Scotchman’s, just below the Jews’ Synagogue, a private house; does not know the man’s name. When examinant came in, George Gammel asked him if he was in pursuit of them; who answered in the negative. George Gammel then said, Did you come away in the same manner as we did? Examinant said yes. Gammel then said, we will have a drink together. Gammel said he would divulge his mind to examinant if examinant would be true to him. Examinant answered, ‘I will be as true to you as you are to me.’ Gammel then took examinant aside, and asked when he would go on board of the man-of-war. Examinant said he did not know, but would take the first good opportunity. Asked examinant if he wanted a pass. Examinant said he had a pass sufficient for him to go as far as he wanted. Gammel brought to examinant a person to give him a pass, whom examinant does not know, but believes he should know him again if he were to see him. Examinant said he wanted to see the New-England encampment, to see one Amos Hutchins, a Captain; intending to decoy them thither, and have them apprehended. When examinant had got about half way up the Broadway, they discovered his pistols, and would have fled, thinking, as examinant supposes, that he meant to take them up. James Ramsay and Christopher Wyley ran off. Examinant pursued and caught James Ramsay. They then gathered together, and asked examinant why he carried pistols; who replied that they were for his defence, until with them he could get on board of the man-of-war. They being then suspicious, turned back; but examinant first asked George Gammel when he intended to go on board of the man-of-war, and bow. Gammel answered, ‘I intend to leave town this night, and go to Long-Island, and get from thence to the man-of-war;’ but whether to get a person to put him on board, or to steal a boat or canoe, this examinant is not certain. Gammel then said the gentleman who was employed by the Mayor had desired them not to be seen more than two together. The gentleman had further told him the Riflemen were so thick on Long-Island as to prevent him from getting on board until a more convenient opportunity; and perhaps they might not get on board until General Howe arrived with his fleet. They expected a large body of men to join them from Goshen, and they were to get on board with the utmost despatch after General Howe’s arrival.

WILLIAM LEARY.

Examined by, and sworn the 20th of June, 1776, before us:

Examination of JAMES MASON.

James Mason says: About two weeks and a half ago a man took his qualification that he would not divulge anything about the business he was then upon. When he went up to Goshen from Kingswood, about five weeks ago, to look for a place as a miller, he saw a man who had been four days on board the man-of-war, by name William Forbes, a tanner and currier by trade; that as you go up the Broadway you come to the street in which is the Oswego market, opposite to the south side of which, four doors from the corner of the Broadway, lives one Lowrie, a tavern-keeper, a fat man, who wears a blue coat, and that he hath frequently met the said William Forbes in that house; that he told examinant he never lodged twice in the same house, being afraid; examinant asked where he did lodge, Forbes would not tell him; that Forbes hath a house of his own, five miles from Goshen, at which he saw him when examinant was looking for a place. Forbes told examinant he had been four days on board the man-of-war last April, when the ship Savage fired on Staten-Island; that Governour Tryon would give five guineas bounty and two hundred acres of land for each man, one hundred for his wife, and fifty for each child, upon condition they would inlist in his Majesty’s service. Examinant bore Forbes’s expenses to town, Forbes undertaking to repay him in hard cash when they got on board; that Forbes was to have a bounty from the Governour for every man he could get, and had been sent home for that purpose; that the Governour had desired him to go up and get as many men as he could; that the recruits were to assist the King’s troops when they came; that recruits were not to go on board, because they could do more good on shore, and besides they were on short allowance in the ship and crowded, as Forbes told examinant. Forbes and examinant came to New-York by way of Elizabethtown, and in their way, at Warwick, Forbes enticed William Benjamin to go along with him, and at Elizabethtown Forbes inquired at Deacon Ogden’s, where he used to work, and told examinant, after the inquiry, that they could not get on board from Bergen-Point or Staten-Island, as there were Riflemen stationed there, but must go to New-York, for that there was a man there, one McLean, a shoemaker, near the Royal Exchange, who was employed by the Governour to carry recruits on board; that Forbes and examinant came to New-York in an Elizabethtown boat, and went first to Thomas Mason’s, at the corner of Beaver street and Broadway, at the sign of the Highlander, where they left their baggage, and William Benjamin to take care of it, and went thence to McLean’s, to inquire for a passage; that McLean and Forbes whispered together, and then Forbes told examinant that McLean said there was no opportunity of getting on board in two or three nights; that McLean recommended them to one James Houlding, a tavern-keeper in Tryon Row, opposite the gate of the upper barracks, for lodging; that they went up to Houlding’s, leaving Benjamin still at Mason’s, and, after dusk, examinant went for Benjamin, and he and Benjamin carried the baggage up, and all three lodged at Houlding’s that night, telling Houlding Mr. McLean had sent and recommended them there as a safe house; next morning Forbes went to see for an opportunity to get on board, and did the like for two or three days; Forbes and Benjamin staid at Houlding’s one week without being able to get on board of the man-of-war; William Benjamin agreed to go on board of the man-of-war also, and accept the Go-vernour’s bounty; after the first week, as they could not get on board, Houlding observed that they ought to be spread about, for that keeping them together would occasion suspicion in his house; that one Corbie, who lives near General Washington’s, used to resort to the house of Houlding, where he was introduced to Forbes, and this examinant also got acquainted with Corbie; that many Tories resorted to Houlding’s, amongst whom were two brothers, of the name of Fortune, the one a tanner, living in the Swamp, and the other a saddler, whom he hath seen working at Cook’s, in the Broadway; also, one Fueter, a silversmith, who was ridden about town for a Tory, and another of the same name, whom he takes to be his brother; also, a man without an arm, whom he believes to be an old pensioner, and Gilbert Foster, a gunsmith, living opposite to Mr. Hull’s tavern, a short thick man who wears a white coat; that these persons, as he believes, knew of the examinant’s intention, but did not care to trust him, as he had not taken his qualification; that examinant was qualified before the said Gilbert Forbes and the said William Forbes, at the house of the said Corbie; that William Forbes gave him the book, and that they made him swear not to divulge anything of what the examinant now tells; that when examinant was at Houlding’s, Gilbert Forbes, William Forbes, and Corbie, advised examinant to go to Corbie’s house and work a little in the garden to prevent suspicion. Gilbert Forbes promised examinant ten shillings per week subsistence money, of which this examinant hath, at different times, received twenty-six shillings and eight pence; that the examinant complained ten shillings was too little; Forbes said he could not help it, but he would write to the Governour to try to get it increased to twelve; that he afterwards told examinant he could not get an answer because a boat coming from the Governour was near being taken, and had thrown the letters overboard; that William Benjamin and William Forbes have also received money from the said Gilbert; that, according to the advice of the Forbeses and Corbie, went to Corbie’s, and continued there until last Saturday; that while examinant lived at Houlding’s, Corbie came there between nine and ten o’clock at night, and brought with him a mulatto-coloured negro, dressed in blue clothes, about five feet eight inches high, well-set, but knows not his name or to whom he belongs, but is informed that he hath since been taken up and put in jail; when Corbie and the negro came in there was a great deal of whispering round between Corbie, William Forbes, the negro, and another man who had been waiting to get on board and did go on board that evening; that afterwards the examinant and William Forbes had some conversation about the negro; Forbes told him the negro was going on board the man-of-war with that man and two or three more, but the craft was so small it would not carry them all for fear of