has also since the said November Term discoursed with him about the said Letter of August 29th and if any such application had been made to the said Ogden this Deponent doubts not but he would have Communicated it to him but so far from it that he told this Deponent he did not believe the said Committee wanted to have a Tryal at all and further Saith not ELISHA PARKER' Sworn the 23 day of December 1746 before Rob H. Morris. State of the Facts about the Riots from September 19th, 1745, to December 8th, 1746. [From Copies among Papers of F. J. Paris in New Jersey Historical Society Library Book P, No. 1 and Bundle X, p. 13.] State of the Facts, Concerning the Late Riots at Newark in the County of Essex, & in other parts of New Jersey; December 24, 1746. proof of the [Sent over by the Councill there to the Duke Facts Appear of New Castle & Lords of Trade.] ing Letter of from the 2d Supream 1745 September 19th one Samuel Baldwin Sep'r 1745 being Committed to the Goal for the CounJudge of the ty of Essex at Newark in An Action of Court & Jus- Trespass for Cutting of Trees wherein he tices, & Sher- refused to give bail, or Enter an AppearTo Chief Jus- ance, About One hundred and Fifty men, in a riotous manner, came to the said Goal, iff of Essex tice Morris. Catherine, he married. was bred to the profession of the law under James Alexander, whose daughter He was licensed May 3d, 1745, and died of consumption March 14th, 1761, aged 47. His widow married Walter Rutherfurd, then an officer in the Army and was the mother of the late John Rutherfurd of Belleville.-ED. New York with Clubbs, Axes and Crowbarrs, broke post-boy of open Said Goal, and took out the said Pris feb. 17. ouer. Several of the said Rioters then Used many threatSaid Letter of ning expressions, against all persons that Should Endeavour to punish any of them for perpetrating the afores fact. Sep! 20th Sept', 20th They then further threatened that, Should any person be Committed for the above Fact, or for any TresSaid Letter of pass done on Lands claimed by them on any Indian purchase Right, they would come to Such persons relief with double the Number of men. —This threatning they made good by the Riot of January Last hereafter mentioned. On the Same 19th of September the said Rioters at Said Letter of the Same time threatned that they would be Sept 20th assisted by One hundred Indians for the releiving of any Person that Should be so Committed. This Threat, at that time, and till Lately, was thought, by most people, to be ridiculous and impossible, because the whole Province of New Jersey had then Scarcely half that Number of Indian men belonging to it, or residing in it, and not one of them within thirty Miles of Newark, and but two Indian men, within fifty Miles of Newark, to Witt, Andrew & Peter Living near Cranberry on the Navesink Side of Raritan, about forty Miles from Newark, but the Transactions of the Committee of the Rioters, with the said Andrew, in February before the said Riot and the Information herein after mentioned of the Number of Indians Lately Come, and Expected to come, to Live near to the said Andrew (on Some Lands he there claims as his) is like to render that Threat not only possible to be put in Execution, but probable that it will be So. On the Same 19th of September two Justices of the Peace with the under Sheriff of the said County of record filed Gen! Essex-Recorded the said Riot on their View in Supr: Court to have been Committed by twenty seven & Copy with Attorney persons, by them named in their Said Record, and by many other Evil doers and Disturbers of the Peace of our Lord the King, to them unknown, to the Number of One hundred Persons, at the Least. the Indict 1745 September 24th a Court of General Quarter Sessions of the Peace being then held at Newark, for the said County of Essex, the Grand Jury ment in that thereof presented a Bill of Indictment in Attorney against Six of the Rioters with many others General hands Unknown, for committing the said Riot. Court & Copy 1745. September 28th His Excellency the Governor of this Province Sent a Message to the then house of Representatives; in which amongst other things he Set forth the Dangerous State of this ProvMin- ince in relation to the French and Indians, bly herewith and in which Message there is also this Paragraph; printed utes of Assem No. 1 page 5 66 66 "I send you also an Account of a Notorious Riot, Lately Committed at Newark, if it be not Something worse; If the Indians can be prevailed on to joyn in Attempts of this Kind, we may soon have a war "with them in our own bowells, encouraged by the Kings Subjects; The threat is of Dangerous Consequence, But if they Should not, if these Rioters can"not be brought to Justice, all Civil process must Soon "Cease, and the Government be overturned, The Infec"tion will soon Spread, from Such a Notorious Riot, "to a Rebellion; So that I hope you will not be want"ing in your Care Concerning it, and making Such "Provisions, by a Militia Act or other Acts, as to prevent the Like for the future." said Minutes 1745. October 34 The then House of Representatives Sent to His Excellency a Message in Answer of Assembly to his in which amongst other other things there was this Paragraph. page 10 It is with Concern they hear of the Riott committed at Newark, and with Abhorence of all Such Actions Look on those who will not be Subject to the "good "and wholesome Laws of our Nation as Enemies to "the common Good-Nevertheless, as far as we know "the Laws, now in force, are Sufficient for the pun"ishment of those that are Guilty of the breach of "them, and the House are of the Oppinion that all "Violaters of the Laws ought to be very Early brought "to Justice, otherwise, as His Excellency very justly "observes, the infection will soon Spread?" To which his Excellency the Governor by a Message of the 18th of October 1745, did reply, in these words, "The Laws are Sufficient to punish Rioters, or other "Offenders, but neither the present Militia Act, nor "any that you have Attempted to make, are Sufficient "to Quell a Riot of this kind, or perhaps an Insurec“tion, for which force may be Necessary, which can"not be Continued, without Some provission to Sup"port them, nor can the Officers and Courts necessary "to Convict them, attend that Service,-without Salarys, or Some provission to deffray the Charge of prosecution, which are not provided, nor, as appears "intended to be provided, by your house. 66 66 Minutes of Gov On the Same 18th of October 1745 His Excellency the Governor, by Advice of the Council, Issued his Orders to His Majestys Attorney Sign'd by the General, to proceed, with all Convenient Speed to prosecute, by Information or other Lawful Method, Agreable to the Laws of England and the Province of New Jersey, Such Delinquents as were then already discovered to have been Active in the said Late Notorious & Dangerous Riot Committed at Newark and Such others as from time Should be discovered to have been Active therein.-- On the Same 18th of October His Excellency the Governour by and with the Advice of His Majesty's Council Issued his Warrant under his hand & Seal At Arms, directed to the Sheriff of the County of Essex, thereby Commanding the said Sheriff to make Diligent Search for & to apprehend the said Rioters, & to bring them before the Chief Justice, or Some other Justices of His Majesties Supream Court of Judicature for the Province of New Jersey, who were thereby directed to Committ them to any Common Goal, in whatsoever County of the said Province they Should think most proper, untill they Should Severally find Sureties for their personal Appearance, at the next Supream Court that Should be held in and for the said Province after their being so Apprehended, and to be of the good behaviour in the meantime; thereby further Commanding all Sheriffs, Coroners, Constables and other Officers, in the Several Counties of the said Province, and all others his Majesty's Liege Subjects, to be Aiding and Assisting the said Sheriff in Apprehending and taking the said Rioters. Letter of Jan. Essex to the eral N° 2, & Sheriffs Ac Co of the Riot N. 3 the Original of 1745. January 15th The Sheriff of Essex by virtue of the said Warrant, and Also by virtue of Writts, Issued out of the Supream Court, upon the Record 22 1745-6 from of the aforesaid, at Newark aforesaid, Arrested 5 Justices of Robert Young, Thomas Sarjeant, & NeheAttorney Gen- miah Baldwin three of the persons Named in the Record aforesaid, and then proposed to them to Enter into Recognizance, as the Said Warrants and Writts required;-The Said both before Young & Baldwin pretended they had no the Assembly friends in Town to do it, but would Send to their friends to come to do it with them;-Serjeant had a Brother in Newark Town, who Offered to be his Surety, but Serjeant absolutely refused to Enter into any Recognizance; wherefore the said Sheriff Committed them to Newark Goal and he being, as well Collonel of the Militia, as Sheriff of the said County, Ordered two of the Officers, of each of the two Com |