rated " by a hard wind of rain and foggy weather." The prisoners mutinied and Hall's men were so few in number that they were overpowered, and the then masters of the vessel set sail for Glasgow and arrived safely at that port. The following spring Captain Lamont of the Spears, who had been taken to Boston on the Eagle, arrived in Glasgow and Hall was discharged. But he had no way of returning home; he went to Ireland, where he " found the people very kind and civil as well as warmly attached to the American cause." Upon their learning his circumstances and condition, they provided for him "in a genteel manner" until the following August, when he left for Chesa peake Bay, by way of Barbadoes, Antigua and St. Eustatia. When within Cape Charles and Cape Henry, the vessel was captured by a British man-of-war lying in Hampton Roads, and he was held a captive for ten days on the St. Albans, suffering " every thing that British insolence and cruelty could inflict, short of actual violence." Patrick Henry, Governor of Virginia, procured his exchange, provided him with a horse and money, and he set out on his journey home, which he reached Feb. 22, 1778. Years after his death, Congress awarded' his descendants remuneration for his services. He began to study law in 1782 in the office of Shearjashub Bourne at Barnstable; he removed to Bennington, Vt.; the follow ing year, he was at Westminster and estab lished his residence there. He obtained an extensive legal practice and had an excellent reputation. He represented Westminster in the Assembly, 1788, 1791, 1792 and 1808; he was presidential elector in 1792, voting for Washington and Adams. He was a member of the corporation of Middlebury College from its incorporation until his death, and was a member of the third Council of Censors. In 1794, he was elected judge of the Supreme Court and discharged the duties
with great fidelity and credit until 1801. He was noted for his instructions to grand juries, which were often published and highly commended by the press. In 1786 he married Mary Homer of Bos ton, an orphan fifteen years of age. A very romantic newspaper account of the court ship and marriage appeared in December, 1789, and has been republished occasionally by the press, the last time as late as 1845. While attending the Assembly as a mem ber in 1808, he was seized with a violent catarrhal affection which caused his death the ensuing year. Dr. Graham, to whom we are indebted for much relating to the early judges, says of Mr. Hall in his sketch of Vermont, " He is one of the judges of the Supreme Court, which office he fills in such a manner as to reflect honor even on so important a station. His memory is so wonderfully tenacious as to make him master of every subject he reads or hears and to enable him to re capitulate them without the slightest hesi tation or previous study." In James v. Smith, I. Tyler, 135, Judge Hall, in disposing of a question before him said, " If the construction of the statute ad vocated by Mr. Smith be correct, I have misled many an honest man." No substantial change was made in the jurisdiction of the courts until the revision of the statutes, made by Judge Chipman and Samuel Hitchcock in 1796-1 797, when the county court was given jurisdiction of all matters civil and criminal, except such as were made cognizable in the Supreme Court, and to the latter court was given jurisdiction of all crimes and misdemeanors described in an act for the punishment of capital and other high crimes and misdemeanors; this included substantially ail the serious crimes, and all causes where the punishment extend ed to loss of life, limb or disfranchisement, and civil actions wherein the State was a party. This change gave the jurisdiction of sub stantially all criminal cases to the Supreme
