If, then, the unfortunate individual pitched upon for the performance of this extraordinary office refused to discharge it, he was probably shot by the Threshers or Carders, and if he carried their wishes into effect, he was liable to be hanged by the government, so that his option lay between the relative comforts of being hanged or shot--a rather anomalous state of society, by the way.
The vengeance of the people against Purcel and his sons had now risen or was fast rising, to its height.

This intrepid man and these resolute young men, aided by the writs of rebellion and the executive authorities, had nerved themselves up to the collection of tithe, through a spirit that was akin to vengeance.

In fact, they felt an inhuman delight--at least the father and his eldest son did--in levying the execution of the writs in the most pitiless and oppressive manner.
They themselves provided horses and carts, and under protection of the military and police--for both were now necessary--they swept off cattle, crops, and furniture, at a ruinous value to the defaulters.

At length they proceeded to the house of a struggling widow, whose only son, exasperated at the ruin which their proceedings had wrought upon his mother, in an unguarded moment, induced a few thoughtless boys like himself to resist the law.

It was an act of folly for which his life paid the penalty.