In addition to this performance, he compiled a complete history of the country itself, from its first discovery, comprehending an account of its original inhabitants, their customs and manners, accompanied with an historical detail of the proceedings of the colony from its foundation to his own time.
He continued in the situation in which the governor had placed him till his death; and performed the duties of his office with an unwearied assiduity, which at last superinduced a general decay of nature, of which he died in the year 1811.
JAMES PORTER
Was an Irishman, and a weaver by trade. He had been a robber in his own country. We know not what events induced him to seek a refuge in America, or what were his first adventures on this side of the Atlantic. We first find him in Philadelphia, ostensibly working at his trade, but in reality gaining his livelihood by dishonest practices. He had two accomplices, George Wilson and Abraham Poteet, weavers, who had learned their trade in the penitentiary. The former was but twenty-three years of age; yet, though his days were few, his iniquities were many. Poteet had been convicted at the Baltimore city court of stealing four handkerchiefs, for which he was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment. For a second theft he was sentenced to imprisonment. He had also been convicted of breaking prison, of attempting a stage robbery and wounding the driver, and of shooting at the keeper of the Baltimore penitentiary. He was a native of Baltimore, and Wilson also was an American. They became acquainted in the penitentiary, and were jointly concerned in the attempt to break out, in which the life of the keeper was endangered. Such were James Porter and his associates.
Porter and Poteet became tired of stealing wee things, for so silver spoons were denominated by Porter, and resolved to rob the Reading mail, in order to make their fortune at once. To prepare for this exploit Porter and Wilson crossed the Schuylkill, on the 20th of November, 1829, and broke into the shop of Mr. Watt, a gunsmith. They took thence five pistols and two powder-flasks. After this the three companions repeatedly practised with their pistols to ascertain their qualities.
On the 6th of December, the mail stage started from Philadelphia at two in the morning, driven by one Samuel M’Crea. There were nine passengers inside, and another on the box with the driver. The night was dark and cloudy. When the stage had got two miles from the city and was nearly opposite Turner’s lane, Porter started from the road-side, took the off leading horse by the head and turned him round. At the same time Wilson and Poteet came up, one on each side of the coach, with presented pistols, bidding the driver stop, “or they would blow his d—d brains out.” He struck the horses with his whip, but could not make them go forward. Poteet then ordered the driver and the passenger who sat beside him to come down. The driver obeyed, and the passenger was about descending, when Porter swore at his comrades for not putting out the lamps. Poteet put out the lamp on his side with the butt of his pistol: Wilson merely broke the glass of the lamp next him. Porter then left the horses’ heads, ran up and dashed the light out with his pistol. He asked the passenger if he had any weapons, and being answered in the negative, took his handkerchief and tied his hands with it. The robbers then rifled the passenger and bound the driver. Poteet asked the driver if he did not think this a very rough introduction. He answered that it was. The robber then asked him if he got his living by stage driving, and he replied that he did, and “it was a hard way too.” “Well,” said the ruffian, “this is the way we get our living, and ’tis very hard with us sometimes.” While these matters were going on Poteet and Wilson held their pistols in their hands, but Porter, more collected, thrust his into his bosom.
This done, Porter and Poteet went to the doors, while Wilson watched the two bondmen. Porter told the passengers they should receive no injury if they did not resist. A Mr. Clarke proposed to attack the robbers, but was overruled by the rest of the passengers. The gentlemen then concealed some of their valuables. Porter asked if any of them were armed, and being answered in the negative, answered sneeringly, that “it was a pity.”
The thieves next compelled the true men to alight, one by one. Porter searched them, and tied their hands with their kerchiefs. As fast as he tied them he turned them over to Poteet, who kept them quiet with his pistol. One of the passengers, after being tied, asked the robbers for a quid of tobacco, which was put into his mouth by Poteet. Another was very reluctant to part with his watch, which he said had been long in his family, and at his urgent entreaty Poteet restored it. From another, who was a physician, Poteet took the seal of a corporation and a case of lancets, but put them back into the doctor’s pockets on being told what they were. The gentleman then asked Porter for half a dollar to pay for his breakfast, and the robber complied. Another of the passengers asked Porter to restore his papers. “O,” said the ruffian, “I dare say all this business will be published, and then I shall know where to direct the papers. I will send you a letter.”
Mr. Clarke was the last but one who came out of the coach. As Porter was plundering him he said, that if the other passengers had followed his advice they would not have been robbed. “Well done!” replied the robber. “I like to see a man of spunk.” After being tied, Mr. Clarke walked up to Poteet, in order to be able to recognise him if they should meet again. The rogue bade him stand off. “I hope,” said Mr. Clarke, “you are not afraid of a small man, and he bound too.” “No, sir,” said Poteet, “but I don’t want to be better acquainted with you.” “I hope,” rejoined Mr. Clarke, “that we shall have a longer acquaintance than this yet.” “I hope not, sir,” said Poteet. On Mr. Clarke’s again observing that the passengers would have done better to resist, Porter remarked that if they had, they would have seen the consequences.
After the passengers had all been examined, the robbers took the baggage out of the coach and from before and behind it. They then tried to open the boot in which the mail bags were contained, but finding some difficulty, they compelled the driver to do it. Mr. Clarke now remarked that another stage would soon be along, and this intelligence quickened their proceedings. One of them busied himself in rifling the mails and trunks, while the other two put the passengers into the coach again without untying them. They tied the driver again and lifted him into his seat, after which they tied the leading horses to the fence by the road side. This done, the robbers went off, so softly that neither the driver nor any of the passengers were aware of their departure.