| Citation |
PGCJ.764.038
15 Dec 1764:21, 22 (113)
Some strollers having brought down a puppetshew, it was
exhibited in a large thatched barn, at Barnwell, a little
village near Cambridge, on the 8th of September, 1727. Just
as the shew was about to begin, an idle fellow attempted to
thrust himself in without paying, which the people of the
shew prevented, and a quarrel ensued; after some
altercation, the fellow went away, and the door being made
fast, all was quiet; but this execrable villain, to revenge
the supposed incivility he had received by the shewmen, went
to a heap of hay and straw, which stood close to the barn,
and secretly set it on fire. The spectators of the shew,
who were in the midst of the entertainment, were soon
alarmed by the flames, which had communicated themselves to
the barn; in the sudden terror which seized the whole
assembly every one rushed to the door . . . six only escaped
with life.
|