The Conquest of Maine. simple method of procedure was abandoned. The oath of the accused upon the sword , was not final, but could be opposed and offset by the oaths of three witnesses. These three could in turn be offset by the accused bringing forward six witnesses in his favor; to counteract the effect of which the accuser needed fourteen, and if these were forthcoming, the prisoner required the testimony of no less than twenty-one to clear him. The sole manner of carrying out the death-sentence was, from first to last, by hanging. The Vehmgericht saw its most powerful days from the twelfth to the fifteenth cen turies. At various times it changed its
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methods somewhat, and it is said that at one period it held its meetings in dark and secret places. Later in its career abuses crept in, and it became a power that served for selfish ends. But it is generally agreed that in its best days it was composed of God fearing, law-abiding men, and that it served a good purpose in the evolution of order out of the social chaos of feudal times. Its motto was " God, King, and Justice." Remnants of the Vehmgericht were to be found as late as the opening of this century, for when the French occupied Westphalia in 1811, the body was suffi ciently strong to warrant an official act of abolishment. .
THE CONQUEST OF MAINE. George J. Varnev. THOSE who have made themselves fa miliar with the planting of the colonies of Massachusetts and Maine, but have not followed further the history of the latter, must sometimes be at a loss to explain how Maine should ever have been a part of Massachusetts. Even the grant to the Pilgrims of their places of settlement was obtained for them from the New England Company (of Eng land) by Sir Ferdinando Gorges; to whom in 1622, the same company (of which he was a member) granted the territory since known as the Province of Maine. With it he subsequently received, by charter, unlimited rights of government, only in fief to the king. A governor was sent over by the proprietor — thus become lord palatine — in the fol lowing year; and in 1636 a court of jus tices was set up in the palatinate. East of the Kennebec a large territory was assigned to the Duke of York, which, at the date of the settlement of Boston, con tained about five hundred English inhabit
ants, having also a government of justices. One cause of the hostility of the Bay Colony authorities to Sir Christopher Gar diner was the report that came from Eng land that his mission to America was for the purpose of establishing Gorges' rights over a part of the territory contiguous to Massa chusetts Bay. Yet Maine for more than one hundred and eighty years was in the jurisdiction of Massachusetts; for one hun dred and forty-three years the portion from the Kennebec River westward, and for one hundred and thirty-four years the portion east of that river, were legally integral parts of Massachusetts. How did this come about? Not long previous to 1639, Thomas Purchas, proprietor of the Pejepscot grant, as signed his territory to John Winthrop, gov ernor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and conceded to its government the same exer cise of power and jurisdiction as in its own charter limits. This territory, with that of Sir Alexander Rigby's Lygonia patent, was within the territory assigned to Sir Ferdi
