The Vermont transcript. [volume] (St. Albans, Vt.) 1864-1870, 1864-11-11
Examination Of the st. Adams
Raiders at Montreal.


the testimony in the examination of
the St Adams raiders at Montreal,
from the report in the Witness and
gazette Of that city
Albert Sowles, sworn Reside in
St Adams, am Cashier in the First
National Bank of st. Adams. About
3 o'clock, p. NJ. 10Th of October, two
persons came into the bank, one pre-
ceding the other. | was behind the
counter | was the only person belong
ing to the bank who was in The one
who came in first drew revolver,
cooked it, and said "You are my pris-
oner.' He pointed the revolver to me,
and said, eff you offer any resistance,
| will shoot you dead. He was then
about n yard from me. | made no
answer to this threat, but was intimi-
dated by it, and considered my life in
danger. The other person came up
and he drew a revolver.
The witness then pointed out C. NJ
Wallace, as being the one who first en-
tered the bank, approached and made
the threat spoken Of Conld not rec
ognize the second man. A few mo-
ments after, two more men entered the
bank. | saw no arms with these last
two men. at the time they came into
the bank. but one of them came around
behind the counter where | was Mr.
Wallace directed the men to go and
take the funds of the bank The wit
ness then pointed out one of the pris-
oners, named Joseph McGrorty, as be-
ing the one who came behind the count
or. The said McGrorty went TO an
iron safe, in which were kept the funds
Of the bank, including bonds and
other securities. The door of the safe
was open McGrorty opened the
drawer, and took therefrom current
bills of the New England Banks also
greenbacks, the amount being about
( $4,000. He took out of the safe
large amount OF United States treasury
notes, bearing 7 and 3 tenths interest,
and amounting to the value of 500,
GOO He also took five per cent, legal
tender promissory notes to the amount
of $4,000 They had coupons at
/ tached There We're also taken six
per cent. compound interest notes to
the amount OF $1,000. McGrorty put
the bankbills into his pocket, and
threw the treasury notes and other Sc
curities spoken of to the other men
who were standing outside of the coun-
ter McGrorty and Wallace asked
what the contents of the envelopes
containing the securities were, and
told them that the envelopes contained
private papers left in my charge for
safe-keeping. They said they did not
want to take private papers, and they
left the most Of them on the counter.
taking merely one or two of them.
During this time one of tho four men
stood inside the front door entrance.
The witness here recognized in court
one OF the prisoners MS being the one
in question, and who now gave hi,
name az Alexander Pope Bruce.
l did not see any arms in the pos
session of the four men, except OF
= Wallace md another man whom | Dc
not recognize The latter drew re
volver, cooked it. and holding it in hi
hand, said, I'VE represent the Con
federate States of America, and ",
come hore to retaliate for outrage
committed by General Sheridan"
t These men remained in the bank ten
or fifteen minutes, then left altogether
taking with them monies and bills
They were dressed as civilians. Abou
= minute after they had left the banl
c VIM II. Blaisdell entered and enquire,
. what was going forward, and wha
, those fellows were doing. | told hin
supposed they were robbers as the
had robbed the bank. Blaisdell LEI
. the bank followed by myself, aud OF
t going out of the bank | saw perso
n run across heroad in front of the ban
. up the steps, and armed with revo
yer. Ga his ascending the step,
Blaisdell pushed against him, knockin
J. him off the steps and falling over hin
It | then saw tWo persons running up {
|. where we were, both of them with +,
vOlvers. One of these was Wallace.
!, heard one Of these two call out to til
II party who was under Blaisdell, "shoc
/, him, shoot him. When they got IL
/ to Blaisdell they presented their pii
o .tols at him, and he then got up. Tn
r. robbers then ordered Blaisdell to q
with them to park in the neighbol
hood of the bank Bruce then cam
e up and gave a similar order, | wei
V, n short distance with them and the
K turned off towards the depot ha
70 not gone far in that direction, when
met the prisoner, John McGrorty, VIII
Z ordered me back to the park threat
n ening to shoot me if did not compl,
| accompanied him to the park, an
,e there l found the prisoner Bruc
g armed with revolver, keeping in Gu
tody about a dozen persons, some
D. whom | recognized as citizens of I'll
e, place. During the time l was so d
l. tanned, L saw some five or six person
y on the other side of the road, arme
~ with revolyers. They were stoppir
~ teams and taking the horses out.
" also saw Collins II. Huntington, iewe
he er of st. Adams, pass along the stree
ne The armed men ordered him to sto
10 but he pushed on, paying no attentio
- to the order. One of the gang sa
III shoot him, shoot him" was Ike,
"a, .,,o r,lxr 80, H. ,...,l. %