To Thomas Jefferson from John Page, 18 June 1804
From John Page
Richmond June 18th. 1804.
Sir
By the advice of the Council the inclosed Confessions of Thomas Logwood, and a Communication from Thomas Moore, are submitted to your consideration. So much of Logwoods information as respects Abraham Collins and one of his accomplices, who is said to go by the name of Greenlee, but whose real name is Moore, was transmitted to the Governor of North Carolina; but as no deposition or Witness was sent with it he returned the Answer inclosed herein. And as Logwood was our informant and without a pardon could not be used for that purpose, and the Executive were not disposed to recommend him to mercy, and did not think it prudent to let it be known that he was their informant, no further notice has been taken of that letter—but the Governor will be furnished with the names of the persons mentioned in the Communication of Thomas Moore, as honest men who may be relied on if called on to search into the truth of some of Logwoods Charges.
I am really sorry to trouble you with such voluminous communications but the Advice of the Council must be my Apology.
I have the pleasure to inform you that a few days before I received your letter in reply to mine on the Subject of Logwood’s Confinement he was admitted into the Penitentiary by the Executive in Consequence of information received from the Chief Justice of the United States and the Marshal of the District that the Sentence of the Court could not be so well executed in the Jail of Richmond as in the Penitentiary. As yet no additional expence has been incurred by the State for Guards on his account. But the bold attempts lately made by the prisoners to effect their escape, and the uncommon number of Deserters from the public Guard, may soon render it necessary to make an addition to the Guard at the penitentiary.
I am with the highest respect and esteem your obedient Servant
John Page
RC (DLC); dateline, salutation, and first paragraph in a clerk’s hand; endorsed by TJ as received 26 June and so recorded in SJL. FC (Vi: Executive Letterbook). Enclosure: James Turner to Page, Raleigh, North Carolina, 2 May, responding to Page’s letter of 28 Apr.; Turner promises “to procure testimony sufficient, to prosecute, to conviction, the offenders mentioned”; he suggests that the person who gave information to the Virginia executive be sent to North Carolina to testify against suspects there; Turner has consulted with the federal judge in North Carolina, who agrees that no charges can be brought without an affidavit; Abraham Collins, the chief suspect, is a “very notorious character in this State” but “has been artful enough to evade the vigilance of the law”; Turner again urges Page to send his informant, whose identity will be concealed (RC in Vi: Executive Papers). Other enclosures not found, but see below.
The full confessions of thomas logwood have not been found, but among Page’s papers were several statements offering clarification of Logwood’s testimony. One denied that an individual named thomas moore had been an accomplice but identified him as an important source of information and also referred to a connection between some counterfeit notes passed in Baltimore and associates living in Rutherford County, North Carolina. The statement offered descriptions of the associates, one of whom was named Joseph Moore. A separate statement offered information on some of the markings on plates and bills used by the counterfeiters (statements endorsed “T. Logwood’s Information given to Major Coleman for the Executive June 6th. 1804”; see also Edmund Randolph to Page, 7 June, all in same).
your letter: TJ to Page, 8 June.
In June, Alexander Quarrier, captain of the state public guard, advertised a $20 reward for the capture of two members who had deserted their posts (Richmond Virginia Argus, 9 June; Vol. 42:80).