404

CONTROVERSY RESPECTING THE NEW HAMPSHIRE GRANTS.

the said court of vice Admiralty came to Brattleborough that the Deponent advised him to go toNew York and surrender himself for Trial which he promised he would do and did go with thatIntent but was taken on his Way by the said Benjamin Whiting as this Deponent has been informedand believes to be true and further this Deponent saith not.

8am. Wells.

Sworn this twentieth Day of August )

In the year of our Lord 1770 Before me £

Dan Horsmanden.

City of New York ss: James Duane of the City of New York Esq r being duly sworn by thedirection of his Honour the Lieutenant Governor and Council Deposeth and saith That in themonth of October in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and sixty nine he wasapplied to by William Dean and his sons Willard and William Deane whom he understood to beInhabitants of Windsor in the County of Cumberland to defend them on an Information in theCourt of vice Admiralty of this Province at the suit of his Excellency John Wentworth Esq 1 'Surveyor of the King’s woods in America for destroying Pine Trees on which they were then confinedin the common Goal of the City of New York That the Deponent believing from their Representa-tions and several Depositions they laid before him that it was a hard Prosecution undertook theirDefence That The Deponent being of opinion that by Law they could not on such a Prosecutionbe held to Bail moved that they should be discharged on entring their appearance but they wereordered by the court to be held to Bail in a large sum for want of which they remained in closecustody That after some time they complained that the little money they had brought down withthem and received from the sale of their Horses was expended and that they had no means pur-chasing the necessaries to support Life and desired this Deponent to intercede with the Judge todirect them an allowance of Bread and Water which they Represented they were entitled to asPrisoners at the suite of the Crown That the Deponent accordingly mentioned their Request to theJudge who declared he had no power to direct such Provision That some time afterwards ThisDeponent was informed That the said William Deane the Father was in Treaty with Samuel WellsEsq 1 ' one of the Judges of the Court of Common Pleas for the said County of Cumberland for a saleof his the said William Dean’s Effects on his Farm at Windsor aforesaid in order to raise moneytherefrom for the support of himself and his sons in their Confinement. That this Deponant isnot certain whether the sale so intended was first mentioned to him by William Deane or M rWells but this Deponent well remembers that M 1 ' Wells advised with him on the measure and thatthis Deponent approved of it as legal in itself and as an act of Humanity towards Deane and hischildren whom he considered as in the greatest distress and this Deponent further saith that toprevent any misinterpretation that might be made of the said intended sale to the Disadvantageof M 1 ' Wells he advised that the Judge of the admiralty should be informed of the said intendedsale before the same should be carried into Execution That this Deponent waited upon the Judgeof the Admiralty with M r Wells as he believes and informed him, thereof accordingly and that itwas the only means which the Deponent could think of to prevent the said William Dean and hissons from suffering or perishing for want of sustenance or something to that effect That to the bestof this Deponents Rememberance the Judge of the Admiralty made no objection nor shewed theleast dislike thereto. And this Deponent saith That the transfer to M r Well’s of the effects of thesaid William Deane was drawn by one of the Deponents clerks and that he verily believes from