s of the hour. Nobody knew him, which would not
have been so likely to have been the case with his brother, Nathaniel,
who was a more conspicuous character. He could find no one he knew,
except Mr. Hale, who was formerly a Charlestown man, and whom he soon
lost in the confusion of the scene. The accusing girls were on the look
out, and noticing these two strangers, enquired their names, and were
told, _Mr. and Mrs. Carey_. They had been crying out upon _Elizabeth
Carey_, and thinking they had her, informed Thomas Putnam and Benjamin
Hutchinson, two persons perfectly deluded by them, who instantly drew
up the Complaint. In the hurry and horrors of the moment, the error in
the names was not discovered: _Jonathan_ and _Hannah_ were sent
forthwith to prison, from which they broke, and escaped to New York. The
girls, thinking they had got _Mrs. Elizabeth Carey_ in prison, said no
more about it. As Jonathan and his wife were safe, and beyond reach, the
whole matter dropped out of the public mind; and Mrs. Elizabeth remained
undisturbed. This is the only way in which I can account for the strange
incongruity of the statements, as found in the "Complaint," Calef, and
Hutchinson. The letter of Jonathan Carey is decisive of the point that
it was "Hannah," his wife, that was arrested, and escaped. The error in
Calef was not discovered by him, as his book was printed in London; and,
under the general disposition to let the subject pass into oblivion, if
possible, no explanation was ever given.

I cannot let the letter of Jonathan Carey pass, without calling to
notice his statement that, upon reaching New York, they found "His
Excellency, Benjamin Fletcher, Esq., very courteous" to them. Whatever
multiplies pleasant historical reminiscences and bonds of association
between different States, ought to be gathered up and kept fresh in the
minds of all. The fact that when Massachusetts was suffering from a
fiery and bloody, but brief, persecution by its own Government, New York
opened so kind and secure a shelter for those fortunate enough to escape
to it, ought to be forever held in grateful remembrance by the people of
the old Bay State, and constitutes a part of the history of the Empire
State, of which she may well be proud. If the historians and antiquaries
of the latter State can find any traces, in their municipal or other
archives, or in any quarter, of the refuge which the Careys and others
found among them, in 1692, they would