Morning journal and courier., 1883-07-23

matter of fact, there is strong reason to be- heve that the spot of their principal sojourn
 while in concealment, to which therefore the | name ''Regicides' Cave" should more proper ly appertain, was within the town of Wood bridge, some three or four miles to the north westward. The reasons for this belief I will with your permission briefly indicate The only ancient authority upon the sub ject is the long marginal note given by Gov ernor Hutchinson in his 'tHistory of Massa chusetts" (17G4), which was based upon the journal of Goffe, then in the authors hands, but destroyed the following year at the sack ing of Hutchinson's house by patriotic CD mob. He says 'fThey removed from MT. Davenport's to the house of one Jones, where they lay hid until the 11th of May and then removed to mill, and from thence on the 18th into the woods, where they met Jones and two of his companions, Sperry and Burril, who first conducted them to . place called Ratchet harbor, where they lay two nights, until a cave or hole in the side of hill was prepared to conceal them. This hill they called Providence Hill, and there they continued from the 18th of May to the 11th of June, sometimes in the cave, and in very tempestuous weather in house near to it. Having publicly shown themselves at New Haven they had cleared MT. Davenport from the suspicion of stin coneealing them, and the 24th of June went into the woods again to their cave. They continued there, sometimes venturing to house near the cave, until the 18th of August, when the search for them being pretty well over they ventured to the house of one Tompkins near Milford meeting house, where they remained two years without so much as go ing into the orchard. In 1864 the commissioners from King Charles arrived at Boston. Upon the news of it they retired to their cave, where they tarried eight or ten days. Soon after some Indians in their hunt Ing discovered the cave with the bod; and the report being spread abroad it was not safe to remain near 1t. On the 18th of Octo- Der, 1864, they removed to Hadley." This citation gives sil that can ever be au- chemically known respecting the place of concealment of the Regicides in this vicinity. From 1t may be drawn several obvious de- dpctions
 1.-Aside from the two years residence at Milford, their principal place of concealment several times (May 15, June II, 1861 l; June 24, August 19, 1861 October 3, 13, 1864 ); was at one and the same place, "A cave or hole prepared to conceal them il tue side of Providence Hill.'
 2.-Hatchet harbor was in the immediate vicinity of the cave in the side of Providence Hill, and there was house near by. 3.-The cave was commodious enough to accommodate bed, necessarily double one-and required the labor of two days to prepare it for their residence.
 Now the only locality designated by tradi- ton as Hatchet hsrbor, still bearing that name on modern maps and admitted as such by President Stiles is in the corner of the town of Woodbridge, near the lines of the towns of Seymour ana Bethany. In that vicin- ity is also the only traditionally known Providence Hill' designated as such, according to Stiles, in the records of Milford, to which town it then belonged, as early as 1875. There is also in that vicinity a cave in the side of a hill, recognized by Stiles as ''un- doubtedly the great and principal lodge" of the Regicides. A picture of it may be seen in Israel P. Warren's book "The Three Judges''
 Whether the ledge on the summit of West Rock can properly be called cave, whether it could be described as ''in the side of hill, D whether it is an appropriate place for concealment, whether it has space enough to accommodate 8 double bed, whether it could have admitted of two days labor spent in prepa- ration for concealment, are points which I forbear to discuss. So far as I know, the general designation of this locality as the Judges Cave' dates from the appearance of President Stiles book in 1795. Stiles in formant was Mir. Joseph Sperry, born in 1709, grandson of Richard Sperry, who sheltered the Regicides. He received the who was born iu 1865 and lived until 1751, He was also the authority for locating other places of concealment, including the one called the Lodge" My own belief is that the ledge on West Rock is the place of provision al concealment where Whalley and Goffe re- mained for several hours on the critical day, May 13, 1861, when the commissioners, Kellond and Kirk, were seeking for and de- manding them in New Haven and that it was the spot of rendezvous whither on that day MT. William Jones brought Messrs. Sperry and Burril, whom he had engaged to take charge of the exiIes. As such, it remains locality of deep historic interest, even though it may not be considered as a spot of heightened sojourn by the Regicides.
 PORTER c. BLISS.
 New Haven, July 21, 1883.