Posted on 12/08/2003 8:08:46 AM PST by yankeedame
"...within the United States; that this deponent commanded the said Caroline,and that she was cleared from Buffalo with a view to run between said Buffalo and Schlosser, carrying passengers, freight, etc.;
that this deponent caused the said Caroline to be landed at Black Rock on her way down, and that while at Black Rockthis deponent caused the American flag to be run up, and that soon after leaving Black Rock Harbor a volley of musketry was discharged at the Caroline from the Canada shore, but without injury;
that the said Caroline continued her course down the Niagara River unmolested and landed outside of certain scows or boats attached to Navy Island, where a number of passengers disembarked and, as this deponent supposes, certain articles of freight were landed;
that from this point the Caroline ran to Schlosser, arriving there at 3 o'clock in the afternoon; that between this time and dark the Caroline made two trips to Navy Island, landing as before; that at about 6 o'clock in the evening this deponent caused the said i>Caroline to be landed at Schlosser and made fast with chains to the dock at that place;
that the crew and officers of the Caroline numbered ten, and that in the course of the evening twenty-three individuals, all of whom were citizens of the United States, came on board of the Caroline and requested this deponent and other officers of the boat to permit them to remain on board during the night, as they were unable to get lodgings at the tavern near by;
these requests were acceded to, and the persons thus coming on board retired to rest, as did also the crew and officers of the Caroline, except such as were stationed to watch during the night;
that about midnight this deponent was informed by one of the watch that several boats filled with men were making toward the Caroline from the river, and this deponent immediately gave the alarm, and before he was able to reach the dock the Caroline was boarded by some seventy or eighty men, all of whom were armed;
that they immediately commenced a warfare with muskets, swords, and cutlasses upon the defenseless crew and passengers of the Caroline under a fierce cry of " G--d d--n them, give them no quarters; kill every man. Fire! fire!";
that the Caroline was abandoned without resistance, and the only effort made by either the crew or passengers seemed to be to escape slaughter; that this deponent narrowly escaped, having received several wounds, none of which, however, are of a serious character;
that immediately after the Caroline fell into the hands of the armed force who boarded her she was set on fire, cut loose from the dock, was towed into the current of the river, there abandoned, and soon after descended the Niagara Falls;
that this deponent has made vigilant search after the individuals, thirty-three in number, who are known to have been on the Caroline at the time she was boarded, and twenty-one only are to be found, one of which, to wit, Amos Durfee, of Buffalo, was found dead upon the dock, having received a shot from a musket, the ball of which penetrated the back part of the head and came out at the forehead;
James H. King and Captain C. F. Harding were seriously though not mortally wounded; several others received slight wounds; the twelve individuals who are missing, this deponent has no doubt, were either murdered upon the steamboat or found a watery grave in the cataract of the Falls;
and this deponent further says that immediately after the Caroline was got into the current of the stream and abandoned,as before stated, beacon lights were discovered upon the Canada shore near Chippewa, and after sufficient time had elapsed to enable the boats to reach that shore this deponent distinctly heard loud and vociferous cheering at that point;
that this deponent has no doubt that the individuals who boarded the Caroline were a part of the British forces now stationed at Chippewa."
[Subscribed and sworn to before a commissioner, etc.]
STATE) OF NEW YORK, Niagara County, ss:
Charles F. Harding,
James H. King,
Joshua H. Smith,
William Seaman,
William Kennedy,
William Wells,
John Leonard,
Sylvanus Staring, and John Haggarty,
being sworn, severally depose and say that they have heard the foregoing affidavit.
(For this post I have taken the liberity of breaking down this single paragraph into manageable, reader friendly pieces.)
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F
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