Hemlock against white paper

The story, from several sources

This account blends Rothbard’s chapter with the other sources listed below and has not yet been separated into Rothbard’s own account and the fuller story. Read Rothbard’s chapter 11 for his account.

By the autumn of 1786 the farmers of western Massachusetts had spent two years being taxed and sued. Rothbard says their program was eminently libertarian: lower taxes, cheaper courts, and the state’s debt redeemed at market value instead of face value, to the eastern speculators who held it. The General Court brushed them off and raised taxes. In August armed crowds began shutting the county courts, and militia sent against them refused to fire on their neighbors. On September 26 the Supreme Court was to sit at Springfield, and a grand jury there might indict the men who had closed the Northampton court. General William Shepard filled the courthouse with 800 men, 200 of them gentlemen of the county, and helped them to muskets from the federal arsenal. About 1,100 Regulators marched against him and sent in a committee headed by Captain Daniel Shays to demand that the militia go home, that no debt suit be heard, and that no indictment be returned. The court said no, and then could not round up a grand jury. As the two sides eyed each other, the Regulators stuck hemlock in their hats and the militia answered with slips of white paper. The court closed, and Shepard surrendered the courthouse. Rothbard adds that Shays was only one of the rebel captains, and among the most reluctant.