about two or three hours returned to the door of the house where the deponent remained, and ordered him to be brought out near a tree, where the said pretended Judges had placed themselves, encircled by a number of armed men, into the midst of which circle this deponent was conducted as a prisoner, by four men with drawn swords; and that thereupon the said Ethan Allen, who all along acted as the chief or principal Judge, pronounced the following sentence against this deponent, which he read from a paper which he held in his hand, to wit: That they had erected a combination of judicious men for his trial, and had accused him in the manner before mentioned, [repeating the accusations,] that the deponent had pleaded self-justification, which they, the said pretended Judges, had found insufficient to excuse him from punishment; and that therefore their judgment was, that the deponent should be tied up to a tree, and receive two hundred lashes on the naked back, and then, as soon as he should be able, should depart the New-Hampshire Grants, and not return again upon pain of receiving five hundred lashes; that upon some persons observing that he, this deponent, ought not to be suffered to return while matters remained in their present condition, the said Allen added, no—not till His Majesty’s pleasure shall be known in the premises. That thereupon this deponent immediately had his clothes taken off, and he was stripped to the skin, and four persons being, by the said pretended Court, appointed to carry the said sentence into execution, this deponent accordingly received the two hundred lashes upon his naked back, with whips of cords, which lashes were inflicted by each of the said executioners, giving the deponent alternately a number of lashes, though at the close he thinks he received from each of them ten; that the said Robert Cochran, who declared himself to be Adjutant of the rioters, stood, during the whole scene, near this deponent, and frequently urged the said executioners to lay on the blows well and strike harder, and particularly repeated such directions with respect to the last ten inflicted by each of the said executioners; that it was often mentioned by some of the rioters, that if any of this deponent’s friends should intercede, or in any manner favour him, they should share the same fate. That the aforesaid Winthorp Hoyt, of Bennington, who professed himself to be Drum-Major, Abel Benedict, of Arlington, and one John Sawyer, and a person whose name this deponent could not learn, were the four persons who so whipped this deponent; that this deponent was very much wounded, and bled considerably by the said abuse; and the deponent being very faint, was put into the care of Dr. Washburn, who conducted him into a house; that the deponent declared to the said rioters, that it was a great hardship that he was not suffered to go home to take care of his interest and child, who was left without father or mother, the deponent’s wife being absent on a distant visit to her parents. That the rioters notwithstanding insisted that the sentence should be put in execution, and the deponent leave the country accordingly. And the deponent further saith, that after he had been so abused, the said Ethan Allen delivered him a paper in writing, signed by him and Seth Warner, in the words and figures following, to wit:

“Sunderland, 30th of January, 1775.

“This may certify the inhabitants of the New-Hampshire Grants, that Benjamin Hough hath this day received a full punishment for his crimes committed heretofore against this Country, and our inhabitants are ordered to give him, the said Hough, a free and unmolested passport toward the City of New-York, or to the westward of our Grants, he behaving as becometh. Given under our hands the day and date aforesaid.

And he, this deponent, having received his strength, the next day proceeded on foot on his journey toward the City of New-York; that while this deponent was in custody, of the said rioters, he heard the said Ethan Allen say, that he expected that they should be obliged to drive off all the damned Durhamites, [meaning the inhabitants of the Town of Durham, in the County of Charlotte,] that this deponent frequently heard the said rioters declare that they would have little Walker [meaning Daniel Walker, ] and Thomas Braten, (the Constable who served under this deponent) if they could be found above ground; and that they further threatened that they would, for the future, be more severe with the damned Yorkers, [meaning persons who would not join with them in their riotous proceedings,] and would whip them within an inch of their lives; that for the future, they would not be at the trouble and expense of giving them a trial, but that the persons, who met with them should punish them immediately; that this deponent, while he was so confined, heard the said rioters further declare, that they were sorry they had not inflicted upon Doctor Adams [who lived in Arlington, and against whom they had taken offence] five hundred lashes, instead of hoisting him up and exposing him upon landlord Fay’s sign-post, where was fixed a dead catamount; and that this deponent also heard the said Ethan Allen declare in the said mob, that he expected shortly to have a fight with the damned Yorkers, for that they would hear how the mob had abused their Magistrates; but that he believed them to be damned cowards, or that they would have come out against them long before; that this deponent, on his way to New-York, called at the house of Bliss Willoughby and Ebenezer Cole, Esquires, two of His Majesty’s Justices of the Peace for the County of Albany, residing near Benmington; that he found them armed, in great distress and danger, and having people in their houses ready to take arms for their defence in case they should be attacked by the rioters, which, as they assured this deponent, they hourly expected; that this deponent, on his way to New-York, also called at Pownall Town, part of which lies within the Manor of Rensselaerwyck, (as this deponent has been informed by the inhabitants of the said Town,) that he found the said inhabitants in great commotion and uneasiness on account of the said rioters; that he understood from some of the said inhabitants, that they had agreed to take leases for their possessions under the proprietors of the said Manor, but that they dared not for fear of the said rioters, who had threatened them severely; and one of the said inhabitants in particular, told this deponent that he had taken a lease for his farm of the said proprietor, but should, on that account, be obliged to give it up; that when this deponent left the said Pownall Town, he met George Gardiner, Esquire, of Pownall Town aforesaid, also one of His Majesty’s Justices of the Peace for the said County of Albany, who told the deponent that the state of the said Town was very dangerous and difficult; that he expected every day to be prevented by the rioters from exercising his office; that he was apprehensive that unless Government should give them some protection, many of the inhabitants of the said Town would join the said rioters, and earnestly entreated this deponent to exert his utmost endeavours to procure such protection; that this deponent, on his way to New-York, conversed with James Clark,[who was in his employ,] and who informed this deponent (and which this deponent verily believes to be true) that since this deponent was so seized by the said mob, John Lord, Joseph Randel, and Clark, three of this deponent’s neighbours, had been very much abused and insulted by the said mob, and that the said John Law was turned out of his possession and obliged to fly the Country. And the deponent further says, that the said mob robbed him of his arms, to wit: a hanger and pistol, which he has not been able since to procure; and the deponent further saith that he hath frequently been informed, and believes it to be true, that the said rioters have a design to put an end to law and justice in the County of Cumberland, and that they went so far as to appoint a day upon which to make the attempt, but it did not then take place; and further this deponent saith not.

B. HOUGH.

Sworn before me, the 7th day of March, 1775.

DAN. HORSMANDEN.

A RELATION OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE PEOPLE OF THE COUNTY OF CUMBERLAND, AND PROVINCE OF NEW-YORK.

Cumberland County, March 23, 1775.

In June, 1774, there were some Letters came to the Supervisors of said County from the Committee of Correspondence at New-York, signed by their Chairman, Mr. Low; which Letters said Supervisors, through ignorance or intention, kept until September, when they had another