:24:50.453
 really fascinating.
 
 00:24:50.814 --> 00:24:51.913
 It's the record book that
 
 00:24:51.953 --> 00:24:53.095
 was listed as being
 
 00:24:55.121 --> 00:24:56.001
 on the list of books that
 
 00:24:56.343 --> 00:25:00.287
 the controller and the
 
 00:25:00.326 --> 00:25:01.808
 collector were meant to maintain.
 
 00:25:03.049 --> 00:25:04.352
 The book on the right is a
 
 00:25:04.412 --> 00:25:05.653
 memorandum book and that
 
 00:25:05.752 --> 00:25:06.994
 lists all the books that
 
 00:25:07.015 --> 00:25:08.856
 would have been under their control.
 
 00:25:09.277 --> 00:25:11.078
 And there's a similar list
 
 00:25:11.138 --> 00:25:12.160
 in the book on the left.
 
 00:25:12.441 --> 00:25:13.642
 So they reference each other
 
 00:25:13.741 --> 00:25:14.782
 as to what the customs
 
 00:25:14.803 --> 00:25:16.005
 books were supposed to be.
 
 00:25:16.625 --> 00:25:17.746
 So how they got into the
 
 00:25:17.786 --> 00:25:21.967
 hands of these museums, I'm not sure.
 
 00:25:22.007 --> 00:25:22.948
 The one on the right is in
 
 00:25:22.968 --> 00:25:24.628
 the Boston Athenaeum,
 
 00:25:25.048 --> 00:25:26.269
 and it's really fascinating.
 
 00:25:26.308 --> 00:25:27.269
 It shows a lot of the
 
 00:25:27.990 --> 00:25:29.471
 internal workings of
 
 00:25:29.530 --> 00:25:31.632
 customs and adaptations
 
 00:25:31.672 --> 00:25:34.492
 they made to policies in
 
 00:25:34.553 --> 00:25:36.213
 order to have things function,
 
 00:25:36.273 --> 00:25:38.214
 especially between the
 
 00:25:38.275 --> 00:25:39.434
 period of just to seventeen
 
 00:25:39.494 --> 00:25:41.675
 sixty-eight and as far as I
 
 00:25:41.695 --> 00:25:43.317
 can tell about seventeen seventy-four.
 
 00:25:44.518 --> 00:25:46.078
 And the book on the left has
 
 00:25:46.098 --> 00:25:50.021
 oaths of office where the
 
 00:25:50.061 --> 00:25:51.021
 customs officials would
 
 00:25:51.122 --> 00:25:53.703
 sign it and then write the
 
 00:25:53.784 --> 00:25:54.845
 oath back out so that they
 
 00:25:54.884 --> 00:25:56.266
 knew what it was.
 
 00:25:56.306 --> 00:25:57.567
 And customs officials were
 
 00:25:57.606 --> 00:26:01.130
 paid a basic regular salary.
 
 00:26:01.509 --> 00:26:03.070
 And then in the case of like
 
 00:26:03.151 --> 00:26:05.393
 a customs tide waiter,
 
 00:26:05.972 --> 00:26:07.433
 they were meant to watch
 
 00:26:07.654 --> 00:26:09.675
 the ships on the coast to
 
 00:26:09.695 --> 00:26:10.497
 make sure that nothing was
 
 00:26:10.537 --> 00:26:11.616
 trying to be smuggled in.
 
 00:26:13.538 --> 00:26:14.699
 The tide waiters would be
 
 00:26:15.259 --> 00:26:16.921
 paid to be on the ships
 
 00:26:17.000 --> 00:26:18.622
 while they were being gone through.
 
 00:26:19.362 --> 00:26:21.963
 And if they had found any
 
 00:26:22.763 --> 00:26:25.546
 goods that were smuggled,
 
 00:26:25.905 --> 00:26:28.767
 they were paid off the
 
 00:26:28.846 --> 00:26:31.128
 auction of those goods.
 
 00:26:31.509 --> 00:26:32.670
 So there was incentive for
 
 00:26:32.690 --> 00:26:34.270
 them to actually do their job.
 
 00:26:37.016 --> 00:26:38.436
 We're talking with Curtis White,
 
 00:26:38.576 --> 00:26:39.757
 retired ranger from the
 
 00:26:39.817 --> 00:26:41.038
 Saugus Iron Works National
 
 00:26:41.057 --> 00:26:41.798
 Historical Site,
 
 00:26:41.817 --> 00:26:42.817
 as well as the Salem
 
 00:26:42.857 --> 00:26:44.538
 Maritime National Historical Site,
 
 00:26:44.838 --> 00:26:45.880
 talking about the Great
 
 00:26:45.920 --> 00:26:47.660
 Fire of Salem in October
 
 00:26:47.740 --> 00:26:49.441
 sixth of seventeen seventy four.
 
 00:26:52.010 --> 00:26:53.471
 And the book on the left
 
 00:26:53.551 --> 00:26:54.672
 also includes a really
 
 00:26:54.711 --> 00:26:56.333
 interesting story about a
 
 00:26:56.432 --> 00:26:57.973
 raid on Elias Haskett
 
 00:26:58.013 --> 00:26:59.714
 Derby's warehouse in Salem.
 
 00:27:00.516 --> 00:27:02.195
 There was apparently
 
 00:27:02.236 --> 00:27:05.557
 fifty-nine pipes of smuggled wine.
 
 00:27:05.877 --> 00:27:08.319
 They discovered because they
 
 00:27:08.400 --> 00:27:11.421
 saw Derby's schooner Pembroke.
 
 00:27:12.922 --> 00:27:14.323
 off in the distance sort of
 
 00:27:14.403 --> 00:27:15.482
 sitting out of the water
 
 00:27:15.542 --> 00:27:16.564
 and they got curious and
 
 00:27:16.584 --> 00:27:18.285
 they found these roll marks
 
 00:27:18.325 --> 00:27:19.505
 that went into derby's
 
 00:27:19.545 --> 00:27:22.246
 warehouse they got john
 
 00:27:22.286 --> 00:27:23.646
 mascarine from the custom
 
 00:27:23.686 --> 00:27:25.307
 house and came down with an
 
 00:27:25.448 --> 00:27:26.888
 axe and attempted to break
 
 00:27:26.929 --> 00:27:29.390
 into the building and derby
 
 00:27:29.990 --> 00:27:31.211
 broke the blow of the axe
 
 00:27:31.230 --> 00:27:32.391
 with his hand said if you
 
 00:27:32.431 --> 00:27:33.672
 get in here I'm ruined
 
 00:27:34.332 --> 00:27:35.292
 Reason being,
 
 00:27:35.854 --> 00:27:37.055
 and this took place in the
 
 00:27:37.154 --> 00:27:38.676
 fall of the year of the
 
 00:27:39.557 --> 00:27:40.940
 year of the year of the
 
 00:27:40.960 --> 00:27:42.580
 year of the year of the
 
 00:27:42.681 --> 00:27:44.222
 year of the year of the
 
 00:27:44.903 --> 00:27:46.244
 year of the year of the
 
 00:27:46.586 --> 00:27:52.792
 year of the year of the year of the year.
 
 00:27:57.685 --> 00:27:58.766
 got the money from the
 
 00:27:58.826 --> 00:27:59.686
 auction of the goods.
 
 00:28:00.146 --> 00:28:01.387
 The goods were auctioned off
 
 00:28:01.428 --> 00:28:03.048
 at a fairly low price and
 
 00:28:03.548 --> 00:28:05.269
 Mascarene was criticized by
 
 00:28:05.309 --> 00:28:06.851
 the commissioners in Boston
 
 00:28:07.270 --> 00:28:09.172
 for not being there to bid
 
 00:28:09.271 --> 00:28:13.193
 up the value of the goods.
 
 00:28:13.594 --> 00:28:14.894
 So they went at a fairly low rate.
 
 00:28:14.914 --> 00:28:15.575
 And if I remember,
 
 00:28:15.595 --> 00:28:16.736
 I think Derby bought the
 
 00:28:16.776 --> 00:28:18.316
 goods back again and had
 
 00:28:18.336 --> 00:28:19.116
 been confiscated.
 
 00:28:22.807 --> 00:28:24.107
 A couple other people involved,
 
 00:28:24.167 --> 00:28:26.028
 I showed you that fire bucket,
 
 00:28:26.169 --> 00:28:29.811
 and that was a reproduction fire bag.
 
 00:28:31.212 --> 00:28:32.313
 Mary Vial Holyoke,
 
 00:28:32.333 --> 00:28:33.933
 she was a diarist in Salem,
 
 00:28:34.295 --> 00:28:36.355
 second wife of Edward Augustus Holyoke.
 
 00:28:36.375 --> 00:28:38.678
 They live right next door to William Brown,
 
 00:28:39.397 --> 00:28:40.638
 the mandamus counselor.
 
 00:28:41.038 --> 00:28:41.439
 And again,
 
 00:28:41.459 --> 00:28:43.059
 they all kind of had dinners
 
 00:28:43.099 --> 00:28:46.060
 together and so forth fairly well.
 
 00:28:46.121 --> 00:28:47.280
 And Edward Augustus Holyoake
 
 00:28:47.320 --> 00:28:48.141
 is the guy with the fire
 
 00:28:48.161 --> 00:28:48.961
 bucket that we saw.
 
 00:28:49.021 --> 00:28:49.602
 That's correct.
 
 00:28:49.662 --> 00:28:50.281
 Yep.
 
 00:28:50.301 --> 00:28:51.221
 Yep.
 
 00:28:51.261 --> 00:28:52.682
 And he's also founder of the
 
 00:28:52.722 --> 00:28:55.584
 Massachusetts Medical Association,
 
 00:28:55.644 --> 00:28:56.284
 I believe.
 
 00:28:56.324 --> 00:28:58.183
 He lived to be a hundred years old.
 
 00:28:59.684 --> 00:29:01.224
 And he was also involved in
 
 00:29:01.685 --> 00:29:02.945
 the establishment of
 
 00:29:04.468 --> 00:29:06.650
 the smallpox hospital in Marblehead in, in,
 
 00:29:06.869 --> 00:29:07.570
 in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in,
 
 00:29:07.590 --> 00:29:09.952
 in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in,
 
 00:29:09.992 --> 00:29:11.213
 in, in, in, in, in, in,
 
 00:29:25.983 --> 00:29:27.105
 their goods out of the house
 
 00:29:27.144 --> 00:29:28.526
 in anticipation of the fire,
 
 00:29:28.787 --> 00:29:30.107
 but the fire never actually
 
 00:29:30.147 --> 00:29:30.929
 got to their house.
 
 00:29:31.670 --> 00:29:38.876
 In, um, on February, in her diary,
 
 00:29:38.916 --> 00:29:40.117
 she notes, um,
 
 00:29:41.957 --> 00:29:43.478
 The soldiers came for the cannon,
 
 00:29:43.498 --> 00:29:46.080
 is what she said.
 
 00:29:46.121 --> 00:29:47.622
 She reported drinking tea
 
 00:29:47.662 --> 00:29:50.124
 with a Mrs. Johnson on April.
 
 00:29:51.705 --> 00:29:52.886
 When things started there
 
 00:29:52.926 --> 00:29:55.868
 and she evacuated Salem to
 
 00:29:55.929 --> 00:29:57.250
 try to find a safer spot.
 
 00:29:57.269 --> 00:29:57.851
 And what they thought was
 
 00:29:57.871 --> 00:30:00.834
 going to be safe was in Nantucket.
 
 00:30:02.295 --> 00:30:03.396
 where the pacifists were,
 
 00:30:03.497 --> 00:30:04.919
 but she was kind of wrong there.
 
 00:30:04.959 --> 00:30:06.541
 She stayed with,
 
 00:30:06.561 --> 00:30:07.403
 at least for a little while,
 
 00:30:07.442 --> 00:30:08.644
 Benjamin Franklin's cousin,
 
 00:30:08.684 --> 00:30:09.546
 Timothy Folger,
 
 00:30:10.626 --> 00:30:12.931
 and witnessed the buildup
 
 00:30:12.971 --> 00:30:14.153
 of goods that was going to
 
 00:30:14.432 --> 00:30:17.637
 go into the attack on Bunker Hill.
 
 00:30:18.498 --> 00:30:20.638
 So the boats that were being
 
 00:30:20.679 --> 00:30:22.259
 confiscated by both sides
 
 00:30:22.299 --> 00:30:25.701
 and the foodstuffs, she witnessed that.
 
 00:30:26.301 --> 00:30:27.082
 And she was there,
 
 00:30:27.903 --> 00:30:28.843
 and Edward Augustus
 
 00:30:29.723 --> 00:30:31.304
 witnessed Bunker Hill from
 
 00:30:31.365 --> 00:30:33.105
 his house in Salem with the smoke,
 
 00:30:33.204 --> 00:30:34.145
 a prodigious amount of
 
 00:30:34.165 --> 00:30:36.027
 smoke passing through,
 
 00:30:36.106 --> 00:30:38.087
 and he wrote to Mary about it.
 
 00:30:38.667 --> 00:30:40.949
 And there was a fire that
 
 00:30:40.969 --> 00:30:42.170
 took place in Marblehead
 
 00:30:42.369 --> 00:30:43.650
 right around the time of Bunker Hill,
 
 00:30:44.191 --> 00:30:46.251
 and Edward Augustus felt remorse
 
 00:30:47.667 --> 00:30:49.969
 since he was a member of the fire club,
 
 00:30:50.288 --> 00:30:51.569
 that he should help respond
 
 00:30:51.609 --> 00:30:53.029
 to this fire in Marblehead
 
 00:30:53.069 --> 00:30:54.310
 that was taking place.
 
 00:30:54.330 --> 00:30:55.751
 So he set out running
 
 00:30:55.791 --> 00:30:57.412
 towards Marblehead and got
 
 00:30:57.451 --> 00:30:58.653
 a good portion of the way
 
 00:30:59.053 --> 00:31:00.394
 there when he realized that
 
 00:31:00.773 --> 00:31:01.594
 somebody told him that it
 
 00:31:01.614 --> 00:31:02.494
 was just a grass fire,
 
 00:31:02.515 --> 00:31:03.654
 he didn't have to worry about it.
 
 00:31:03.934 --> 00:31:04.875
 But that kind of shows the
 
 00:31:04.955 --> 00:31:07.277
 dedication that he had into
 
 00:31:07.856 --> 00:31:08.958
 being a firefighter.
 
 00:31:09.438 --> 00:31:10.478
 And the firefighters,
 
 00:31:10.577 --> 00:31:11.419
 the members of the fire
 
 00:31:11.459 --> 00:31:14.079
 club were exempt from military training.
 
 00:31:14.920 --> 00:31:16.461
 They had to do firefighting training.
 
 00:31:20.570 --> 00:31:21.352
 Again,
 
 00:31:22.732 --> 00:31:24.914
 he was attending the meeting in Salem,
 
 00:31:25.494 --> 00:31:27.256
 but I believe he was staying at home.
 
 00:31:28.537 --> 00:31:30.558
 On October six,
 
 00:31:30.659 --> 00:31:32.079
 he apparently responded
 
 00:31:32.539 --> 00:31:34.340
 with the Marbleheaders to
 
 00:31:34.381 --> 00:31:35.461
 help to fight the fire.
 
 00:31:37.903 --> 00:31:39.826
 collection of information
 
 00:31:39.846 --> 00:31:41.929
 about fire buckets um there
 
 00:31:41.949 --> 00:31:44.592
 was a newspaper article in
 
 00:31:44.612 --> 00:31:45.813
 the boston newspaper which
 
 00:31:45.833 --> 00:31:48.395
 I haven't found yet um but
 
 00:31:48.435 --> 00:31:50.798
 he lost two fire buckets in
 
 00:31:50.818 --> 00:31:51.579
 fighting the fire
 
 00:31:53.407 --> 00:31:54.509
 So the meeting we're talking
 
 00:31:54.528 --> 00:31:55.450
 about that's happening in
 
 00:31:55.509 --> 00:31:56.790
 Salem is actually the
 
 00:31:56.991 --> 00:31:58.073
 Provincial Congress.
 
 00:31:58.413 --> 00:31:58.653
 Right.
 
 00:31:58.732 --> 00:32:00.075
 So, well,
 
 00:32:00.115 --> 00:32:02.416
 the first day on the fifth was
 
 00:32:02.477 --> 00:32:03.417
 waiting for Gage.
 
 00:32:03.577 --> 00:32:05.619
 And they didn't, I mean,
 
 00:32:05.640 --> 00:32:06.881
 Gage said he wasn't going to come,
 
 00:32:06.961 --> 00:32:07.922
 but they met anyway.
 
 00:32:08.301 --> 00:32:09.242
 They were convening as the
 
 00:32:09.282 --> 00:32:10.463
 Provincial Assembly then.
 
 00:32:10.564 --> 00:32:11.726
 He called the assembly and
 
 00:32:11.746 --> 00:32:12.886
 then canceled the meeting.
 
 00:32:12.926 --> 00:32:13.747
 But they said they hadn't
 
 00:32:13.767 --> 00:32:14.708
 gotten the message that he
 
 00:32:14.728 --> 00:32:16.430
 was canceling the meeting.
 
 00:32:16.470 --> 00:32:17.371
 So he doesn't show up.
 
 00:32:18.492 --> 00:32:18.673
 Right.
 
 00:32:18.893 --> 00:32:20.213
 So I believe that their
 
 00:32:20.273 --> 00:32:22.815
 intent was probably to have
 
 00:32:23.615 --> 00:32:24.476
 the provincial Congress
 
 00:32:24.496 --> 00:32:25.436
 meeting on the sixth.
 
 00:32:26.156 --> 00:32:27.557
 But the fire took up
 
 00:32:27.738 --> 00:32:30.638
 everybody's time on the sixth.
 
 00:32:31.078 --> 00:32:31.859
 And that was going,
 
 00:32:32.000 --> 00:32:32.660
 it was probably a good
 
 00:32:32.700 --> 00:32:33.601
 portion of the day before
 
 00:32:33.621 --> 00:32:34.721
 they got the fire put down.
 
 00:32:34.840 --> 00:32:36.082
 Right.
 
 00:32:36.102 --> 00:32:37.542
 Was the fire near where the
 
 00:32:37.643 --> 00:32:38.803
 Congress was going to meet
 
 00:32:38.883 --> 00:32:40.023
 or the assembly was planning?
 
 00:32:40.064 --> 00:32:41.424
 Yeah, it was right across the street.
 
 00:32:41.464 --> 00:32:41.924
 Oh, wow.
 
 00:32:47.230 --> 00:32:49.892
 Then the only fatality was a Mrs. Field.
 
 00:32:50.853 --> 00:32:52.674
 There was a Captain Samuel Field.
 
 00:32:52.714 --> 00:32:53.996
 He had a boat building shop.
 
 00:32:54.195 --> 00:32:55.438
 I assume it was a small boat
 
 00:32:56.097 --> 00:32:57.239
 shop for rowboats or
 
 00:32:57.298 --> 00:32:58.079
 something to that effect
 
 00:32:58.119 --> 00:32:59.121
 because it was at the top
 
 00:32:59.161 --> 00:33:00.402
 of the hill on School Street.
 
 00:33:01.663 --> 00:33:03.704
 But Mrs. Field, apparently,
 
 00:33:04.365 --> 00:33:05.747
 she was a woman of advanced
 
 00:33:05.967 --> 00:33:07.249
 age and apparently was
 
 00:33:07.288 --> 00:33:09.289
 attempting to escape the
 
 00:33:09.351 --> 00:33:11.633
 fire probably before the
 
 00:33:11.673 --> 00:33:12.874
 fire got to her house.
 
 00:33:14.013 --> 00:33:14.355
 She,
 
 00:33:14.694 --> 00:33:15.974
 it appears may have been running down
 
 00:33:16.015 --> 00:33:17.496
 the stairs or trying to go
 
 00:33:17.536 --> 00:33:19.037
 down the stairs and hit her
 
 00:33:19.076 --> 00:33:21.798
 head on a boat and I think
 
 00:33:21.857 --> 00:33:24.358
 died in the stairway against the chimney.
 
 00:33:24.838 --> 00:33:26.700
 And people picked her up and
 
 00:33:26.720 --> 00:33:27.880
 dragged her outside and she
 
 00:33:27.920 --> 00:33:29.020
 was buried the next day.
 
 00:33:32.647 --> 00:33:34.307
 Another victim of the fire
 
 00:33:34.627 --> 00:33:36.769
 was the Essex Gazette printing office.
 
 00:33:37.469 --> 00:33:40.069
 It was a building that had
 
 00:33:40.450 --> 00:33:43.289
 three businesses in it.
 
 00:33:43.390 --> 00:33:45.490
 One of them was the printing office.
 
 00:33:45.530 --> 00:33:46.451
 And this is how we know
 
 00:33:46.871 --> 00:33:48.691
 about the custom house down
 
 00:33:48.730 --> 00:33:49.771
 at the waterfront,
 
 00:33:50.432 --> 00:33:51.951
 because that's where the
 
 00:33:51.991 --> 00:33:53.791
 printing office moved after the fire,
 
 00:33:53.832 --> 00:33:54.932
 at least in a temporary
 
 00:33:54.972 --> 00:33:56.752
 basis so that they continue printing.
 
 00:33:58.113 --> 00:33:59.314
 They moved to a brick building.
 
 00:34:00.153 --> 00:34:00.894
 Yeah, yeah.
 
 00:34:04.616 --> 00:34:05.458
 And then amongst those
 
 00:34:05.518 --> 00:34:07.159
 people meeting in Salem
 
 00:34:10.119 --> 00:34:11.481
 that were elected on the
 
 00:34:11.541 --> 00:34:13.561
 seventh were John Hancock
 
 00:34:14.041 --> 00:34:17.324
 and Benjamin Lincoln.
 
 00:34:18.204 --> 00:34:19.905
 Those were the only two people elected.
 
 00:34:19.965 --> 00:34:21.025
 And it's interesting with
 
 00:34:21.065 --> 00:34:22.347
 them that John Hancock is
 
 00:34:22.387 --> 00:34:23.248
 the first to sign the
 
 00:34:23.288 --> 00:34:24.668
 Declaration of Independence
 
 00:34:25.048 --> 00:34:26.128
 and that Benjamin Lincoln
 
 00:34:26.188 --> 00:34:28.650
 is the person who collects
 
 00:34:29.150 --> 00:34:30.931
 Cornwallis' sword at the
 
 00:34:30.992 --> 00:34:32.152
 surrender at Yorktown.
 
 00:34:36.786 --> 00:34:38.347
 Then within a couple of days,
 
 00:34:38.367 --> 00:34:39.347
 and this was probably,
 
 00:34:39.568 --> 00:34:40.547
 it was a town meeting.
 
 00:34:40.588 --> 00:34:43.050
 It was probably also in defiance of Gage.
 
 00:34:44.371 --> 00:34:45.791
 They had an after action.
 
 00:34:46.331 --> 00:34:47.490
 review kind of thing where
 
 00:34:47.510 --> 00:34:48.612
 they went through all the
 
 00:34:48.652 --> 00:34:49.851
 things that maybe went
 
 00:34:50.092 --> 00:34:50.972
 wrong or something that
 
 00:34:51.012 --> 00:34:51.791
 they could do better.
 
 00:34:52.472 --> 00:34:55.713
 Among the things they did was elected to,
 
 00:34:57.054 --> 00:34:59.594
 voted to dig two new wells
 
 00:34:59.653 --> 00:35:01.434
 and attach pumps to them.
 
 00:35:02.875 --> 00:35:05.396
 That boys should not be in
 
 00:35:05.516 --> 00:35:06.916
 the water feed line.
 
 00:35:08.076 --> 00:35:08.976
 I don't know whether that
 
 00:35:08.996 --> 00:35:09.817
 was because they couldn't
 
 00:35:09.856 --> 00:35:10.737
 handle the weight or they
 
 00:35:10.757 --> 00:35:12.016
 were messing around or whatever,
 
 00:35:12.717 --> 00:35:13.818
 losing too much water.
 
 00:35:14.898 --> 00:35:15.639
 That happened.
 
 00:35:15.719 --> 00:35:21.568
 They voted to add a watch.
 
 00:35:21.708 --> 00:35:23.469
 An interesting thing was the mill.
 
 00:35:24.672 --> 00:35:26.153
 They suggested that the mill
 
 00:35:26.853 --> 00:35:28.115
 owner that was at the
 
 00:35:29.438 --> 00:35:30.619
 on Mill Street at the base
 
 00:35:30.679 --> 00:35:32.099
 of Hanover Street,
 
 00:35:32.760 --> 00:35:35.862
 that they be able to order
 
 00:35:35.902 --> 00:35:37.083
 the mill operator to
 
 00:35:37.804 --> 00:35:39.606
 release the water from the mill pond.
 
 00:35:40.347 --> 00:35:41.527
 And I don't know what that
 
 00:35:41.568 --> 00:35:42.869
 was really gonna do to help
 
 00:35:42.949 --> 00:35:45.150
 other than put some water into the river,
 
 00:35:47.811 --> 00:35:48.773
 into the South River.
 
 00:35:49.092 --> 00:35:49.954
 But I would imagine that
 
 00:35:49.974 --> 00:35:51.074
 would dissipate quite a bit,
 
 00:35:51.454 --> 00:35:52.735
 but they saw it as a source
 
 00:35:52.775 --> 00:35:54.257
 of water anyway for
 
 00:35:54.577 --> 00:35:56.199
 fighting any fires in the future.
 
 00:35:57.737 --> 00:35:59.838
 And when they established lanes,
 
 00:36:00.217 --> 00:36:01.157
 they suggested that they
 
 00:36:01.177 --> 00:36:02.878
 find the short ways to the
 
 00:36:02.918 --> 00:36:04.759
 North River or the South River,
 
 00:36:04.798 --> 00:36:07.239
 whichever was going to help
 
 00:36:07.260 --> 00:36:07.900
 them the most.
 
 00:36:08.320 --> 00:36:10.061
 Because this whole thing
 
 00:36:10.101 --> 00:36:11.181
 takes place almost
 
 00:36:11.601 --> 00:36:12.661
 equidistant between the
 
 00:36:12.702 --> 00:36:13.782
 North River in Salem and
 
 00:36:13.802 --> 00:36:15.023
 the South River in Salem.
 
 00:36:15.623 --> 00:36:17.483
 So the fire in Salem leads
 
 00:36:17.523 --> 00:36:19.103
 to Salem rethinking how it
 
 00:36:19.164 --> 00:36:20.664
 fights fires in the future.
 
 00:36:21.670 --> 00:36:22.010
 Correct.
 
 00:36:22.130 --> 00:36:22.789
 Yep.
 
 00:36:22.849 --> 00:36:23.530
 Yep.
 
 00:36:23.650 --> 00:36:25.952
 And they also suggested that
 
 00:36:25.972 --> 00:36:27.331
 they add another pumper.
 
 00:36:27.371 --> 00:36:28.572
 They didn't say a second.
 
 00:36:28.652 --> 00:36:29.952
 I think they may have already had two,
 
 00:36:30.614 --> 00:36:31.313
 that they add another
 
 00:36:31.353 --> 00:36:32.614
 pumper to their collection
 
 00:36:32.914 --> 00:36:34.835
 of firefighting equipment.
 
 00:36:35.554 --> 00:36:35.695
 Now,
 
 00:36:35.735 --> 00:36:38.016
 was there any investigation at the
 
 00:36:38.076 --> 00:36:39.317
 time or suspicion at the
 
 00:36:39.356 --> 00:36:40.376
 time that the fire might
 
 00:36:40.396 --> 00:36:41.637
 have been set deliberately?
 
 00:36:42.297 --> 00:36:43.559
 That's something I haven't
 
 00:36:43.579 --> 00:36:44.418
 been able to find.
 
 00:36:45.269 --> 00:36:46.690
 And what do you think, Curtis?
 
 00:36:47.152 --> 00:36:48.913
 What I think is that I think
 
 00:36:49.414 --> 00:36:51.335
 Peter Fry was targeted to
 
 00:36:51.375 --> 00:36:53.777
 keep him busy so that he
 
 00:36:53.797 --> 00:36:54.978
 wouldn't be tempted to
 
 00:36:55.038 --> 00:36:56.059
 arrest any of the people
 
 00:36:56.079 --> 00:37:00.382
 that were meeting in defiance of Gage.
 
 00:37:00.402 --> 00:37:01.463
 That's my personal thought.
 
 00:37:01.523 --> 00:37:02.244
 Okay, okay.
 
 00:37:06.965 --> 00:37:08.266
 Then I just happened to find this.
 
 00:37:08.327 --> 00:37:09.728
 I thought it was interesting about,
 
 00:37:10.688 --> 00:37:12.150
 it's a song that's written
 
 00:37:12.210 --> 00:37:16.253
 to the tune of Smile
 
 00:37:16.273 --> 00:37:19.355
 Britannia regarding the
 
 00:37:19.596 --> 00:37:22.338
 meetings and the congresses in Salem.
 
 00:37:22.898 --> 00:37:24.940
 It's got a number of verses,
 
 00:37:24.980 --> 00:37:25.860
 but it was printed in the
 
 00:37:25.920 --> 00:37:29.123
 Essex Gazette in, I think it was October,
 
 00:37:29.182 --> 00:37:30.143
 the twenty-second in
 
 00:37:30.184 --> 00:37:31.284
 seventeen seventy-four.
 
 00:37:31.945 --> 00:37:32.846
 Be nice to find somebody who
 
 00:37:32.865 --> 00:37:33.365
 could sing that.
 
 00:37:34.007 --> 00:37:34.226
 Yes.
 
 00:37:35.646 --> 00:37:36.626
 Figure out what the tune is
 
 00:37:36.666 --> 00:37:38.108
 to Smile Britannia.
 
 00:37:38.208 --> 00:37:38.927
 Yeah.
 
 00:37:40.570 --> 00:37:41.309
 In the slide,
 
 00:37:41.990 --> 00:37:45.273
 there is a visual image of the tune.
 
 00:37:45.793 --> 00:37:47.434
 I actually have the music, yeah.
 
 00:37:47.534 --> 00:37:49.416
 Yeah.
 
 00:37:49.436 --> 00:37:50.617
 I wonder if Britton's
 
 00:37:50.637 --> 00:37:51.938
 thinking of changing that.
 
 00:37:52.418 --> 00:37:53.679
 Smile Britannia certainly is
 
 00:37:53.719 --> 00:37:54.960
 different than Rule Britannia.
 
 00:37:55.480 --> 00:37:55.880
 Yeah,
 
 00:37:55.900 --> 00:37:58.443
 I think the songs are similar in when
 
 00:37:58.483 --> 00:37:59.603
 they were created.
 
 00:37:59.764 --> 00:38:00.304
 Right, yeah.
 
 00:38:04.963 --> 00:38:07.385
 Well, that's it for my presentation.
 
 00:38:07.666 --> 00:38:09.929
 This is very interesting, Curtis.
 
 00:38:10.309 --> 00:38:12.771
 So the great Salem fire in
 
 00:38:12.791 --> 00:38:14.373
 the fall of seventeen seventy four,
 
 00:38:14.393 --> 00:38:15.655
 which has this impact on
 
 00:38:15.695 --> 00:38:17.277
 the meeting of the provincial Congress,
 
 00:38:17.297 --> 00:38:18.038
 because then they actually
 
 00:38:18.077 --> 00:38:20.039
 take off for Concord after
 
 00:38:20.079 --> 00:38:21.681
 this disruption in Salem.
 
 00:38:21.722 --> 00:38:22.923
 What happens to Gage and the
 
 00:38:22.943 --> 00:38:23.764
 provincial government?
 
 00:38:23.804 --> 00:38:24.846
 What do they do after this?
 
 00:38:28.284 --> 00:38:29.085
 Those were things I was
 
 00:38:29.146 --> 00:38:30.168
 leaving to other people.
 
 00:38:30.507 --> 00:38:30.728
 Oh, okay.
 
 00:38:31.309 --> 00:38:31.588
 Okay.
 
 00:38:31.869 --> 00:38:32.670
 Gage, I believe,
 
 00:38:32.751 --> 00:38:34.952
 may have actually already been gone back.
 
 00:38:35.032 --> 00:38:36.094
 And I think they were
 
 00:38:36.135 --> 00:38:37.697
 rethinking the idea that
 
 00:38:39.237 --> 00:38:40.320
 the troops were actually
 
 00:38:40.360 --> 00:38:41.481
 going to benefit them
 
 00:38:41.521 --> 00:38:42.501
 because of the response
 
 00:38:42.521 --> 00:38:43.923
 that they got after...
 
 00:38:46.085 --> 00:38:47.987
 those people involved in the
 
 00:38:48.027 --> 00:38:49.507
 meeting were arrested,
 
 00:38:49.927 --> 00:38:50.927
 I think it was far beyond
 
 00:38:50.967 --> 00:38:52.188
 what they expect to happen.
 
 00:38:53.068 --> 00:38:55.349
 As well as the powder alarm,
 
 00:38:55.769 --> 00:38:57.989
 I think brought Gage's
 
 00:38:58.369 --> 00:38:59.630
 consciousness up about what
 
 00:38:59.670 --> 00:39:02.711
 was possible in the outlands.
 
 00:39:04.411 --> 00:39:04.552
 Yeah,
 
 00:39:04.572 --> 00:39:06.092
 and he tells the British government
 
 00:39:06.233 --> 00:39:08.293
 that it's not safe to have
 
 00:39:08.333 --> 00:39:10.273
 the provincial council meet
 
 00:39:10.353 --> 00:39:11.713
 outside of Boston because
 
 00:39:11.773 --> 00:39:12.934
 there he can protect them.
 
 00:39:12.994 --> 00:39:14.974
 He sees what happens in Salem.
 
 00:39:15.034 --> 00:39:15.695
 Very interesting,
 
 00:39:15.715 --> 00:39:16.474
 very interesting to see
 
 00:39:16.494 --> 00:39:17.715
 what's happening in Salem
 
 00:39:17.755 --> 00:39:19.356
 at this time when it is
 
 00:39:19.396 --> 00:39:20.536
 supposed to be the place to
 
 00:39:20.556 --> 00:39:21.577
 calm things down,
 
 00:39:21.677 --> 00:39:23.036
 but things just get worse.
 
 00:39:24.652 --> 00:39:26.793
 Correct.
 
 00:39:26.813 --> 00:39:28.454
 So we've been talking with Curtis White,
 
 00:39:28.534 --> 00:39:29.594
 retired ranger from the
 
 00:39:29.655 --> 00:39:30.875
 Saugus Iron Works National
 
 00:39:30.894 --> 00:39:31.655
 Historical Site,
 
 00:39:31.695 --> 00:39:32.795
 as well as the Salem
 
 00:39:32.835 --> 00:39:34.277
 Maritime National Historical Site,
 
 00:39:34.516 --> 00:39:35.597
 still researching these
 
 00:39:35.637 --> 00:39:37.137
 topics and still sharing this,
 
 00:39:37.177 --> 00:39:37.717
 which is great.
 
 00:39:37.757 --> 00:39:39.918
 So also this afternoon,
 
 00:39:39.938 --> 00:39:40.679
 you'll be speaking at the
 
 00:39:40.739 --> 00:39:42.340
 Essex Agricultural Society,
 
 00:39:42.360 --> 00:39:42.780
 where you've been a
 
 00:39:42.820 --> 00:39:44.360
 volunteer now for forty
 
 00:39:44.380 --> 00:39:46.181
 years doing investigating
 
 00:39:46.221 --> 00:39:48.141
 what's happening all over Essex County,
 
 00:39:48.181 --> 00:39:48.722
 which is great.
 
 00:39:50.599 --> 00:39:53.161
 I'll be meeting there with somebody.
 
 00:39:53.561 --> 00:39:55.503
 And the actual presentation
 
 00:39:55.523 --> 00:39:56.702
 I'm going to give is next
 
 00:39:56.764 --> 00:39:58.184
 February for the annual meeting.
 
 00:39:58.684 --> 00:39:59.045
 Okay.
 
 00:39:59.184 --> 00:39:59.666
 Very good.
 
 00:39:59.746 --> 00:39:59.965
 Very good.
 
 00:40:00.005 --> 00:40:01.246
 Well, thanks for joining us, Curtis.
 
 00:40:01.266 --> 00:40:01.666
 Okay.
 
 00:40:01.706 --> 00:40:02.347
 Thank you.
 
 00:40:02.407 --> 00:40:02.967
 Thanks for having me.
 
 00:40:03.652 --> 00:40:05.032
 And I want to thank Jonathan Lane,
 
 00:40:05.112 --> 00:40:05.893
 our producer,
 
 00:40:05.974 --> 00:40:07.315
 as well as our listeners all
 
 00:40:07.355 --> 00:40:08.155
 around the world.
 
 00:40:08.534 --> 00:40:09.655
 And every week I thank some
 
 00:40:09.675 --> 00:40:11.657
 of the folks who are tuning in regularly.
 
 00:40:11.998 --> 00:40:12.597
 And if you're in one of
 
 00:40:12.637 --> 00:40:13.998
 these places and want some
 
 00:40:14.039 --> 00:40:15.840
 of our Revolution Two-Fifty swag,
 
 00:40:15.880 --> 00:40:17.061
 send Jonathan an email,
 
 00:40:17.081 --> 00:40:20.143
 jlane at revolution two five oh dot org.
 
 00:40:20.664 --> 00:40:22.005
 So this week we have a
 
 00:40:22.125 --> 00:40:23.144
 number of folks listening
 
 00:40:23.184 --> 00:40:25.527
 in world capitals, Washington, D.C.,
 
 00:40:25.606 --> 00:40:26.788
 Tokyo, Oman.
 
 00:40:27.411 --> 00:40:29.452
 Edinburgh, Bogota, and Munich,
 
 00:40:29.893 --> 00:40:31.574
 as well as in Leawood, Kansas,
 
 00:40:31.855 --> 00:40:33.596
 and Detroit and Ann Arbor
 
 00:40:33.795 --> 00:40:35.177
 in the great state of Michigan,
 
 00:40:35.556 --> 00:40:37.739
 Santa Rosa, California, Lincolnton,
 
 00:40:37.778 --> 00:40:40.360
 North Carolina, Marlton, New Jersey,
 
 00:40:40.579 --> 00:40:41.400
 the city of St.
 
 00:40:41.440 --> 00:40:43.302
 Peter's in Missouri and St.
 
 00:40:43.322 --> 00:40:45.764
 Petersburg in Florida, Morristown,
 
 00:40:45.824 --> 00:40:46.344
 Tennessee,
 
 00:40:46.826 --> 00:40:48.467
 And here in the Commonwealth
 
 00:40:48.487 --> 00:40:50.992
 of Massachusetts, Brockton, Braintree,
 
 00:40:51.032 --> 00:40:52.253
 Beverly, and Belchertown,
 
 00:40:52.293 --> 00:40:53.255
 thanks for joining us.
 
 00:40:53.856 --> 00:40:55.358
 And all the folks between
 
 00:40:55.398 --> 00:40:56.780
 and beyond who are listening in.
 
 00:40:56.800 --> 00:40:58.121
 And now we will be piped out
 
 00:40:58.202 --> 00:40:59.143
 on the road to Boston.