History of the Town of Rockingham Vermont 1753-1907 by Lyman Hayes
[1907]:748: He was one of the first and most ardent agitators of
resistance to the rule of the King’s courts which culminated in
the Westminster massacre Mar 13 1775 and he took a prominent part
in that affair in connection with the large number who were
present from this town. In addition to the details given on page
208 Hall’s History of Eastern Vt. states that Lieut. Safford as
he fought his way out of the building taunted the King’s
minions saying “he could lick the whole of the King’s army if he
only had if he only had his company of Rockingham militia with
him” Still another expression which comes down in well
authenticated history of the sayings of this bold man of that
time is “Come on if you dare you miserable cowards of King George
come on if you want to fight we can whip the whole posse of you
time-serving rascals” To his comrades he said “Don’t run boys
don’t run we’ll go out the same way we came in” as he was
successfully fighting his way out the front door of the court
house while some were disposed to break their way out of the side
door.[208,9,10]: (he received several cuts from a sabre welded by
Sheriff Paterson)