USA > Vermont > Windsor County > Windsor > The birthplace of Vermont; a history of Windsor to 1781 > Part 12
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To a reader with any knowledge of the rules of evidence in the courts of English-speaking people, Whiting's statement of what Samuel Stone thought or did would seem incompetent as testimony; but the instance is only one of many in the depositions in the Dean cases, where the witnesses were per-
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mitted to recount their own and other people's beliefs, opin- ions, and conversations.
Whiting, continuing in the same strain, then went on to testify that he had brought with him to Windsor one William Ham, a mastliner who had worked in the mast yard at Ports- mouth many years, and that Ham on inspecting the logs pro- nounced them "the best and prettyest Timber he had ever seen." Further than that, Governor Wentworth, who was also present, on hearing Ham's praise of the quality of the logs, seemed convinced that the trees were fit for masts. His- torically, it is fine evidence of the excellence of the pine for- ests that grew in Windsor, but pretty thin stuff on which to send a man to prison.
Whiting admitted that he knew little as to the ownership of the Lower Meadow, but that he thought four or five lots were Captain Dean's, that one was Benjamin Wait's and one the property of Dudley Chase. On which of the lots the trees had been cut Whiting could not say.
As to his official duties, Whiting testified that he had been a deputy surveyor of the King's Woods since December 4, 1767, and that he had no authority to let anybody cut trees over twenty-four inches in diameter.
Whiting then proceeded to tell of his interviews with Cap- tain Dean, beginning with one at Charlestown, on November 30 or December 1, 1768, when the captain asked him to mark some trees that might be cut. Whiting said at that time he was just starting out for Portsmouth, but promised to return to Windsor and make a survey. He testified that Captain Dean then represented the timber to be "very notty, scruby and bad," that such as was fit for masts had been cut years before and that what remained was so poor that it would scarcely make saw logs. To this Whiting replied that while he had no authority to give Captain Dean leave to go ahead and cut, still, if the timber in question was as bad as the cap- tain described it, there was little chance that anybody would take advantage of its being cut without license.
Whiting next met Captain Dean at Portsmouth about twelve days later. At that time Whiting had just had an in- terview with Governor Wentworth, who enquired of Whiting
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THE BIRTHPLACE OF VERMONT
if he knew Captain Dean. Whiting testified that the gov- ernor then informed him that Captain Dean had called, and, having complained of being unable to get timber in Windsor surveyed, had asked if he might himself be appointed a deputy surveyor. The governor, according to Whiting, announced that he had declined to appoint either Captain Dean or John Grout, whom the captain had also suggested, and that Cap- tain Dean then mentioned the name of Simeon Olcott. Whit- ing was also permitted to testify that Governor Wentworth thought neither Captain Dean nor John Grout a fit appointee. He further testified that Captain Dean then re-appeared at the governor's and that Captain Peters was there also.
At Portsmouth Whiting said he saw one Wendell, a notary, who informed him that Captain Dean was then buying land of Mark H. Wentworth or James Nevin or both. This piece of hearsay was introduced to contradict Captain Dean's claim that his trip to Portsmouth was solely to get his timber sur- veyed.
The rest of Whiting's testimony is almost all conjecture, hearsay, and argument. He was told by others that the larg- est of the seventeen logs was cut while the captain was at Portsmouth and the rest after his return; that Captain Dean's oxen or men were not unemployed; that the trees were cut for profit because the captain was said to have made a good tim- ber contract and because the trees were cut partly on land of other people. Whiting did not believe that anything he had said at Charlestown could have encouraged Captain Dean into thinking it right to fell the trees, since twelve days later at Portsmouth the Captain was asking Peters to come and make a survey. The reason that Peters did not make the sur- vey was because he was later informed that Captain Dean had already begun work and apparently had got a license.
Benjamin Wait testified that he lived in Windsor, was thirty-three years of age, a farmer, and had known Captain Dean for three years. Between December 20 and 30 he had been at Captain Dean's house and had heard Captain Dean direct Willard Dean, William Dean, junior, Benjamin Thurs- ton, and Elijah Granger to chop logs. These four men he saw take their axes and go. He also saw them felling trees and
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THE DEANS ARE CONVICTED
cutting logs. He heard Captain Dean say that he had re- turned from Portsmouth and intended to proceed to fell his timber. Wait then testified as to the size of some of the trees that had been cut, and swore that the operations continued until April. He thought that some of the trees were fit for masts.
The Lower Meadow, according to Benjamin Wait's testi- mony, belonged to Samuel Chase, James Wellman, Dudley Chase, Benjamin Wait, Joseph Wait, the Widow Patrick, Arad Hunt, and William Dean, and that it was divided into lots, of seven and one-half acres each, of which William Dean claimed seven. Wait swore that most of the trees were cut on Dudley Chase's land and a few on Captain Dean's. Wait knew the bounds, because he assisted in laying out the lots.
Wait testified that he not only saw the felling and cutting, but he saw the logs being rolled into the river. To Wait, Captain Dean had admitted having visited both Portsmouth and Boston on his recent trip and having bought Windsor lands at both places. In Wait's presence Governor Wentworth had spoken to Captain Dean on the Lower Meadow and had said that the captain was the person who had applied for a deputation and "would have made fine havock among the King's timber." Wait also testified that Captain Dean did not keep his oxen or men unemployed, but that, on the con- trary, they had work to do under a county order to work out a public tax by six days' labor on the highway, and were also busy hauling firewood. As far as not cutting the trees for profit went, Wait testified to a statement by Dean that he had made a good bargain in timber and had agreed to deliver "choice good timber." Wait swore that out of friendship he had asked Joseph King to warn Captain Dean of the danger of cutting white pines without a license.
The star witness for the prosecution was Elijah Granger, a citizen of Suffield in Connecticut, twenty-five years of age. Really an aider and abettor of Captain Dean, Granger might almost be regarded as having turned state's evidence, although there was no complaint entered or process issued against him. He testified with zeal and force and he had real knowledge of many of the essential facts. He had seen Governor Went-
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THE BIRTHPLACE OF VERMONT
worth for the first time on the 21st or 22d day of January, 1769, on the Lower Meadow in Windsor. He had first met Captain Dean in September, 1768. Since the age of fourteen Granger said he had been used to hew, saw, cut, and work with timber and that he was a husbandman and engaged in sawing timber with a sawmill. He thought he knew some- thing of trees fit for masts, and he testified having recently seen one Jones, a deputy surveyor, point out as fit for masts two trees inferior to those cut at Captain Dean's orders. Again, on the Lower Meadow at Windsor, he had heard Wil- liam Ham, the mastliner, say in Governor Wentworth's pres- ence that a tree cut by the Deans "was a very proper stick for a mast." Granger, it seems, went over the premises where the trees had been cut, as a sort of pilot for Governor Went- worth and William Ham. He testified having heard Governor Wentworth thus address the captain: "Mr. Dean, you have been guilty of a very ungodly trick. You are the person who applyed to me at Portsmouth for a Deputation to be a Sur- veyor. You would have made fine havock by being a Sur- veyor. You came immediately home and went to cutting wood and destroying the King's timber."
Not all of Granger's testimony was of an improper sort, and part of it was extremely damaging. For instance, he detailed the terms of a contract made by Captain Dean for the sale of the timber which Granger had helped to cut. It seems that during the month of September, 1768, Captain Dean had come to the witness with an offer to sell a quantity of white pine timber, sufficient to make from six hundred thousand to seven hundred thousand feet of boards. Together they went to Granger's partners at Suffield, viz., Jacob Hathaway, junior, Charles Hathaway, Ebenezer King, junior, Zadock Granger, and Robert Granger, junior, with whom Captain Dean dis- cussed a contract to deliver for them into Connecticut River enough white pine logs to make five hundred thousand feet of boards. Captain Dean said he would warrant the timber to be sound, free from "Shakes, Rotts & Crooks" and to float it the following spring. He also offered to send two men with the logs down the river. By the terms of the offer no logs were to be less than twelve or more than twenty-four feet in length,
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THE DEANS ARE CONVICTED
none less than sixteen or eighteen inches in diameter, and none to exceed three and one-half feet in diameter-price one dollar per thousand feet! This would bring the total cost to five hundred dollars or two hundred pounds in New York cur- rency. Captain Dean, according to Granger's story, also rep- resented the timber as being on his land near his house on the Lower Meadow in Windsor. Granger and his partners objected that the price was too dear, whereupon the captain explained to them that his timber was extraordinary, that it had never been culled or picked, and that there was not bet- ter timber to be had in any other place on Connecticut River. That clinched the matter, and a contract was then and there concluded. Under its terms Elijah Granger, the witness, was to go to Windsor, work on the contract and supervise the cutting.
Granger thought that Captain Dean had also a smaller tim- ber contract with one Copley of Suffield.
On the actual measurements of the seventeen trees, Granger was the most definite of any of the witnesses. He gave the entire list: the smallest being twenty-seven inches in diam- eter at the butt, the largest forty-four. Of the three that Governor Wentworth seized, the diameters at butt and tip and the length were as follows:
BUTT DIAMETER
LENGTH
TIP DIAMETER
32 inches
80 feet
24 inches
37
86
20.8
44 66
94
20 66
All the measurements were taken in Granger's presence on December 31, 1768, by Joseph King, Israel Curtis, and Ben- jamin Wait.
After Governor Wentworth's visit to Windsor Captain Dean, according to Granger's testimony, frequently "recriminated" himself for not getting Daniel Jones to survey the timber, and asked Granger to be out of the way for six months, so as not to be found as a witness, and intimated that it would be "the best six months by one half that ever he had spent."
On behalf of the three prisoners no testimony seems to have been received or offered. Possibly, as the testimony on
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THE BIRTHPLACE OF VERMONT
behalf of the prosecution came out, it occurred to Mr. Duane that there was little chance of obtaining an acquittal, and that matters might take a worse rather than a better turn if more witnesses testified.
On November 15, while the case was pending before the court, a singular thing occurred. It is reported in Mr. Hall's History of Eastern Vermont1 and in the fourth volume of the Documentary History of New York.2 It consisted of the exe- cution of a bill of sale on that day by Captain Dean of all his goods and chattels to Judge Samuel Wells, of Brattleborough. It was done with the knowledge of James Duane, who ac- quainted the admiralty judge with the transaction and who represented that it was necessary in order to provide Captain Dean and his sons with the means of subsistence while in jail in New York.
On December 1, John Tabor Kempe, as advocate-general and as proctor in admiralty for the surveyor-general, moved that a decree be entered in favor of the prosecutor in each of the three cases. On the same day Judge Morris granted de- crees in favor of the surveyor-general and against Captain Dean, Willard Dean, and William Dean, junior, in the sum of eight hundred and fifty pounds sterling, or fourteen hundred and eighty-seven pounds ten shillings New York money in each case. In the body of the decree against Captain Dean, Judge Morris reviewed the testimony and found that guilt in cutting white pines without a license had been abundantly proved, even though proof as to the fitness of the pines for masts were not clear. The latter consideration he deemed not essential. Thereupon the three prisoners announced that they could not pay the judgments, would waive the customary allowance of twenty days' time in which to raise the money, and asked immediate issuance of execution against their goods and chattels. The court so ordered, and writs of execution were placed in the hands of Benjamin Whiting, as deputy marshal, for levy.
Of course, Whiting was unable to seize any goods and chat- tels belonging to the Deans. Willard and William Dean, junior, apparently never had any of their own, and the Cap-
1 History of Eastern Vermont, pp. 155-157. 2 4 Doc. Hist., pp. 404-405.
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THE DEANS ARE CONVICTED
tain had disposed of his to Judge Wells. Nevertheless, Whit- ing went to Windsor to go through the necessary motions, and there on the 29th of December interviewed Rachel Dean, the wife of William Dean, junior. The result of this inter- view Whiting reported on the back of the execution against Captain Dean, and thus accounted for the failure to satisfy the execution by a levy on any of the captain's goods:
"I was informed by the wife of William Dean junior who resided at the house of the said William Dean that he had conveyed them, before this execution was issued, to Samuel Wells Esq' one of the Justices of the Inferior Court for said County whose attorney John Grout had taken into his pos- session and had secured them so that they could not be found; and of this I was informed by several other persons; and I also saw an Inventory of said goods and chattels amounting according to my judgment to one hundred and twenty pounds lawful money of New York."
Whiting, therefore, on January 29, 1770, returned all three executions unsatisfied and, upon this, Judge Morris sentenced Captain William Dean "to be committed to Prison there to remain without Bail or Mainprize during the term of Four Months or until the said defendant shall pay the Penalty and find sufficient security for his good behavior for the space of three years to be accounted from the first day of December last past being the date of his Conviction." The two sons received each a sentence of three months upon like conditions and, with their father, were taken back to the jail which had been their prison since the preceding October.
CHAPTER XVIII
JOHN WENTWORTH EMBARRASSES COLDEN
WHATEVER chagrin Governor Wentworth may have felt at not being able to collect any of the judgments against the Deans, it did not prevent him writing graciously both to Judge Morris and John Tabor Kempe for the manner in which those officers of the Crown had discharged their duties. Judge Morris, it seems, had written to the governor on the day fol- lowing the convictions and had recommended to the governor that it would be a merciful thing to show clemency in the cases of the two sons. The governor replied on January 24, 1770, saying that the King's advocate at Portsmouth had advised withholding answer to this proposal until the executions had been returned, but "that this is now completed and I readily agree that they may both be discharged from prison, as they appear to have been led into the scrape by their wicked father who must suffer the penalty incurred by his own evil conduct." The letter closed with the important announcement that the governor had petitioned the governor and Council of New York that Captain Dean's land be escheated to the Crown since the land was held "under a grant in this Province which expressly contains a reversion & re-entry to the Crown upon cutting white pine timber-and the fact is proved. . . . "
On February 16 the governor received a letter from James Duane enclosing a petition for pardon signed by all three of the Deans. The application stirred the governor's compassion to such an extent that on that day he wrote John Tabor Kempe consenting to have all the prisoners released. To Kempe he also reported having addressed to Lieutenant-Governor Colden and the New York Council a memorial asking that the lands of Captain Dean be forfeited to the Crown for breach of the conditions in the Benning Wentworth charter of Windsor township. The court records show that the two Dean boys gave their recognizances for good behavior on February 20
140
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JOHN WENTWORTH EMBARRASSES COLDEN
and that Captain Dean gave his on March 12. Presumably the prisoners received their freedom on those days respectively.
Governor John Wentworth's letter and memorial to the Provincial Government of New York are printed in full in the Documentary History1 and cover not only the petition for the forfeiture of Captain Dean's land, but a very spirited complaint against the conduct of Judge Samuel Wells in attempting to defeat the prosecution of the Deans and in preventing the col- lection of the judgments. The facts regarding Judge Wells are as have previously been related and were set forth in three affidavits transmitted by the governor.2 The demand for the forfeiture of Captain Dean's land was squarely put on the ground that "by the express Terms of ye Grant or patent of said Lands under the public seal of New Hampshire, the property reverts to the King with right of re-entry, upon cut- ting any pine Timber from off the premises, without License, as by the Second Article of the Condition in the annexed Copy may more fully appear." Governor Wentworth thus handed to Cadwallader Colden and his council a problem which was about as unpleasant and unwelcome as could be devised. It was indeed high time that James Duane and John Tabor Kempe were speeding the Albany ejectment causes to judg- ment.
14 Doc. Hist., pp. 393-395.
2 Id., pp. 385-389.
CHAPTER XIX RIOTS BREAK OUT IN WINDSOR
HAVING organized Windsor as a New Hampshire town, al- though it was legally within the Province of New York, Colonel Nathan Stone next turned his attention to the cir- culation of a petition asking that the region west of the Con- necticut River be annexed to New Hampshire. What the word- ing of that petition was or to whom the petition was addressed could perhaps be discovered by a search of the British Record Office in London, but so far as the petitions of that period have been published there seems to be no copy of Nathan Stone's petition of 1769 in any of the histories. Simon Stevens of Charlestown mentioned it quite definitely in an affidavit which may be found in the Documentary History of New York 1 and says that it was addressed to the King. He describes it as asking that the inhabitants on the west side of the Connecticut River be made subject to New Hampshire. He says it was "promoted by Nathan Stone who has lately been very active against the Jurisdiction of New York" and Stevens fixes the time of its circulation as the fall of 1769. The affiant offered it as his belief that the petition was drawn by Governor John Wentworth. To similar effect are affidavits by Ebenezer Cole and Judge Samuel Wells2 though neither of these affiants fixes the date so closely or mentions the name of Nathan Stone.
Governor John Wentworth was perfectly cognizant of the fact that petitions had been and were being circulated on the New Hampshire Grants. In a letter to Lord Hillsborough under date of February 18, 1770, he says that the settlers "for two years past" have had petitions before the New Hampshire Council and that he has "heard that the Inhabitants on the Lands west of Connecticut River have prepared a petition to his Majesty praying a confirmation of their titles." More informing is the governor's letter of February 27 to his kins- man, Paul Wentworth, of London, in which he writes that he
1 4 Doc. Hist. 423.
2 4 Doc. Hist. 418, 426.
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RIOTS BREAK OUT IN WINDSOR
has "been waiting till the last moment before the vessel sails for the petitions, instructions and appointment of the people on the West Side of Connecticut River who have unanimously intreated that you would undertake for them; but they have not yet brought it, .. . " He goes on to state that they have obtained a letter of credit from Colonel Atkinson to support the expense "and have form'd a petition to the King setting forth their Claim ... . " "I don't think it well wrote," said the governor, thus freeing himself from the suspicion of having been the draftsman, yet at the same time showing that he was familiar with its contents before he had received it. By this time he had evidently heard of the eight or more ejectment suits then recently instituted in the New York supreme court against the settlers under the New Hampshire charters and he dwelt at length in his letters to the Earl of Hillsborough and Paul Wentworth on the oppression thus being practiced.
As the time for March town meetings came around, the inhabitants of Windsor determined to adhere to the precedent of the preceding year and hold a meeting on the second Tues- day of March according to New Hampshire law. "Wharas Thare is A Meeting appointed by the Charter Granted by New Hampshire," began the warrant, in open defiance of New York. Since the notice of this meeting is preserved and is the first warrant or warning of a town meeting that can be found among the Windsor records it deserves to be published in full.
"Wharas Thare is A Meeting appointed by the Charter Granted by New Hampshire for the freeholders and other inhabitants of Windsor to Meet or assemble on The Second Tusday of March Anewaly
"These are tharefore to Notifie and warn all the freeholders and other inhabitants of said Town of Windsor To Meet or Assemble att the Dwelling House of Mr. David Stone in sd Town att one of the Clock in the afternoon then and there to Act on the following articles if thay think proper Viz .-
"1st To Chuse A Moderator to regulate Said meeting
"2ª To Chuse all Town Officers that are alowed or Directed to be Chose either by Law or Sª Charter
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THE BIRTHPLACE OF VERMONT
"3th To See if the inhabitants will agree to Some method to have Sealed waits and measuers
"4th To See if the freeholders will agree to Shut up their Swine
"5th To See if the freeholders will agree to Cleare the Meet- inghouse yard
"6 thly To See if the freeholders will Except of the Highways that are Allready surveyed
" 7 thly To See if the Town will agree to Raise the Mill Brook Bridge four five Six or Seven foott higher than it is now
"8th To See if the Town will agree to Build A Schoolhouse and whare thay will agree to set it and what Size to Build Said House
"9thly To See if the freeholders will agree to purches A Town Book and Do anything else that thay shall think proper to be Done
"Given Under my Hands by order of the Selectmen att Windsor This 27th Day of Febry 1770
David Stone Town Clerk"
The warrant bears the following well penned and well spelled endorsement by Thomas Cooper who appears to have been appointed constable in place of Ezra Gilbert sometime since the first town meeting:
"Cumberland County in New York Government-in obedi- ence to ye within written warrant I have notified & warned ye inhabitants and freeholders of ye town of Windsor to assem- ble and meet at ye time and place within mentioned by me Thomas Cooper Constable"
At this meeting, which covered sessions on four different days and ended on August 27, Captain Joseph Wait was moderator. The other officers chosen were frequently the same as those of the preceding year, but there were changes in several instances. In the office of constable we find elected Thomas Cooper and Aaron Bartlett. The latter replaced Cooper as a tythingman. Highway surveyors were reduced in number to two, viz., John Benjamin and Andrew Norton.
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RIOTS BREAK OUT IN WINDSOR
Samuel Stone replaced Norton as "Dear Reef," Joab Hoising- ton and Elnathan Strong became "Fence Vuers" and David Getchell and Joseph King were made "Hog Cunsabls." Clerk David Stone recites that he was chosen "Cealer of Waits & meshurs." It was voted to shut up the swine from April 10 to November 1, and to build a "Scool Hous twenty four foot Squar on a Convenat Place on the Publick yard" under the supervision of a committee consisting of Zedekiah Stone, Hezekiah Thomson, and Israel Curtis. Obviously it was worth while at least to teach spelling in Windsor and the meet- ing authorized the school committee to raise twenty pounds to build the schoolhouse and appointed Elisha Hawley col- lector for the committee.1 Each person was to give a day's labor towards clearing the public yard. It was also voted to raise the bridge between Mr. Cooper's sawmill and the corn- mill at the discretion of the highway surveyors. One pound was voted to Captain Joseph Wait to obtain weights and measures and a "Town Book." The records of the proprietors show that they also met that year on the several days of the town meeting.
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