John Newcomen
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John Newcomen (ca. 1613-1630) was the first white settler murdered by another white settler in Plymouth Colony, Massachusetts.
Like many of that time and place, Newcomen was a deer hunter. During that time "private property" was still evolving as a principle in New England. Newcomen hunted lands that were claimed by John Billington, a Mayflower passenger who was a staunch opponent of the Separatists. Newcomen was a member of the Separatist congregation at Plymouth Colony. Billington gave his support to the Church of England and was a follower of the Reverend John Lyford who settled in Plymouth Colony in 1624.
Apparently Billington previously warned Newcomen about hunting on his property, and there was longstanding animosity between the two. One afternoon, John Billington was heading out to hunt, when he "accidentally" discovered Newcomen on his property. Newcomen noticed John Billington and did everything he could to hide from him, using trees as shields. Billington treated the event like a hunt. Being quite a skilled marksman, Billington laid his sites on Newcomen's shoulder which was exposed from behind a tree. Though the shot did not kill him immediately, after several days Newcomen died of infection and gangrene.
There are two principal recordings of the event written in the 17th century. The first is from Governor William Bradford's, Of Plymouth Plantation.
"he (Billington) waylaid a young man, one John Newcomen, about a former quarrel and shot him with a gun, whereof he died."
The second account comes from William Hubbard's, A General History of New England from the Discovery to MDCLXXX (1680).
"So when this wilderness began first to be peopled by the English where there was but one poor town, another Cain was found therein, who maliciously slew his neighbor in the field, as he accidentally met him, as he himself was going to shoot deer. The poor fellow perceiving the intent of this Billington, his mortal enemy, sheltered himself behind trees as well as he could for a while; but the other, not being so ill a marksman as to miss his aim, made a shot at them, and struck him on the shoulder, with which he died soon after. The murtherer expected that either for want of power to execute for capital offenses, or for want of people to increase the plantation, he should have his life spared; but justice otherwise determined."
Billington's friends, however, felt that the shooting was warranted because Newcomen was "interfering with Billingtons hunting" by meddling with his traps and the deer herds that the Billingtons depended upon for their survival. Thomas Morton (Merrymount Founder) even suggested that it was Newcomen who was pursuing Billington during the "hunt."
No further information about Newcomen's family is known for certain.
