"I was in despair of finding the man. However, I sent for an honest Constable I had made use of in apprehending Kidd and his men, and sent him with Col. Sanford's messenger to search all the Inns in town and at the first Inn they found the mare on which Gillam had rode into town, tied up in the yard. The people of the Inn reported that the man who brought her hither had alighted off her about a quarter of an hour before, and went away without saying anything.
"I gave orders to the master of the Inn that if anybody came to look after the mare, he should be sure to seize him, but nobody came for her. Next morning I summoned a Council, and we published a Proclamation, wherein I promised a reward of 200 Pieces of Eight for the seizing and securing of Gillam, whereupon there was the strictest search made all that day and the next that was ever made in this part of the world. But we would have missed had I not been informed of one Capt. Knott as an old Pyrate and therefore likely to know where Gillam was conceal'd. I sent for Knott and examined him, promising if he would make an ingenious Confession I would not molest him.
"He seemed much disturbed but would not confess anything to purpose. I then sent for his wife and examined her on oath apart from her husband, and she confessed that one who went by the name of James Kelly had lodged several nights in her house, but for some nights past he lodged, as she believed, in Charlestown, cross the River. I knew that he (Gillam) went by the name of Kelly. Then I examined Captain Knott again, telling him his wife had been more free and ingenious than him, which made him believe she had told all. And then he told me of Francis Dole in Charlestown, and that he believed that Gillam would be found there.
"I sent half a dozen men immediately, and Knott with 'em. They beset the House and searched it, but found not the man. Two of the men went through a field behind Dole's house and ... met a man in the dark whom they seized at all adventure, and it happened as oddly as luckily to be Gillam. He had been treating two young women some few miles off in the Country, and was returning at night to his landlord Dole's house.
"I examined him but he denied everything, even that he came with Kidd from Madagascar, or even saw him in his life; but Capt. Davis who came thence with Kidd's men is positive he is the man and that he went by his true name Gillam all the while he was on the voyage with 'em. And Mr. Campbell, Postmaster of this town, whom I sent to treat with Kidd, offers to swear this is the man he saw on board Kidd's sloop under the name of Gillam. He is the most impudent, hardened Villain I ever saw....
"In searching Captain Knott's house a small trunk was found with some remnants of East India Goods and a letter from Kidd's Wife to Capt. Thomas Paine, an old pyrate living on Canonicut Island in Rhode Island Government. He made an affidavit to me when I was in Rhode Island that he had received nothing from Kidd's sloop, when she lay at anchor there, yet by Knott's deposition, he was sent with Mrs. Kidd's letter to Paine for 24 ounces of Gold, which Kidd accordingly brought, and Mrs. Kidd's injunction to Paine to keep all the rest that was left with him till further notice was a plain indication that there was a good deal of treasure still left behind in Paine's Custody.
"Therefore I posted away a messenger to Gov. Cranston and Col. Sanford to make a strict search of Paine's house before he could have notice. It seems nothing was then found, but Paine has since produced 18 ounces and odd weight of Gold, as appears by Gov. Cranston's letter, Nov. 25, and pretends 'twas bestowed on him by Kidd, hoping that may pass as a salve for the oath he has made. I think it is plain he foreswore himself. I am of opinion he has a great deal more of Kidd's goods still in his hands, but he is out of my Power and being in that Government I cannot compel him to deliver up the rest...."
That "Edward Davis, Mariner," who came home with Kidd and who made the statement already quoted concerning Gillam's chest, found himself in trouble with the others of that crew, and the tireless Bellomont refers to him in this fashion:
"When Capt Kidd was committed to Gaol, there was also a Pyrate committed who goes by the name of Captain Davis, that came passenger with Kidd from Madagascar. I suppose him to be that Captain Davis that Dampier and Wafer speak of, in their printed relations of Voyages, for an extraordinary stout man; but let him be as stout as he will, here he is a prisoner, and shall be forthcoming upon the order I receive from England concerning Kidd and his men.
"When I was at Rhode Island there was one Palmer, a Pyrate, that was out upon Bail, for they cannot be persuaded there to keep a Pyrate in Gaol, they love 'em too well. He went out with Kidd from London and forsook him at Madagascar to go on board the Mocha Frigate, where he was a considerable time, committing several Robberies with the rest of the Pyrates in that Ship, and was brought home by Shelly of New York.