541

(HARRASSMENT OF A BRITISH OFFICIAL)

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(HARRASSMENT OF A BRITISH OFFICIAL)
"A curious manuscript D.S. 1p. legal folio, [Charleston?], South Carolina, Mar. 21, 1767 in which George Beasley ""...one of the Lawful Deputies of Roger Pinkney Esqr. Provost Marshal..."" complains of being attacked by a group of sailors while in Port Royal, S.C. The document reads in part: ""...after much abuse given him by one William McLacklan such as Calling him Marshal's Dog and other names he and the said McLacklan say to Several Sailors then Present that if they the Sailors would give that dam'd rascal of a Marshal's Dg a good thrashing he would give them a handsome treat. That in consequence of such offer and being Spirited up to insult the Said Beasley they began to throw Dirt at & mob him in such a manner that he verily believes if he had not applied to Stephen Bull Jr. Esqr. a Magistrate who was then Present and saw the manner in which he was treated...that they would have taken his Life..."". The provost marshall was the predecessor of the sheriff system which was put in place in South Carolina in 1769. Like sheriffs, the provost marshall performed some of the more distasteful tasks such as enforcing evictions. Officials like these were popular targets of revolutionary mobs as tensions mounted in the late 1760's. They tended to symbolize royal oppression in one of its most tangible forms. They were also targets of the Regulators who were active in both North and South Carolina. Very good condition." 2490 A curious manuscript D.S. 1p. legal folio, [Charleston?], South Carolina, Mar. 21, 1767 in which George Beasley ""...one of the Lawful Deputies of Roger Pinkney Esqr. Provost Marshal..."" complains of being attacked by a group of sailors while in Port Royal, S.C. The document reads in part: ""...after much abuse given him by one William McLacklan such as Calling him Marshal's Dog and other names he and the said McLacklan say to Several Sailors then Present that if they the Sailors would give that dam'd rascal of a Marshal's Dg a good thrashing he would give them a handsome treat. That in consequence of such offer and being Spirited up to insult the Said Beasley they began to throw Dirt at & mob him in such a manner that he verily believes if he had not applied to Stephen Bull Jr. Esqr. a Magistrate who was then Present and saw the manner in which he was treated...that they would have taken his Life..."". The provost marshall was the predecessor of the sheriff system which was put in place in South Carolina in 1769. Like sheriffs, the provost marshall performed some of the more distasteful tasks such as enforcing evictions. Officials like these were popular targets of revolutionary mobs as tensions mounted in the late 1760's. They tended to symbolize royal oppression in one of its most tangible forms. They were also targets of the Regulators who were active in both North and South Carolina. Very good condition.