Gazette Of The United States, & Philadelphia Daily Advertiser

SPEECH OF DAVID WOOD,
While standing in the pillory at Charlestown,
New Hampshire, May 27th, 1797, for forging a deed.

SYMPATHIZING FRIENDS,
You come here this day to see a sad sight:
a poor old man publicly disgraced for attempting to make a penny out of fifty acres
of Vermont rocks; and yet I see some here
in gay coats, mounted on naggish horses,
who have made thousands out of lands, to
which you had no more title, than I to David Dray's rocks. But you are great rogues
and wear silver spurs, and white beaver hats,
and flourish your loaded whips, forget what
you once were, drink your Madeira, and
talk of your millions of acres, and set at
your ease; while poor I, who have peculated a little, in a fifty acre lot, which would
not maintain a woodchuck, must stand here;
for I am a little rogue, and have no pretensions to be a great speculator.

Let me ask you, what is the difference,
as to sin, between a man, who forges a deed
and sells lands under it, and a man, who
sells lands, to which he knows he has no title? You all know the great Squire
he bought lands in Boston at the time all
their great men were caught in the Georgia
land trap. The 'Squire came home by the
way' of, Hartford, at the very moment when
the Hartford foxes were waiting for the loss
of their tails, in the same spring trap. The
'Squire found he had bought the Devil, and
was determined to sell him again on the best
terms he could. He put spurs to his old
mare, rode before the news, and sold to the
widow Lowly and her two sons, who had
just come of age, about fifty thousand acres
of land, which lay the Lord knows where,
and to which he knew he had no title, and
took all their father the old deacon's farm
in mortgage, and threatens to turn the poor
widow upon the town, and her two boys
upon the world; but this is the way of the
world. The 'Squire is a great speculator,
he is of the quorum, can sit on the sessions.
and fine poor girls for natural mis-steps; but
I am a little rogue, who speculated in only
fifty acres of rocks, and must stand here in
the pillory.

Then there is the state of Georgia. They
sold millions of acres to which they had no
more title, than I to David Dray's land.
Their great men pocketed the money; and
their honorable assembly publicly burnt all
the records of their conveyance, and are now
selling the lands again. O Georgia is a
great honorable state. They can keep negro slaves, race horses, gouge out eyes, end
members to fight duels at Congress, and cry
out for France and the guillotine, and be
honored in the land: while poor I, who
never murdered any one, who never fought
a duel or gouged an eye; and had too much
honor to burn my forged deed, when I had once
been wicked enough to make it, must stand here
in the pillory, for I am a little rogue.—
Take warning by my sad fate; and if you
must speculate in lands let it be in millions
of acres; and if you must be rogues, take
warning by my unhappy fate and become
great rogues. —For as it is said in a pair of
verses I read when I was a boy,
Little villains must submit to fate,
That great ones may enjoy the world in state.
And again,
A little knavery is a dangerous thing,
Great cheats will flourish, while the small ones
swing.