A Duel on Boston Common [pp. 330-337]

4A DUEL ON BOSTON COIAMON..3
loss of his friend was as great as his
fear of the consequences to himself, and
promised to take him beyond reach of
legal process before sunrise. The commander of the Skeernzess kept his word.
In an hour's time his ship, with all her
canvas spread to the wind, was heading
for the open sea, while the boat of the
pink Mo//lie, with one passenger less
than she brought, was on the way back
to Boston. Henry Phillips was safe
from the clutches of the law.
About three o'clock that morning, the
persons who for several hours had been
vainly searching on the Common for
young Woodbridge, found his dead body
near the Powder-house. There was a
small stab under the right arm, but the
fatal wound was evidently a rapier-thrust
under his right breast and coming out at
the small of the back. The forefinger
of the left hand was almost cut off at the
upper joint, the result, as was supposed,
of grasping a naked sword. A coroner's
inquest was immediately held, and the
verdict was that Benjamin Woodbridge
"came to his death with a sword run
through his body by the hands of Henry Phillips, of Boston, merchant, on the
Common in said Boston, on the 3d of
this inst." The body of Woodbridge
was taken to the house of his partner,
Mr. Jonathan Sewall, and the funeral,
which took place on the following Saturday, the 6th of July, was attended by
the commander-in - chief, several of the
council, and most of the merchants and
gentlemen of the town.
At an early hour on the morning of
the discovery of the body, Governor
Dummer issued a proclamation for the
apprehension of the "author of the barbarous murder," as Henry Phillips was
called in the preamble of this instrument, which, according to the usage of
those days, was printed on handbills and
placed on all the town-pumps and principal street corners. There was more
excitement in Boston over the news than
had been known for a long time. The
novelty of the encounter, the social position of the parties, the tragical end of
one and the sudden disappearance of the
other, invested the affair with a romantic and melancholy interest. The whole
town was in mourning. Clergymen
preached sermons on the occurrence,
in which intemperance, gaming, and
tavern clubs were held up as the cause
of the calamity. "Duels," said one divine, "are the devil all over, who was a
murderer from the beginning." The
Reverend Doctor Joseph Sewall, of the
Old South, delivered, at the public lecture, a discourse, of uncommon length,
upon the occasion, which was published, with a preface, by the United Ministers of Boston.
A vivid idea of the excitement which
the event occasioned, is afforded by the
way in which it is referred to by prominent persons then living. On the 4th
of July, I728, the day after the duel, one
of the most extraordinary men of the
time —the Honorable Samuel Sewall,
the venerable Chief Justice of the Province of Massachusetts, who, thirty-six
years before, had sat in judgment on the
Salem witches, and afterward acknowledged the error of his course-made the
following entry in his interleaved almanac:
"Poor Mr Benjam. Woodbridge is found dead in
the Comon this morning, below the Powder-house,
with a Sword-thrust through him, and his own Sword
undrawn. Henry Phillips is suspected. The town
is amazed!"
This statement might convey the idea
of foul play-that Phillips had run his
antagonist through before he had drawn
his sword. Such may have been the
judge's impression when he made the
entry, but it is refuted by the testimony
of Robert Handy that both the young
men were wounded, and that after Woodbridge had received the fatal thrust, Phillips picked up his sword and returned it
to its scabbard. The diary of the Rev
i874.]
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