In attempting to serve legal processes upon the perpetrators of this outrage, the marshal’s deputy was also seized, whipped, tarred and feathered; and, after having his money taken from him, he was blindfolded and led into the depths of the forest, where he was tied to a sapling and left to his fate. He was fortunately discovered and rescued by friends.
Another man was similarly handled who remarked that they could not reasonably expect protection from a Government whose laws they so strenuously opposed. Two witnesses of this assault were seized by an armed banditti and carried off so they could not give testimony against the perpetrators of the assault.
President Washington feared such open defiance of the laws, and issued a proclamation condemning the lawless acts and warned all to return at once to their allegiance. Bills of indictment were found against the leaders of some of the outrages, and, at the same time, process was also issued against a great number of noncomplying distillers.
The proclamation and warning did not produce the desired effect. Washington then ordered the seizure of the spirits distilled in the counties opposing the law.
Contractors for the army were forbidden to purchase spirits on which duties had not been paid. The distillers were caught between two millstones. They feared the wrath of the infuriated populace if they paid the excise tax or lost their best customers.
The factionists were encouraged by the leniency of the Executive. By violent threats they kept the marshal from serving precepts, committed numerous outrages upon the friends of the Government and perfected their organization into military bands, to resist any force that might be sent to subject them to the laws. They styled their acts, “mending the still.”
It is not to be doubted that this inflamed state of the public mind was greatly aggravated by the ambitious designs and intemperate speeches of a few leading men. Conspicuous among the malcontents were David Bradford, Colonel John Marshall, Robert Smiley, Hugh Brackenridge, William Findley and Albert Gallatin. The first named was the chief agitator.
Hostilities broke out early in 1794, when those who paid the excise tax were punished as well as those who attempted to collect the tax. Even the Government officials were attacked by armed men.
General John Neville, inspector for the county, was compelled to defend his home by force of arms, and Major Abraham Kirkpatrick, with a detail of eleven soldiers, was compelled to surrender to a mob, under the leadership of a desperado named John Holcroft.
After brisk fighting continued for nearly an hour, the insurgents set fire to eight buildings, which finally compelled brave Kirkpatrick to yield.