From Thomas Jefferson to Henry Dearborn, 12 March 1805
To Henry Dearborn
March. 12. 05.
Th: Jefferson to Genl. Dearborne
I think the cases both of Caston and Hibbs are within the spirit of our promise, altho’ they both happen to be out of the letter of it. they have substantially fulfilled the object of the government; and could such cases have been stated to us before hand we should have offered the reward. should you be of this opinion I should approve of giving them the reward as if they were within the letter of the proclamation. Affectionate salutations
RC (PHi: Daniel Parker Papers); endorsed by Dearborn. Not recorded in SJL.
Seth Caston claimed a reward for apprehending John Sutton (alias of murderer Wiley Harpe) and James May (alias of counterfeiter Peter Alston), two members of an infamous gang of highway robbers led by Samuel Mason. In early 1804, a court in the Mississippi Territory tried and executed the two men after they double-crossed Mason by killing him and bringing in his severed head in an attempt to claim reward money offered by William C. C. Claiborne (Otto A. Rothert, The Outlaws of Cave-in-Rock [Cleveland, 1924], 252-65, 272; Alex C. Finley, The History of Russellville and Logan County, Ky., Which Is to Some Extent a History of Western Kentucky, Vol. 1, Book II [Russellville, Ky., 1879], 40; Caston to Dearborn, 5 May 1804, recorded in DNA: RG 107, RLRMS; , 5:224-5; 6:589-90).
Jeremiah Hibbs applied for a reward for his capture of Samuel McKune, a confessed murderer (Jeremiah Hibbs Petition in DNA: RG 107, LRMS; Hibbs to Dearborn, received 7 Feb. 1805, recorded in DNA: RG 107, RLRMS).
spirit of our promise: beginning in July 1803, for the period of one year, the administration offered a $400 reward for the apprehension of criminals who preyed upon travelers on the Natchez road (Vol. 41:34n).