survey lands granted under
that authority, they were met by a competent force and expelled
from the territory. If justices of the peace, or constables living in
the territory, who had taken office under the government of New
York, attempted to discharge their several duties, or otherwise in-
terested thcmselveg in fivor of that government, the leaders with a
competent force visited and arrested them, and having administered
sufficient punishment, l)anishcd them from the territory. If any
man, claiming title under that State settled himself down in his hut
on lands claimed 1)y the " Green Mountain Boys," they appeared
on the ground, and, if he hesitated to relinquish his claim, leveled
his cabin to the ground, desolated his land and crops, and left him
and liis family, houseless and destitute, to seek a shelter where else
he might. No sheriifor other officer was permitted to serve process
from the courts of Albany. If by any means writs of ejectment
had been served, as was the case in the early state of the contest,
and judgments obtained in the courts at Albany, or if any of the
active agents, in defence of their claims, had been indicted as riot-
ers, and the sheriff had been sent, Avith the posse comUalus, to ex-
ecute the writs of possession, or arrest the rioters, he was set at
defiance by a superior force and prevented from serving his process.
The inhabitants called out from the neighboring towns in New Y'^ork,
to constitute a posse, were too little inclined to use force against the
Green Mountain Boys, to be relied on, and generally fled before
they came to close quarters, and left the