He assured them that the colonels had made no stay in Connecticut, but went directly to New Haven. He gave them a warrant, and instructions similar to those which they had received from the Governor of Massachusetts, and transacted everything relative to the affair with dispatch. The next day they arrived at Guilford, and opened their business to Deputy-Governor Leet. They acquainted him that, according to the intelligence which they had received, the regicides were at New Haven. They desired immediately to be furnished with powers, horses, and assistance, to arrest them.
But here they were very unwelcome messengers. Governor Leet and the principal gentlemen in Guilford and New Haven had no ill opinion of the judges. If they had done wrong in the part they had acted, they viewed it as an error in judgment, and as the fault of great and good men, under peculiar and extraordinary circumstances. They were touched with compassion and sympathy, and had real scruples of conscience with respect to delivering up such men to death. They viewed them as the “excellent of the earth,” and were afraid to betray them, lest they should be instrumental in shedding innocent blood. They saw no advantage in putting them to death.
They were not zealous, therefore, to assist in apprehending them. Governor Leet said he had not seen them in nine weeks, and that he did not believe they were at New Haven. He read some of the papers relative to the affair with an audible voice.
The pursuivants observed to him that their business required more secrecy than was consistent with such a reading of their instructions. He delayed furnishing them with horses until the next morning, and utterly declined giving them any powers until he had consulted his Council at New Haven.
They complained that an Indian went off from Guilford to New Haven in the night, and that the Governor was so dilatory the next morning that a messenger went on to New Haven before they could obtain horses for their assistance. The judges were apprized of every transaction respecting them, and they and their friends took their measures accordingly. They changed their quarters from one place to another in the town as circumstances required, and had faithful friends to give them information, and to conceal them from their enemies.
On the 13th of March the pursuers came to New Haven, and Governor Leet arrived in town soon after them to consult his Council. They acquainted him that, from the information they had received, they were persuaded that the judges were yet in town, and pressed him and the magistrates to give them a warrant and assistance to arrest them without any further delay.
But, after the Governor and his Council had been together five or six hours, they dispersed without doing anything relative to the affair. The Governor declared that he could not act without calling a general assembly of the freedmen.
Kellond and Kirk observed to him that the other governors had not stood upon such niceties; that the honor and justice of his Majesty were concerned, and that he would highly resent the concealment and abetting of such traitors and regicides.
They demanded whether he and his Council would own and honor his Majesty? The Governor replied: “We do honor his Majesty, but have tender consciences, and wish first to know whether he will own us.”—(Report of Kellond and Kirk to Governor Endicott, to which they gave oath in the presence of the Governor and Council.)
The tradition is, that the pursuers searched Mr. Davenport’s house, and used him very ill. They also searched other houses where they suspected that the regicides were concealed. The report is that they went into the house of one Mrs. Eyers, where they actually were concealed, but she conducted the affair with such composure and address that they imagined that the judges had just made their escape from the house, and they went off without making any search. It is said that once, when the pursuers passed a bridge, the judges were concealed under it. Several times they narrowly escaped, but never could be taken.