It has been seen that it was customary to enslave Indian captives taken in war, and that certain colonial governments even allowed the seizure of peaceable Indians in time of war, lest they join with the warring Indians. The distinction between kidnapping, pure and simple, and seizures made in time of war, was too delicate to be always observed, and was open to abuse by unscrupulous persons desiring to obtain Indians for sale. Nowhere is this more clearly exemplified than in the New England colonies. Here, as in the south, kidnapping was carried on by the frontier people who were generally rough and lawless. Along with indifference to the rights of the Indians, fraudulent practices in trade, and refusal to sell them arms and ammunition on the slightest suspicion that the weapons might be used against the whites, the kidnapping of Indians, and the selling of them as slaves in the West Indies were all numbered among the causes of King Philip’s War.[563] With the opening of King Philip’s War the custom was continued. The Maine Indians were about to join those in Massachusetts when, through the efforts of Abraham Shurt of Pemaquid, and by means of promises made to right their wrongs and treat the native fairly in the future, the union with the Massachusetts Indians was prevented, and assurances of friendship were exchanged with the English. Rumors were soon spread abroad, however, that the Indians were possessed of arms, and were forming a conspiracy against the colony. The government became alarmed and issued a warrant to General Waldron of Cocheco (Dover, New Hampshire) “to seize every Indian known to be a man slayer, traitor or conspirator”. Waldron took it upon himself to issue general warrants for this purpose. These warrants fell into the hands of unprincipled men who set about using them to immediate advantage. A vessel was fitted out at Pemaquid and a crew organized for the purpose of kidnapping Indians for sale abroad. Shurt remonstrated with the leaders of the proceeding and warned the Indians of their danger. But the plan succeeded, at least in part. A vessel off Pemaquid, commanded by one Laughton, succeeded during the winter of 1676 in capturing several Indians, and carrying them abroad for sale. The Indians complained of this action, but the only satisfaction they obtained was more offers of friendship and the promise that means should be taken to return their captured friends to them.[564] Waldron was indicted by the grand jury for surprising and stealing seventeen Indians, carrying them off to Fayal in the vessel _Endeavor_ and selling them there, but was acquitted. John Laughton, captain of the vessel, was also indicted for the same offenses, found guilty by the Court of General Sessions, and fined £20.[565] More pressing matters engaged the attention of the authorities for some time, and no further attention was given to this event.