“Several of our brethren, both in England and Wales, have received much damage, and have been frequently in great hazard of their lives. Wiltshire has been remarkable for mobbing and abusing the Methodists; and, for about ten months past, it has also prevailed very much in Gloucestershire, especially at Hampton. About the beginning of July, 1743, for several days, the mob at Hampton assembled in great bodies, broke the windows of Mr. Adams’s house, and assaulted the people to such a degree that many expected to be murdered, and hid themselves in holes and corners, to avoid the rage of their adversaries. Once, when I was there, they continued from four in the afternoon till midnight, rioting, giving loud huzzas, casting dirt upon the hearers, and making proclamations, ‘that no Anabaptists, Presbyterians, etc., should preach there, upon pain of being first put into a skin-pit, and afterwards into a brook.’ At another time, they pulled one or two women down the stairs by the hair of their heads. On the 10th of July, they took Mr. Adams out of his house, and threw him into a skin-pit full of noisome things and stagnated water. They also put one of our friends, named Williams, into the same pit twice, and afterwards beat him, and dragged him along the kennel. They likewise led Mr. Adams a mile and a half to Bourn brook, and threw him in, and so injured his leg, that he went lame for near a fortnight.
“Both the constables and justices were applied to, but refused to act; and seemed rather to countenance the mobbing, hoping, thereby, that Methodism would be put a stop to, at least, at Hampton. For a season, they gained their end. There was no preaching for some time, the people fearing to assemble on account of the violence of the mob.
“Upon my return to town, I advised with my friends what to do. For several reasons, we thought it our duty to move for an information in the King’s Bench against five of the ringleaders, and fixed upon the riot which they made on Sunday, July 10, when they put Messrs. Adams and Williams into the skin-pit and brook. But, before this was done, I wrote a letter to one whom they called captain, desiring him to inform his associates, that, if they would acknowledge their fault, and would pay for curing a boy’s arm, which was broken the night I was there, and would mend the windows of Mr. Adams’s house, we would readily pass all by. The rioters sent me an insolent answer, and said, ‘There should be no more preaching in Hampton.’ Finding them irreclaimable, we moved for a rule of court in the King’s Bench to lodge an information against five of the ringleaders. The rioters were apprised of this, appeared by their counsel, and prayed the rule might be enlarged till the next term. This was granted.