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Towns of Bloominggrove, Cornwall and Monroe

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The Confession of William Cole, taken at New Barbadoes, March 29th, 1779.--William Cole saith that about the 3d day of April, 1777, he, accompanied by John Badcock, William Jones and John Ellison, at -------where be enlisted in Col. John Bayard's Regiment; in which be continued until the battle of Fort Montgomery. That at the surrender of the fort, and at the departure of the British troops from there, he, the said William Cole and one James Badcock, being left sick about two miles from the fort at Moses Clement's, Esq., went to the house of the said James Badcock at Sterling, where the said James Badcock continues, (having in a short time thereafter delivered himself up to justice.) That from thence, he, the said William Cole, Went to Pompton Plains, where he resided about a month, without being suspected of having been with the enemy. That from Pompton he returned to the Clove, and from thence, in company with, and by the persuasion of, one David Badcock and one Jonathan Gage, he went to New York. That sometime in the latter end of last fall he left New York in company with Thomas Ward, John Everett, Jacob Ackner, James Cowen, George alias Thomas Harding, David Badcock, James Twaddle, Martinus Lawson and Peter Lawson, and a certain John Mason, who was the head of the gang. That, he parted company with them in the Clove about a mile beyond Sidman's, being something indisposed, and remained in the house of Edward Roblin in the Clove, while the above mentioned persons robbed Mr. Erskine and Mrs. Sidman, That the above named George Harding made a present of Mrs. Erskine's gold watch to David Matthews, Esq. Mayor of New York; and that Mr. Erskine's rifle was given by Mason to Lord Cathcart. That the same party together with Wiat and Banta, and Richard and James Smith, Sons of Claudius Smith, and a certain Nathaniel Biggs, were the persons who took Muster Master, General Ward, &c., for which they received 100 guineas from Lord Cathcart, as he, the said Cole, was informed by them on their return from New York. That just before he was taken he met with John Mason, David Badcock, Thomas Ward and Richard Smith near the bridge commonly called the Dwaas, who threatened vengeance for the execution of Claudius Smith; from whence he conjectures them to have been the persons who murdered Mr. Clarke; soon after that David Badcock, Richard Smith and Jonas Ward, with about eleven of General Burgoyne's men, were the persons that fired upon Major Goetchius, sometime in last January, as he was informed by said persons, in New York, after the fact. That as he has heard from them, one Henry McManus, who generally has his haunts near Sterling, one William Stagg and one or two of Burgoyne's men, were the persons who robbed a certain Lightbody, towards Walkill, and that David Badcock and Richard Smith brought two horses robbed from Nathaniel Seely, in Smith's Clove, into New York, in January last, which they sold to John Day, who formerly lived in Tine Vly. That when be robbed Mr. Ackerman he was accompanied by George Bull, Jacob Low, James Terwelling, all of whom lived formerly at Walkill. That the above robbery was the only one in which he was ever concerned, except that he took Hedrick Odell's gun.

That the persons who harbor these gangs are Benjamin Demarest, Tunis Helme, John Herring, John Johnston, under ------- mountain, William Conklin, Elisha Badcock, Elisha Badcock, jr., John Dobbs, near --------, Edward Roblins in the Clove, Peter Nail, Benjamin Kelley and Powles -------, all in the Clove, Edward Ennars and John Winter, in ------, Peter Ackner in Paskock, and Jacobus Peak. That there is a cave dug under ground by the sons of Isaac Maybee, and on the said Maybee's land, about a half a mile from John Herring's, and another at about a quarter of a mile distant from the former, dug by the same persons; and a third about three miles east from the house of Joseph Wessels, in the Clove, and well known by Roblins in the Clove, each of which may contain about eight persons, where these robbers generally resort; and that John King, Jacob Ackner and John Staat, are now in the Clove at ----, or in the houses around it. That Harding, Everett, &c., as soon as the weather grows warm, intend to plunder Col. ----- at Walkill, to burn Col. Nichols' house, the goal and some other houses in and near Goshen; and to remain in the county for that purpose. That there is a gang of the same kind on the east side of Hudson's river, whose names are Mandeville -------. Peter Wood, William Huliker, William Dan-forth, Aaron Williams, James Houston and others, who plundered and brought some cattle and horses from Tarrytown to New York, the day before the said Cole left it.”

“William Welcher's Confession.-William Welcher says that some time last January, Wiert Banta and others applied to him to go with them to take Governor Livingston, for whose capture a reward of 200 guineas was offered by the mayor of New York, which he refused.-That he never was concerned in any robberies, but that for which be is condemned.-Mentions the same persons who harbor those gangs as named in Cole's confession, and besides, one Arie Ackerman at Paskock, where the wife of one of these robbers (John Mason) lives.”