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"The Song" published in the Hampshire Gazette

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Based upon a song called "Old Mad Tom," this version ridicules the actions of the Regulators. "Old Mad Tom" was a song that had been around since the early 1600's and referred to inmates of Bedlam Hospital which was used by the city of London as an asylum for the mentally ill. In this version, Tom is going to break the state constitution, get judges off the bench, move the state government, and take power away from the eastern counties. Thomas Grover was a Regulator from Montague. The letter referred to by this writer was published in the Hampshire Gazette on December 26, 1786. William Butler began publication of the Hampshire Gazette on September 6, 1786, in Northampton, Massachusetts. The mission of the newspaper was to inform the public about the issues pertaining to the ongoing conflicts. Butler was decidedly on the government side of the issues.

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