Letter of Transmittal.          xxiii






        on board Foxhall's export tobacco, and then seized part of it for an alleged
        debt. Foxhall's case was thrown out at the October, 1665, court, on the grounds
        that he had not furnished sufficient proof of ownership of the tobacco in dis
        pute (pages 432, 485). John Wright also had difficulty with a shipmaster,
        Thomas Smyth, captain of the Accomac Merchant. When Wright asked for
        a bill of lading on his export tobacco, the shipmaster drove him off the ship
        with a rope's end, calling him a “cheating knave and a cheating rogue.” When
        the case came up for trial the shipmaster failed to heed the summons to appear,
        and Wright got an order from the court commanding all constables and others
        to assist the sheriff of St. Mary's County to enforce its authority. The outcome
        of the case does not appear (pages 434-439).
          A case involving the charter of a vessel came before the court at its 1664 ses
        sion. Raymond Staplefort and John Bayley were joint owners of the bark
        Providence of Patuxent. Staplefort chartered this boat, the charter being made
        at Foulstone Creek, or Oyster Bay, New York. It was chartered to two freight
        ers who soon afterwards told him he might never see his vessel again. Staplefort
        asked the court to put the freighters under bond to return the ship in safety.
        The freighters sued Staplefort for holding up the vessel. It then developed that
        Bayley and Staplefort had had a quarrel, which had been heard at a previous ses
        sion of the court. The dispute broke out again and at a later session is was shown
        that while Bayley was away from home Staplefort had removed from his room
        a quantity of merchandise, and hid it in various places. The sheriff's tour of
        discovery to locate various articles is told in detail. Staplefort was brought into
        court October 14, 1665 charged with theft, but after considerable conflicting
        testimony had been offered, the jury refused to convict him of felony and he
        was released (pages 375, 379, 435, 450, 498-503).
          The Attorney-General, William Calvert, at a session held January 4th 1666,
        asked for the confiscation of the ship Hopewell of Kinsale, Ireland, John
        Gilson, master, in which Boston merchants had an interest. It was asserted
        that European goods had been brought by it directly into the Province, which
        had not been re-shipped from an English port as required by the Navigation
        Acts. In defense it was claimed that the ship had a transportation license, but as
        this could not be produced in court, a decree of forfeiture was asked. The rec
        ord breaks off before the decision in the case was rendered (pages 560-563).
          On two occasions charges were brought before the court against persons who
        were alleged to have performed the marriage ceremony without a license. In
        1663 John Legatt, a minister of Charles County, and Captain Thomas Manning,
        one of the Justices of Calvert County, were charged with having married couples
        without proper license. Manning was fined at a later session, but Legatt got
        off because of lack of sufficient evidence to convict him (pages 42-43, 84-85). At
        a court held September 9, 1663, a rather interesting case was heard showing
        the business methods employed at this period by merchants trading between
        the various colonies. Samuel Smith, a Maryland merchant and owner of the
        bark Susan, had extensive business dealings with New York, Connecticut and
        Virginia, and after his death claims were made against his estate by merchants
        of those places to whom he was indebted (pages 61-71).