"The promises of God," he afterward remembered, sustained his soul, "so that it was not only divested of fear, but ready to sing aloud for joy." The news now reached the ears of the mayor that Garrison was in the hands of the mob.

Thereupon the feeble but kindly magistrate began to act afresh the role of the twig in the mountain stream.

He and his constables struggled helplessly in the human current rushing and raging around City Hall, the head and seat of municipal law and authority.
Without the aid of private citizens Garrison must inevitably have perished in the commotions which presently reached their climax in violence and terror.

He was in the rear of City Hall when the mayor caught up to him and his would-be rescuers.

The mayor perceived the extremity of the situation, and said to the Faneuil Hall giants who had hold of Garrison, "Take him into my office," which was altogether more easily said than done.