three o'clock
How do you like it ? '' `` I think it very sweet , '' Phil answered soberly . At noon on the following Friday , the Piedmont _ Eagle _ appeared with an editorial signed by Dr. Cameron , denouncing in the fine language of the old school the arrest of Ben as `` despotism and the usurpation of authority . '' At three o'clock , Captain Gilbert , in command of the troops stationed in the village , marched a squad of soldiers to the newspaper office . One of them carried a sledge-hammer . In ten minutes he demolished the office , heaped the type and their splintered cases on top of the battered press in the middle of the street , and set fire to the pile . On the courthouse door he nailed this proclamation : _ To the People of Ulster County _ : The censures of the press , directed against the servants of the people , may be endured ; but the military force in command of this district are not the servants of the people of South Carolina .