offering a Reward for apprehending the principal Ringleaders & Authors of the said Riots, and a Law of the said province was also passed for suppressing the said Riots & tumultuous proceedings; & for punishing the offenders. That as soon as this Measure was effected the Deponent returned to his place of Residence and as a Magistrate of the said County dispersed & published the said proclamation & act of Legislature & inculcated & recommended to the said Riotous persons a more peaceable & orderly Demeanor, and as no steps were taken with regard to the Lands possessed by the said New Hampshire Claimants, but they were suffered quietly to hold the same, This Deponent hoped the said Rioters would have permitted their Neighbours, differing from them in Conduct and Sentiment to live in peace & security, But this Deponent saith that some time in the month of April last there was a meeting of the said Rioters, in consequence of the said act of Legislature and proclamation, where it was resolved by them that any person or persons, within the Lands claimed by them, who had or should accept a commission or commissions of the peace, should by them in general be deemed an Enemy to their Country and Common Cause, That shortly after a paper was delivered to this Deponent signed by one Jonas Fay clerk of the said meeting, in the following words (to wit)

"Gentlemen the following is proposed whether it be to your minds that any person or persons in the New Hampshire Grant under the present situation of "affairs that have or shall presume to take commission or commissions of the peace shall by the Grantees in general be deemed an Enemy to their Country " & Common cause untill his Majesties pleasure in the premesis be further known: "passed in the affirmative all yeas & No Nays at a general meeting holden at "Manchester 12th Day of April A. D. 1774 and by adjournment to the 13th. "pr Jonas Fay Clerk of the said Meeting."

And this Deponent further saith that altho in the Execution of his office, finding the civil power altogether unable to oppose or punish the said Rioters, he desisted from every act & prosecution against them or the Dispute concerning their Claims or possessions and aimed at nothing more than to preserve peace & some Degree of order in the Country; yet this Deponent from time to time received information that the said Rioters had doomed his person & property to Destruction, and frequently his house was surrounded by persons unknown to him, in the dead 56

VOL. IV.

of Night, & attempts made to break open his door, and the Deponent further saith that on or about 27th Day of July last past one John Smith & Enos Ross of Socialborough aforesaid being armed with Clubs, made an assault upon the Deponent & endeavored to make him their prisoner, declaring that if he resisted, they would kill him, that the Deponent being unarmed called to his Wife for a weapon in order to defend himself or intimidate the said assailants from executing their purpose upon which the said Enos Ross forced himself into the Deponents house, in order as appeared afterwards, to get the Deponent's Gun: That the Deponent being freed from the said Enos Ross, knocked down the said John Smith & then removed to a place where he saw a stone, which he took up & stood upon his Defence. That the said Enos Ross now having got the Deponents Gun out of his house came toward the Deponent therewith, swearing that he would shoot him through, but happily the Gun was not loaded; & the Deponent solemnly protesting that he would not be taken by them alive, & standing upon his defence, they at last desisted, & retired swearing that they would have the Deponent dead or alive. That all the Reason which they assigned for this violent attack upon the Deponent, was that he had complained of the Rioters to Government, & applied for the protection of himself & the rest of the injured inhabitants, and had issued process against some of the Mob Tho this Deponent declares that he never issued any process but for a civil Debt, (except one upon a Law of this province against a person for killing a Deer out of season, and the said John Smith & Enos Ross at the same time further declared that Benjamin Spencer, the only other acting Magistrate in that part of the said County, nor any other person, should act as a Magistrate over them. And the Deponent further saith that being at the dwelling house of Daniel Walker in the Township of Derham in the said County, on the first Day of this Instant August a certain Dan Howlet, who lives at Shaftsbury near Bennington, came there, & enquired for the Deponent, and after much abusive language Halet told the Deponent that he had come as a forerunner to warn him, and that there was but one step between the said Houldt's Life and the deponent's, and swore that the Rioters would have him the

י

Deponent dead or alive; signifying also that the Deponent must relinquish all pretensions of Acting as a Magistrate, and, if he should, he did not know but the Deponent's Life might be Spared; but that this was uncertain. That the said Halet then assaulted and pushed this deponent in a very rough manner, so that he was obliged to exert himself in order to escape out of his Hands by throwing the said Halet on the Ground, and securing him untill he could find means to get out of his way, and the Deponent further saith that he is credibly informed & verily believes that the said Rioters have erected two Forts for their Defence, one on Onion River, and another on Otter Creek in the said County of Charlotte, and the Deponent further saith that from Depositions taken before him and the said Benjamin Spencer respectively it appears, and the Deponent verily believes that the said Benjamin Spencer by reason of his accepting of a Commission as a magistrate of the said County, is in great Danger from the said Mobb, both with respect to his property & his Life; and that for the three last nights before this Deponent left the said County of Charlotte, neither he, nor the Deponent, thought it Safe to lodge in their own houses; but removed for their security to the Houses of their friends, and that this Deponent thought it Necessary to keep six men armed in the house where he lodged to defend him in case of Discovery, and this Deponent further saith that the Inhabitants of the said Township of Durham & Socialborough, who are not connected with the said Rioters, and are submissive to the authority of Government, are greatly terrified, and under continual Apprehensions of being attacked by the said Rioters, and that they entreated this Deponent once more to come down to this City and to apply to Government for Redress & protection, and this Deponent is very confident that unless some effectual Measures are speedily taken to preserve the said Inhabitants against the violence & Licentiousness of the said Rioters, they must soon be driven from their possessions & reduced to the greatest poverty & Distress; and with respect to himself this Deponent saith, that he has laid out his little substance in improveing a Farm in the said Township of Socialborough, that from the threats & the Danger of the said Rioters he is prevented from cultivating the same, &

his hired Servant who assisted him therein, from the Threats of the said Rioters, has been intimidated & left his service, That this Deponent conceives his own Life is so much in Danger from the open attacks & threats of the said Rioters, that he cannot think of returning to his Habitation, without some assistance from the Government, as he verily believes that the said Rioters will either privately, or openly, destroy him if they have an opportunity, and that he knows of no Reason he has given for their Malice towards him, except his applying for protection when he conceived himself and his Neighbors to be in imminent Danger, & saw them greatly insulted & abused; & his accepting his Majesty's Commission as a Magistrate of the said County, and further the Deponent saith not.

Sworn this Twenty fourth Day of
August 1774. Before me

DANL. HORSMANDEN.

BENJAM HOUGH.

APPLICATION FOR A MILITARY FORCE

TO SUPPORT THE CIVIL AUTHORITIES OF CHARLOTTE COUNTY.

IN COUNCIL September 1st 1774.

The Petition and Deposition of Benjamin Hough one of His Majesty's Justices of the Peace for the County of Charlotte, also the Depositions of Benjamin Spencer Esqr Jacob Marsh Esqr Amos Chamberlain, Jeremiah Gardenier, Daniel Walker, Philip Nicolls, Thomas Brayton, and Daniel Washburn all of the same County, were laid before the Board, whereby it appears that the Riotous proceedings of some of the Settlers in the said County of Charlotte do not only continue but have so far increased that they have Erected two Fortresses in the said County, one at Onion River and the other at Otter Creek, and openly threaten the Lives and. Properties of all those who Profess to maintain Peace and good Order, and are Friends to this Government, and the said Petition humbly Praying his Honor to take the Case of

the Distressed Inhabitants of that part of the Province into Consideration, and afford them some speedy and effectual Relief, without which many of the said Inhabitants will be compelled to leave their Settlements and be thereby utterly ruined-And the said Benjamin Hough being called in and Examined, and being withdrawn. The Council, after maturely considering the Frequency and Violence of these Disorders, humbly advise that his Honor do apply to his Excellency General Gage for a Military Aid of two hundred Men to support the Civil Magistracy in Keeping the Peace of the said County and its Vicinity.

Sir

GEN. GAGE TO LT. GOV. COLDEN.

Boston Sept: 19th 1774.

I am to acknowledge the Receipt of your Letter of the 7th September, with a minute of the Council held at New York the 1st Instant, and a Copy of a Petition and Complaint of Benjamin Hough Esqr, in behalf of himself, and other Officers of Justice, and Inhabitants of the County of Charlotte, therein inclosed.

It wou'd have been very agreeable to me to have complied. with the application, you are pleased to make me in consequence of the above, for a military aid of 200, or 150 men, to be employed in the Support of Civil Government in said County; but Governor Tryon having made a like Requisition to General Haldimand, which he thought proper to decline complying with, till he had referr'd it to His Majesty's Ministers, and having in answer been given to understand, that the King approved of his Conduct in not sending a military Force into that Country; you will doubtless join me in opinion that I can not at present afford Wie aid you require.

Governor Tryon was called home that he might give Lights in the Points in dispute concerning the New Hampshire Lands, and the several Parties concerned were to be heard before the Board of Trade, and a Report made to his Majesty thereupon, when it's probable a final Decision will be made upon this sub