Colonial Wiretaps

During America's bicentennial (1976, of the "Declaration of Independence" signed by William Floyd of Mastic/Shirley, NY now part of the Fire Island National Seashore, near the once British Fort St. George, in the Manor of St. George) the local press informed us of Washington's "Spy Nest" in Setauket, NY then a British stronghold, with the second oldest Anglican church in North America still there, with musketballs embedded in it, it and the Presbyterian church there a long time, back into the 17th century. Nathaniel Roe, at "Roe's Tavern" and others were involved in gathering information, one a coded message "spelled" out in the drying laundry of a "hotel" was taken by horseback to NYC. Loyalist houses were known by a black line drawn around their chimney. A "Committee of Safety" was in charge of collecting everyone's guns, many muskets were hidden, as in Huntington, where a cache was hidden under a porch. On Washington's triumphal tour, a "return" to Long Island (he had lost the first "Battle of Long Island" and had been there after the earlier "French and Indian War" on his way to Boston, MA) he stopped overnight at the "Roe Tavern" whose proprietor had saved the American cause in Providence, Rhode Island, with the spy info, and the following morning was to be joined in his tour by Mr. Roe, who unfortunately fell from his horse that morning and broke his leg. Mr. Roe later resided along Mud Creek in East Patchogue where he made cherrywood furniture. His house in Selden, NY had been pierced many times by British musketballs, though its exact location has yet to be found. So the spy business has been important in America's past, but the laws followed to protect us from hearsay prosecution, lies and mis-statements I thought by at least having a judge involved (and a warrant).