USA > New Jersey > The history of New Jersey : from its earliest settlement to the present time : including a brief historical account of the first discoveries and settlement of the country, Vol. II > Part 7
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"Among the most notorious of these villains were Fenton, Fagan, Burke alias Emmons, Williams, De Bow and West. Fenton was originally a blacksmith, and learned his trade at Freehold. On one occasion he robbed a tailor's shop in that township. Word was sent him that if he did not restore the clothing within a week, he should be hunted and shot. Intimi- dated by the threat, he returned the property, accompanied by the following fiendish note : 'I have returned your d-d rags. In a short time I am coming to burn your barns and houses, and roast you all like a pack of kittens.'
"In August, 1779, this villain, at the head of his gang, attacked at midnight the dwelling of Mr. Thomas Farr, in the
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vicinity of Imlaystown. The family, consisting of Mr. Farr and wife, both aged persons, and their daughter, barricaded the door with logs of wood. The assailants first attempted to beat in the door with rails, but being unsuccessful, fired through a volley of balls, one of which broke the leg of Mr. Farr; then forcing an entrance at the back door, they murdered his wife, and despatched him as he lay helpless upon the floor. His daughter, though badly wounded, escaped, and the gang, fearing she would alarm the neighborhood, precipitately fled without waiting to plunder.
" After perpetrating many enormities, Fenton was shot about two miles below Blue Ball, in the township, under the following circumstances: Fenton and Burke beat and robbed a young man named Van Mater of his meal as he was going to mill. He escaped, and conveyed the information to Lee's Legion, then at the Court-house. A party started off in a wagon in pursuit, consisting of the sergeant, Van Mater, and two soldiers. The soldiers lay on the bottom of the wagon, concealed under the straw, while the sergeant, disguised as a countryman, sat with Van Mater on the seat. To increase the deception, two or three empty barrels were put in the wagon. On passing a low groggery in the pines, Fenton came out with pistol in hand, and commanded them to stop. Addressing Van Mater, he said : ' You d-d rascal ! I gave you such a whipping I thought you would not dare show your head;' and then, changing the subject, inquired, 'Where are you going?'
""'To the salt works,' was the reply.
"'Have you any brandy?' rejoined the robber.
"" Yes ! will you have some ?'
" A bottle was given him ; he put his foot on the hub of the wagon, and was in the act of drinking, when the sergeant touched the foot of one of the soldiers, who arose and shot him through the head. His brains were scattered over the side of the wagon. Burke, then in the woods, hearing the report, and supposing it a signal from his companion, discharged his rifle in answer. The party went in pursuit, but he escaped. Carelessly throwing the body into the wagon, they drove back furiously to the Court-house, where, on their arrival, they jerked out the
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corpse by the heels as though it had been that of some wild animal, with the ferocious exclamation, 'Here is a cordial for your Tories and wood-robbers !'
"Jonathan West, another of the lawless crew, in an affray with some of the inhabitants, was wounded and taken prisoner to the Court-house. His arm, being horribly mangled, was amputated. He soon after escaped to the pines, and became more desperate than before. He used the stump of his arm to hold his gun. Some time later he was again pursued, and on refusing to surrender was shot.
" Fagan, also a monster in wickedness, was killed in Shrews- bury, by a party of militia under Major Benjamin Dennis. The account of his death was given by Mrs. Amelia Coryel, a daugh- ter of Mr. Dennis, who narrowly herself escaped death from the ruffians.
" She says, 'On one Monday in the autumn of 1778, Fagan, Burke, and Smith came to the dwelling of Major Dennis, on the south side of the Manasquan River, four miles below what is now the Howell Mills, to rob it of some plunder captured from a British vessel. Fagan had formerly been a near neigh- bor. Smith, an honest citizen, who had joined the other two, the most notorious robbers of their time, for the purpose of be- traying them, prevailed upon them to remain in their lurking- place while he entered the house to ascertain if the way was clear. On entering he apprised Mrs. Dennis of her danger. Her daughter Amelia (afterwards Mrs. Coryel), a girl of fifteen, hid a pocketbook containing eighty dollars in a bed-tick, and with her little brother hastily retreated to a swamp near. She had scarcely left when they entered, searched the house and bed, but without success.'
" After threatening Mrs. Dennis, and ascertaining she was unwilling to give information where the treasure was concealed, one of them proposed murdering her 'No !' replied his com- rade, 'let the d-d rebel b-h live !' The counsel of the first prevailed. They took her to a young cedar-tree and suspended her to it by the neck with a bedcord. In her struggles she got free and escaped .* Amelia, observing them from her hiding-
* This lady on another occasion came near being killed by a party of Hes-
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place, just then descried John Holmes approaching in her father's wagon over a rise of ground two hundred yards distant, and ran toward him. The robbers fired at her; the ball whistled over her head and buried itself in an oak. Holmes abandoned the wagon and escaped to the woods. They then plundered the wagon and went off.
" The next day Major Dennis removed his family to Shrews- bury under the protection of the guard. Smith stole from his companions and informed Dennis they were coming the next evening to more thoroughly search his dwelling, and proposed that he and his comrades should be waylaid at a place agreed upon. On Wednesday evening the Major, with a party of militia, lay in ambush at the appointed spot. After a while Smith drove by in a wagon intended for the plunder, and Fagan and Burke came behind on foot. At a given signal from Smith, which was something said to the horses, the militia fired and the robbers disappeared. On Saturday some hunters in a groggery made a bet that Fagan was killed. Search was made and his body was found and buried. On Sunday, the event becoming known, the people assembled, disinterred the remains, and after heaping indignities upon it, enveloped it in a tarred cloth and suspended it in chains with iron bands around it, from a large chestnut tree, about a mile from the Court-house, on the road to Colt's Neck. There hung the corpse in mid-air, rocked to and fro by the winds, a horrible warning to his comrades, and a terror to travellers, until the birds of prey picked the flesh from its bones and the skeleton fell piecemeal to the ground. Tradition affirms that the skull was afterwards placed against the tree with a pipe in its mouth, in derision .*
"Captain Joshua Huddy resided at Colt's Neck, originally called Call's Neck, from a resident of that name. It is five
sians, who entered her dwelling, and after rudely accosting her, knocked her down with their muskets and left her for dead. In the July succeeding the death of Fagan, her husband was shot by the robbers Fenton and Emmons, as he was travelling from Coryel's Ferry to Shrewsbury. After the murder of her husband she married John Lambert, acting Governor of New Jersey in 1802. She died in 1835.
* Historical Collections of New Jersey, pages 351, 352, 353.
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miles from Freehold. The brave Captain Huddy distinguished himself on various occasions during the war, and therefore be- came an object of terror to the Tories. In the summer of 1780 a party of about sixty refugees, commanded by a mulatto named Tye, one evening attacked his dwelling. Huddy, assisted only by a servant girl* aged about twenty years, defended it for some length of time. Several muskets were fortunately left in the house by the guard generally stationed there, but who were at this time absent. These she loaded, while Huddy, by appearing at dif- ferent windows and discharging them, gave the impression that there were many defenders. He wounded several, and at last, while setting fire to the house, he shot their leader, Tye, f in the wrist. Huddy finding the flames fast increasing, agreed to sur- render, provided they would extinguish the fire.t
" The enemy on entering were much exasperated at the feeble- ness of its defenders, and could with difficulty be restrained by their leader from butchering them on the spot. They were obliged to leave, as the militia soon collected and killed six in their retreat. They carried off with Huddy several cattle and sheep from the neighborhood, but lost them in fording the creeks. They embarked on board their boats near Black Point, between Shrewsbury and Navesink rivers. As the boats pushed from shore Huddy jumped overboard, and was shot in the thigh, as was supposed, by the militia, then in close pursuit. He held . up one of his hands toward them, exclaiming, ' I am Huddy ! I am Huddy !' swam to the shore and escaped.
"Two years after, March, 1782, Huddy commanded a block- house at Tom's River, which was attacked by a party of refugees from New York, and taken after a gallant resistance. He most
The name of this heroine was Lucretia Emmons, afterwards Mrs. Cham- bers. She died at Freehold some years since.
t Titus, or Colonel Tye, as he was commonly called, usually commanded a mongrel crew of negroes and Tories. He died of lockjaw occasioned by this wound. He was a slave of John Corlies, and was born and bred in the south part of this township. He was an honorable, brave, but headstrong man. Several acts of generosity are remembered of him, and he was justly more respected as an enemy than many of his brethren of a fairer complexion.
Marks of the fire are plainly discernible to the present day, and on the eastern end of the house are several bullet holes.
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gallantly defended it until his ammunition was expended, when he had no other alternative but to surrender.
"The prisoners were carried to New York; from thence Huddy was conveyed to Sandy Hook, and placed heavily ironed on board a guard-ship.
" While confined he was told by one of the refugees that he was to be hanged, ' for he had taken a certain Philip White, a refugee in Monmouth County, cut off both his arms, broke his legs, pulled out one of his eyes, damned him, and then bid him run.' He answered, ' It is impossible I could have taken Philip White, I being a prisoner in New York at the time, closely con- fined, and for many days before he was made a prisoner.' One or two of his comrades corroborated this statement. Four days after (April 12th) Huddy was taken by sixteen refugees under Captain Lippencott to Gravelly Point, on the seashore at the foot of Navesink Hills, about a mile north of the Highland lighthouses, where he was deliberately executed. He met his fate with an extraordinary degree of firmness and serenity. It is said he even executed his will under the gallows, upon the head of that barrel from which he was to make his exit, and in a handwriting fairer than usual.
" The following label was attached to his breast :
" We, the refugees, having long with grief beheld the cruel mur- ders of our brethren, and finding nothing but such measures daily carrying into execution ; we therefore determine not to suffer with- out taking vengeance for the numerous cruelties ; and thus begin, having made use of Captain Huddy as the first object to present to your view; and further determine to hang man for man, while there is a refugee existing.
"' UP GOES HUDDY FOR PHILIP WHITE.'
" The gallows, formed of three rails, stood on the beach, close to the sea. Tradition states that Captain Lippencott ob- serving reluctance in some of his men to take hold of the rope, drew his sword, and swore he would run the first through who disobeyed orders. Three of the party, bringing their bayonets to the charge, declared their determination to defend themselves ; that Huddy was innocent of the death of White, and they would not be concerned in the murder of an innocent man.
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" The corpse of Huddy was carried to Freehold and buried with the honors of war. A funeral sermon was preached on the occasion by the Rev. Spafford Woodhull, who afterwards sug- gested to General David Forman the propriety of retaliation. Forman wrote to this effect to Washington."
Ramsay, in his " History of the Revolution," says :
"General Washington resolved on retaliation for this deliberate murder ; but instead of immediately executing a British officer, he wrote to Sir Henry Clinton that unless the murderers of Huddy were given up he should be under the necessity of retaliating. The former being refused, Captain Asgill was designated by lot for that purpose. In the meantime the British instituted a court-martial for the trial of Captain Lippencott, who was sup- posed to be the principal agent in executing Huddy. It ap- peared in the course of this trial that Governor Franklin, the President of the Board of Associated Loyalists, gave Lippencott verbal orders for what he did; and that he had been designated as a proper subject for retaliation, having been, as the refugees stated, a persecutor of the loyalists, and particularly as having been instrumental in hanging Stephen Edwards,* who had been
* Stephen Edwards, a young man, in the latter part of the war left his home at Shrewsbury, and joined the loyalists at New York. From thence he was sent by Colonel Taylor, of the refugees, a former resident of Middletown, back to Monmouth County, with written instructions to ascertain the force of the Americans there. Information having been conveyed to the latter, Jona- than Forman, a captain of cavalry, was ordered to search for him. Suspect- ing he might be at his father's residence, half a mile below Eatontown, he entered it at midnight with a party of men, and found him in bed with his wife, disguised in the nightcap of a female. " Who have you here ?" says Forman. " A laboring woman," replied Mrs. Edwards. The captain de- tected the disguise, and on looking under the bed, saw Edwards's clothing, which he examined, and found the papers given him by Colonel Taylor. He then says, " Edwards, I am sorry to find you! You see these papers ? you have brought yourself into a disagreeable situation ; you know the fate of spies !" Edwards denied the allegation, remarking, " he was not such, and could not be so considered."
This occurred on Saturday night. The prisoner was taken to the Court- house, tried by a court-martial next day, and executed at ten o'clock on the Monday following. Edwards's father and mother had come up that morning to ascertain the fate of their son, and returned home with his corpse. Edwards
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one of that description. The court having considered the whole matter, gave their opinion, 'That, as what Lippencott did was not the effect of malice or ill-will, but proceeded from a convic- tion that it was his duty to obey the orders of the Board of Di- rectors of Associated Loyalists, and as he did not doubt their having full authority to give such orders, he was not guilty of the murder laid to his charge, and therefore they acquitted him.' Sir Guy Carleton, who a little before this time had been ap- pointed Commander-in-Chief of the British army, in a letter to General Washington, accompanying the trial of Lippencott, de- clared 'that notwithstanding the acquittal of Lippencott, he reprobated the measure, and gave assurances of prosecuting a further inquiry.' About the same time he broke up the Board of Associated Loyalists, which prevented a repetition of similar excesses.
"The war, also, drawing near its close, the motives for retaliation, as tending to prevent other murders, in a great measure ceased. In the meantime, General Washington re- ceived a letter from Count de Vergennes, interceding for Captain Asgill, which was also accompanied with a very pathetic one from his mother, Mrs. Asgill, to the Count. Copies of these several letters were forwarded to Congress, and soon after they resolved, 'that the Commander-in-Chief be directed to set Captain Asgill at liberty.' . The lovers of humanity rejoiced that the necessity for retaliation was superseded by the known humanity of the new British Commander-in-Chief, and still more by the well-founded prospect of a speedy peace. Asgill, who had received every indulgence, and who had been treated with all possible politeness, was released, and permitted to go into New York.
"The following is from an ancient newspaper : 'On the 30th ult. (April, 1780), a party of negroes and refugees from the Hook, landed at Shrewsbury in order to plunder. During
was an amiable young man. The Forman and Edwards families had been on terms of intimate friendship ; and the agency of one of the members of the former in the transaction excited their deepest sympathies for the unfortunate fate of the prisoner. This occurred at the period of the greatest troubles in the country .- Historical Collections of New Jersey.
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their excursion a Mr. Russel, who attempted some resistance to their depredations, was killed, and his grandchild had five balls shot through him, but is yet living. Captain Warner, of the privateer brig Elizabeth, was made prisoner by these ruffians but was released by giving them two joes. This banditti also took off several persons, among whom were Captain James Green and Ensign John Morris, of the militia.'
" The annexed additional particulars were obtained by con- versation with a resident at the time. Mr. Russel was an elderly man, aged about sixty years ; as the party entered his dwelling, which was in the night, he fired and missed. They returned it, and young Russel fell. William Gillian, a native of Shrewsbury, their leader, seized the old gentleman by the collar, and was in the act of stabbing him in the face and eyes with his bayonet, when the fire blazed up, and shedding a mo- mentary light upon the scene enabled the younger Russel, as he lay wounded on the floor, to shoot Gillian. John Farnham, a native of Middletown, thereupon aimed his musket at the young man, but it was knocked up by Lippencott, who had married into the family. The party then went off. The child was accidentally wounded in the affray .*
ยท
" There also lived in this county during the Revolution a notorious refugee named John Bacon, who had murdered several citizens and plundered many defenceless families. The follow- ing account of one of his depradations is from the New Jersey Gazette of January 8th, 1783 :
"'On Friday, the 27th ult., Captain Richard Shreve, of the Burlington County Lighthorse, and Captain Edward Thomas of the Mansfield militia, having received information that John Bacon with his banditti of robbers, was in the neighborhood of Cedar Creek, collected a party of men and went immediately in pursuit of them. They met them at the Cedar Creek bridge. The refugees, being on the south side, had greatly the advantage of Captains Shreve and Thomas's party in point of situation. It was, nevertheless, determined to charge them. The onset, on the part of the militia, was furious, and opposed by the refugees with great firmness for a considerable time ; several of
* Historical Collections of New Jersey, pages 365-368.
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them having been guilty of such enormous crimes as to have no expectation of mercy should they surrender. They were, never- theless, on the point of giving way, when the militia were unexpectedly fired upon from a party of the inhabitants near that place, who had suddenly come to Bacon's assistance.
"This put the militia in some confusion, and gave the refugees time to get off. Mr. William Cooke, Jr., son of William Cooke, Esq., was unfortunately killed in the attack, and Robert Reckless wounded, but is likely to recover. On the part of the refugees, Ichabod Johnson (for whom the Gov- ernment has offered a reward of twenty-five pounds), was killed on the spot ; Bacon and three more of the party are wounded. The militia are still in pursuit of the refugees, and have taken seven of the inhabitants prisoners, who were with Bacon in the action at the bridge, and are now in the Burlington jail, some of whom have confessed the fact. They have also taken a considerable quantity of contraband and stolen goods in search- ing some suspected houses and cabins on the shore.
"In the spring ensuing, Bacon was surprised and killed at Egg Harbor by a detachment of Shreve's Lighthorse, com- manded by Cornet Cook .*
" While Bergen and other counties were cursed by the Tory element, the citizens of Monmouth County were the greatest sufferers, on account of the large numbers of these infamous Tory bands, and during the entire war they suffered severely from their intestine enemies, particularly the refugees, who took up arms against their former neighbors and friends. Whole families were divided, fathers and brothers taking different sides, and mingling in savage conflict in murderous opposition to each other. Between them occurred scenes of ferocity and incidents of individual daring sufficient to fill a volume of horror. At one time the refugees gained the ascendency, and had possession of the village of Freehold for a week or ten days, but at last were driven out by the Whigs. Some of them took to the swamps and woods, and like the pine robbers, secreted themselves in caves burrowed in the sand, where their friends covertly supplied them with food. The most ferocious
* Historical Collections of New Jersey, page 369.
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of them were hung .* Those more mild, or merely suspected, were put on their parole of honor or sent prisoners to Hagers- town, Maryland, to prevent their communicating with the enemy, and at the close of the war had their property restored. Many of the refugees fled from this State to New York, and were formed into a military corps under the name of 'The Associated Loyalists,' of which William Franklin, the last Royal Governor of New Jersey, was president.
"This county was more afflicted by their marauding parties than all the rest of the State combined; and the inhabitants, favorable to the popular cause, were compelled to draw up articles of agreement, for the purposes of retaliation. Annexed is a copy of this paper, which was signed by four hundred and thirty-six persons as associators. It comprises the names of prominent families in this county at the present day, the descendants of whom can look back with pride at the daring patriotism displayed by their progenitors during those dark and trying times. The original of this document is in the office of the Secretary of State, at Trenton.
"Whereas, From the frequent incursions and depredations of the enemy (and more particularly of the refugees) in this county, whereby not only the lives but the liberty and property of every determined whig are endangered, they, upon every such incursion, either burning or destroying houses, making prisoners of, and most inhumanly treating aged and peaceable inhabitants, and plundering them of all portable property, it has become essentially necessary to take some different and more effectual measures to check said practices, than have ever yet been taken; and as it is a fact, notorious to every one, that these depredations have always been committed by the refugees (either black or white) that have left this country, or by their influence or procurement, many of whom have near relations and friends, that in general have been suffered to reside unmo- lested among us, numbers of which, we have full reason to
* No less than thirteen pine robbers, refugees, and murderers, were executed at different times on one gallows, which stood near where Fagan was hung, in the vicinity of the Court-house. Dr. Samuel Forman, of Free- hold, assisted in the erection of this gallows.
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believe, are aiding and accessory to those detestable practices. We, the subscribers, inhabitants of the county of Monmouth, actuated solely by the principles of self-preservation, being of opinion that the measure will be strictly justifiable on the common principles of war, and being encouraged thereto by an unanimous resolve of the honorable, the Congress, passed the 30th of October, 1778, wherein they in the most solemn manner declare that through every possible change of fortune they will retaliate, do hereby solemnly associate for the purpose of retaliation, and do obligate ourselves, our heirs, executors, and administrators, and every of them jointly and severally, to all and every of the subscribers and their heirs, etc., to warrant and defend such persons as may be appointed to assist this association in the execution thereof; and that we will abide by and adhere to such rules and regulations for the purpose of making restitution to such friends to their country as may hereafter have their houses burned or broke to pieces, their property wantonly destroyed or plundered, their persons made prisoners of whilst peaceably at their own habitations about their lawful business not under arms, as shall hereafter be determined on by a committee of nine men duly elected by the associates at large out of their number; which rules and regula- tions shall be founded on the following principles, viz. :
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