Horse RAISING IN CoLOoNIAL New ENGLAND 907 
ingly easy to conceal such thefts and the practice became surprisingly 
prevalent. Miss Caulkins, in her History of New London (95), has 
described as follows the conditions during this period: 
As the West India trade increased from year to year the raising of horses became 
very profitable and many farmers entered into it largely. Lands being uninclosed 
it was easy to run such horses off to a port where the mark of the owner was 
not known, or the mark itself could be altered. A bold rover in the woods might 
-entrap half a dozen horses with ease and, shooting them off through Indian paths 
by night, reach some port in a neighboring colony; and before the owner could get 
track of them they were far off upon the ocean, out of reach of proof. Manv 
persons otherwise respectable entered into this practice or connived at it. Men 
who would scorn to pocket sixpence that belonged to another seemed to think it 
ne crime to throw a noose over the head of a horse running loose and to nullify 
the signet of the owner or engraft on it- the mark that designated their own 
property. 
y) 
Professional buyers, called ‘‘ horse coursers ’’ in the parlance of the 
time, went about the country gathering up horses into pounds for sale 
or driving them to ports whence they were shipped, and very few of 
these persons escaped the suspicion of having at one time or another 
enlarged a drove by gathering into it some to which they had no legal 
claim. Persons of considerable prominence also were implicated, as 
Miss Caulkins indicates; William Coddington, at one time governor of 
Rhode Island, seems to have been one of these (96). 
Such delinquency increased greatly in the latter half of the century 
and the disclosures become more and more frequent. In 1668. as a 
preventive measure, the Massachusetts Bay general court ordered a 
toll book to be kept in every town, in which was to be entered a descrip- 
tion of each horse, and a voucher was to be given to the owner to prove 
his property (97). It was necessary to present this voucher in case 
of any subsequent sale. As has been noted, both Rhode Island and 
Connecticut had passed laws forbidding the taking of horses beyond 
their jurisdiction unless first recorded by the town recorder. In 1684 
court was held at Stonington for the trial of horse coursers. Two 
persous were convicted and sentenced to pay fines of £10 and to receive 
fifteen lashes (98). The court calls the offense ‘‘ a erying evil ’’ against 
which all well-disposed persons were bound to give aid. In 1700 a 
special court was held at New London for the sole purpose of trying 
horse thieves, and the penalties for such thieving were made more 
severe (99). Finally, in 1701 a toll book was ordered to be kept in 
