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.