On September 2, 1652,[24] the fall of the year that he was at Norwalk, he appeared before the Commissioners of the United Colonies of New England, then assembled at Hartford, as their records bear witness in the following language: "Whereas we were informed by _Checkanoe_ an Indian of _Menhansick_ Island, on behalf of the Indian inhabitants of said island, that they are disturbed in their possession by Captain Middleton and his agents, upon pretense of a purchase from Mr. Goodyeare of New Haven, who bought the same of one Mr. Forrett, a scotchman, and by vertue thereof the said Indians are threatened to be forced off the said island and to seek an habitation where they can get it; the said Indians deny that they sold the said island to the said Forrett; and that the said Forrett was a poor man, not able to purchase it, but the said Indians gave to the said Forrett some part of the said Island and marked it out by some trees; yet never, that themselves be deprived of their habitation there, and therefore they desired that the Commissioners (they being their tributaries) to see they have justice in the premises, the Commissioners therefore, in regard the said Mr. Goodyeare is not present, and that he is of New Haven jurisdiction, and at their Court, to hear to complaint of the said Indians, and to satisfy the said Indians if they can, if not to certify the Commissioners at the next meeting, the truth of the premises; that some further order may be taken therein as shall be meet." As the result of this emphatic protest by _Checkanoe_, and in evidence of its truth and fairness, we find that on the 27th of December following,[25] Captain Middleton and associates were obliged to satisfy the Indians, by purchasing Shelter Island, or as it was called by the Indians _Manhansick ahaquazuwamuck_,[26] from the Sachem _Yoco_, formerly called _Unkenchie_, and other of his chief men, among whom we find one called _Actoncocween_,[27] which I believe to be simply another descriptive term for our hero, for the word signifies "an interpreter," or "he who repeats," _i. e._, "the repeat man." This sale was certified to at Southold the following spring,[28] but the deeds themselves have long been lost, and the pages of the volume on which they were entered despoiled of their contents by some vandal years ago. These items of record, however, point to one conclusion, that if the owners of Shelter Island were unable to produce Forrett's deed from the Indians in 1652, which they seem to have been unable to do, it is not at all likely that it will ever be discovered. It also indicates that Forrett's title, as well as that of Mr. Goodyeare, rested on a frail foundation as far as the whole island was concerned, and that the Indians were right in their protest.