In which prison I lay till the next Superior Court and in the sheriff’s house. The time of the bond demanded by them being out, I was dismissed. I think the next day, I was going to baptize a person,[[13]] and, as I was going to the water, the sheriff came to me and desired to speak with me. His house being close by, I went in with him. He went through two rooms and came to the door of the third, and then told me the Superior Court had ordered him to shut me up. Upon that, I made a stop and desired him to show me his order. He said it was by word of mouth. He keeping a tavern, there were many present who told him he ought not to shut me up without a written order. He then laid violent hands upon me to pull me in, but the people rescued me; and then he told me he would go to the court and get it in writing. And so he left me and brought this following Mittimus, this present Governor being judge of this Superior Court also.
“To the Sheriff of the County of New London, or to his Deputy:
“By special order of her Majesty’s Superior Court, now holden in New London, you are hereby required, in her Majesty’s name, to take John Rogers, Sr., of New London, who, to the view of said Court, appears to be under a high degree of distraction, and him secure in her majesty’s jail for the County abovesaid, in some dark room or apartment thereof, that proper means may be used for his cure, and till he be recovered from his madness and you receive order for his release.
“Signed by order of the said Court, March 26, 1712. In the 11th year of Her Majesty’s reign.
“Vera Copia, Testified
Jonathan Law, Clerk.
John Prentis, Sheriff.”
And upon this Mittimus, he carried me to prison and put me into the inner prison and had the light of the window stopt. Upon this, the common people was in an uproar, and broke the plank of the window and let light in. And one of the lieutenants that came out of England told me he had been with the said Superior Court and desired that I might be brought forth to their view, and they would see that I was under no distraction, and that they had ordered that I should be brought out to the Governor in the evening. When it was dark night, I was taken out by the sheriff and carried to the Governor’s House, into a private room, and the sheriff sent out by the Governor to see that the yard was clear; but it is too much to write what was done to some that were found standing there; but the body of them ran away. The Governor ordered the sheriff to take me home with him, and keep me at his house. Accordingly he did so, and gave me charge not to go out of his yard, but set nobody to look after me; he himself tended on the said court. About two days after, I was told that the sheriff told a friend of his that he was ordered, after the court was broke up and the people dispersed, to carry me up to Hartford prison and to see me shut up in some dark room, and that one Laborell, a French doctor, was to shave my head and give me purges to recover me of my madness. I hearing of this, desired the sheriff to give me a copy of the Mittimus, and after I told him what I heard privately, he owned the truth of it. The night following, I got up and got a neighbor to acquaint my son how matters were circumstanced, who brought £10 of money for me, and hired hands to row me over to Long Island, and pulled off his own shirt and gave me.
I got to Southold, on Long Island, in the night, and, early in the morning (it being the first day of the week), I went to a justice, to give him an account of the matter, having told him that I got away from under the sheriff’s hand at New London. He replied, “It is the Sabbath; it is not a day to discourse about such things.” So I returned to the tavern, and I suppose it was not above an hour before the constable came and set a guard over me, till about nine or ten of the clock the next day, and then took me where three justices were sitting at a table, with a written paper lying before them, who read a law to me that it was to be counted felony to break out of a constable’s hand. I then presented a copy of the Mittimus. They read it and desired to be in private. Being brought before them again, they told me they did not look at me to be such a person as I was there rendered, and so discharged me, without any charge.
I told them my design was to their Governor for protection; and that I expected Hue and Cries to pursue me, and requested of them to stop them if they could. They promised me they would, and afterwards I heard they did stop them. I got a man and horse to go with me to York, with all the speed I could, and the first house I went into was Governor Hunter’s, in the fort. I showed him the Mittimus and gave him an account of the matters. He told me he would not advise me to venture thither again, and that I should have safe protection. I told him I expected Hue and Cries to come after me. He told me I need not fear that at all, “For,” said he, “I have heard you differ in opinion from them, and they will be glad to be rid of you. It is evident you are no such man as they pretend.”