[Frederic Shonnard & W.W. Spooner (1900)] 327 classes — private individuals and officers of the crown. A special com-mittee of the congress, known as the Committee to Detect Conspir-acies, was created to deal with all cases. John. Jay was made its chairman, and among its members were Gonverneur Morris and Lewis Graham, of Westchester County. In Westchester County the private persons designated as "suspi-cious or equivocal *' were Frederick Philipse, Caleb Morgan, Na-thaniel Underbill, Samuel Merritt, Peter Corne, Peter Huggeford, James Horton, Jr., William Sutton, William Barker, Joshua Purdy, and Absalom Gidney, all of whom wore given the opportunity to show their respect for the committee through the medium of a sum-mons, but, in default of appearance, were to be ar-rested. The committee was directed to inquire as to their guilt or innocence upon the following points: (1) Whether they had afforded aid or sustenance to the British fleets or armies; (2) whether they had been active in dissuading inhabitants from associat-ing for the defense of the united colonies; (3) whether they had decried the value of the conti-