History of Northampton, Massachusetts, from its settlement in 1654;

37^3.] SERIES OF CONVENTIONS—PEACE—EASTHAMPTON. 473
A Remonstrance from Nortliamptoii it SGeiiis had a siDGcial gi'iev-
Northampton.
aiice, tliG natuFG of wliich doGS iiot appGar
upon tliG records. All that is known in
refGrGncG to it is contained in the vote passed at the March
niGeting. A rGmonstrancG and a petition had been prepared
by a special committee, and another committee was
appointed to prepare instructions to tliG represGntativGS
to usG their influence in the General Court that an act
should be passGd agreeably to thG dGsirG of the town, as
expressed in the document referred to. About the same
time a vote was passed declaring that the town would not
receive from any of its debtors any of the "consolidated
state securities " in discharge of the " whole or part of tliGir
obligations.'" In what tliGse "consolidated state securities"
consistGd has not been ascertained, nor has any
further allusion to them been found.
An ungaiiant Act. An article was inserted in the warrant for
Safety for the ^j^g Marcli meeting, asking for the assignment
of a pew in the front gallery of the
meeting-house, to the young women, but the town very
ungallantly refused to grant the request. In October, the
selectmen were ordered "to make some Effectual Security
for the person that shall be employed in taking care of the
clock, in case the weight should at any time happen to fall."
A clock had been placed in the steeple of the meeting-house
as early as 1740. It was probably put there at the time of or
soon after the building of the third house of worship. No
record of its purchase, or of the payment of an}^ money for
it was ever made. This clock was wound by drawing the
weights up by hand, the winder standing directlj^ beneath
them. The length of rope required was about forty
feet. It is not known that any accident of the kind feared
had then occurred. In later years, however, a person was
killed by the fall of the weight when it had nearly reached
its height. ^
1 In 1807, -Martin Ely Jr.. aged fifteen years, an apprentice of Nathan Storrs, goldsmith,
was killed by the falling of the meeting-house clock weight.
y