Deposition of James Tharnell., this 14th day of June, A. D. 1878

Deposition of James Tharnell.

The examination of James Tharnell, of Anderson’s Cove, Long Harbor, taken upon oath, and who saith:

I am a special constable for this neighborhood. I did not see anything of the alleged outrage last January, but I heard something about it. I believe some of the men named Pope were on the beach, but which I do not know.

Question. Have you formed any opinion as constable as to the cause of the dispute?—Answer. Mr. Snellgrove, of the customs, and myself, from what we were informed of the circumstances, were of opinion that the Americans were acting illegally in shooting their seines, but notwithstanding that, nothing would have been said to them for that had it not been on the Sabbath day. The men forbid them hauling seines on the Sabbath day, and told them to take them up or they would take them up for them, and what annoyed them so much was that the Americans drew their revolvers; probably if it had not been for the threat of the revolvers the seines would only have been taken up and not torn. They asked him three times to take them up before they did so themselves.

The people were not aware that it was illegal to set the seines that time of the year, and were only prompted to their act by the fact that it was Sunday. We all consider it to be the greatest loss to us for the Americans to bring those large seines to catch herring. The seines will hold 2,000 or 3,000 barrels, of herring, and, if the soft weather continues, they are obliged to keep them in the seines for, sometimes, two or three weeks, until the frost comes, and by this means they deprive the poor fisherman of the bay of their chance of catching any with their small nets, and then, when they have secured a sufficient quantity of their own, they refuse to buy of the natives.

If the Americans had been allowed to secure all the herrings in the bay for themselves, which they could have done that day, they would have filled all their vessels, and the neighboring fishermen would have lost all chance on the following week-days. The people believed that they (the Americans) were acting illegally in thus robbing them of their fish. If the natives had not defended themselves by enforcing the law, there was no one else to do it. I was sworn in as a special constable by Mr. Herbert, the magistrate of Harbor Briton, last October.

On the arrival of the Americans I showed my authority, signed by Mr. Herbert; and they laughed at it, and said it had no stamp, and they didn’t, therefore, recognize it.

I told them the lawful size of a tub—sixteen gallons—and they said they required a brand on it. I have no means of branding tubs; there is no means to brand on the coast, and it is not the custom. I don’t know if it is the custom at St. John’s to brand them. I have cautioned the Americans about throwing ballast out inside of Hoodey’s Island, where it is very shallow, but they have continually done so, notwithstanding, up to this. There are now several shallow places there and in the cove where the Americans have been in the habit of throwing out their ballast, and small vessels now, of twenty-eight to thirty tons, repeatedly ground on this ballast there thrown out by the Americans. I believe there was less thrown out last winter after I spoke to them about it, but I have no power, moral or otherwise, to enforce any rules, and they don’t seem to care much about me.