That he lives at the hither end of Rye Neck - That the first person he ever heard speak of rendering the cannon useless was William Lounsberry. & afterwards, Josiah Burrell who lives at Rye Neck, + Wm Sutton, + other people also: - That Burrell went on board a ship, & spoke to the Govr who said it must be done to render those cannon useless: - Lounsberry afterwards told him the same, & he believed spoke to the Govr also: - That Isaac Gedney as well as Lounsberry & Wm Sutton spoke to him about having the cannon destroyed: That Esqr Sutton seemed to be fond of it: - That it was soon after Godfrey Haines came home from on board of the man of war, that Lounsberry first proposed disabling the cannon with sledges: - That Burrell told him he had conversed with the Govr & yt he advised disabling the cannon: - That he heard Lounsberry had been on board the Governer's Ship abt a week before this affair happened: - That Isaac Gedney informed him of this, & yet the Govr advised him to destroy the cannon, &said it wd save the City and prevent its being burnt down - That Burrell & Lounsberry told him if it was done, they wd be well paid for it. - That Wm Lounsberry had the direction & management of the cannon spiking par- -ty & was called their General - That the party consisted of 6 persons, vizt.
Wm Lounsberry, himself, Josiah Burrell, Wm Haines, James Haines, jun. - & Thomas Haines: - That one sledge was taken out of a shop at Flande: reau's, - & John Gedney borrowed the other sledge of Guion a blacksmith: -That he went with the said party towards the cannon near Valentine's for the purpose of rendering them useless, & started from John Gedney's on a violent cold night. - That when they came to a little house near Valentine's, they heard people at work - That when they came to a parcel of guns on the hill near Valentine's, they found 5 or 6 men at work there. & the guns spiked up: - That when 2 or 3 of his party went up towards the cannon, the party at work at the guns left them, & went off Westward towards Kingsbridge, & walking, as they passed by him, very fast & close together - That they were in dark coloured clothes & as he thinks, belonged to West Chester County - That finding the cannon near Valentine's spiked, they retur -ned & spiked those at Williams's - That Wm Haines & James Haines jun spiked them: - That there were upwards of 50 spiked there - That they concluded it wd make too much noise if they struck on the arms, to disarm them. & break off the *trunnions*, & therefore spiked them." Or "That before he came to Valentine's, he did not know that any party but his own were engaged to spike up the cannon: - That he supposes they live in that neighbourhood. &." pp. 271, 272, 273. /