Page:History of Delaware County (1856).djvu/303

DELAWARE COUNTY. 279 diaries. There is a horrible state of things in this county. I found to day that a posse went out last nighty to arrest six men living in Roxbury, the town adjoining Andes, where Steele was murdered, who were supposed to have been present, if not implicated in the murder. The posse had just returned bringing in three men, who are confined in jail. An express left here on Friday afternoon for Albany, to confer with, and bear dispatches to the Governor. The inhabitants say that the laws are insufficient. The grand juries will not find bills against anti-renters in this county. They further say, that, if the Grovernor does not act promptly, and provide relief, they, the people of this county, will take the law into their own hands. Steele had many very warm and ardent friends, who are determined to avenge the taking of his life. I presume there a]:e a thousand men waiting anxiously to be led into the dis- afi'ected towns, if the laws can have no effect. Much is said here about certain prominent men of this village, who are said to have thrown firebrands by encouraging the anti-renters. Men are pouring into the village, from different towns, to protect the public buildings. The anti-renters say that the jail will never again hold any of them long. They will endea- vor to destroy the State arms, that are here, by burning them. I am told that the Governor will be requested to declare the county in a state of insurrection, and to proclaim martial law.^^ Immediately upon the receipt of the intelligence of the death of Steele, meetings of the citizens were convened in various sections of the county. On the eleventh a meeting of the citizens of Moresville, was convened, and the venerable John T. More presided. On the fourteenth inst. a meeting was held at the head of the Delaware, at which A. M. Babcock presided. Isaac D. Cornwall, Charles Griffin, Calvin C. Covil, Joshua Draper, Hiram Fredenburgh, and Adam Grant, were appointed a