Browsing: Legal Papers of John Adams, Volume 2

42. Presumably Alsop v. Ruttenbergh, DNA Microcopy 162, Case 11 (Commrs. of App. 1777), an appeal from the Admiralty Court of Rhode Island. The Frank, originally out of New London, and claimed by Mrs. Alsop, a widow, of Middletown, Connecticut, had been captured by the privateer Montgomery, of Providence. The libel alleged that the Frank was en route from Newfoundland to Jamaica in one of a series of voyages she had made between those ports after obtaining a change of name and register at the latter. She had allegedly carried supplies to the fleet and army at Newfoundland. In an earlier proceeding based on a libel alleging only that she was the property of inhabitants of Great Britain the Frank had been acquitted by a jury. On the second libel, after the court overruled a motion to dismiss based on the earlier acquittal, the jury found that the voyages had been made as alleged and that the Frank was carrying supplies to the enemy. On appeal before JA, James Wilson, and Thomas Burke, the appellants were heard, but the appellees did not appear. On 20 May 1777, the Commissioners reversed the decree and ordered redelivery.