CONTROVERSY RESPECTING THE NEW HAMPSHIRE GRANTS.

403

that was the Case M r Grout would probably cause him to be arrested if he travelled with his Prisonersthat Way But the Deponent denies lie ever knew that M 1 Grout was gone before that Time and thisDeponent further saith that on the next Day being Tuesday the fifth Day of September aforesaid inthe afternoon the said Benjamin Whiting with two of his Assistants Wait & Rosebrook and the saidWillard and William Dean his Prisoners came to a Saw Mill belonging to this Deponent adjoining tothe high Road on their Journey to Albany that the said Major Arms who was then at this Deponentssaid Mill gave the said Benjamin Whiting and those with him an Invitation to stop at his House ontheir Way and take some Refreshment which they accepted of that thereupon they all went togetherto the House of the said Major Arms who provided a Dinner for the said Benjamin Whiting and thosewho were with him That this Deponent sent to His the said Deponents House for Rum and havingmade some Liquor they all drank and conversed freely together That during their Stay there thisDeponent at the Request of the said Benjamin Whiting advised the Prisoners as they had but littlemoney with them, to give M r Whiting an Obligation under their Hands for the Repayment of whathe should lay out in their Expenses upon the Road and they agreeing to such his Proposal he drewthe said Obligation and they executed it accordingly And this Deponent further saith that havingdrank freely and sociably together for some time he told the said Benjamin Whiting in a jestingWay that if he had gone thro’ Massachusets Grout would have arrested him and the Prisoners wouldhave been at Liberty and othex-s of the Company bantered him in the same manner upon which hethe said Benjamin Whiting grew angry and intimated that this Deponent had sent Grout on thatErrand Upon which the said Deponent told him he was so far from designing any thing of thatKind that he never knew M 1 ' Grout was gone thither till he the said Benjamin Whiting informedhim of it. Nor did lie know M r Grouts Business there but barely suspected that that might be it.And that he the said Benjamin did not do well in suspecting the Deponent had sent M r Grout onsuch an Errand since he the Deponent had all along told him the said Benjamin Whiting that heapprehended that he had no legal Right to go with Prisoners that way that the said Benjamin seemedthereupon satisfied and requested this Deponent to accompany him two or three miles and shewhim the Road to Albany and upon his Request and to oblige him the said Benjamin the deponentcomplied. And this Deponent further saith that while upon the Road the said Benjamin Whitingcomplained to this Deponent that the Prisoners did not walk fast enough upon which the Deponent advised them to make as much Haste as they could and be obedient to the commands of the saidBenjamin Whiting and they would fare the better for it and more particularly gave them a strictcharge not to attempt an escape by any means whatsoever all which they promised this Deponent inthe said Benjamins Hearing to observe and that before they parted the said Benjamin informed thisDeponent that his the Deponents advice had made the Prisoners walk a great deal faster andthanked the Deponent for all the favors he had shown to him And this Deponent further saith thatearly on the morning of the next Day he was surprized by a message from the said Major Arms thenhigh Sheriff of the County aforesaid informing him that a number of People had followed the saidBenjamin Whiting in a tumultuous manner That thereupon the Deponent immediately got out ofBed mounted his Horse and taking the said Sheriff along with him went to the Place where the saidBenjamin Whiting had lodged that night when he was informed that the People had dispersedwithout doing any mischief upon which he returned Home that receiving Information of three per-sons principally concerned in raising the said Tumult he issued his warrant against them that twoof them were apprehended and brought before him and that he bound them by Recognizance toappear at the next general Sessions And this Deponent further saith that the next Day after the De-parture of the said Benjamin Whiting Captain Dean Father of the aforesaid William and WillardDean against whom as the said Benjamin Whiting told this Deponent Process had also issued from