520

CONTROVERSY RESPECTING THE NEW HAMPSHIRE GRANTS.

THE BENNINGTON MOB ERECT THEIR JUDGMENT SEAT.

FURTHER PARTICULARS OF THEIR EXCESSES.

Charlotte County ss: Benjamin Spencer of the Township of Durham in Charlotte County Esq 1 'one of his Majesty’s Justices to keep the Peace in the said County assigned being duely sworn on tireholy Evangelists deposetli and saith That in the night of Saturday the Twentieth Day of Novemberlast past he the deponent was alarmed with the Noise of People breaking into his House, and theoutward door of his house being broken and beat down with an ax Remember Baker and EthanAllen rushed into the Room where the deponent with his wife & some others of his Family were inBed. That Ethan Allen with some curses ordered the Deponent to rise and go with them and toldthe deponent that he had been a damned old offender and the Township of Durham a Hornets Nestin their way and they were now determined to put an End to it by making them concede to takeand hold their Lands under New Hampshire and submit to the Rules of their Mobb, or by destroyingtheir property and making them quit the Country. That the Deponent not being able to dresshimself as quickly as the said Baker and Allen thought necessary the said Ethan Allen struck thedeponent a severe Blow on the Head with a Gun. That in the mean Time several other Men armedwith Guns had rushed into the Room and many others of them had their Guns put in and pointedthro’ the windows whilst the Deponent was puting on his Cloathes. That the said Remember Bakerand Ethan Allen with their associates then hurried away the deponent about two miles over a Hil lto the House of Thomas Green in Kelso where they put him under the Guard of four men withloaded Guns. That they detained the deponent there at the House of the said Green under a Guarduntil the next Monday Morning following, with frequent Threats, and many insults by the mostopprobrious Language. That the Deponent was then taken by the armed Mobb, and under theparticular Guard of some of them from time to time appointed for the purpose, to the House ofJoseph Smith of Durham Inkeeper where they had concluded to hold their Court . That theyafterwards determined to hold their Court near the Deponents House that they might more conve-niently destroy it, and with the deponent guarded by Armed men at each side they went to thedeponents House That their force by that Time collected amounted to between one Hundred andThirty and one hundred and fifty Men as the deponent believes all Armed with Guns. That soonafterwards Remember Baker, principal!, erected what they called the Judgment Seat and Ethan Allenhaving made a Harangue to the Mobb, the said Ethan Allen and Seth Warner, Remember Bakerand Robert Cock ran took their Seats as Judges, & the Deponent being ordered by them to standbefore them uncovered was by them accused in Substance as follows; first, that he had made'application to the Government of New York to obtain a Grant or Title to his Lands and had inducedOther persons to Join with him in such applications; and secondly that he had consented to andacted in pursuance of a Commission of the Peace issued under the Great Seal & Government of NewYork contrary to their Orders and Rules; and thirdly that he the deponent had formerly grantedor issued a warrant against one of their party for a Trespass with which he was charged; andfourthly for using his Influence with and inducing the people to pay respect and obedience tothe Government and Laws of the Colony or Province of New r York with some other Charges of thelike kind. That the said Remember Baker and many of his Bystanding adherents insisted ongiving the deponent Corporal punishment and having him whipped, That as they would not all agreeto that they spared the Deponent of Corporal punishment, but as they found the deponent had notpurchased a New Hampshire Title to liis Land they adjudged his house to be a nuisance and that it