Springfield 1636-1886, History of Town and City, by Mason A. Green ...

SPRINGFIELD, 1636-1SS6. 53
alleged false oath was at Hartford, and Mr. Moxon demanded £9 19s.
damages for the slander. Owing to a paucity of men in the planta-
tion, three of Mr. Moxon's witnesses — Robert Ashley, Henry Smith,
and Samuel Hubbard — were also upon the jury. The minister scored
a verdict of £6 13s. 4d. A warrant was at once issued, and when
Mr. Moxon gave it to the constable. Woodcock exclaimed that he
owed " Mr. Moxon no money, nor none he would pay him." There
must have been quite a scene, for Mr. Pynchon took down Wood-
cock's declaration that he was ready to repeat his offence.
The absolutism of the town-meeting could not lie better illustrated
than in this case. It here performed the offices of judge, grand juror,
and legislator. As judge, it decided not to order a change of venue ;
as grand juror, it presented the man for trial ; as legislator, it decreed,
as it had before, that the case should go to a jury of six, instead of
twelve, as the colony laws decreed. It might be wondered what there
could be left for the magistrate to do under such an all-pervading
democracy. William Pynchon was always moderator of the town-
meeting, and thus the lines of his political and judicial prerogatives
were often blended. As moderator at this meeting of the town, he
would put the question proposed by Woodcock, that the case go to
Hartford for private reference ; while, as magistrate, he would summon
the jury to try the case, administer oaths, and receive and record
verdicts.
The plantation had now been nearly a year independent of the Con-
necticut authorities, and Woodcock's proposal to refer the case there
was undoubtedly in keeping with his character as a querulous and
irrepressible man, who delighted in irritating and annoying his
neighbor.