Boston Tea Party Handbill "On Tuesday Night arrived in this City [a] Gentleman," after 22 December 1773

BOSTON HANDBILL

ON TUESDAY NIGHT ARRIVED IN THIS CITY [A] GENTLEMAN, WHO CAME EXPRESS FROM BOSTON[,] WITH THE FOLLOWING INTERESTING INTELLIGENCE[,] VIZ. [NEW YORK, AFTER 22 DECEMBER 1773]

Printed handbill (7 7/8 x 5 3/4 in.; 277 x 147), text in two columns below a four-line headline; foxed, trimmed close at right margin, stained and with marginal loss at top right corner costing two commas and the word "a" from headline.

"the detestable dutied Tea": a very scarce printing of early reports of the Boston and Charleston Tea Parties, largely reprinted from the Massachusetts Spy. The handbill carries three date-lined stories. The first, Boston, December 16, describes the foment of rebellion in reaction to the Tea Act and the general sense of the colonists suffering taxation without representation. It details the unsuccessful efforts of Mr. Rotch, the owner of the ship Dartmouth, to have his cargo of tea cleared by the customs house, so that he could leave the port of Boston.

The second-dated article (though it appears last on the handbill), Boston December 17, describes the actual destruction of the tea by the Sons of Liberty: "Yesterday we has a greater Meeting of the Body than ever. The Country coming in from Twenty Miles round, and every Step was taken that was practicable for returning the Teas. The Moment it was known out of Doors, that Mr. Rotch, could not obtain a Pass for his Ship … a Number of People huzza'd in the Street, and in a very little Time, every Ounce of the Teas on board of Capt. Hall, Bruce, and Coffin, was immersed in the Bay, without the least Injury to private Property. … P.S. The other Vessel, viz. Captain Loring, belonging to Messrs Clark, with Fify-eight Chests, was, by the Act of God, cast on Shore, on the Back of Cape-Cod."

Printed between the two Boston reports in a notice, New York, December 22, with related news from Charleston, South Carolina: "the Tea Ship for that Post arrived, having on board 270 Chests of the detestable dutied Tea. That the Merchants and others Inhabitants of the Town had entered into a Resolution not to import any Tea from Great Britain until the Revenue Act shall be totally repealed. And that the Tea then arrived shall return in the same Ship, and not be landed."

No copies of this handbill can be traced in the auction records. Other copies are located in the New-York Historical Society and Library of Congress.

LITERATURE:
Evans 12913

Condition Report:
Printed handbill (7 7/8 x 5 3/4 in.; 277 x 147), text in two columns below a four-line headline; foxed, trimmed close at right margin, stained and with marginal loss at top right corner costing two commas and the word "a" from headline.

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