r L^. /j! l/jirvJ^4'-t-^-^ , THE ROBBERY OF THE TREASURY EAST JERSEY IN 1768, AND CONTEMPORANEOUS EVENTS. A PAPER READ BEFORE THE NEW-JERSEY HISTORICAL SOCIETY, SEPTEMBER r2r>rf 185D. BY W. A. WHITEHEAD. THE ROBBERY OF THE TREASURY. Never, probably, did the old Court House at Mrrristown hold a larger or more interested audience than on the 19th August, 1773 seventy-seven years ago. A thousand person-' were thought to be within its walls, and, among them all, scarcely an eye could be found which did not exhibit the sure tokens of sympathy. The scene — to witness whvh such numbers had assembled- -was calculated to enlist their attention, for the wholesome supremacy of the laws was that daj- to be displayed over those who were their countrymen and fellow-citi- zens — of some, friends, relatives and companions, who had ranked in that class of society, which the honest, intelligent people of the county at that time, were accustomed to regard as the best within its limits • but who now were the fallen, subdued objects of commiseration. An affecting silence prevailed throughout the assembly, while awaiting the commencement of the proceedings, and the deep solemnity of the occasion was long remembered. Arraigned before the bar of the Court were four remarkably fine looking men in the vigor of life ; one of them a physician, another the son of an esteemed magistrate of the County ; all of thom were married, all were fathers, and all had parents living ; and there, among the multitude, were those parents and other relatives of the first res- pectability, gazing at the painful scene. Under these distressing cir- cumstances, humbled and sorrowing, came these men to receive the dread sentence of the law : for what ? — over-anxiety to be rich : " Covetousness disbelieveth God, and laugheth at the rights of men" in that, the bane of so many and of all times lay the root of their of- fence, and the end attained was the judicial mandate that, on the 17th September following, they should expiate their crime upon the gallows. To notice succinctly the events which brought these unfortunate men to this degradation, and their intimate connection — not generally known — with the growth of that hostility to the representatives of Koyal power in New Jersey which subsequently rendered it so easy a matter to subvert it entirely, is the purpose of this paper. Were it not for this connection, the fate of the criminals might be as little worthy our attention now, as will be, to our descendants, the J;ransgressions of hundreds at the present day ; and yet, how unsafe it is to regard the least event as unfruitful : — " That trivial cause, watered and observed by the hnsha'iilnian day by day. In calm, undeviaiing strength doth work iis larsje effect."' Early in 1773, a gang of Counterfeiters and Coiners invaded the Province from New England and located themselves in difi'erent towns and villages between Woodbridge and Middletown.* The quantity of spurious coin and bills suddenly put in circulation excited the vigilance of the civil authorities, and the exertions made to ferret out these rogues fiom abroad, led to the detection of a similar fraternity at home, which, for a length of time, had eluded all attempts at dis- covery. The leader of this band was one Samuel Ford, an artful rogue, who, as occasion required, could be " all things to all men," sedate with the serious — levity itself, with the gay. He was an Englishman by birth, but married and had relatives in Nevv- Jersey. An exceedingly ruddy complexion and a remarkable dimple in his chin, aided to make him known throughout the section of country M'hich he favored with his presence ; and his wanderings brought him in contact with a multitude of people, in whom, the life he led excited no little surprise^ attended as it was with apparent prosperity ; for it was difficult to conceive how a man, whose ostensible living depended upon some badly cultivated lands in Morris County could wear the aspect of a thriving farmer — one, withal, who had so little work upon his hands. He had followed counterfeiting as a regular business for many years in ditl'erent places, without suspicion ; but in 1768 th<^ authorities of New York, where he then i jsided, had their attention tii.avn towards him, and he was apprehended on a charge of uttering false New Jer- sey Bills of Credit. He was admitted to bail, and either lost sight of afterward, or else his offence was deemed too trifling to call for pun- ishment. He immediately, however, set about making more extensive arrangements for carrying on his operations. He returned to Morris * Two of them were stationed in Perth Araboy in the character of Silversmiths. — Dunlap's School History of New York : Vol. I, p. ~02. Count}', where, in a secluded spot near Hanover, lie established his liead-quarters, formed a connection with a man named Joseph Richard- son * as "-reat a scamp, but much less artful than himself, from whom he obtained a supply of types, and attempted the emission of counter- feit Three-pound Bills of New York. A considerable number was printed, but " the thinness of the paper and bad credit of the currency" are said to have prevented their general circulation ; and he then com- menced upon the New Jersey Bills which were in better repute ; but fiom some cause, did not make much progress. In 1769, however, a new emission of Pennsylvania bills was thought to open a sure and safe avenue to wealth, and both Ford and Rich- ardson started off to Ireland — (the counterfeiters in Dublin being pre- eminent in those days, and it is thought that as an agent for them Ford tirst came to America) — thence went to London and different manufacturing towns, improving themselves in their profession. Ford applied himself to engraving and type-making, and from his previous skill in carving und great mechanical ingenuity, in the course ol a few months " became a perfect master of the business," so that when they returned to the province in 1772, and commenced operations upon Pennsylvania and New Jersey bills. Ford manufactured all his types and executed his work so well as to elude the best judges, and for a year uninterrupted success attended their efforts. By the artifices and persuasions of Ford others were drawn within his toils. A number of respectable citizens, well connected, were made use of to pass his worthless — and, it may be added, miserably executed — specimens of printing, which they were enabled to do with ease among their unsuspecting neighbors from their great similarity to the bills issued from the government press, for it is said Ford made it a rule to submit his different emissions to the ordeal of acceptance or rejection at the provincial treasuries before attempting to pass them into circulation. The Treasurers were certainly excusable, if unable to detect the false from the genuine upon a cursory examination, for, printed with common types on coarse paper, the most indifferent workman could scarcely fail of producing a successful imitation. — Even after the discovery of Ford's gang the improvements in the print- ing of the bills were few and might have been easily followed. The * The dehit of this fellow is thus noticed in the panprs a few years previous. " Anna- polis, June 21.— There came from England, in the Munificence, Capt. Grundili, into Patuxent, a steerage passenger, one Richardson, who imported a large quantity of cuiin- feit New Jersey six-shilling and three shilling bills. Thesiily blockhead, almost as soon as he landed, was very lavish with his paper money, which caused him to be suspected, though it is said his roguery is very badly executed. He is in Jail in Calvert County." — How he got out does not appear. greatest security seems to have been afforded by a difference in the color of the ink in different parts of the bills, and the awful annuncia- tion on the back, "Tis Death to counterfeit." Ford's workshop was known to only one man besides himself and Richardson, one John King, whose ostensible employment was that of laborer ; who remained in charge while Ford was absent in England. It was in the midst of an almost impenetrable swamp about a mile dis- tant from his residence at Hanover, in which the water for the greater part of the year was a foot deep and through which the operator was obliged to creep on his hands and knees for some distance to get at his work. Ford would leave his house at day light with his gun, as if in pursuit of game, and thus unwatched would attain his secret resort, for this practice was so much in accordance with the idle life he had apparently always led that it excited neither surprise nor remark. — 'Tis scarcely necessary to say that — with that strange inconsistency observable among all confederated rogues — oaths of secrecy were ad- ministered to all concerned ; the omniscience and omnipresence of God appealed to as a safeguard from the villainy of each other while engaged in defrauding their countrymen and neighbors. The suspicions excited against Ford from circumstances transpiring at the time of the introduction of forgers from abroad in 1773, which has been alluded to, led to his arrest on the 16th July of that year, as a distributor of counterfeit money ; but the following day, being aided by his confederate King — a rival veteran in villainy — he broke jail and escaped.* Several persons were immediately taken up in suspicion of being connected with Ford in his nefarious practices, and a special term of Oyer and Terminer was held on the 4th August for the purpose of eliciting information respecting the parties implicated, and the extentof their guilt. On the 14th, one of those concerned, for the purpose of mitigating his own punishment, made a partial co^^- fession, and was followed by another, from whose statement, am|le and explicit in its details and from the newspapers of the day, the fore- going facts are derived. The swamp was examined and the press found, together With a set of plates for printing the bills of Maryland, Pennsylvjinia, New York and New Jersey, a r^uantity of typeS; and other materials, and a leather wrapper in which the money was kept, to which was attached one of the spurious three-pound bills of Penn- sylvania. * The Slieriff, Mr. Thos. Kinney, was subsequently indicted for remissness in not tak- ing bolter care of lus prisoner. The persons against whom true bills of indictment were found for passing counterfeits were Benjamin Cooper,* Doctor Barnabas Budd, and Samuel Haynes ; and David Reynolds was implicated from having furnished the confederates with types. These were the four individu- als, who having pleaded guilty, were to receive their sentence on the 19th August, as before mentioned. Another, by the name of Ay res, had committed his offence in Sus- sex County, and consequently was not put upon his trial at the same time with the others. He was a Justice of the Peace and highly re- spected. It was believed that he had repented and for some time abandoned the practice of circulating the counterfeits, for his whole life had been so exemplary to all appearance that, not long before suspicion rested upon him, the congregation to which he belonged had chosen him to be one of their officers ; and even when the foul blot upon his good name became public, so convinced of his innocence was his pastor, that he prayed on the Sunday after his commitment for his protection from false accusers ; and on a subsequent occasion, on re- ceiving false intelligence of his release, publicly returned thanks there- for. Before another Sunday arrived, the astounding news was re- ceived that he had confessed his guilt. The respectability of the culprits, and their influential connections, were made to bear with great effect upon the pardoning power, and not without success. The day fixed for their execution arrived, and Reynolds, who seems to have been the least guilty, suffered the ig- nominious death to which he had been sentenced, while the others were remanded ; and finally, in December, Governor Franklin pardon- ed Haynes, Budd and Cooper, and probably Ayres also, although his name does not appear in the same document with the others, f Among the Stirling Papers in the New York Historical Society- Library (copies of most of which are also in our own) is a letter writ- ten by Cooper on the 7th Sept. (when he expected to be hung on the 17th) soliciting Lord Stirling's interference in his behalf; from which * One of the hills passed hy Cooper was exhibited to the Society. It was marked across the face " Countrayfit" and an affijavit acrnmpanyine: it, identified ii :'.3 one re- ceived from Cooper hv one John Jordon. Robert Dnimmond Esquire enclose(J the affi- davit and bdi "to Robert Gold Esq. att Hdnriover" with the followine lui-id directions: " the above Mr. John Jurden aiesieih a before me this 30th day of Janavary 1769, and I dealer you to Percequte the same as siine as Posi-ehle I am Sr. your Humble Servt. RoBT. Drummond." Specimens of the genuine bills were also exhibited. t I have understood that the Death warrant of these men— the reprieve of the three unexecuted— and the order to guard the jiil against a rescue — were still in existence' having been found among the papers of the late Majur John Kinney, a descendant of Sheriff Kinney of that period ; and not long since some of Ford's tools were found in the house he occupied. 8 it appears that Cooper had been in his emplo}^ and had received only two parcels of counterfeits, one of which he burnt. It was his con- fession that hiid open the secret of the gang so far as he knew them, and he says that he had received the assurance of two of the judges, one of whom tvas his father, that if he confessed he should not be con- sidered in any other light than as a witness. The letter is evidently that of an illiterate man, however respectable his relations may have been. While these events were transpiring, Ford, Richardson and King, the prime movers and concocters of the mischief, were seeking safety in the wilds of the west with prices set upon their heads. They were traced along the Susquehanna and Juniata rivers, were joined by another accomplice, and all, well armed, proceeded towards the Mis- sissippi. Ford boldly paid his way with his sj)urious Jersey bills, thus leaving his mark behind him as he fled, and after reaching the Indian conntry, his course was traced some distance by the counterfeit coin found in the possession of the uninitiated lords of the forest. Emissa- ries were dispatched down the Ohio, after the fugitives, but they suc- ceeded in effecting their escape, and their names would probably have been as unrecalled as their fate is unknown, had not circumstances, to which I would now refer, served to preserve them from oblivion. On the night of the 21st July, 17G8, the office of Stephen Skinner, then the Treasurer of East Jersey, residing at Perth Amboy, was en- tered by some one and robbed of £6,570 9s 4d in coin and bills; a sum which few treasuries even in our days can spare without an equi- valent, and which then was sufficient lor the support of the province an entire vear. Mr. Skinner was connected with many of the leading familes in the province, and the fict of the rol>bery as set forth by him was, at the time, not doubted. Suspicions fell upon various individ- uals, and several were arrested and examined without eliciting any information that could give a clue to the perpetrators of the outrage,* and the matter remained enshrouded in uncertainty, notwithstanding the exertions of the Governor and other functionaries, until the session of the assembly in October, 1770. That body took up the subject, referred it to a Committee for exam- ination, and the result was a report in which an opinion was expressed that the loss should be attributed to the negligence of the Treasurer, * Among others suspected, James Parker, Mayor, wrote to Gov. Franklin, under date of Au!ius.t 8, ITfiS, that the Chief Jiisiice and him-^elf had caused one "Hartwickand others in the Brunswick Boat," thai left Amboy the evening before the robbery, to be apprehended; but after examination they were dismissed.— W. A. W. MSS : Vol. I, No. 107. 9 and tliat he should be held accountable for the amount ; and this con- clusion was sanctioned bj a vote of the Assembly. The Committee threw no light whatever upon the robbery, and the effect of the report was to cast upon the Treasurer the odium of having fabricated the storj' to shield his own mal-conduct in office. Nothing having been done by the Governor towards the suspension or removal of Mr. Skinner duiing the two succeeding years, the As- sembly in September, 1772, on having their action upon the subject invoked by a remonstrance of the Treasurer against the vote of 1770, reiterated their approval of that decision, and invited the Governor to join in some measure "to bring the Treasurer to account for, and to pay to the colony, the sum said to he stolen." They complained that that officer was continued in office, the public money still confided to his care, and no measures adopted to recover the deficiency in the pub- lic funds, and the result of two or three messages between them and the Governor was a proposition that Skinner should be removed from of- fice, and another Treasurer appointed who should be authorized to commence a suit against his predecessor for the deficiency ; and should this not meet the Governor's views, he was requested to point out some other practical mode of obtaining the desired end. To this course the Governor objected upon what appear to be suf- ficient grounds so long as there was no proof of embezzlement by the Treasurer. In addition to the force of precedents, his instructions from the Crown forbade his removing an officer without sufficient cause, but neither he nor Skinner objected to the institution of a suit; on the contrary the latter expressed his willingness " to submit the matter to any reasonable mode of decision," but requested, in justice to himself, that he should not be removed until the case was decided against him, as it would, without doubt, bias the minds of the people unfavorably, and they were " already too much prejudiced by the re- ports which had been circulated against him." 'I'he Governor sug- gested that an information might be filed, and an amicable suit be based thereupon, security being given that the Treasurer would abide its re- sult, and, if unfavorable, promising to resign his office. Conference Committees of the Council and Assembly were appoint- ed — that of the Council being composed of Lord Stirling, John Ste- vens, Richard Stockton, and Daniel Coxe* — men of high standing. — The Assembly Committee declined the proposition of the Governor and Council as being less feasible than that of the vVssembly, (which, how- ever, thej' did not urge in the conference,) and objected to the consider- * The other memhers of the Council were Peter Kemble, President, James Parker, Charlet* Read, David Ogden, Frederick Smyth, Samuel Smith, and Lawrence. 10 ation of any otlier project prior to the removal of the Treasurer. — Three days after this conference, without desiring any farther consul- tation, the Assembly informed the Governor they could take no part in the prosecution, and threw upon him the entire responsibility of any consequences that might ensue. To this captious proceeding Governor Franklin returned a dignified reply. The Council were unanimously of opinion that the Treasurer ought not to be removed before trial, and as the Assembly refused to take any part in the prosecution, declining through their Committee to confer freely upon the best mode of attaining the desired end, al- thoufrh he had been, and still continued to be, ready to adopt wliatever course tlie two Committees might recommend ; it would be unreason- aljle to subject him to censure should any ill consequences result to the public interests. He was ready to appoint any lawyer to conduct the suit which they might recommend to him, (the Attorney General being the Trccisurer's brother,) and should they not do so, but rise without providing for the expenses of the suit, he would be under the necessity of letting the matter remain unsettled. To this message the House resolved to return no answer, and at their request, were prorogued the latter part of September. 1'he Legislature did not meet again until November, 1773, and dur- ing the recess the affair of the Counterfeiters had transpired, and it was natural that the Treasurer, anxiously seeking to exculpate him- self from the charges which directly or indirectly had been brought against him, should be led to fasten upon Ford as the person most likely to have committed the robbery — a deed so much in accordance w'nh his other acts of villainy, and enquiries were at once set on foot with the view of tracing the crime to him. Reynolds, the individual who was executed, testified tiiat on one oc- casion, when in want of money of a more valuable knid than their own worthless manufacture, Ford promised to procure it for him, ex- hibiting at the same time a large package which he gave him reason to believe he obtained by the robbery, saying he had " got hold of the fag-end of the treasury ;" and subseqently, he saw Ford through a key hole cutting up sheets of bills, and, as his own were all printed sepa- rately, it was deemed conclusive evidence that these had been obtained from the officers of the province before their regular emission. Coop- er's first confession did not refer to the robbery, but he subsequently swore that Ford had made known to him all the circumstances and acknowledged that he, in conjunction with two soldiers attached to the garrison at Araboy, had comitted it. The censure which had been cast upon Governor Franklin for the 11 favor shown the alleged delinquent Treasurer, led him to take up these confessions and press them with zeal upon the attention of the Assem- bly when they convened in November, 1773. as offering the necessary proofs of the innocence of that officer. The spirit which the stamp act and other offensive measures of the FM-itish Parliament had generated in New Jersey, as well as in the other colonies, was by no means extinct, although in New Jersey a period of three or four years of comparative quiet had succeeded the re- peal of the first, and modification of the other measures. The assembly which was elected in 1772 was more decidedly in opposition to Gov- ernor Franklin's administration than any of those preceding, and on this matter of the robbery the whole strength of that opposition was shown. James Kinsey, a prominent man from M est Jersey— a member from Burlington— was leader of the opposition, and was made chair- man of the Committee to which the Governor's message and the ac- companying documents were referred.* He made a long report, in * The following extracts from original letters in m poi^session, which have never be- fore been printed, in some measure raise the curtain .hat would otherwise prevent a ull understanding of the course pur,ued by the assernSly, and the mo„ve wh.ch prompted i, The letters were written by a member closely connected with the Governor in feel- in- and in.er.«t, and a relation of the Treasurer, and «ome allowance may therefore be made for a bias in their favor ; hut as they were written to members ol h.s own family, with no intention that the iuformalion they contained should be promulgated abroad, the statements ar<* undoubtedly, in all their prominent features, correct. ^^^^^^^^^ j^.3 •• How our politics will turn, I cannot say. Our politicians look .harp for a favorable ^7?!l Ihu^ is not vet f >und out, to attack the Governor. I enclose you hi« speech, ,o,«e//ii«p whici 1^^^^^^^^ ,.„rroborated by several striking crcumsran- ^.«' have £enSed upon and largely spoken to, and though the Governor laid all L DrDe^sbJFore tCon which he lounded Ills samiments, yet we have w,sel^ ^ «rM .0 confessions however supported by the most striking circumstances, nay, I be- Kiorp:=h^thatthej^b^^^ 1:STX Tke':ZJ:Lon St^erZZ'rer ly ike Hon. and remcalle only by iken. TMI^Sp' Med to which every other conmderatior. would be readily sacrificed. * * 11 IS ' Mr KW«] fi4" i'^l' '» '«ke up the pen against the governor, but without the spirit of prophecy, the event is easily to be determined. ^^^ ^^ ^^^^ «' The Governor some time ago. agreeably to the request of the house sent a detail of 1 tie tjovernor suiuo II ^ , s jj ihem. that induced hira to ihink the miltee was appointed to '"^P«*-V''%^^rf"'rdavi Ifnc" he has been buried in his office Mr. Ki-ey. of course w-^ one E'e^^ f^V .^^^ Sf,,„, ,„ ,how .he treasury was writing for his I'ff./"^ what enai hnow,, j^ ,„ j^. He gives out that if not robbed, which '/^'"'^^^hew.llnotj^ hardy em t^^ ^ ^^^_ ^^ ^^^^ 6^^^^^ ^ .^ lS7"d\'el th'cil'aSriL'd't^^^^ compel him to pay it. All pubhc 12 which he took an enth'ely diiiuieiit view of the circumstances presented the Covenior, — those considered by him as " strikingly" corrobora- tive of the Treasurer's statements, and the cotutssion of Reynolds and Cooper, not " striking" the committee with the same force — ex- culpatiii