He then went home, but the mob were bent on the destruction of the hall.

They had now increased to several thousands, and soon got into the hall by dashing open the doors with their axes.
They then set fire to this huge building, and in the course of an hour it was a solid mass of flame.

The bells of the city were rung, and several engines rallied; but no water was permitted to be thrown upon the building.

The light of the fire must have been seen a great distance." At midnight Garrison was spirited out of the city, and conveyed in a covered carriage by a friend to Bristol, about twenty miles, where in the morning he took the steamboat for Boston.

The light of that fire was visible a great distance in more senses than one.