Upon no further evidence of theft than the fact of the presence of Joan and her children at Mamacock and their conveyance into Rhode Island by John Rogers and John Jackson, and having given the accused parties but a few days to secure testimony, also without regard to the fact that the alleged theft occurred in another colony, or that it is a capital offense, on the law book, this court, without a jury, adjudges John Rogers and John Jackson guilty of stealing Joan and her children, and sentence them to pay twice the amount of the worth of said slaves (£40) and costs of prosecution. In case John Jackson be not able to pay his part, he shall serve Samuel Beebe or his assignee at the rate of £5 per year until the whole amount is cancelled. So that Samuel Beebe not only has the negroes fast, but £40 reward for his complaint against John Rogers.
The record further states that
“John Rogers, upon hearing the above sentence, did, in open court, declare the said sentence to be rebellion against her Majesty, and that it was injustice, and declared that this court are rebels against her Majesty,”
for which contempt, said court
“order said Rogers to give bond of £200 for his appearance at the Superior Court, in Oct. next, to answer for his offense and for keeping her Majesty’s peace and being in good behavior in the meantime, and for want of sureties, to be committed to prison until he shall be released by due form of law.”
Two of the justices on this occasion are bitter enemies of John Rogers, while the Superior Court that is to try him for contempt has Governor Saltonstall for its judge.
Thus, of the two men not proven to have committed this offense, one departs from the court-room to a long imprisonment, to say nothing of an execution upon his property, and the other to four years of slavery, under dictation of the man who has stolen his wife and children, unless he be able to pay the large sum of £20 for his freedom.
In this dilemma, John Rogers makes an effort for justice. He presents a Petition to the court, in which he objects to a trial in the County Court of New London for a crime alleged to have been committed within the jurisdiction of Long Island. He asks for a trial in the latter jurisdiction, where he can produce evidence to clear himself from any such charge. No attention is paid to this Petition. (See John Roger’s account of this affair, [Part I., Chapter V.])
On no account will John Rogers go back of this charge of man-stealing, to enter suit regarding Samuel Beebe’s seizure of this freed woman; that would be bringing before the court something relating to the estate of his father. Evidently, for the same reason, he who fears not at his peril to denounce an unjust decision in any court of the land, has made no complaint in regard to the so plainly prejudiced award of Joan to Samuel Beebe, by the judge of the Superior Court. Even thus can this man hold his peace, when he will.
The next move, as revealed by the records, is the sale (June 13, 1711) of Joan and her children “for their natural life” to John Livingston (a prominent attorney); one of the children “a boy of three years named John,” the other “a girl of six months,” to all of whom Samuel Beebe says he “has full right by judgment of court, viz., for the woman and one negro she had with her when she came” (that is, when, in some way, he secured her) “and the youngest born since.”