[The original of the following deposition has not been located. What follows is a transcription of the document as seen in a 1901 printed publication which includes reproductions of many documents relevant to the Gourd Patch Conspiracy. It is possible that the original never made its way to the state archives, that it has been lost sometime since 1901, or that it is located in an obscure collection at the State Archives and has not yet been re-identified]
Hyde County, Mattamuskeet.
One Friday, August 1777, I hunderstood By Report that a certain James Rawlins was one of the Heads amongst the Tories and that he was Expected to pass by the Settlement of Mattamuskeet or to Call there about the next Day and as I was Resolved to apprehend him if possible and keeping a watch out for him spied a small sail off in the Sound I fitted out in a boat with four men along with me. Came up with said Saile and found it to be the same Jas. Rawlins with his family upon which I apprehended him and Caried him Before a Magistrate which took the Deposition of the said James Rawlins, August 6th, 1777.
Sworn to before me this 9th August, 1777.
