Deponent dead or alive. That all the Reason which they assigned for this violent attack upon theDeponent , was that he had complained of the Rioters to Government, & applied for the protectionof himself & the rest of the injured inhabitants, and had issued process against some of the MobTho this Deponent declares that he never issued any process but for a civil Debt, (except one upona Law of this province against a person for killing a Deer out of season, and the said John Smith &Enos Ross at the same time further declared that Benjamin Spencer, the only other acting Magis-trate in that part of the said County , nor any other person, should act as a Magistrate over them.And the Deponent further saith that being at the dwelling house of Daniel Walker in the Townshipof Derham in the said County , on the first Day of this Instant August a certain Dan Howlet, wholives at Shaftsbury near Bennington, came there, & enquired for the Deponent , and after muchabusive language Halet told the Deponent that he had come as a forerunner to warn him, andthat there was but one step between the said Houldt’s Life and the deponent’s, and swore that theRioters would have him the Deponent dead or alive; signifying also that the Deponent must relin-quish all pretensions of Acting as a Magistrate, and, if he should, he did not know but the Deponent ’sLife might be Spared ; but that this was uncertain. That the said Halet then assaulted and pushedthis deponent in a very rough manner, so that he was obliged to exert himself in order to escapeout of his Hands by throwing the said Halet on the Ground, and securing him untill he could findmeans to get out of his way, and the Deponent further saith that he is credibly informed & verilybelieves that the said Rioters have erected two Ports for their Defence, one on Onion River, andanother on Otter Creek in the said County of Charlotte, and the Deponent further saith that fromDepositions taken before him and the said Benjamin Spencer respectively it appears, and theDeponent verily believes that the said Benjamin Spencer by reason of his accepting of a Cu m m inimias a magistrate of the said County , is in great Danger from the said Mobb, both with respect tohis property & his Life; and that for the three last nights before this Deponent left the said Countyof Charlotte, neither he, nor the Deponent , thought it Safe to lodge in their own houses; butremoved lor their security to the Houses of their friends, and that this Deponent thought it Necessaryto keep six men armed in the house where he lodged to defend him in case of Discovery, and thisDeponent further saith that the Inhabitants of the said Township of Durham & Socialborough, whoare not connected with the said Rioters, and are submissive to the authority of Government, aregreatly terrified, and under continual Apprehensions of being attacked by the said Rioters, and thatthey entreated this Deponent once more to come down to this City and to apply to Government forRedress & protection, and this Deponent is very confident that unless some effectual Measures arespeedily taken to preserve the said Inhabitants against the violence & Licentiousness of the saidRioters, they must soon be driven from their possessions & reduced to the greatest poverty & Distress;and with respect to himself this Deponent saith, that he has laid out his little substance in improve-ing a Farm in the said Township of Socialborough, that from the threats & the Danger of the saidRioters he is prevented from cultivating the same, & his hired Servant who assisted him therein,from the Threats of the said Rioters, has been intimidated & left his service, That this Deponent conceives his own Life is so much in Danger from the open attacks & threats of the said Rioters,that he cannot think of returning to his Habitation, without some assistance from the Government,as he verily believes that the said Rioters will either privately, or openly, destroy him if they havean opportunity, and that he knows of no Reason he has given for their Malice towards him,except his applying for protection when he conceived himself and his Neighbors to be in imminentDanger, & saw them greatly insulted & abused; & his accepting his Majesty’s Commission as aMagistrate of the said County, and further the Deponent saith not.
Sworn this Twenty fourth Day of August 1774. Before me Benja™ Hough.
Dane. IIobsmanden.