A few minutes after 9 pm, 4 youths named Edward, William, Francis, and John were walking to Cornhill. While they were on the way there, a soldier came out with an oddly shaped sword. The soldier struck Archbald in the arm. This incident caused many people to gather around but the people has weapons.

Hearing the noise, Samuel came rushing down to where ruckis was going on and he met 10 or 12 dispersed soldiers. They asked if they wanted intended on murdering people and they said yes. One of them struck at Atwood and soon after that 30 or 40 people gathered somewhere and were fleeing and crying while getting hit.

After this, the captain ordered them to fire, and snowballs came shooting. A townsman struck him which caused him to drop his firelock. The soldiers continued to fire until 7 or 8, or even 11 guns were discharged.