	Little is known of Baxter’s early life prior to his involvement with the London Corresponding Society, except that he was thrown out of a vestry meeting in Shoreditch and assaulted for doubting 'the existence of persons who were Levellers, or who wished to convert England into a Republic.' 'Seeing he could not resist, he put his hand into his pocket, and pulled out many of the society's addresses, and threw them with a great deal of exultation among the people there.' His assailants accused him of High Treason, but Magistrates rejected the charge. They then indicted him for a libel, which was also rejected so he was eventually charged with causing a riot. No further details of the case are known, but one of the accounts of the incident states that Baxter was 'scarcely three feet and a half high', so he may have suffered from dwarfism.