The March meeting began on the 12th. On the 13th it was resolved:--
"That ---- be and they hereby are appointed a committee for and in behalf
of the town to find out who those persons are that were the perpetrators
of the horred murders and massacres done and committed in King Street on
several of the inhabitants in the evening of the 5th instant and take such
examinations and depositions as they can procure, and lay the whole
thereof before the grand inquest in order that such perpetrators may be
indicted and brought to tryal for the same, and upon indictments being
found, said committee are desired to prepare matters for the king's
attorney, to attend at their tryals in the superior court, subpoena all
the witnesses, and do everything necessary for bringing those murtherers
to that punishment for such crimes, as the laws of God and man require."
[Footnote: _Records of Boston_, v. 232.]
A day or two afterward a number of Adams's friends, among whom were some
of the members of this committee, dined together, and Hutchinson tells
what he persuaded them to do.
"The time for holding the superior court for the county of Suffolk was the
next week after the tragical action in King Street. Although bills were
found by the grand jury, yet the court, considering the disordered state
of the town, had thought fit to continue the trials over to the next term,
when the minds of people would be more free from prejudice.
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