Introduction. lxxxiii

an offer of a reward of £10 by the husband of one of the victims, for the
apprehension of either of the two villians involved, who will give evidence
that will convict the other, this offer of a reward being contingent upon the
pleasure of the Governor to pardon the informer (pp. 285, 339, 340). It appears
from the advertisement that the two burglars had broken into the house of
Joseph Calder at Hunting Ridge just east of what is now Catonsville, Baltimore
County, when Calder was away from home. The villians had rummaged below
and had then entered the chamber upstairs occupied by his wife and a young
lady "whom they treated in a Shocking and most barbarous manner, first whet-
ting their Knives before them, then Seizing them by the throats, with many
Motions as if they would Murder them, except they would give their Money,
and kept them in that Miserable Condition for four or five Hours, having
wounded my Wife, in the Hand and the Young Lady very terribly in the
Shoulder." The Governor recommended that the Assembly offer a suitable re-
ward "which may be Notified in my Proclamation" as "not long since an instance
of a Similar nature happened in the same County", showing the necessity of
vigorous measures (pp. 385, 386, 339, 340). The Lower House replied that
"impressed with the just sense of the horrid crime mentioned in your ex-
cellency's message—[we] have resolved that the sum of three hundred dollars
be applied to the apprehension of them", and asked that he offer this reward.
The Governor at once issued his proclamation also offering a pardon to either
of the offenders if he would "discover his accomplice (Arch. Md. XXXI, 234-
236). There is a notice in the Maryland Gazette that indicates that the death
sentence was imposed on both of them and that neither had turned State's
evidence.

The Assembly, about a week later, by an identical message from the Governor
to both houses, was informed that two negro slaves, Phil and Daniel, under
arrest for breaking into the store of Clement Bailey of Nanticoke, Dorchester
County, had, on the way to prison, escaped from the constable, and were still
at large, and countenanced by certain white people, were threatening to burn
the house of anyone active in apprehending them. The Governor asked whether
it would not be a proper step to offer a reward for apprehending these audacious
rogues which he would announce in a proclamation (pp. 295, 354). To this the
Lower House replied that offers of rewards for escaping negroes guilty of
felonies would not only entail large expense on the public, but would "tend to
lessen the activity and spirit with which they have been generally pursued unless
extraordinary rewards are constantly offered." The house advised further ex-
ertion of the magisterial power to apprehend criminals (p. 360).

CONDITION OF THE PUBLIC RECORDS

The bad condition of the public records of the Province was reported to the
Assembly at the 1766 session and again in 1768. A committee of twelve of the
Lower House, headed by Robert Tyler of Prince George's County, was ap-
pointed to inspect the papers and records in the public offices at the May, 1766,
session, and handed in an exhaustive report upon the records in the Land Office,
the Provincial Secretary's Office, and the Commissary's Office. No mention