402

CONTROVERSY RESPECTING THE NEW HAMPSHIRE GRANTS.

Bay and Connecticut or thro’ the Woods to Albany the Reason of which Question was thatHindsdalewhere the said Prisoners then were lies severall miles below the Road leading to Albany That thesaid Benjamin then made answer that he was undetermined which way he should go for that Mr.Jones and Mr. Grout had told him that by the Laws of the Massachusetts a Provision was made forOfficers of the other Governments to carry Prisoners thro’ their Jurisdiction if needful. That thisDeponent then replied he knew of no such Law that if there was any such it would be much theeasiest Way but advised him to be certain of it before he went that going thro’ the Woods to Albany would be attended with great Difficulty and put him to the Expence of a Guide for Part of theWay and this Deponent further saitli that upon asking the said Benjamin Whiting what Groundthere was for a Process against the said Ebenezer Fisher he answered that Mr. Jones as he understoodhad informed against him to Governor Wentworth and the said Ebenezer Fisher then said he laidcut no white Pine Trees except such as has been blown down and laid rotting for several years thatthis Deponent then told the said Benjamin Whiting he believed what the Prisoner said was true forhe this Deponent knew of his cutting such Logs but verily believed he had cut no other than suchas he never brought them to his the Deponents Mill and that if he had tresspassed in no othermanner the Information against him by Mr. Jones on which he was prosecuted appeared to thisDeponent to be malicious and vexatious That this Deponent then asked the said Benjamin Whitingwhether he had Power to release the said Ebenezer Fisher if he could be satisfied he had cut noTimber fit for his Majesty’s Navy upon which the said Benjamin Whiting replied he believed that M cJones had such Power and desired this Deponent to meet him and M r Jones at M 1 ' Tutes atHindsdale aforesaid on Monday then next and this Deponent further saith that he asked the saidBenjamin Whiting whether he had any Process for Witnesses and who the Witnesses were and thatthe said Benjamin answered and said that he had with him Subpcenas but that there were Blanksfor the names which he was to fill up with such as he found capable of proving what was alledgedagainst the Prisoners, and then serve them That this Deponent then enquired whether he had anyDirections to give the Witnesses money for defraying the Expense of their Journey and that the saidBenjamin said he should give to each of them two or three shillings Upon which this Deponent observed that if the Witnesses happened to be poor they could not possibly go that Journey with sosmall a sum the said Benjamin then replied that the Subpcenas required their attendance under thePenalty of one hundred pounds that this Deponent then look’d into Jacobs Law Dictionary and foundunder the Title Subpcenas that the penalty was inserted only in Terrorem and the whole was notrecoverable which he read to the said Binjamin Whiting but never imagined either that or any tilingelse he had said or done would be charged upon him as a crime or Misdemeanor since his Intentionswere entirely innocent and the whole conversation that passed in substance, as aforesaid was themere Effect of Curiosity and for bare Information—And this Deponent further saith that on Mondaythe fourth of September according to M r Whitings Desire he met him the said Benjamin Whitingand the said Ebenezer Fisher at Hindsdale aforesaid but that M r Jones was not there that the saidBenjamin Whiting desired this Deponent to tarry there till he and Major Arms went across the River to M r Jones that this Deponent waited accordingly and upon his the said Whitings Return he toldthis Deponent that M r Jones had directed him to release the said Ebenezer Fisher and he did thenrelease him accordingly and this Deponent further saith that they the said Benjamin Whiting andthis Deponent then had a further conversation relative to the Road he intended to take to New York of the same purport wdth that above in substance related and the said Benjamin Whiting theninformed this Deponent that M r Grout was gone into Massachusetts to inform Capt" Dean, Father ofthe said William & Willard Dean of what had happened upon which this Deponent replied that if