524

CONTROVERSY RESPECTING THE NEW HAMPSHIRE GRANTS.

to the Mobb he was met by the said Baker and by Peleg Sunderland and Asa Johnson, and the saidBaker beat one of the persons who came with the Deponent several Blows with a pole and insistedthat the Deponent should call together all the people of Durham to their Judgment seat —That onsome Conversation with Seth Warner about their proceedings Warner said such affairs as were gotinto the Mobb, must be determined by the Mobb for they could not be got out of the Mobb.—Thatsoon afterwards Remember Baker erected a seat which they called a Judgment seat and Ethan Allen then made a Harangue and declared that the proprietors of the New Hampshire Grants had appointedhimself, Seth Warner, Remember Baker and Robert Coclcran, to inspect and set things in Orderrelating to, and see that there should be no intruders on the New Hampshire Grants. That the saidEthan Allen, Setli Warner, Remember Baker and Robert Cochran then took their seats on the saidJudgment seat and ordered the said Benjamin Spencer Esq r to stand before them, to take off hisHatt and hear accusations against him. That Ethan Allen then charged and accused the saidBenjamin Spencer Esquire with the following matters in Effect, to wit, with cudling with the LandJobbers of New York to prevent the claimants of the New Hampshire Rights from holding theLands they claimed ; and with issuing a Warrant as a Justice of the peace contrary to their Orders;and Remember Baker charged him with having accepted a Commission as Magistrate in the Colonyof New York and of having acted as a Magistrate in pursuance thereof contrary to their Orders ;and of having represented their bad Conduct in a Letter by him wrote and sent to New York ; andof having conveyed a piece of Land by Title derived under a Grant obtained in the Colony of NewYork; and with endeavouring to seduce and inveigle the people to be Subject to the Laws andGovernment of the Colony of New York. That the Deponent departed to a high piece of Groundat some distance & soon after saw the said Mobb set fire to the Roof of the said Benjamin SpencersHouse in two different places and they then broke & took off the Roof from the said House withgreat shouting singing and noise. That on Tuesday the twenty-third day of November aforesaidthe deponent saw the dwelling House of Simpson Jenny of the said Township of Durham on fireand entirely consumed ; and that a number of Men armed with Guns were at the said House whilstit was burning: And that he the deponent lias been credibly informed that the said Mobb hasthreatened to burn the Houses of Sundry other persons in Durham aforesaid, and to whip the Ownersof the said Houses. That he the Deponent has this day seen some persons measuring improvedLands in the said Township of Durham, and was credibly informed that they were persons in Con-nection with the said Mobb, and that they were laying out the said Lands on New Hampshire Rights:That said Lands are held and possessed and the Improvements thereon made by the possessorsunder Titles derived from his Majesty by virtue of Letters patent obtained under the Colony ofNew York and farther the Deponent saith not.

Benjamin Hough.

Sworn this sixth day of December 1773. Before meJohn McKesson Not 3 Pub 3 .

Charlotte County ss: Anna Button the wife of Charles Button of Durham in the said CountyFarmer being duly sworn on the Holy Evangelists deposeth and saith, That in the Night of theTwentieth of November last about Eleven of the Clock a party of men armed with Guns came tothe House of the Deponents said Husband who was then abroad. That they broke or split downthe outward door of the said House and also the door of the Room where the Deponent was in Bed.That the door of the Room they broke open and into Pieces with an Ax. That about Seven of the