Biography
David Schaeffer was a Pennsylvania German of Macungie (Millerstown) and a local leader of the anti-house-tax movement in Fries’s Rebellion; his household is tied by local tradition to the rebellion’s "Hot Water War" nickname, from the story that boiling water was thrown on the federal tax assessors. Arrested for his part in the resistance to the 1798 direct tax, he was imprisoned and, like Michael Schmoyer, died of yellow fever in custody before his case was resolved.
Case
Norristown Jail