Betts first administered smallpox to members of the Continental Army mere days after the order was given, and was placed under arrest by local authorities.
Testimony during a hearing on the matter before the New York Committee of Safety on May 26, 1776, was given by both Doctor Foster representing the prosecution and Betts in his defense.
Doctor Foster testified that: ...information was given to General Putnam, that several persons had been inoculated, at the house of one Fisher, in Stone Street, contrary to a resolve of the Provincial Congress of this Colony, he the examinant (agreeable to General Putnam's order) immediately went to the house of the above mentioned Fisher, where he discovered Lt.
[2]Jailed again for more smallpox inoculations, Betts became an open Loyalist, serving as both a Captain-Lieutenant in the Kings American Regiment and also as a surgeon for the Queen's Rangers.
A grave stone at the Old Loyalist Burial Grounds in Saint John, New Brunswick, is inscribed [4] "In Memory of Dr Azor Betts Died Sept 15, 1811, aged 72 years.