[168] This question was decided in the case of Roger Morris of New York who married Mary, daughter of Frederick Phillips, who it is said had previously refused George Washington, the estate which belongs in right to his wife was confiscated, and that the whole interest should pass under the Act Mrs. Morris was included in the attainder. Humanity is shocked that a woman was attainted of treason, for no crime but that of clinging to the fortunes of the husband whom she had vowed on the altar never to desert. However, in the year 1809, their son, Captain Henry Gage Morris of the Royal Navy, in behalf of himself and his two sisters, sold their reversionary interest to John Jacob Astor of New York for the sum of £20,000 sterling. In 1828 Mr. Astor made a compromise with the State of New York by which he received for the rights thus purchased by him, the large sum of five hundred thousand dollars, having obtained a judgment of the Supreme Court of the United States affirming the validity and perfectibility of his title. After the death of the first Sir William, his widow, Lady Pepperell, caused a neat house to be erected near that of her daughter, and the village church which still remain. Here she died in 1789 after being a widow thirty years. This house came into the possession of Captain Joseph Cutts. He was a large ship owner and a successful merchant. Ruined by Mr. Jefferson's embargo, and the war of 1812, he lost his reason, and his two sons also went insane. One fell by his own hand in Lady Pepperell's bedchamber, the other was so violent at times that it was necessary to chain him. Under these misfortunes the daughter Sally's reason gave way. The town allowed a small sum for the board of her father, and her brother. Her home even was sold to satisfy a Government claim for duties owed by her father. It would seem that the doom of the Pepperells was transmitted to all who should inhabit this house. Surely a blight seemed to have fallen upon it which consumed the lives and fortunes of a family until its evil destiny was fully accomplished.