| Governor
Wanton's Reward Offer
 Wanted
poster broadside issued by Gov. Wanton for those reponsible
for the burning of the Gaspee. The four known copies are
at the RI State Archives (right,
and easy to read), the RI Historical Society, the
New York
Public Library, and at left, a
previously unknown copy was sold by Swann Galleries at
auction for $27,600 to an
unnamed bidder on October 21, 2004..
Click images to enlarge.
The reward offer was also published in both the Newport
Mercury and the Providence Gazette
for several editions beginning Saturday, June 13, 1772.
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[G.R]
(L.S.)
By the HONOURABLE JOSEPH WANTON,
ESQUIRE, Governor,
Captain-General,
and Commander in
Chief, of and over the English
Colony of Rhode Island, and Providence
Plantations,
in New England,
in America.
A PROCLAMATION
WHEREAS on Tuesday, the Ninth
Instant, in the Night, a Number of
People
unknown; boarded His Majesty's armed Schooner the Gaspee, as she lay
aground
on a Point of Land called Namquit, a little to the Southward of
Pawtuxet,
in the Colony aforesaid; who dangerously wounded Lieutenant William
Dudingston,
the Commander, and by Force took him, with all his Peoples, put them
into
Boats, and landed them near Pawtuxet; and afterwards set fire to the
said
Schooner, whereby she was entirely destroyed:
I HAVE therefore thought fit, by and
with the Advice of such of His
Majesty's Council as could he reasonably convened, to issue this
Proclamation,
strictly charging and commanding all His Majesty's Officers within the
said Colony, both Civil and Military, to exert themselves, with the
utmost
Vigilance, to discover and apprehend the Persons guilty of the
aforesaid
atrocious Crime, that they may be brought to condign Punishment. And I
do hereby offer a Reward of ONE HUNDRED POUNDS Sterling, Money of Great
Britain, to any Person or Persons who shall discover the Perpetrators
of
the said Villains, to be paid of them.
AND the several Sheriffs in the
said Colony are hereby required forthwith to cause this Proclamation to
be posted up in the most public Places in each of the Towns in their
respective
Counties.
GIVEN under my Hand and Seal at Arms, at Newport, this Twelfth
Day
of
June, in the Twelfth Year of the Reign of His Most Sacred Majesty
GEORGE
the Third, by the Grace of God King of Great-Britain, & Anne Domini
1772.
J. WANTON,
By his Honour's Command,
HENRY WARD, Sec'ry
GOD
SAVE THE KING
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