..Under the crown, American history; . n, andasserted their legal right to the territory. New York had relinquished its claim to terri-tory so far eastward as the Connecticut Riverin Massachusetts and Connecticut, and NewHampshire urged its claim to have a westernextent equal to that of the other two provinces,and continued to issue grants to settlers. The controversy grew warmer and warmer,and in 1764 the government of New Yorkprocured a royal decree giving it territorialjurisdiction to the Connecticut River. The issue of land-grants by New Hampshirenow ceased, and the settlers acquiesced; bu
..Under the crown, American history; . n, andasserted their legal right to the territory. New York had relinquished its claim to terri-tory so far eastward as the Connecticut Riverin Massachusetts and Connecticut, and NewHampshire urged its claim to have a westernextent equal to that of the other two provinces,and continued to issue grants to settlers. The controversy grew warmer and warmer,and in 1764 the government of New Yorkprocured a royal decree giving it territorialjurisdiction to the Connecticut River. The issue of land-grants by New Hampshirenow ceased, and the settlers acquiesced; butwhen the authorities of New York proclaimedthat the land-titles of the immigrants on theGrants were void, and proceeded to dispossessthe dwellers and dispose of their homes tospeculators, stubborn resistance was manifested. 152 THE CATAMOUNT TAVERN. Sheriffs and their assistants who came to seizeand sell the property of the settlers, which hadbeen paid for and improved, met resolute armeddefenders of their rights and were driven ABOVE A JEERING CROWD. Committees of safety assumed judicial powersand tried and punished intruders from withoutand offenders within. For several years theGrants bore the aspects of civil war, exceptingthat of actual carnage. THE CATAMOUNT TAVERN. 153 It was while this quarrel was hotly raging thatCaptain Fay built his tavern. He was a zealoussupporter of the oppressed settlers. In front ofhis house he erected a tall sign-post; and twenty-five feet from the ground he hung upon it alarge sign, which was surmounted by the stuffedskin of a catamount or wildcat. Its fiercevisage, showing its teeth, was turned towardNew York, at which it grinned perpetualdefiance. This gave the name to the tavern. Ethan Allen, the stalwart champion of rightand justice, with a big heart and honest purpose,had come from Connecticut a few years beforethis tavern was built, and cast his lot among thesettlers in the Grants. He espoused their cause,and soon became their tru
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