West Rock, with New Haven in the Distance.
deliver themselves up to Governor Leete; that the governor refused to accept their surrender, but kept them for a time secreted in the cellar of his store, while their physical wants were supplied from the governor's own table; that it was finally determined that the two judges should keep the governor informed as to their whereabouts, and that he should not call for their surrender except in case of necessity. It is recorded, in this tradition, that Governor Leete's daughter Anna, who afterward married Mr. Trowbridge, remembered well the time when the two men were secreted in her father's cellar, and the air of mystery attending the whole affair. The birth record shows that this young lady with a long memory was born just one year later!
"The letter referred to was written by the Rev. John Norton to Richard Baxter, who, it will be remembered, was a chaplain in Whalley's regiment. It relates that the two judges decided to give themselves up to the 'deputy governor.' At that time Matthew Gilbert, of New Haven, was deputy governor, Mr. Leete having been recently elected governor; so if they delivered themselves up to the deputy governor (according to the letter) it was done in New Haven, and they had no occasion to go to Guilford at all! Historians have argued that it was so customary to speak of Mr. Leete as the 'deputy,' that the title stuck to him for a time after his election as governor. That is very likely true; but it is safer to take the statements of reliable men, carefully made, unless there is good reason for disbelieving them. But Goffe's diary settles the matter. Governor Hutchinson, of Massachusetts, writing with the diary before him, says: 'On June 11 they leave West Rock, generously resolving to go to New Haven and deliver themselves to the authority there.' The Guilford tradition strongly indicates that at some time the regicides were there, but these records conclusively prove that this was not the occasion of their going. It seems highly probable that in connection with their various perplexities they would consult with Gov. Leete, who had been and still was their steadfast friend.
"The judges appeared again at New Haven on the 22d, and openly showed themselves. Mr. Davenport writes a letter in August, and states that on June 22, Whalley and Goffe 'came from another colony, where they had been for some time, to New Haven.' With extracts from the diary of Goffe before us, showing that they had been around Providence Hill (West Rock) for a month, which fact Mr. Davenport must have known, being their 'chief friend,' this statement is surprising. Prof. Dexter, of Yale University, in commenting on this letter, concludes substantially that Mr. Davenport had been so busy of late with other matters that he had neglected to read up on some of the Commandments.
Governor Hutchinson, writing with the diary before him, says that, after showing themselves at New Haven, thereby relieving the suspicion against Mr. Davenport, they returned to their cave in the woods on
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