USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > New Haven > History of the colony of New Haven to its absorption into Connecticut > Part 31
USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > New Haven > History of the colony of New Haven to its absorption into Connecticut > Part 31
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broken wilderness ; so that if the pursuivants had come to New Haven on Saturday, furnished with a search- warrant, the fugitives might, at any moment, by retir- ing a few miles into the forest, have become secure. Probably this was their design after Mr. Jones had. learned from the Indian runner what was going on in Guilford ; but as their enemies did not leave Guilford till Monday, they deemed it safe to sleep under a roof.
No more appropriate time could be suggested for the allusion which Mr. Davenport is believed to have made to the regicides in the pulpit, than the sabbath intervening between the two nights they spent at the mill. In a series of sermons substantially reproduced afterward in a book entitled "The Saint's Anchor- Hold," he inculcated among other duties that of sym- pathizing with and helping those who, for Christ's sake, are in trouble.
"Brethren, it is a weighty matter to read letters and receive intelligence in them concerning the state of the churches. You need to lift up your hearts to God, when you are about to read your letters from our native country, to give you wisdom and hearts duly affected, that you may receive such intelligences as you ought ; for God looks upon every man, in such cases, with a jealous eye, observing with what workings of bowels they read or speak of the concernments of his church." .... "The Christian Hebrews are exhorted to call to remembrance the former days in which, after they were illuminated, they endured a great fight of afflictions partly whilst they were made a gazing stock both by reproaches and afflictions, and partly whilst they became com- panions of them that were so used. Let us do likewise, and own the' reproached and persecuted people and cause of Christ in suffering times.
"Withhold not countenance, entertainment, and protection, from such, if they come to us from other countries, as from France,
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or England, or any other place. Be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them, and them who suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body. The Lord required this of Moab, saying, 'Make thy shadow as the night in the midst of the noonday; '- that is, provide safe and comfortable shelter and refreshment for my people in the heat of persecution and opposition raised against them : - ' hide the out- . casts, bewray not him that wandereth : let mine outcasts dwell with thee, Moab; be thou a covert to them from the face of the spoiler.' Is it objected, But so I may expose myself to be spoiled or troubled ? He therefore, to remove this objection, addeth, : For the danger is at an end, the spoiler ceaseth; the treaders down are consumed out of the land.' While we are attending to our duty in owning and harboring Christ's witnesses, God will be pro- viding for their and our safety, by destroying those that would destroy his people." I
On Monday, May 13, Whalley and Goffe were con- ducted by Mr. Jones and two other friends some three miles into the wilderness beyond the mill, where, a booth having been constructed, the colonels spent two nights. Having found a hatchet at the moment when one was needed for constructing the booth, they called the place Hatchet Harbor. On Wednesday, Kellond and Kirk being now far on their way to New Amsterdam, it was safe for Whalley and Goffe to come nearer to the habitations of men, and they were on that day con- ducted to West Rock, or Providence Hill, as they named it, by Richard Sperry, one of the three friends
' But as a copy of the book was presented by Davenport to Sir Thomas Temple in August, 1661, it would seem that the discourse from which the above is extracted must have been preached at an earlier date. The time intervening between May and August would hardly suffice for sending the manuscript to England, and receiving in return the printed copies.
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who had guided them to Hatchet Harbor. Here were several huge fragments of trap rock, placed so as, with the aid of hemlock boughs, to shield the space amidst them from the wind, and some of them projecting overhead so as to afford shelter from rain. This clus- ter of rocks, which has ever since been called the Judges' Cave, was the refuge of these hunted regicides from May 15 to June II. They were supplied with food from day to day by the faithful Sperry, whose house at the foot of the hill, though much nearer than any other, was nearly a mile distant. It is not unrea- sonable to conjecture that they went down in the even- ing to Sperry's house to sleep, and returned early in the morning to the cave, though tradition allows only that they sometimes came to the house in stormy weather. Probably not more than three or four per- sons knew that they were in Sperry's neighborhood ; perhaps of the few who knew that he supplied their wants and guarded the approach to their privacy, none but himself had ever seen the Judges' Cave.
On Friday, two days after Whalley and Goffe had removed from Hatchet Harbor to West Rock, -
" At a meeting of the General Court for the jurisdiction, May 17, 1661, the deputy-governor declared to the Court the cause of the meeting ; viz., that he had received a copy of a letter from his Majesty, with another letter from the governor of the Massachu- setts, for the apprehending of Col. Whalley and Col. Goffe; which letters he showed to the Court, and acquainted them that forth- with upon the receipt of them he granted his letter to the magis- trate of New Haven, by advice and concurrence of the deputies there to make present and diligent search throughout their town for the said persons accordingly; which letter the messengers carried, but found not the magistrate at home; and that he him-
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self followed after the messengers, and came into New Haven soon after them, the 13th of May, 1661, bringing with him Mr. Crane, magistrate at Branford; who, when they were come, sent pres- ently for the magistrates of New Haven and Milford, and the deputies of New Haven Court. The magistrates thus sent for not being yet come, they advised with the deputies about the matter, and, after a short debate with the deputies, were writing a warrant for search for the aforesaid colonels; but the magis- trates before spoken of being come, upon further consideration (the matter being weighty) it was resolved to call the General Court for the effectual carrying on of the work. The deputy- governor further informed the Court that himself and the magis- trates told the messengers that they were far from hindering the search, and they were sorry that it so fell out, and were resolved to pursue the matter as that an answer should be prepared against their return from the Dutch.
" The Court being met, when they heard the matter declared, and had heard his Majesty's letter and the letter from the gov- ernor of the Massachusetts, they all declared they did not know that they were in the colony, or had been for divers weeks past, and both magistrates and deputies wished a search had been sooner made; and did now order that the magistrates take care and send forth warrant that a speedy, diligent search be made throughout the jurisdiction, in pursuance of his Majesty's com- mand, according to the letters received, and that from the several plantations a return be made, that it may be recorded.1
' The following is a copy of one of the warrants, and of the return made by the searchers : -
" May 17, 1661.
For the Marshal or Deputies at Milford.
You are to make diligent search, by the first, throughout the whole town of Milford and the precincts thereof, taking with you two or three sufficient persons, and calling in any other help you shall see need of, who are hereby required to attend for your assistance upon call; and this to be in all dwelling houses, barns or other buildings whatsoever and vessels in the harbor, for the finding and apprehending of Colonel Whalley and Colonel Goffe, who stand charged with crimes as by his Majesty's letter appears ; and being found, you are to bring them to the Deputy Governor,
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"And whereas there have been rumors of their late being here at New Haven, it hath been inquired into and several persons examined, but could' find no truth in those reports, and for any thing yet doth appear, they are but unjust suspicions and ground- less reports against the place, to raise ill surmises and reproaches."
Learning that Mr. Davenport was suspected of con- cealing them, Whalley and Goffe left West Rock on the IIth of June, and showed themselves publicly, that he might be relieved from suspicion. It is not known at the present day where they spent the time between the IIth and the 22d of the month. Mr. Davenport, in a letter to Sir Thomas Temple, says that they came on the 22d of June "from another colony where they were, and had been some time, to New Haven." I or some other magistrate, to be sent over for England, according to his Majesty's order. Hereof fail not at peril.
By order of the General Court,
As attest, WILLIAM LEETE, Deputy Governor. .
JASPER CRANE, MATTHEW GILBERT,
ROBERT TREAT.
In the marshal's absence, I do appoint and empower you, Thomas Sanford, Nicholas Camp, and James Tapping to the above named pow- ers, according to the tenor of the warrant; and to make a return thereof under your hands to me by the first.
ROBERT TREAT.
We, the said persons, arpointed to serve and search by virtue of this our warrant, do hereby declare and testify that to our best light we have the 20th of May, 1661, made diligent search according to the tenor of this warrant, as witness our hands.
THOMAS SANFORD NICHOLAS CAMP JAMES TAPPING LAWRENCE WARD, his I mark
Searchers."
' It has been said that "Mr. Davenport's statement looks like a pre- varication." Doubtless it was, as every thing which the New Haven
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Perhaps they made a visit to Connecticut, and allowed themselves to be seen there in order to divert attention from New Haven. On Saturday, June 22, they came to New Haven, and remained till Monday, causing Mr. Gilbert, who, since the election on the 29th of May, had been deputy-governor, to be informed that they were ready to surrender, if necessary, and choosing to do so rather than bring ruin upon their friends. But on Sunday some persons came to them advising not to surrender ; and so on Monday they disappeared while the magistrates were consulting together, and taking measures for their arrest. "Thereupon a diligent search was renewed, and many were sent forth on foot and horseback to recover them into their hands." From a letter of Edward Rawson, secretary of the colony of Massachusetts to Gov. Leete, it may be in- ferred that these pursuers went to Branford. But it the regicides were seen going in that direction, as if they would return to Connecticut, it was only to mis- lead, for the same night they were lodged in their former retreat at West Rock.I "They continued there
people said about the two regicides was, a prevarication, but there is no reason to doubt that the statement was literally true. Mr. Davenport was a subtile causuist, but was not reckless of the truth.
' I conjecture that going eastward as far as Neck Bridge, they hid themselves under it till the pursuers had ridden over, and then, passing up by the side of the stream to the mill, went by Mill Rock to the house of Sperry. This conjecture accounts for the tradition that they were under the bridge when Kellond and Kirk passed over it; in which form the tradition has no inherent probability.
The tradition that they were concealed in the Allerton house, I cannot account for quite so satisfactorily. Stiles relates that their friend, Mrs. Eyers, hearing that the pursuers were coming, sent the colonels out of the house with directions to return immediately. They returning, she
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(says Hutchinson, who had access to a diary of Goffe, not now extant), sometimes venturing to a house near the cave, until the 19th of August, when the search for them being pretty well over, they ventured to the house of one Tomkins, near Milford, where they re- mained two years without so much as going into the orchard. After that they took a little more liberty, and made themselves known to several persons in whom they could confide; and each of them frequently prayed, and also exercised, as they term it, or preached at private meetings in their chamber."
The regicides lying concealed at West Rock, Gov. Leete received on the 30th of July a letter written by order of the council of Massachusetts informing that they had heard from the agent of their colony in London that many complaints were made against New England in general, and that though the address to his
concealed them in a closet, and promptly replied, when the pursuers asked for the colonels, that they had been there, but had recently gone away. Mrs. Eyers, granddaughter of the Isaac Allerton who came in the May- flower, was born Sept: 27, 1653, and therefore was in June, 1661, less than eight years of age. If, therefore, Whalley and Goffe were concealed in the house where she lived, they were concealed by the contrivance of her step-grandmother, the widow Allerton, rather than of the person who afterward became the owner of the Allerton mansion, and the wife of Simon Eyers. The tradition may have been handed down by her, but she could not have been the principal actor. Perhaps the colonels were entertained in this house from Saturday, June 22, to Monday, June 24, and went from Mrs. Allerton's toward Neck Bridge after they learned that the magistrates had issued a warrant for their arrest. This would account for another tradition; viz., that Marshal Kimberley attempted to arrest them between the town and Neck Bridge, but found them so skilled in the art of self-defence that he was obliged to go back for assistance. For further information in regard to Mrs. Eyers and the Allertons, see Dr Bacon's letter to Hon. John Davis, in Mass. Hist. Coll. XXVII. 243.
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Majesty which Massachusetts had made, came season- ably and had a gracious answer, yet the commissioners for the Plantations had taken notice that the other colonies had neglected thus to recognize the king. The secretary adds, -
" Further I am required to signify to you as from them that the non-attendance with diligence to execute the king's majesty's war- rant for the apprehending of Colonels Whalley. and Goffe will much hazard the present state of these colonies, and your own particularly, if not some of your persons, which is not a little afflictive to them; and that in their understanding there remains no way to expiate the offence and preserve yourselves from the danger and hazard but by apprehending the said persons, who, as we are informed, are yet remaining in the colony, and not above a fortnight since were seen there, all which will be against you. Sir, your own welfare, the welfare of your neighbors, bespeak your unwearied pains to free yourself and neighbors. I shall not add, having so lately, by a few lines from our governor and myself looking much this way, communicated our sense and thoughts of your and our troubles, and have as yet received no return, but com- mend you to God and his rich grace for your guidance and direc- tion in a matter of such moment, as his Majesty may receive full and just satisfaction, the mouths of all opposers stopped, and the profession of the truth that is in you and us may not in the least suffer by your actings is the prayer of
Sir, your loving friend,
Edward Rawson, Secretary. In the name and by order of the Council."
The above was written on the 4th of July, 166r, but remained in the hand of the writer till the 15th of the same month, when he added, -
"Sir, since what I wrote, news and certain intelligence is come hither of the two colonels being at New Haven from Saturday to Monday, and publicly known; and, however, it is given out that
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they came to surrender themselves, and pretended by Mr. Gilbert that he looked when they would have come in and delivered up themselves, never setting a guard about the house nor endeavoring to secure them, but, when it was too late, to send to Totoket, &c. Sir, how this will be taken is not difficult to imagine. To be sure, not well; nay, will not all men condemn you as wanting to your- selves, and that you have something to rely on, that you hope, at least, will answer your ends ? I am not willing to meddle with your hopes, but if it be a duty to obey such lawful warrants, as I believe it is, the neglect thereof will prove uncomfortable. Pardon me, sir; it is my desire you may regain your peace (and if you please to give me notice when you will send the two colonels); though Mr. Woodgreen is bound hence within a month, yet if you shall give me assurance of their coming, I shall not only endeavor, but do hereby engage, to cause his stay a fortnight, nay, three weeks, rather than they should not be sent."
At a general court held at New Haven for the juris- diction, Aug. 1, 1661 :- "the governor informed the Court of the occasion of calling them together at this time, and among the rest the main thing insisted on was to consider what application to make to the king in the case we now stood, being like to be rendered worse to the king than the other colonies, they seeing it an incumbent duty so to do. The governor informed also the Court that he had received a letter from the Council in the Bay, which was read, wherein was inti- mated of sundry complaints in England made against New England, and that the committee in England took notice of the neglect of the other colonies in their non- application to the king.
"Now the Court, taking the matter into serious con- sideration, after much debate and advice concluded that this writing should be sent to the Council in the Bay, the copy whereof is as followeth :" -
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" HONORED GENTLEMEN, - Yours dated the 4th of July (61), with a postscript of the 15th, we received July 30, which was com- municated to our general court Aug. I, who considered what you please to relate of those complaints made against New England, and of what spirit they are represented to be of, upon occasion of that false report against Capt. Leveret, whom we believe to have more wisdom and honesty than so to report, and we are assured that New England is not of that spirit. And as for the other colo- nies' neglect in non-application with yourselves to his Majesty last year, it hath not been forborne upon any such account, as we for our parts profess, and believe for our neighbors, but only in such new and unaccustomed matters we were in the dark to hit it in way of agreement as to a form satisfactory that might be acceptable; but since that of your colony hath come to our view, it is much to our content, and we solemnly profess from our hearts to own and say the same to his Majesty, and do engage to him full subjection and allegiance with yourselves accordingly, with profession of the same ends in coming with like permission and combining with yourselves and the other neighbor colonies, as by the preface of our articles may appear ; upon which grounds we both supplicate and hope to find a like protection, privilege, immunities, and favors, from his royal Majesty. And as for that you note of our not so diligent attendance to his Majesty's warrant, we have given you an account of before, that it was not done out of any mind to slight or disown his Majesty's authority in the least, nor out of favor to the colonels ; nor did it hinder the effect of their apprehending, they being gone before the warrant came into our colony, as is since fully proved ; but only there was a gainsaying of the gentlemen's earnestness, who retarded their own business to wait upon ours without commission ; and also out of scruple of conscience and fear of unfaithfulness to our people (who committed all our authority to us under oath) by owning a general governor, unto whom the war- rant was directed, as such implicitly, and that upon misinformation to his Majesty given, though other magistrates were mentioned, yet (as some thought) it was in or under him, which oversight (if so it shall be apprehended) we hope, upon our humble acknowledg- ment, his Majesty will pardon, as also that other and greater bewailed remissness in one, in not securing them till we came and
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knew their place, out of over-much belief of their pretended reality to resign up themselves, according to their promise, to save the country harmless, which failing is so much the more lamented. by how much more we had used all diligence to press for such a delivery upon some of those that had showed them former kind- ness, as had been done other where, when as none of the magis- trates could otherwise do any thing in it, they being altogether ignorant where they were or how to come at them, nor truly do they now, nor can we believe that they are hid anywhere in this colony, since that departure or defeatment. But however the con- sequence prove, we must wholly rely on the mercy of God and the king, with promise to do our endeavor to regain them if opportu- nity serve. Wherefore in this our great distress we earnestly desire your aid to present us to his Majesty in our cordial owning and complying with your address, as if it had been done and said by our very selves, who had begun to draw up something that way, but were disheartened through sense of feebleness, and incapacity to procure a meet agent to present it in our disadvantaged state, by these providences occurring ; hoping you will favor us in this latter and better pleasing manner of doing, which we shall take thankfully from you, and be willing to join in the proportionate share of charge for a common agent to solicit New England affairs in England, which we think necessary to procure the benefit of all acts of indemnity, grace, or favor, on all our behalfs, as well as in other respects to prevent the mischiefs of such as malign and seek to misinform against us, of which sort there be many to complot nowadays with great sedulity. If you shall desert us in this affliction to present us as before, by the transcript of this our letter or otherwise, together with the petition and acknowledgment herewithal sent, we shall yet look up to our God, that deliverance may arise another way."
This letter manifests a fear of evil results to the colony and to the magistrates from their neglect to apprehend the regicides. It was doubtless drawn up by Gov. Leete, who by this time was so much in fear for himself and for the colony that the fugitives would
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not have been safe if he had known where to put his hand on them. The freemen allowed this letter to be sent as the sense of the colony ; and perhaps a ma- jority sympathized with Leete in the feeling that the safety of the colony required their extradition if found, and agreed with him in the belief that they were not at that time within its territory ; but a few were more courageous, and, quietly allowing the letter to be sent as the official declaration of the colony, kept to them- selves their knowledge that Whalley and Goffe were still within the jurisdiction. Of this number were Gil- bert and Davenport, though even they were probably not aware that the fugitives were so near that they could see the turret of the building in which the court was held, and hear the rattle of the drum which con- vened it.
The difference of opinion on this subject which now obtained among the leading men seems to have occa- sioned some sharpness of feeling. Mr. Hooke, Whal- ley's brother-in-law, and formerly teacher of the church at New Haven, writes from England about ten weeks after this general court, to Mr. Davenport, "I under- stand by your letter what you have lately met with from Mr. Leete, &c.," and proceeds to explain that a certain letter from a friend in England to Mr. Street was not designed to caution New Haven people against befriending the regicides, but only against doing it openly. " The man was in the country when he wrote it, who sent it up to the city to be sent by what hand he knew not, nor yet knoweth who carried it ; and such were the times that he durst not express matters as he would, but he foresaw what fell out among you, and was
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willing you should be secured as well as his other friends, and therefore he wrote that they might not be found among you, but provided for by you in some secret places. . . . I hope yet all will be well; though now I hear (as I am writing) of another order to be sent over, yet still I believe God will suffer no man to touch you. I am almost amazed sometimes to see what cross capers some of you do make. I should break my shins should I do the like." Gov. Leete had apparently understood the cautionary letter to Mr. Street as advising an entire withholding of entertain- ment from the regicides, and had changed his position by a cross caper, such as Mr. Hooke thought himself incapable of executing.
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