32 



CIVIL HISTORY OF VRRMONT. 



Part II. 



BENJAMIN hough's PUNISHMENT. 



DR. ADAMS' PUNISHMEKT. 



at Sunderland.* Tiae decree of the con- 

 vention and the charges against tlie pris- 

 oner being read in his presence, he ac- 

 knowledged that he had been active in 

 promotinlr the passage of the law above 

 mentioned and in tlie discharge of his du- 

 ties as magistrate, but pleaded the juris- 

 diction of New York over the Grant, in 

 justification of his conduct. This plea 

 "having no weight with the committee, 

 they proceeded to pronounce upon him 

 the following sentence, viz. " That the 

 ■prisoner he taken from the bar of this 

 committee of safety and he tied to a tree, 

 arid there, on, his naked hack, receive tico 

 hundred stripes ; his hack being dressed, he 

 should depart out of the district, and on re- 

 turn, without special leave of the conven- 

 tion, to suffer death." This sentence was 

 forthwith carried into execution, with un- 

 sparing severity, in the presence of a 

 large concourse of people Hough asked 

 and received the following written certifi- 

 cate of his punishment, signed by Allen 

 and Warner : 



" Sunderland, 30th of Jan., 1775. 

 This may certify the inhabitants of the 

 New Hampshire Grants, that Benjamin 

 Hough hath this day received a full pun- 

 ishment for his crimes committed hereto- 

 fore against this country, and our inhabi- 

 tants are ordered to give him, the said 

 Hou-^h, a free and unmolested passport 

 toward the city of New York, or to the 

 westward of our Grants, he behaving 

 himself as bccometh. Given under our 

 hands the day and date aforesaid. 



Ethan Allen, 

 Seth Warner." 



On the delivery of the paper, Allen 

 sarcastically observed that the certificate, 

 together with the receipt on his hack, would 

 no doubt be admitted as legal evidence 

 before tlie supreme court and tlie govern- 

 or and council of New York, though the 

 king's warrant to Gov. Wentworth and 

 his excellency's sign manual -with the 

 Great Seal of the province of New Hamp- 

 shire, would not. 



Hous'h repaired immediately to the city 

 of New York, where he gave, under oath, 

 a minute account of the transactions above 



*Tlils committee consisted of the fullowing per« 

 sons: E'lian Allen, Seth Warner, Robert Cochran, 

 Peleg Sunderland, James Mead, Gideon Warren and 

 Jesse Sawyer. 



mentioned,* and this matter, together with 

 the particulars of the transactions at West- 

 minster on the 13th of March, was made 

 the subject of a special message to the co- 

 lonial assembly by Lieut. Gov. Golden. 

 The Assembly, after discussing these sub- 

 jects on the 30th and 3lBt of March, finally 

 resolved to appropriate £1000 for the main- 

 tenance of justice and the suppression of 

 riots in the county of Cumberland, and 

 that a reward of £oO each be offered for ap- 

 prehending James Mead, Gideon Warren 

 and Jesse Sawyer, and also a reward of 

 £.')0 each, in addition to the rewards pre- 

 viously offered, for the apprehension of 

 Ethan Allen, Seth Warner, Robert Coch- 

 ran and Peleg Sunderland. These reso- 

 lations constituted the last and dying ef- 

 forts of the royal government of New York 

 against the New Hampshire Grants. The 

 assembly was soon prorogued and never 

 met again, being superseded by the revo- 

 lutionary authority of the provincial con- 

 gress. 



Although tlie application of the beach 

 seal was the most common punishment, 

 others were frequently resorted to. Some 

 of these were in their nature trifling and 

 puerile. The following may serve as a 

 specimen. A Dutchman of Arlington be- 

 came a partisan of New York and spoko 

 in reproachful terms of the convention 

 and of the proceedings of the Green 

 Mountain Boys. He advised the settlers 

 to submit to New York, and re-purchase 

 their lands from that government. Being 

 requested to desist, and disregarding it, 

 he was arrested and carried to the Green 

 Mountain tavern in Bennington. The 

 committee, after hearing his defence, or- 

 dered him " to be tied In an armed chair, 

 and hoisted to the sign, (a catamount' s 

 skin, stuffed, sitting upon the sign post 

 twenty-five feet from the ground with large 

 teeth, grining toicards J\'ew York,) and 

 there to hang two hours in sight of the 

 people, as a punishment merited by his 

 enmity to the rights and liberties of the in- 

 habitants of the New Hampshire Grants." 

 This sentence was executed to the no 

 small merriment of a large concourse of 

 people ; and when he was let down he was 

 dismissed by the committee witli the ex- 

 hortation to " go and sin no more." 



*Thi» cuiioiis relic of "olden time" is given in 

 full in the Americ:in -Archives, Vol. I f, p. Gl."); and 

 aUi) in the l.'ith and 16tb Numbers of tlie Hiitorical 

 Headings, piibliihed in ths State Uannsr, at Ban* 

 ningtou. 



