the town of Salem, to which they originally belonged, and put in the outskirts of another town.  It was a clear case of wrong, and ought to have been rectified.  But public bodies are more reluctant even than individuals to acknowledge themselves in fault.  The people of Salem Village joined in earnest protests against the acts of the General Court.  The old town of Salem declared by a public vote, that they had always regarded the lands in controversy as belonging to the village which, under the plighted faith of the General Court, their inhabitants had been forming.  But it was all in vain.  Neither remedy nor reparation could be obtained.  The struggle against this injustice lasted until some time after the witchcraft occurrences had terminated, and was finally brought to a close by an order of the Court, that the people on the territory might maintain parish relations with Salem Village or with Topsfield, at their individual option.  Entire satisfaction was never realized until, in 1728, they were incorporated, in accordance with their petition, into a township, under the name of Middleton, with parts of Topsfield, Boxford, and Andover added.  During a period of half a century, this grievance remained unadjusted.  The proceedings on the part of the village in its public action, as shown in the records, were conducted with skill, ability, and firmness.  But the collisions that occurred between particular parties were violent and bitter.  Salem settlers were called to pay parish and town rates to Topsfield, but refused to do it.  Constables and tax-collectors were defied.  Topsfield went so far as to claim not only unoccupied lands, but lands within fence, with houses on them, and families within them, and orchards and growing fields around them, as part of its “commons;” and it disputed the titles given by Salem.  Of course, the question went, in various forms, into the county courts; but sometimes, there is reason to believe, it came to a rougher arbitrament, in the depths of the woods, between man and man.

John Putnam had gone out and settled lands between the “six-mile extent” of Salem and Ipswich River.  Some of his sons had gone with him.  They had two dwelling-houses, cultivated meadows, orchards, &c.  Isaac Burton says, that, one day, when near John Nichols’s house, he heard a tree fall in the woods; and that he went to see who was chopping there.  It seems that Jacob Towne and John How, Topsfield men, had come in defiance of John Putnam, and cut down a tree before his face.  As they were two to one, Putnam had to swallow the insult; but he was not the man to let it rest so.  He went out shortly after, accompanied by an adequate force of sons and nephews, and proceeded to fell the trees.  The sound of the axes reached the ears of the Topsfield men; and Isaac Easty, Sr., John Easty, John Towne, and Joseph Towne, Jr., undertook to put a stop to the operation.  On reaching the spot, they warned Putnam against cutting timber.  He