tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post2678220776623450067..comments2024-03-28T04:26:30.557-05:00Comments on Boston 1775: Thomas Marshall, Tailor and Town OfficerUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-70024532117234458862012-02-09T15:16:10.534-05:002012-02-09T15:16:10.534-05:00I landed on the proportionality figure as a way to...I landed on the proportionality figure as a way to explain the issue DebbieLynne raised: how five deaths could become a “massacre” that helped to inflame a continent. True, it's not an exact correlation.<br /><br />Would such a calculation also be useful in communicating how devastating an epidemic might be? Of course, people were much more used to "early" death from disease in that period, so it again wouldn’t be a simple door into the eighteenth-century mindset.J. L. Bellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15405157000473731801noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-92017775949563194502012-02-09T12:43:36.484-05:002012-02-09T12:43:36.484-05:00I'm not sure that I agree about people being s...I'm not sure that I agree about people being subject to inflation.<br /><br />By that argument, modern Bostonians wouldn't be much alarmed if 30 people were killed- since that's the equivalent of only 1 in 1770.<br /><br />Sure, any violence and loss of life is more deeply felt in a small tightly-knit community- I'll give you that- but trying to assign a mathematical equivalent is going a bit far.Daudnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-81489753336219970902012-02-08T20:19:38.998-05:002012-02-08T20:19:38.998-05:00Way back in the first month of this blog, I calcul...Way back in the first month of this blog, I calculated that proportional to recorded population the Boston Massacre death toll was <a href="http://boston1775.blogspot.com/2006/06/boston-massacre-really-massacre.html" rel="nofollow">on the same scale as the Oklahoma City bombing</a>.J. L. Bellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15405157000473731801noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-5561944001024500642012-02-08T19:46:44.346-05:002012-02-08T19:46:44.346-05:005 people out of a population of 20,000 would be eq...5 people out of a population of 20,000 would be equivalent to over 150 people today, surely a number that contemporary reporters would call a massacre. Besides, the definition of massacre is "an indiscriminate and brutal slaughter of people", and the incident on March 5, 1770 could reasonably be called that.G. Lovelynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-55452753344207206792012-02-08T02:28:52.114-05:002012-02-08T02:28:52.114-05:00When the massacre took place the population in Bos...When the massacre took place the population in Boston was approximately 20,000. Five people shot and killed is a massacre and would be completely alarming to such a small and close knit town as Boston.Todd Gardnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15146720551504831148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-28016390982817954572012-02-07T17:15:40.785-05:002012-02-07T17:15:40.785-05:00So spin is nothing new. No big revelation, but wor...So spin is nothing new. No big revelation, but worth remembering. After all, Paul Revere and Samuel Adams did some of their own spin. Five people, a massacre?Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11367012840719617546noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-70446386381984787482012-02-07T14:56:56.115-05:002012-02-07T14:56:56.115-05:00The pattern I've noticed in Whig/Patriot depos...The pattern I've noticed in Whig/Patriot depositions about the Massacre, the Battle of Lexington and Concord, and other incidents is that they're usually accurate as far as they go, but they can leave out or downplay unflattering information. They're the truth and nothing but the truth, but they're not always the whole truth.J. L. Bellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15405157000473731801noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-59638957345080907842012-02-07T13:45:41.240-05:002012-02-07T13:45:41.240-05:00Another place Mr. Marshall appears is on Paul Reve...Another place Mr. Marshall appears is on Paul Revere's crime scene drawing, where his King Street home is labeled next door to the custom house.<br /><br />I find it amusing that he asserts there were "not more than 100" on the street that night. He seems to suggest that a crowd of 100 is not a large crowd!Daudnoreply@blogger.com