IpHiiip

w^m m

fslg®Ji«P§

■ rT^MirWatr^
s«» -iliKNraSRHS

p#CJPWwSta®&®THE

NEGRO CONSPIRACY

IN THE

CITY OF NEW YORK, IN 1741:

CONTAINING

A FULL ACCOUNT OF THE BURNING OF THE FORT, GOVERNMENT
HOUSE, CHAPEL, HALL OF RECORDS, AND THE FIRING OF
MANY OTHER BUILDINGS IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK:

WITH AN ACCOUNT OF THE ARREST, INDICT-
MENT, TRIAL AND EXECUTION OF THIRTY-
THREE OF THE CONSPIRATORS,

THIRTEEN OF WHOM WERE
BURNED AT THE
STAKE.

ORIGINALLY PREPARED AND PUBLISHED BY

DANIEL HORSMANDEN, ESQ.,

One of the Presiding Justices of the Supreme Court during said Trials.

EDITED BY

WILLIAM B. WEDGWOOD, ESQ.,

Counsellor at Law.

NEW YORK:

GEORGE W. SCHOTT, .177 WASHINGTON STREET.

1851.Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1851, by
GEORGE W. SCHOTT,

in the Clerk’s office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern
District of New York.PREFACE.

There was an insurrection of the negroes in this city,
in 1712. On the 7th April, about two o’clock in the morn-
ing, the house of Peter Van Tilburgh was set on fire by
the negroes, who being armed with guns, knives and other
weapons, killed and wounded several white people as they
were coming to assist in extinguishing the flames. Notice
thereof being soon carried to the fort, His Excellency Gover-
nor Hunter ordered a cannon to be fired from the ramparts,
to alarm the town, and detached a party of soldiers to the fire.
At the appearance of the soldiers, the negroes immediately
fled, and made their way out of the town to hide themselves in
the woods and swamps. In their flight they also killed and
wounded several white people, but being closely pursued, some
conoealed themselves in barns and others in swamps, which
being surrounded and strictly guarded till the morning, many
of them were then taken. Some finding no way for their es-
cape, shot themselves. After these wretches had murdered
eight or ten white people, and a part had become their own ex-
ecutioners, nineteen were apprehended and brought to trial
for a conspiracy to murder the whites, and were convicted
and executed. Several more who turned witnesses were
transported.

The memdry of the conspiracy of 1712, was fresh in the
minds of the inhabitants of this city, at the time of the con-
spiracy of 1741. The population of the city at that time was
only about 12,000. Insurrections and conspiracies were fre-
quent in the West India Islands, and great apprehensions were
entertained of an invasion by the French and Spaniards. Un-
der these circumstances it is not at all surprising that great
alarm should universally prevail among the whites, when they
saw the Fort on fire, together with the Chapel, Government
House and Hall of Records. When these buildings had been
entirely destroyed, and this was followed by many other firesiv

PREFACE.

occurring almost daily, we are not surprised that the law
should be administered with an apparent degree of severity.

The following history of the conspiracy and the journal of
the trial of the conspirators was written by Mr. Justice
Horsmanden, one of the Justices of the Supreme Court, who
was present with the other Justices of the Court almost every
day during the trial. The Editor has thought proper to give
that account in the language of the writer, with some slight
verbal alterations.

It may not be improper here to take a glance at the early
establishment and subsequent progress of slavery in the ter-
ritories now within the boundaries of the United States.

The first permanent English colony established on the con-
tinent of America was the Virginia colony established at
Jamestown, in 1607. The first three attempts to form colo-
nies in that part of the country failed. Ninety of the first
one hundred colonists landed at Jamestown died within the first
six months. At a subsequent period, when but five hundred
emigrants in the colony, four hundred andforty died in a period
of six months. And when nine thousand colonists had taken
up their residence in that place hut eighteen hundred survived.

In the year 1620, a Dutch man-of-war entered the colony
and landed twenty negro slaves for sale. These were pur-
chased by the planters as an experiment. The experiment
proved very successful. It was found that the negro was
particularly constituted to endure fatigue in that climate and
that he was not subject to those diseases which in that uncul-
tivated state of the country swept off so large a proportion of
the whites. This was the beginning of negro slavery in the
English colonies. Slavery from importation increased with
great rapidity in the English colonies to the time of the negro
plot in 1741, and even on to the time of the revolution in
1776.

At the period of the American revolution, negro slavery had
existed in the colonies for more than one hundred* and fifty
years. It was considered an evil and a growing evil, and
vigorous efforts had been put forth to check its progress. Pe-
tition after petition had been sent to the home government
praying for the prohibition of the further importation of slaves
into the colonies and for the entire abolition of the slave trade.
The answer to the prayer of the petitioners was—“ We cannot
abolish a trade so profitable as the slave trade.” The co-
lonists then determined to take the matter into their own
hands.

The first colonial congress, which assembled in 1774, pro-PREFACE.

V

mulgated to the world as the solemn act of united America,
signed by the delegates of all the colonies, the following decla-
ration :—“ We will neither import nor purchase any slave im-
ported after the first day of December next, after which time
we will wholly discontinue the slave trade, and neither be con-
cerned in it ourselves nor will we hire our vessels nor sell our
commodities or manufactures to those who may be concerned in

About four years after the close of the revolution in 1787,
Congress declared that neither slavery nor involuntary ser-
vitude should ever be allowed within that vast territory north-
west of the Ohio river. This ordinance received the una-
nimous vote of all the States with the exception of the vote
of one member from New York. New Hampshire, Massa-
chusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Vermont and Pennsyl-
vania had already abolished or taken measures to abolish
slavery within their limits, and the votes of Delaware, Mary-
land, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia
were unanimously given for the positive exclusion of slavery
from all that vast region now possessed by Ohio, Indiana,
Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin. This act alone was sufficient
to impress upon the national character the Stamp of Univer-
sal Freedom.

It must be remembered that the United States government
has hardly past its childhood when compared with the age of
other governments. Yet in that short period slavery has been
abolished in a majority of the original States. That portion
of the country where slavery is prohibited is larger than Eng-
land, Ireland, France, Belgium, Holland, Prussia, Greece,
Switzerland, and Portugal, not including our territory acquir-
ed from Mexico. And the present slaveholding States have
emancipated more slaves than England has purchased from all
her colonies. All this has been effected freely and voluntarily
on the part of the slaveholder and in no case have they re-
ceived any compensation for their slaves. All will acknow-
ledge that we have accomplished much in the cause of univer-
sal freedom, and we shall not rest from our labors until our
flag shall proclaim to the world “ that all over whom it

WAVES ARE FREE.”

During the revolutionary war, many of the negroes in the
colonies repaired to the British, standard. At its close, in
1783, when that seven years bloody contest for American Inde-
pendence was ended, these negroes were conveyed to different
places by Great Britain. Many were taken to London,vi

PREFACE.

others were left on the cold and sterile island of Nova Scotia;
others also were conveyed to the Bahama Islands.

Those that were taken to London, soon found themselves
Unemployed, poor, despised, forlorn, and classed with the nu-
merous beggars who disgrace that city. It was found neces-
sary to remove them and no longer suffer them to infest the
streets of London. After about five years residence in that
city, the government defrayed the expenses of their removal
to the coast of Africa. Out of 460 who embarked, 84 died
on the voyage, from the over-crowded condition of the vessels,
and forty out of every hundred died within on,e year from the
time they left London. These emigrants founded the colony
of Sierra Leme, which colony was broken up by the natives
in 1790, but again collected in 1791. In 1792 the negroes
left by the British government at Nova Scotia, asked permis-
sion to be transported to the same colony. Their request, and
a free passage, was granted by the government. Soon after
sixteen vessels sailed from Nova Scotia with about 1,200
blacks. Although some success has attended this colony, yet
it can never flourish to any great extent so long as it is gov-
erned by the British bayonet. But the condition of these co-
lonists is far superior to that of the natives on that coast.

Africa, in her native state, is indeed “ full of the habitations
of cruelty.” Near the British colony of Sierra Leone, and
west of the American colony of Liberia, are the native tribes
of Ashantee and Dahomey, in both of which human sacrifices
are constantly occurring. According to their ideas, the fu-
ture world will be a counterpart of this ; will present the same
objects to the senses, the same enjoyments, and the same dis-
tinction of ranks in society. Upon this belief are founded
proceedings not only absurd, but of the most violent and atro-
cious description. A profusion of wealth is buried in the
grave of the deceased, who is supposed to carry it into the
other world : and human victims are sacrificed, often in whole
Hecatombs, under the delusion that they will attend as his
guards and ministers in the future mansion. This savage
superstition seems to have prevailed to a peculiar extent in
those great interior monarchies, which, in other respects, are
more civilized than the rest of Western Africa.

Says Mr. Bowditch, a British agent:—The Ashantees have
two annual customs, as they are called, in which the king, and
chief men, seek to propitiate the departed spirits of their an-
cestors by the sacrifice of a crowd of human victims. Fo-
reign slaves and criminals are selected in preference, but as
each seeks to multiply the number, unprotected persons cannotPREFACE.

VU

walk abroad without the hazard of being seized and immolated.
At the death of any of the royal family, victims must bleed in
thousands ; and the same is the case when the king seeks,
from the powers above, favorable omens respecting any great
projected undertaking. On the death of the king, a most
horrid scene of human slaughter takes place ; all the sacrifices
that had been made for the death of every subject during his
reign require to be repeated, to amplify that for the death of
the monarch, and to solemnize it in every excess of extra-
vagance and barbarity. The brothers, sons, and nephews of
the king, affecting temporary insanity, burst forth with their
muskets, and fire promiscuously among the crowd. Few per-
sons of rank dare stir from their houses for the first two or
three days, but drive forth their slaves as a compensation for
their own absence. The king’s household slaves are all mur-
dered on his tomb, to the number of a hundred or more, and
women in abundance. As the king is allowed three thousand
three hundred and thirty-three wives, and as the immolation
of the wife on the death of the husband is customary in Africa,
it is probable that many of the slaughtered women are the
wives of the king, dispatched to attend their deceased lord in
another world. The king of Ashantee, on the death of his
mother, says Mr, Bowditch, devoted three thousand victims
to water her grave, two thousand of whom were Fantee pri-
soners, and the rest levied in certain proportions on the several
towns.

That this is no fabled account of the cruel superstitions of
Ashantee, is evident from very recent testimony. As late as
1844, intelligence from Liberia, published in the African Re-
pository, states that at the death of the late king one thousand
human victims were sacrificed.

The kingdom of Dahomey is governed upon the same sys-
tem as Ashantee, and with all its deformities—which it carries
to a still more violent excess. The bloody customs take place
on a still greater scale ; and the bodies of the victims, instead of
being buried, are hung upon the walls, and allowed to putrefy.
Human skulls make the favorite ornament of the palaces
and temples, and the king has his sleeping apartment paved
with them.

This statement is confirmed by the testimony of the Rev.
J. L. Wilson, Missionary in Western Africa, in 1839, who
writes, that “ human sacrifices are still offered in great num-
bers, not only in Ashantee, but in all the petty principalities
of the surrounding country. The story that the king of Da-
homey has his yard paved with human skulls is no fableviii

PREFACE.

There are Europeans on the coast who have seen it, and can
bear witness to the truth of the statement.

Governor Abson, of Cape Coast Castle, visited the king of
Dahomey at a time when six slave ships were at Wydah
anxious to make purchases, and when, owing to the scarcity
of slaves, the prices had risen to nearly thirty pounds. But
such was the strength of superstition over avarice, that the
king refused to sell his prisoners to the slave traders, preferring
to put them to death for their skulls, in the contemplation of
which the people seemed to take a horrible delight. When
the governor inquired of the king, if his going to war was not
to obtain captives to sell to the slave traders, he replied, “ I
have killed many thousands without thinking of the slave
market, and shall kill many thousands more. Some heads I
place at my door, others I throw into the market-place, that
people may stumble over them. This gives a grandeur to my
customs ; this makes my enemies fear me ; and this pleases
my ancestors, to whom I send them. Dahomeans do not
make war to make slaves, but to make prisoners to kill at the
customs.”

The king of Dahomey used to hold a constant communica-
tion with his deceased father. Whenever he wished to an-
nounce to him any remarkable event, or to consult him on any
emergency, he would send for one of his ablest messengers, and
after delivering to him his errand, chop off his head. It some-
times happened, that after the head was off, he recollected
something else which he wished to say, in which case a second
messenger was dispatched, in like manner, with a postscript to
his former message. Gov. Abson was present on an occasion
of this kind. The poor fellow selected for the honor of bear-
ing his majesty’s message, aware of what was to happen, de-
clared he was unacquainted with the road, on which the tyrant,
drawing his sword, vociferated, “ I’ll show you the way,”
and with one blow severed his head from his body, highly in-
dignant that an European should have witnessed the least ex-
pression of reluctance in the performance of a duty which-is
considered a great honor.

A famous Goulah chief, in 1848, anxious for success in a
military campaign upon which he was setting out against the
Condoes, applied to a Mohammedan priest to know what he
should do to insure success. The priest inquired of him whe-
ther he was able to make the necessary sacrifice, to which he
replied that he could make any sacrifice that could be named.
The nefarious impostor then told him he must sacrifice his son !
and, taking his dead body upon his shoulders, his feet swungPREFACE.

ix

around his neck, and his head hung behind him, in this manner
advance before his troops to the contest, and victory would be
certain ! ! The directions were complied with. Calling his
eon into a house, he caught him, deliberately tied him, and
then, with his own parental hand, he cut his throat! Having
offered this sacrifice, he and his troops prepared to advance
toward the jurisdiction of their enemies ; then was this inhu-
man father seen with his dead son on his back, in th» manner
directed, without any display of parental affection or emotion,
save that aroused in his barbarous breast by the confident ex-
pectation of victory. Being successful in three successive
engagements, this horrible sacrifice will, no doubt, be hereafter
considered as the sure precursor of victory.

Such was African superstition in 1848, and such will it con-
tinue to be until Christianity dispels the gloom which overcasts
the native mind.

Slavery of the most revolting form, together with polygamy
and idolatry, exists among nearly all the native tribes.

Dr. Goheen, the very intelligent and successful physician
to the African Mission of the Methodist Episcopal Church of
the United States, after more than a year’s residence in Afri-
ca, thus writes :

“ Slavery in the United States, in its worst form, and un-
der the lash, is not as bad as slavery here in its mildest form.
It is a well known truth, that, in Western Africa, nine-tenths
of the whole population are in a state of slavery. The fe-
males are sold at an early age, to be, when they grow up,
wives, or beasts of burden, as their proprietors may require.
If the majority here were not slaves, how would they ever
get into the foreign slave dealers’ hands ? They are sent in
hundreds from the interior to the slave-factories, and sold.
They are not deprived of their liberty when they leave these
shores—they only change masters. Slaves they are, and as
such they have been to the most savage rulers, who inflict up-
on them the severest punishments, and feel fnee to kill, to eat,
or to throw them alive upon the funeral pile, at' pleasure.
Slavery in the United States, though an evil, cannot possibly
be as great a one as it is here. Here is the country where
slavery, with all its legitimate and concomitant horrors exists.”

The number of wives possessed by the king of Dahomey
equaled those of the king of Ashantee. The stoutest of
them, says Mr. Bowditch, were enrolled into a military regi-
ment, regularly trained to the use of arms, under a female
general and subordinate officers ; and, according to the testi-
mony of several Europeans, went through the exercise withX

PREFACE.

great precision; Governor Abson was present at Abomej
when the king marched against the Eyoes, on which occasion
he was attended by a body-guard of eight hundred women.

English papers, for May, 1849, brought us some details of
recent negotiations by an English agent, with the king of Da-
homey, from which we learn that the number of his armed
women is near six thousand at present. They constitute his
body-gu^rd, and never leave him, and are answerable for the
safety of his person.

Notwithstanding the degraded condition of the native Afri-
can at the present time, Africa was once the seat of civiliza-
tion. With the Africans, civilization, in its higher forms, origi-
nated ; to them may be traced the great events which led to
the social well-being of the civilized world—to the estab-
lishment of legislative, judicial, and fiscal departments of
government, and of the whole frame-work of political me-
chanism, necessary to give motion, steadiness, and permanence
to the social machine. While Carthage and Thebes are re-
membered ; while the monuments of Afric’s ancient grandeur
tower to heaven amidst her desert sands ; while her forgotten
arts stand chiseled in the eternal rocks; while her mum-
mies are pirated from her tombs to be displayed in the muse-
ums of Europe and America ; while the renown of her Pha-
raohs is proclaimed in Holy Writ; while the names of
Hannibal, Hanno, Jugurtha, Terence, Origen, Tertullian,
Augustine, and Cyprian, are prominent in history; while
Ethiopia looks out from behind the clouds of antiquity, beam-
ing with the splendors of civilization; the world must have
some reverence for that people.

To restore Africa to her ancient state of civilization, puri-
fied and refined by the true spirit of Christianity, giving to
her also the inestimable boon of a free government is the privi-
lege and duty of the American people.

Within the last thirty years much has been done in the ac-
complishment of this object. An Independent Republic has
sprung into existence on her Western coast through the aid of
American philanthropy. In this Republic every citizen is a
person of color, a descendant of the ancient African.

In the Declaration of Independence, published with the Con-
stitution of the Republic, the following language is adopted :—

“ We the representatives of the people of the Common-
wealth of Liberia, in Convention assembled, invested with
authority for forming a new government, relying upon the aid
and protection of the Great Arbiter of human events, do here-
by, in the name, and on the behalf of the people of this Com-PREFACE.

Xi

monwealth, publish and declare the said Commonwealth a

FREE, SOVEREIGN, AND INDEPENDENT STATE, by the name

and title of the Republic of Liberia.

“ While announcing to the nations of the world the new posi-
tion which the people of this Republic have felt themselves
called upon^to assume, courtesy to their opinion seems to de-
mand a brief accompanying statement of the causes which in-
duced them, first to expatriate themselves from the land of
their nativity and to form settlements on this barbarous coast,
and now to organize their government by the assumption of a
sovereign and independent character. Therefore we respect-
fully ask their attention to the following facts.

“ We, the people of the Republic of Liberia, were originally
inhabitants of the United States of North America.

“ From tiipe to time our number has been increased by mi-
gration from America, and by accessions from native tribes ;
and from time to time, as circumstances required it,- we have
extended our borders by acquisition of land by honorable pur-
chase from the natives of the country.

“ As our territory has extended, and our population increased,
our commerce has also increased. The flags of most of the
civilized nations of the earth float in our harbors, and their
merchants are opening with us an honorable and profitable
trade.

“ The people of the Republic of Liberia are of right, and in
fact, a free, sovereign and independent State ; possessed of all
the rights, powers, and functions of government.

“ In assuming the momentous responsibilities of the position
they have taken, the people of this Republic, feel justified by
the necessities of the case, and with this conviction they throw
themselves with confidence upon the candid consideration of
the civilized world.

“ In coming to the shores of Africa,we indulged the pleasing
hope that we would be permitted to exercise and improve
those faculties, which impart to man his dignity—to nourish
in our hearts the flame of honorable ambition, to cherish and
indulge those aspirations, which a beneficent Creator had im-
planted in every human heart, and to evince to all who de-
spise, ridicule and oppress our race, that we possess with them
a common nature, are with them susceptible of equal refine-
ment, and capable of equal advancement in all that adorns
and dignifies man.

u Among the strongest motives to leave our native land—to
abandon forever the scenes of our childhood, and to sever the
most endeared connections, was the desire for are treat, where,xii

PREFACE.

free from the agitations of fear and molestation, we could, in
composure and seourity approach in worship the God of our
fathers.

“ Thus far our highest hopes have been realized.

“ Liberia is already the happy home of thousands, who were
once the doomed victims of oppression, and she will throw
open a wider and yet a wider door for thousands who are now
looking with an anxious eye for some land of rest.

“ Our courts of justice are open equally to the stranger and
the citizen for the redress of grievances, for the remedy of in-
juries, and for the punishment of crime.

“ Our numerous and well attended schools attest our efforts,
and our desire for the improvement of our children.

“ Our churches for the worship of our Creator, everywhere
to he seen, bear testimony to our piety, and to pur acknow-
ledgment of His Providence.

“ The native African bowing down with us before the altar of
the living God, declares that from us, feeble as we are, the light
of Christianity has gone forth, while upon i that curse of
curses, the slave trade, a deadly blight has fallen as far as our
influence extends.

“ Therefore in the name of humanity and virtue and religion
—in the name of the Great God, our common Creator, and
our common Judge, we appeal to the nations of Christendom,
and earnestly and respectfully ask of them, that they will re-
gard us with the sympathy and friendly consideration, to
which the peculiarities of our condition entitle us, and to ex-
tend to us that comity which marks the friendly intercourse
of civilized and independent communities.”

The following Mag and Seal were adopted by the conven-
tion, as the insignia of the Republic of Liberia, and ordered
to be employed to mark its nationality.

Flag: six red stripes with five white stripes alternately dis-
played longitudinally. In tbe upper angle of the flag, next to
the spear, a square blue ground covering in depth five stripes.
In the center of the blue, one white star.

Seal:	A dove on the wing with an open scroll in its cla#s.

A view of the ocean with a ship under sail. The sun just
emerging from the waters. A palm tree, and at its base a plow
and spade. Beneath the emblems, the words “Republic of
Liberia,” and above the emblems, the national motto,
“The love of liberty brought us here.”

W. B. W.HISTORY

OF THE

NEGRO CONSPIRACY IN NEW YORK, IN 1741.

As A robbery committed at Mr. Hogg’s paved the way to
the discovery of tbe conspiracy, it may not be improper to in-
troduce the ensuing journal and narrative with an account of
that felony, as well as the many fires which alarmed the city,
close upon each other, within less than three weeks, till they
both came under the inquiry and examination of the grand
jury, at the Supreme Court. Indeed, there is such a close
connection between this felony and the conspiracy, that the
narrative of the robbery could not well be omitted, for the
inquiry concerning that was the means of drawing out the first
hint concerning the other; nay, this felony and others were ac-
tually ingredients of the conspiracy, as will appear by the sequel.

On Saturday night, the 28th February, 1741, a robbery was
committed at the house of Mr. Robert Hogg, in the city of
New York, merchant, from whence were taken pieces of linen
and other goods, and several silver coins, chiefly Spanish, and
medals, and wrought silver, &c., to the value, in the whole, of
sixty pounds and upwards.

The occasion of this robbery, as will appear more fully
hereafter, was one Wilson, a lad of about seventeen or eighteen
years of age, belonging to the Flamborough man-of-war, on
this station; having acquaintance with two white servants be-
longing to gentlemen who lodged at Mr. Hogg’s house, Wilson
used frequently to come thither on that pretence, which gained
him easy admittance; but Wilson had a more familiar ac-
quaintance with some negroes of very suspicious characters,
particularly Caesar, belonging to Mr. John Varack,' baker;
Prince, to Mr. John Auboyneau, merchant; and Cuffee, to
Adolph Philipse, Esq.

The Thursday before tbe robbery was committed, Wilson
came to Mr. Hogg’s shop with one of the sailors belonging to14

HISTORY OF THE NEGRO CONSPIRACY

the man-of-war, to buy some linen. Part of the money offered
in payment was of Spanish coin, and Mrs. Hogg opening her
bureau to change the money, pulled out a drawer in the view
of Wilson, wherein were a considerable quantity of milled
Spanish dollars. She soon reflected that she had done wrong
in exposing her money to an idle boy in that manner, who
came so frequently to her house, and immediately shut up the
bureau again, and made a pretence of sending the money out
to a neighbor’s to be weighed.

This boy told his comrades of the black guard, the before-
named Caesar, Prince and Cuffee, that they might have a fine
booty at Hogg’s house in Broad street.

The negroes catched at the proposal, and the scheme was
communicated by them to John Hughson, who kept a public
house by the North River, in this city, a place where numbers
of negroes used to resort and be entertained privately, in defi-
ance of the laws, at all hours, as appeared afterwards. Thither
they used to bring such goods as they stole from their masters
or others, and Hughson, his wife and family received them;
there they held a consultation with Hughson and his family
how they should act, in order to get hold of this booty.

The boy Wilson told them the situation of the house and
shop ; that the front was towards Broad street, and there was
a side door out of the shop, into an alley commonly called the
Jews alley, and if they could make an errand thither to buy
rum, they might get an opportunity to shove back the bolt of
the door facing the alley, for there was no lock to it, and then
they could come in the night, afterwards, and gain their ends.

At Hughson’s lodged'one Margaret Sorubiero, alias Saling-
burgh, alias Kerry, commonly called Peggy, or the Newfound-
land Irish beauty, a young woman about one or two and
twenty. She pretended to be married, but no husband ap-
peared. She was a person of infamous character, a notorious
associate with the lowest grade of whites, and also negroes.
She was here lodged and supported by Caesar, and took share
of the spoils and plunder, the effects of Caesar’s thefts, which
he brought to Hughson’s. She had lodged there the summer
before, and removed from thence to a house by the new bat-
tery, near one John Romme’s, a shoemaker, and was well ac-
quainted with him and his wife; thither also Caesar used fre-
quently’ to resort, with many other negroes; thither he also
conveyed stolen goods.

With Peggy, Caesar used frequently to sleep at Hughson’s,
with the knowledge and permission of the family; and Caesar
bargained with and paid Hughson for her board; she cameIN NEW YORK, IN 1741.

15

there to lodge a second time in the fall, not long before
Christmas, 1740, at charge of Caesar, as was supposed, and
had there not many days before the robbery at Hogg’s, a
babe largely partaking of a dark complexion.

Wilson coming to Mrs. Hogg’s on Sunday morning, she
complained to him that she had been robbed the night before,
that she had lost all the goods out of the shop, a great deal
of silver, Spanish coins, medals, and other silver things,
little suspecting that he had been the occasion of it, notwith-
standing what she apprehended upon pulling out the drawer of
money before him. Knowing he belonged to the man-of-war,
and that several of those sailors frequented idle houses in the
Jews alley, it happened that her suspicions inclined towards
them. She imagined he might be able to give her some intel-
ligence about it, and therefore described to him some things
that she had missed, viz., snuff-boxes, silver medals, one a
remarkable eight-square piece, &c. Wilson said, he had been
that morning at Hughson’s house, and there saw one John
Gwin, who pulled out of his pocket a worsted cap, full of
pieces of coined silver; and that Mr. Philipse’s Cuffee, who
was there, seeing John Gwin have this money, asked him to
give him some, and John Gwin counted him out half-a-
crown in pennies, and asked him if he would have any more ;
and then pulled out a handful of silver coin, amongst which,
Wilson said, he saw the eight-square piece described by Mrs.
Hogg.

Sunday, March 1.—This morning search was made for
John Gwin, at Hughson’s, supposing him to have been a
soldier of that name, a fellow of suspicious character, as Mrs.
Hogg conceived; and the officers making inquiry accordingly
for a soldier, they were answered, there was no such soldier in
that house ; but it happened that Caesar, the real person
wanted, was at the same time before their faces in the chimney
corner. The officers returned without suspecting him to be
the person meant, but the mistake being discovered by the
boy (Wilson), that the negro Caesar, before mentioned, went
by that name, Caesar was apprehended in the afternoon, and
being brought before Wilson, Wilson declared that Caesar was
the person he meant by John Gwin.

Caesar was committed to prison.

Monday, March 2.—Varack’s Caesar was examined by
the justices, and denied everything laid to his charge con-
cerning Hogg’s robbery, but was remanded.16

HISTORY OF THE NEGRO CONSPIRACY

Auboyneau’s Prince was this day also apprehended upon
account of the same felony. Upon examination he denied
knowing anything of it. He was also committed.

Upon information that Caesar had shown a great deal of
silver at Hughson’s, it was suspected that Hughson knew
something of the matter, and therefore search was made several
times at his house, yesterday and to-day, but none of the goods
or silver were discovered.

Hughson and his wife were sent for, and were present
while the negroes were examined by the justices, and were
also examined themselves, touching the things stolen, but no-
thing was discovered, and they were dismissed.

Tuesday, March 3.—Hughson’s house having been
searched several times over by Mr. Mills, the under-
sheriff, and several constables, in quest of Hogg’s goods,
without effect, it happened this evening, that Mary Burton,
an indented servant to John Hughson, who came to him about
midsummer, 1740, came to the house of James Kannady,
one of the searching constables, to get a pound of candles
for her master. Kannady’s wife knew the girl by sight, and
to whom she belonged. Living in the neighborhood near
them, and having heard of the robbery, and the several
searches at Hughson’s, she took upon herself to examine
Mary, “ whether she knev anything of those goods, and
admonished her to discover if she did, lest she herself should
be brought into trouble, and gave her motherly good advice,
and said if she knew anything of it, and would tell, she would
get her freed from her master.” Whereupon at parting,
the girl said, “ she could not tell her then, she would tell her
to-morrow; but that Mrs. K.’s husband was not cute enough,
for that he had trod upon them,” and so went away. This
alarmed Kannady and his wife, and the same evening Ann
Kannady went to Mr. Mills, the under-sheriff, and told him
what had passed between her and Mary Burton. “ Where-
upon Mills and his wife, Mr. Hogg and his wife, and seV'eral
constables, went with Ann Kannady and her husband, down
to Hughson’s house; and Ann Kannady desired the under-
sheriff to go in first, and bring Mary Burton out to her; but
he staying a long time, Ann Kannady went into Hughson’s
house, and found the under-sheriff and his wife, and Mary
Burton, in the parlor, and she then denied what she had
before said to Ann Kannady : then Ann Kannady charged her
with it; till at length, Mary Burton said she could not tell
them anything there, she wa-. afraid of her life, that theyIN NEW YORK, IN 1741.

17

would kill her. They then took the girl out of the house,
and when they had got a littlp way from thence, she put her
hand in her pocket, and pulled out a piece of silver money,
which she said was part of Hogg’s money, which the negro
had given her. They all went to Alderman Bancker’s with
her, and Ann Kannady informing the alderman, that she had
promised Mary Burton to get her freed from her master,
he directed that she should lodge that night with the under-
sheriff at the City Hall for safety; and she ivas left there
accordingly.” For Mary Burton declared also, before the
alderman, her apprehensions and fears, that she should be
murdered or poisoned by the Hughsons and the negroes, for
what she should discover.

The alderman sent for John Hughson, and examined him
closely, whether he knew anything of the matter; but he
denied that he did at first, until the alderman pressed him
very closely and admonished him (if it was in his power) to
discover those who had committed this piece of villainy; little
suspecting him to have been previously concerned, he was at
last prevailed with to acknowledge he knew where some of
the things were hid, and he went home, brought and de-
livered them.

Wednesday, March 4.—This day the mayor having sum-
moned the justices to meet at the City Hall, several aldermen
met him accordingly, and sent for Mary Burton and John
Hughson and his wife ; and Mary Burton, after examination,
made the following deposition before them.

“Mary Burton, of the city of New York, spinster, aged
about sixteen years, being sworn, deposed,

1.	“ That about two o’clock On Sunday morning last, a
negro man who goes by the name of John Gwin (or Quin)
came to the house of John Hughson, the deponent’s master,
and went in at the window where one Peggy lodges, where he
lay all night.

2.	“That in the morning she saw some specked linen, in
the said Peggy’s room; that the said negro then gave the
deponent two pieces of silver, and bid Peggy cut off an apron
of the linen and give to the deponent, which she did ac-
cordingly.

3.	“ That at the same time the said negro bought a pair of
white stockings from her master, for which he was to give six
shillings; that the said negro had two mugs of punch, for
which, and the s Lockings, he gave her master a lump of silver.

218

HISTORY OF THE NEGRO CONSPIRACY

4.	“ That her master and mistress saw the linen the same
morning.

5.	“ That soon after Mr. Mills came to inquire for one John
Quin, a soldier, who he said, had robbed Mr. Hogg of some
specked linen, silver, and other things.

6.	“ That after Mr. Mills was gone, her mistress hid the
linen in the garret; and soon after some officers came and
searched the house ; and when they were gone and found
nothing, her mistress took the linen from the place she had be-
fore hid it in, and hid it under the stairs.

7.	“ That the night before last, her master and mistress gave
the said linen to her mistress’s mother, who carried it away.

8.	“ That yesterday morning, one John Romme was at her
master’s house, and she heard him say to her master, If you
will be true to me, I will be true to you; and her master an-
swered, I will, and I will never betray you.

9.	“ That the said negro usually slept with the said Peggy,
which her master and mistress knew.”

Upon this occasion, it seems, Hughson and his wife, finding
that Mary Burton was inclined to discover this robbery,
thought proper to say something to hlacken her character, in
order to destroy her testimony, and declared, that she was a
vile, good-for-nothing girl, or words to that purpose; that she
had cohabited with her former master, the truth whereof,
however, was never made out. But at length Hughson
changed his language, and said she was a very good girl, and
had been a trusty servant to them: that in the hard weather
the last winter, she used to dress herself in man’s clothes, put
on boots, and go with him in his sleigh, in the deep snows
into the commons, to help him fetch firewood for his family.

The deputy town clerk, when Mary Burton was under ex-
amination, as he was taking her deposition, exhorted her to
speak the truth, and all she knew of the matter. She answered
him, that she hardly dared to speak, she was so much afraid
she should be murdered by them, or words to that purpose.
Whereupon the clerk moved the justices, that she might be
taken care of, not knowing that she had been removed from'her
master’s the night before, by order of a magistrate.

After Mary Burton, John Hughson and his wife, and Peggy,
were examined. Peggy denied everything, and spoke in favor
of Hughson and his wife. Peggy was committed, and John
Hughson confessed as followeth.

Examination.—1. John Hughson said, “ That on Monday
evening last, after Mr. Mills had been to search his house for
goods which hr. v been stolen from Mr. Hogg, one Peggy, whoIN NEW YORK, IN 1741.

19

lodged at his house, told him that John Quin had left some
checked linen and other thiDgs with her; that she delivered to
the examinant the said checked linen, which he delivered to
the mother-in-law Elizabeth Luckstead, with directions to hide
them: that soon after the said Peggy delivered him sundry
silver things in a little hag; which he carried into the cellar,
and put behind a barrel, and put a broad stone upon them,
where they remained till last night about ten or eleven o’clock,
when he delivered them to Alderman Johnson and Alderman
Bancker.

2.	“ That while the said silver things lay concealed in his
cellar, the constables came and searched his house for the said
stolen goods, but did not find them.

3.	“That this morning the said Peggy gave him a little
bundle with several silver pieces in it; which he soon after-
wards brought into court, and delivered it to the justices then
present.”

Hughson absolutely refused to sign the examination, after it
was read over to him ; and thereupon the deputy town clerk
asked him if it was not true as he had penned it; he answered,
yes, it was, but he thought there was no occasion for him to
sign it. He was admitted to bail, and his wife Sarah likewise;
and recognizances were entered into with two sureties each, for
their appearance in the Supreme Court on the first day of the
next term.

Caesar and Prince were likewise again examined, but would
confess nothing concerning the robbery; Caesar was remanded,
and Prince admitted to bail upon his master’s entering into re-
cognizance in ten pounds penalty, for his appearance at the
next Supreme Court.

But Caesar acknowledged, that what Mary Burton had de-
posed concerning him and Peggy, as to his sleeping with her,
was true.

Deposition.—John Yarack, of the city of New York, baker,
being duly sworn and examined, saith,

1.	“ That about two o’clock this afternoon, his negro hoy
told him, there were some things hid under the floor of his
kitchen; that thereupon he went to look, and found the linen
and plates, now shown him, which he took out, and carried to
the mayor.

2.	“ That his said kitchen adjoins to the yard of John Rom-
me, is a framed building, and the said linen and plates could
easily be put there from the said' Romme’s yard, but could not
be put there from his house, without taking up a board of the
floor.”20

HISTORY OF THE NEGRO CONSPIRACY

These were supposed to be part of the goods stolen from
Mr. Hogg, and carried to Rorame’s, by Caesar, alias John
Gwin.

Upon Yarack’s deposition, orders were given for the appre-
hending John Romme, but he absconded.

Wednesday, March 18.—About one o’clock this day a fire
broke out of the roof of his Majesty’s house at Fort George,
within this city, near the chapel; when the alarm of fire was
first given, it was observed from the town that the middle of
the roof was in a great smoke, but not a spark of fire appeared
on the outside for a considerable time ; and when it first broke
out it was on the east side, about twenty feet from the end
next the chapel, and in a short time afterwards it made its way
through the roof in several places, at a distance from the first
and from each other. Upon the chapel bell’s ringing, great
numbers of people, gentlemen and others, came to the assist-
ance of the Lieutenant Governor and his family, and most of
the household goods were removed out and saved. The fire
engines were in a little time brought; but the wind blowing a
violent gale at S. E., as soon as the fire appeared in different
places of the roof, it was judged impossible to save the house
and chapel, so that endeavors were used to save the secre-
tary’s office over the fort gate, where the records of the colony
were deposited, and also the barracks which stood on the side
of the quadrangle opposite to the house. Such diligence was
used in removing the records, books and papers, many of
which for dispatch were thrown out of the windows next the
town, that most of them were preserved; and though from
the violence of the wind the papers were blown about the streets
no very material writings were lost. But the fire had got
hold of the roof of the office soon after they began to remove
the records, and though the engines played some time upon it,
and afterwards upon the barracks, they were of little service,
the wind blowing very hard, and the flames of the house be-
ing so near them, all seemed to be at their mercy. An ajarm
being given that there was gun-powder in the fort, whether
through fear that there was, or whether the hint was given by
some of the conspirators themselves, to intimidate the people,
and frighten them from giving further assistance, we cannot
say ; though the Lieutenant Governor declared to everybody
that there was none there, yet they had not the courage to de-
pend upon his Honor’s assurance. However, it happened
most of them deserted it, until they found that many gentle-
men remained upon the spot; though, had they all stayed, itIN NEW YORK, IN 1741.

21

would have been to little purpose; for such was the violence
of the wind, and the flames spread so fast, that in about an
hour and a quarter’s time the house was burnt down to the
ground, and the chapel and other buildings beyond human
power of saving any material part of them. At length, the
fire got to the stables without the fort, and the wind blew fired
shingles upon the houses in the town next the JiTorth River, so
that there was the utmost danger of its spreading further,
which occasioned many families to remove their goods; but at
last it was stopped at the Governor’s stables, with very little
damage to the houses in the town.

While the records were being removed from the secretary’s
office, there fell a moderate shower of rain, which was of some
service. When the buildings were down to the ground floor,
some hand-grenade shells, which had lain so long as to be for-
gotten, took fire and went off, which few or none but the officers
of the fort could account for, nor would it have been worth while
to have attempted their removal, if they had been thought of,
for the buildings in the fort were at that time all given over
for lost. This served to confirm the people that there was
powder in the fort, and if they could have done any good, this
would probably have prevented them.

But though the floors of the several buildings soon tumbled
in, there were many pieces of timber which were laid in the
walls of the house, chapel steeple, and other buildings, which
continued burning almost all the night after. It was appre-
hended, as the fort stood upon an eminence, that the wind
might have blown some of the fire upon the houses in the
town, which for the most part have shingled roofs ; therefore,
care was taken to keep a watchful guard all the night, to pre-
vent further damage.

Mr. Cornelius Van Horne, a captain of one of the companies
of the militia, very providentially beat to arms in the evening,
and drew out his men with all expedition. He hack seventy
odd of them under arms all night, and parties of them contin-
ually going the rounds of the city until daylight. This inci-
dent, from what will appear hereafter, may be thought to have
been a very fortunate one, though at that time some 'people
reproached that gentleman for it.

The only way of accounting for this misfortune at this time
was that the Lieutenant Governor had ordered a plumber that
morning to mend a leak in the gutter between the house and
the chapel, which joined one another, and the man carrying
his fire-pot with coals to keep his soldering iron hot, to per-
form his work, and the wind setting into the gutter, it was22

HISTORY OF THE NEGRO CONSPIRACY

thought some sparks had been blown out upon the shingles of
the house. Some people having observed, that upon the first
alarm, near half the roof was covered with smoke, and that
no spark of fire appeared without, nor could any be seen but
within, concluded that the reason assigned was not likely to be
the right one, especially when it was considered that at length
the fire broke out in several places of the roof distant from
each other; but no one imagined it was done on purpose.

Friday, March 20.—Mr. Auboyneau’s Prince, who was
bailed out of prison, as before mentioned, was re-committed by
the mayor, and Alderman Bancker.

Wednesday, March 25.—A week after the fire at the fort,
another broke out between 11 and 12 o’clock, at the house be-
longing to Captain Warren, near the long bridge, at the south-
west end of the town; the roof was in flames, supposed at
that time to have been occasioned by the accidental firing of a
chimney; but when the matter came afterwards to be can-
vassed, it was not altogether clear of grounds of suspicion,
that it was done designedly; but the fire-engines were soon
brought, and they played so successfully, though the fire had
got to a considerable head on an old shingled roof, that by
their aid, and the assistance and activity of the people, it was
soon extinguished, without doing much damage to the house.

Wednesday, April 1.—Another week from the last, a fire
Droke out at the storehouse of Mr. Van Zant, towards the
east end of the town. It was an old wooden building, stored
with deal boards, and hay at one end of it. The fire was said
to be occasioned by a man’s smoking a pipe there, which set
fire to the hay; but it is said the fire was first discovered in
the northeast side of the roof, before it had taken the hay.
This house was near the river, and by the side of a slip out of
it, convenient for handing water to the engines. It was thought
morally impossible to hinder its spreading further, there being
many wooden buildings adjoining; but the people handed out
the boards into the slip, all in flames, played the engines, and
handed and threw the buckets of water, with such extraordi-
nary activity, and stopped the progress of the fire so successfully,
that it ended with little more damage than the entire consump-
tion of the warehouse and most of the goods in it.

Saturday, April 4.—This evening there was an alarm of
fire at the house of one Quick, or Vergereau (for they bothIN NEW YORE, IN 1741.

23

lived under one roof), in the Fly. Upon inquiry, the fire was
found to be in a cow-stable near the houses; the hay was on
fire in the middle of it; but by timely assistance it was sup-
pressed.

As the people were returning from Quick’s fire, that was
succeeded by a second cry of fire, at the house of one Ben
Thomas, next door to Captain Sarly, on the west side; this
was in the dusk of the evening. It began in the loft of the
kitchen, was discovered by the smoke before the fire had got
any head, and was soon extinguished. Upon examination, it
was found that the fire had been put between a straw and
another bed, laid together, whereon a negro slept, but who
did it, or how the fire happened at Quick’s, remained to be
accounted for.

Sunday, April 5.—A discovery was made in the morning
early, that some coals had been put under a haystack, standing
near the coach-house and stables of Joseph Murray, Esq., in
Broadway, and near some dwelling-houses, which had it taken
fire, would have been in great danger, but the coals went out
of themselves, as supposed, having only singed some part of
the hay. It was said there were coals and ashes traced along
from the fence to a neighboring house next adjoining the sta-
bles, which caused a suspicion of the negro that lived there.

The five several fires, viz. at the fort,.Captain Warren’s house,
Yan Zant’s store-house, Quick’s stable, and Ben Thomas’s
kitchen, having happened in so short a time succeeding each
other; and the attempt made of a sixth on Mr. Murray’s hay-
stack; it was natural for people of any reflection, to conclude
that the fire was set on purpose by a combination of villains,
and therefore occasioned great uneasiness. But upon this sup-
position nobody imagined there could be any further design,
than for some wicked wretches to have the opportunity of mak-
ing a prey of their neighbors’ goods, under pretence of assist-
ance in removing them for security from the danger of flames ;
for upon these late instances, many of the sufferers had com-
plained of great losses of their goods and furniture, which had
been removed from their houses upon these occasions.

This Sunday as three negroes were walking up Broadway
towards the English church, about service time, Mrs. Earle
looking out of her window, overheard one of them saying to
his companions, “ Fire, Fire, Scorch, Scorch, a little, damn
it, by-and-by,” and then threw up his hands and laughed.
The woman thought it very odd behavior at that time, consid-
ering what had so lately happened; and she immediately24

HISTORY OF THE NEGRO CONSPIRACY

spoke of it to her next neighbor Mrs. George, but said she did
not know any of the negroes.

About an hour after, when church was out, Mrs. Earle saw
the same negroes coming down Broadway again, and pointed
out to Mrs. George the person who had spoken the words, and
Mrs. George knew him, and said that it is Mr. Walter’s Quaco.

These words, and the airs and graces given them by Quaco
when he uttered them, were made known to a neighboring al-
derman, who informed the rest of the justices thereof at their
meeting the next day.

Monday, April 6.—About ten o’clock in the morning, there
was an alarm of a fire at the house of Serjeant Burns, oppo-
site Fort Garden. This, it was said, was only a chimney,
which, upon inquiry, the man declared, had been swept the
Friday before, but from the great smother in the house, and
some other circumstances, there were grounds to suspect a
villainous design in it.

Towards noon a fire broke out in the roof of Mrs. Hilton’s
house, at the corner of the buildings next the Fly Market, ad-
joining on the east side of Captain Sarly’s house. It first
broke out on that side next Sarly’s, but being timely discover-
ed, was soon prevented doing much mischief, more than burn-
ing part of the shingles of the roof. Upon view, it was plain
that the fife must have been purposely laid on the wall-plate
adjoining to the shingle roof; for a hole had been burnt deep
in it, next that part of the roof where the fire had taken hold
of the shingles; and it was suspected that the fire had been
wrapped up in a bundle of tow, for some was found near the
place. Thus the fact was plain, but who did it, was a ques-
tion remaining to be determined. But there was a cry among
the people, the Spanish negroes; the Spanish negroes; take
up the Spanish negroes. The occasion of this was the two
fires happening so closely together, on each side of Captain
Sarly’s house ; and it being known that Sarly had purchased
a Spanish negro, some time before brought into this port,
among several others, in a prize taken by Captain Lush; all
which negroes were condemned as slaves, in the court of Ad-
miralty, and sold at vendue; they afterwards pretending to
have been free men in their own country, and began to grum-
ble at their hard usage, in being sold as slaves. This probably
gave rise to the suspicion, that this negro, out of revenge, had
been the instrument of these two fires ; and he behaving him-
self insolently upon some people’s asking him questions con-
cerning them, which signified their distrust, it was told to aIN NEW TORE, IN 1741.

25

magistrate who was near, and he ordered him to jail, and
also gave direction to the constables to commit all the rest of
that cargo, in order for their safe custody and examination.

In the afternoon the magistrates met at the City Hall, with
intent to examine them; and while the justices were proceed-
ing to the examination, about four o’clock, there was another
alarm of fire. Upon inquiry, it was found to be at Col.
Philipse’s storehouse. Upon the first view of it, there was a
small streak of fire running up the shingles, from near the
bottom to the top of the roof, on the side directly against the
wind as it then blew. Not being far from the engines, they
were instantly brought to the place; and the fire soon extin-
guished. This was the middle of three large storehouses next
each other in a row, old timber buildings, and the shingles
burnt like tinder. These storehouses were not inhabited, nor
had they a chimney in them, but were at a great distance from
any. The fire, upon examination, must have begun inside;
for between the side of those storehouses and the houses near-
est them, opposite to the wind, there was a large space of
garden ground ; so that no spark from these chimneys could
have occasioned this mischief, had the wind blown the con-
trary way; but to discover by whom the fire was set, was the
difficulty.	t

While the people were extinguishing the fire at this store-
house, and had almost mastered it, there was another cry of
fire, which diverted the people attending the storehouse, to the
new alarm, very few remaining behind ; but a man who hs-.d
been on the top of the house, assisting in extinguishing the fire,
saw a negro leap out at the end window of one of them, from
thence making over several garden fences in great haste ;
which occasioned him to cry out, a negro ; a negro ; and that
was soon changed to an alarm, that the negroes were rising.
The negro made very good speed home to his master’s. He
was generally known, and the swiftness of his flight occasioned
his being remarked, though scarce any knew the reason, but a
few which remained at the storehouse, why the word was
given, a negro, a negro ; it was immediately changed into Cuff
Philipse, Cuff Philipse. The people ran to Mr. Philipse’s
house in quest of him; he was found, and was dragged out
of the house, and carried to jail, borne upon the people’s
shoulders. His master being a single man, pud little at homo,
Cuff had a great deal of idle time, which, it seems, he em-
ployed to very ill purposes, and had acquired a general bad
name.

Many people had such terrible apprehensions upon this26

HISTORY OP THE NEGRO CONSPIRACY

occasion, that several negroes who were met in the streets,
after the alarm of their rising, were hurried away to jail; and
when they were there, they were continued some time in con-
finement, before the magistrates could spare time to examine
into their several cases.

There was another fire this day, though it has by some been
supposed to have been an accident. The cellar of a baker
near Coenties market, was all of a smother, and the chips in a
blaze, but was soon suppressed. This also occasioned some
alarm. •

Walter’s Quaco was sent for and committed. He remained
in confinement some days without examination, from the hurry
the magistrates were in. At length, Mrs. Earle and Mrs.
George being sent for by the justices, declared concerning him
to the effect before mentioned, and Quaco being brought be-
fore them, and examined, admitted he had spoken the words
charged; but it being soon after we had the news of Admiral
Vernon’s taking Porto Bello, he had contrived a cunning ex-
cuse, or some abler heads for him, to account for the occasion
of them, and brought two of» his own complexion to give their
words for it also, that they were talking of Admiral Vernon’s
taking Porto Bello; and that he thereupon signified to his
companions, that he thought that was but a small feat to what
his brave officer would do by-and-by, to annoy the Spaniards,
so Quaco was discharged from his confinement for some time.

Others considering that it was but eighteen days after the
fort was laid in ashes, that these words were uttered; and that
several other fires had intervened, as before related, and but
the next day after Quick’s stable and Ben Thomas’s house were
on fire ; and the attempt upon Mr. Murray’s haystack dis-
covered that very morning; they were apt to put a different
construction upon Quaco’s words and behavior; they con-
sidered that he meant thereby, “ that the fires which we had
seen already, were nothing to what we should have by-and-by,
for that then we should have all the city in flames, and he
should rejoice at itfor it was said he lifted up his hands,
and spread them with a circular sweep over his head, after he
had pronounced the words [by-and-by] and then concluded
with a loud laugh. Whether these figures are thus more pro-
perly applied, the reader will hereafter be better able to
judge; but the construction of them at that time confirmed
many in the idea of a conspiracy.

His Honor the Lieutenant Governor was pleased to order
a military watch to be kept this evening, and the same was
continued all the summer after.IN NEW YORK, IN 1741.

27

Wednesday, April 8.—John Hughson and Sarah his wife
were committed to jail by the mayor and three aldermen, being
charged as accessories to divers felonies and misdemeanors.

Saturday, April 11.—The common council of the city of
New York: present—

John Cruger, Esq., Mayor,

The Recorder,

Gerardus Stuyvesant,
William Romme,
Simon Johnston,

John Moore,

Henry Bogert,

Isaac Stoutenbergh,
Philip Minthorne,

Christopher Bancker,

John Pintard,

John Marshall,

Esquires, Aldermen;

George Brinkerlioff,

Robert Benson, and
Samuel Lawrence, Assistants.

The recorder taking notice of the several fires which had
lately happened in this city, and the manner of them, which
had put the inhabitants into the utmost consternation, said
that every one that reflected on the circumstances attending
them, the frequency of them, and the causes being yet undis-
covered, must necessarily conclude that they were occasion-
ed and set on foot by some villainous confederacy of latent
enemies amongst us, but with what intent and purpose time
must discover; that it could not be doubted, but the lieu-
ten am governor and his majesty’s council had taken the
alarm at this time of danger, and were watchful, and anx-
ious for the safety of the city ; and though they were of opin-
ion that it was, highly proper and necessary that a proclama-
tion should be issued by the government, promising proper
rewards to such person or persons as should make such dis-
covery of the incendiaries, their confederates and accomplices,
as tha they should be convicted thereof; yet it was well
known that the governor and council had not the liberty of
drawing upon the colony treasury for any sum of money what-
soever’, upon any emergency—and it could not be reasonably
expected the governor should subject himself to pay such
rewards out of his own pocket, for the use and necessities of
the public ; that as the safety of the city so immediately con-
cerned, seemed absolutely to require such a measure to be
taken,'so the public, who were also interested in the preserva-
tion of it, would reap the benefit in common with them, by the
corporation’s laudable resolution, should they determine to en-
gage to pay proper rewards, and request the governor to issue a28

HISTORY OP THE NEGRO CONSPIRACY

proclamation agreeable thereto; which, he was persuaded, the
governor was well inclined to do, and the gentlemen of the coun-
cil to advise thereto—he therefore moved, “that the board
should come to a resolution to pay such rewards as should by
them be thought a proper and sufficient temptation to induce
any party or parties concerned to make such discovery.”

Upon consideration thereof it was ordered, “ That this board
request his honor the lieutenant-governor to issue a proclama-
tion, offering a reward to any white person that should dis-
cover any person or persons lately concerned in setting fire to
any dwelling-house or store-house in this city (so that such
person or persons be convicted thereof), the sum of one hun-
dred pounds, current money of this province; and that such
person shall be pardoned if concerned therein. And any
slave that should make discovery, to be manumitted, or made
free, and the master of such slave to receive twenty-five
pounds therefor; and the slave to receive, besides his free-
dom, the sum of twenty pounds, and to be pardoned; and if a
free negro, mulatto, or Indian, to receive forty-five pounds,
and also to be pardoned if concerned therein. And that this
board will issue their warrant to the chamberlain, or treasurer
of this corporation for the payment of such sum as any person,
by virtue of such proclamation, shall be entitled unto. And that
the mayor and recorder wait on his honor the lieute&nt-
governor, and acquaint him with the resolution of this bj^rd.”
The mayor and recorder waited on his honor accoidingly,
and a copy of the order was also delivered to him.

Many persons in the neighborhood of the several fires before
mentioned, thought it necessary to remove their household
goods for safety, and in their consternation, suffered anybody
who offered their assistance to take them away. There were
great complaints of losses on those occasions, which the magis-
trates took this day into their consideration, it being suspected
that there were some strangers lurking about the city, who
had been the instruments and occasion of these fires, tiiat by
those means they might have opportunities of pilfering and
plundering. A scheme was proposed that there should be a
general search of all houses throughout the town, wher ffiy it
was thought probable discoveries might be made, not only of
stolen goods, but likewise of lodgers, that were strangers, and
suspicious persons. The proposal was approved of, and each
alderman and his common councilman, with constables atl& d-
ing them, undertook to search his respective ward on the south
side of the fresh water pond, and the Monday following was
the day fixed upon for making the experiment.IN NEW YORK, IN 1741.

29

The scheme was communicated to the governor, and his
honor thought fit to order the militia out that day in aid of the
magistrates, who were to be dispersed through the city, and
sentries of them posted at the ends of the streets to guard all
avenues, with orders to stop all suspected persons that should
be observed carrying bags or bundles, or removing goods from
house to house, in order for their examination, and all this was
to be kept very secret till the project was put in execution.

Monday, April 13.—Pursuant to the scheme concerted on
Saturday last, the general search was made, but there were
not any goods discovered which were said to have been lost,
nor was there any strange lodger or suspicious person detected.
But some things were found in the custody of Robin, Mr.
Chamber’s negro, and Cuba his wife, which the alderman
thought improper for, and unbecoming the condition of slaves,
which made him suspect they were not obtained honestly, and
therefore ordered the constable to take them in possession, to
be reserved for further inquiry, and these two negroes were
pommitted.

Friday, April 17.—The lieutenant-governor, by and with
the advice of his majesty’s council, issued a proclamation,
therein reciting the before-mentioned order and resolution of
the common council, promising the rewards agreeable thereto.

In the meanwhile, between the sixth and seventeenth instant,
a great deal of time had been spent by the magistrates in the
examination of the negroes in custody, upon account of these
fires.

Philipse’s Cuff was closely interrogated, but he absolutely
denied knowing anything of the matter. He said he had been
at home all that afternoon, from the time he returned from
Hilton’s fire, where he had been to assist and carry buckets.
That he was at home when the bell rung for the fire at Col.
Philipse’s storehouse. It appeared, upon inquiry and exami-
nation of witnesses, that he, according to his master’s orders,
had been sawing wood that afternoon with a white boy, and
that when his master came home from dinner, he took him off
from that work, and set him to sew on a vane upon a board
for his sloop. The white boy testified, “ that he stood by
him to see him sew it, and that he left him but a little before
the bell rung for the fire.” And when the alarm of the fire
was given, and it was supposed to be at his master’s store-
house, Cuff was asked whether he would go out with the buck-
ets, and he answered, that he had enough of being out in tbe30

HISTORY OF THE NEGRO CONSPIRACY IN 1741

morning. Some of the neighbors also declared that they had
seen him looking over his master’s door but a little time before
the bell rung; but an old man who had known Cuff for seve-
ral years, deposed, that he had seen him at the fire at the
storehouse, and that he stood next to him. There seemed to
be some objection against the man’s evidence; it was thought
he might be mistaken, being very near-sighted. Upon exami-
nation, it was found he could distinguish colors, and he de-
scribed the clothes he had on, and moreover declared, he
spoke to him, and asked him why he did not hand the buck-
ets, and that he answered him, and did hand water, and that
he knew his voice.

There was very strong proof that he was the negro that
leaped out of the window of one of the storehouses as the fire
was extinguished, and most of the people drawn away upon
the new alarm of fire ; that he was seen to leap over several
garden fences, and to run home in great haste.

Upon the whole, it was thought proper Cuff should remain
in confinement, to await further discovery.PROCEEDINGS AGAINST THE CONSPIRATORS!

AT

NEW YORK, IN 1741.

At a Supreme Court of Judicature held in and for the
province of New York, at the City Hall of the City of New
York, on Tuesday, April 21, 1741—Present, Frederick
Philipse, Esq., second justice; Daniel Horsmanden, Esq., third
justice.

The grand jury were called. The following persons ap-
peared, and were sworn—viz.:

Mr. Robert Watts, merchant, foreman ; Messrs.

Jeremiah Latouche,
Anthony Rutgers,
John Cruger, jun.,
Adoniah Schuyler,
Abraham Keteltass,
Rene Hett,

David Yan Horne,
Thomas Duncan,

Joseph Read,

John M‘Evers,

John Merritt,

Isaac De Peyster,

David Provoost,

Henry Beekman, jun.,
George Spencer,

Winant Van Zant, merchants.

Mr. Justice Philipse gave the charge to the grand jury, as
folio weth.

“ Gentlemen of the Grand Jury :—It is not without
some concern, that I am obliged at this time to be more
particular in your charge, than for many preceding terms.
The many frights and terrors which the good people of
this city have of late been put into, by repeated and un-
usual fires, and burning of houses, give us too much room
to suspect, that some of them at least, did not proceed from
mere chance, or common accidents; but on the contrary,
from the premeditated malice and wicked purposes of evil and
designing persons; and therefore, it greatly behooves us to
use our utmost diligence, by all lawful ways and means, to
discover the contrivers and perpetrators of such daring and
flagitious undertaking; that, upon conviction, they may receive32

PROCEEDINGS AGAINST THE

consign punishment; for although we have the happiness of
living under a government which exceeds all others in the
excellency of its constitution and laws, yet if those to whom
the execution of them (which my Lord Coke calls the life and
soul of the law) is committed, do not exert themselves in a
conscientious discharge of their respective duties, such laws,
which were intended for a terror to the evil-doer, and a protec-
tion to the good, will become a dead letter, and our most ex-
cellent constitution turned into anarchy and confusion—every
one practicing what he listeth, and doing what shall seem
good in his own eyes—to prevent which, it is the duty of all
grand juries to inquire into the conduct and behavior of the
people in their respective counties; and if, upon examination,
they find any to have transgressed the laws of the land, to
prevent them, that they may by the court be put upon their
trial, and then either be discharged or punished according to
their demerits.

“ I am told there are several prisoners now in jail, who
have been committed by the city magistrates, upon suspicion
of having been concerned in some of the late fires ; and others,
who under the pretence of assisting the unhappy sufferers, by
saving their goods from the flames, for stealing, or receiving
them. This, indeed, is adding affliction to the afflicted, and is
a very great aggravation of such crime, and therefore deserves a
narrow inquiry—that the exemplary punishment of the guilty
(if any such should be so found) may deter others from com-
mitting the like villainies—for this kind of stealing, I think, has
not been often practiced among us.

<£ Gentlemen,—Arson, or the malicious and voluntary burn-
ing, not only a mansion-house, but also any other house, and
the outbuildings, or barns, and stables adjoining thereto, by
night or by day, is felony at common law, and if any part of
the house be burned, the offender is guilty of felony, notwith-
standing the fire afterwards be put out, or go out of itself.

“ This crime is of so shocking a nature, that if we have any
in this city, who, having been guilty thereof, should escape,
who can say he is safe, or tell where it will end ?

“ Gentlemen,—Another thing which I cannot omit recom-
mending to your serious and diligent inquiry is, to find out
and present all such persons who sell rum, and other strong
liquor to negroes. It must be obvious to every one that there
are too many of them in this city, who, under pretence of
selling what they call a penny dram to a negro, will sell to
him as many quarts or gallons of rum^ as he can steal money
or goods to pay for.CONSPIRATORS AT NEW YORK IN 1741.

33

“ How this notion of its being lawful to sell a penny dram,
or a pennyworth of rum to a slave, without the consent or di-
rection of his master, has prevailed, I know not; but this I am
sure of, that there is not only no such law, but that the doing
of it is directly contrary to an act of Assembly now in force,
for the better regulating of slaves. The many fatal consequen-
ces flowing from this prevailing and wicked practice, are so no-
torious, and so nearly concern us all, that one would be almost
surprised to think there should be a necessity for a court to
recommend a suppressing of such pernicious houses. Thus
much in particular; now in general.

“ My charge, gentlemen, further is, to present all conspira-
cies, combinations, and other offences, from treasons down to
trespasses; and in your inquiries, the oath you and each of you
have just now taken will, I am persuaded, be your guide, and
I pray God to direct and assist you in the discharge of your
duty.”

Court adjourned till ten o’clock to-morrow morning.

SUPREME COURT.

Wednesday, April 22.—Present, Mr. Justice Philipse.
The Court opened, and adjourned until ten o’clock to-morrow
morning.

The grand jury having been informed that Mary Burton
could give them some account concerning the goods stolen
from Mr. Hogg’s, sent for her this morning, and ordered that
she should be sworn; the constable returned and acquainted
them that she said she would not be sworn nor give evidence ;
whereupon they ordered the constable to get a warrant from
a magistrate, to bring her before them. The constable was
gone some time, but at length returned, and brought her with
him; and being asked why she would not be sworn and give
her evidence, she told the grand jury she would not be sworn,
and seemed to be under some great uneasiness, or terrible ap-
prehensions; which gave suspicion that she knew something
concerning the fires that had lately happened ; and being asked
a question to that purpose, she gave no answer; which increased
the suspicion that she was privy to them; and as it was thought
a matter of the utmost concern, the grand jury were very impor-
tunate, and used many arguments with her, in public and pri-
vate, to persuade her to speak the truth, and tell all she knew
about it. To this end, the lieutenant-governor’s proclamation
was read to her, promising indemnity, and the reward of one
hundred pounds to any person, confederate or not, who should

s'34

PROCEEDINGS AGAINST THE

make discovery. She seemed to despise it, nor could the
grand jury, by any threats or promises, prevail upon her,
though they assured her withal that she should have the pro-
tection of the magistrates, and her person be safe and secure
from harm; but hitherto all was in vain: therefore, the grand
jury desired Alderman Bancker to commit her, and the consta-
ble was charged with her accordingly, but before he had got
her to jail, she considered better of it, and resolved to be
sworn and give her evidence in the afternoon.

Accordingly, she being sworn, came before the grand jury;
but as they were proceeding to her examination, and before
they asked her any questions, she told them she would ac-
quaint them with what she knew relating to the goods stolen
from Mr. Hogg’s, but would say nothing about the fires.

This expression, thus as it were providentially slipping from
the witness, much alarmed the grand jury; for, as they natu-
rally concluded, it did by construction amount to an affirma-
tive that she could give an account of the occasion of the sev-
eral fires; and therefore, as it highly became those gentlemen
in the discharge of their trust, they determined to use their
utmost diligence to sift out the discovery, but still she remained
inflexible, till at length, having recourse to religious topics,
representing to her the heinousness of the crime which she
would be guilty of, if she was privy to, and could discover so
wicked a design as the firing houses about our ears; whereby
not only people’s estates would be destroyed, but many per-
sons might lose their lives in the flames : this she would have
to answer for at the day of judgment as much as any person
immediately concerned, because she might have prevented this
destruction and would not; so that a most damnable sin would
lie at her door ; and what need she fear from her divulging it;
she was sure of the protection of the magistrates; which argu-
ments at last prevailed, and she gave the following evidence,
which, however, notwithstanding what had been said, came
from her, as if still under some terrible apprehensions or re-
straints.

Deposition, No. 1.—Mary Burton, being sworn, deposeth,

1.	“ That Prince and Caesar brought the things of which
they had robbed Mr. Hogg, to her master, John Hughson’s
house, and they were handed in through the window, Hughson,
his wife, and Peggy receiving them, about two or three o’clock
on a Sunday morning.

2.	“That Caesar,Prince, and Mr. Philipse’s negro man (Cuffee)
used to meet frequently at her master’s house, and that she had
heard them (the negroes) talk frequently of burning the fort;CONSPIRATORS AT NEW YORK IN 1741.

35

and that they would go down to the Fly at the east end of the
city, and burn the whole town ; and that her master and mis-
tress said, they would aid and assist them as much as they
could.

3.	“That in their common conversation they used to say,
that when all this was done, Caesar should be governor, and
Hughson, her master, should be king.

4.	“ That Cuffee used to say, that a great many people had
too much, and others too little ; that his old master had a great
deal of money, but that, in a short time, he should have less,
and that he (Cuffee) should have more.

5.	“ That at the same time when the things of which Mr.
Hogg was robbed, were brought to her master’s house, they
brought some indigo and beeswax, which was likewise received
by her master and mistress.

6.	“ That at the meetings of the three aforesaid negroes,
Csesar, Prince and Cuffee, at her master’s house, they used
to say, in their conversation, that when they set fire to the town,
they would do it in the night, and as the white people came to
extinguish it, they would kill and destroy them.

7.	“ That she has known at times, seven or eight guns in her
master’s house, and some swords, and that she has seen twenty
or thirty negroes at one time in her master’s house ; and that
at such large meetings, the three aforesaid negroes, Cuffee,
Prince and Csesar were generally present, and most active, and
that they used to say, that the other negroes durst not refuse
to do what they commanded them, and they were sure that
they had a number sufficient to stand by them.

8.	“ That Hughson (her master) and her mistress used to
threaten, that if she, the deponent, ever.made mention of the
goods stolen from Mr. Hogg, they would, poison her; and the
negroes swore, if ever she published or discovered the design
of burning the town, they would burn her whenever they met
her.

9.	“ That she never saw any white person in company when
they talked of burning the town, but her master, her mistress,
ana Peggy.”

This evidence of a conspiracy, not only to burn the city, but
also to destroy and murder the people, was most astonishing to
the grand jury, and that any white people should become so
abandoned as to confederate with slaves in such an execrable
and detestable purpose, could not but be very amazing to every
one that heard it; but that the several fires had been occasioned
by some combination of villains, was, at the time of them, natu-36

PROCEEDINGS AGAINST THE

rally to be collected from the manner and circumstances attend-
ing them.

The grand jury, therefore, as it was a matter of the utmost
consequence, thought it necessary to inform the judges con-
cerning it, in order that the most effectual measures might be
concerted, for discovering the confederates; and the judges
were acquainted with it accordingly.

SUPREME COURT.

Thursday, April 23.—Present, Mr. Justice Philipse, and
Mr. Justice Horsmanden.

The grand jury came into court and were called over.

The foreman desiring that Margaret Sorubiero, alias Kerry,
a prisoner might be brought before them, Ordered, that the
sheriff do carry the said Margaret Sorubiero, alias Kerry, be-
fore the grand jury, and see her safe returned again.

The court adjourned until ten o’clock to-morrow morning.

This morning the judges summoned all the gentlemen of the
law in town, to meet them in the afternoon, in order to consult
with them, and determine upon such measures as on the result
of their deliberations should be judged most proper to be taken
upon this emergency; and Mr. Murray, Mr. Alexander, Mr.
Smith, Mr. Chambers, Mr. Nicholls, Mr. Lodge, and Mr. Ja-
mison, met them accordingly; the attorney general being indis-
posed, could not attend.

It was considered, that though there was an act of the pro-
vince for trying negroes, as in other colonies, for all manner
of offences by the justices, in a summary way; yet as this
was a scheme of villainy in which white people were confeder-
ated with them, and most probably were the first movers and
seducers of the slaves; from the nature of such a conjunction,
there was reason to apprehend there was a conspiracy of deeper
design and more dangerous contrivance than the slaves them-
selves were capable of; it was thought a matter that required
great secrecy, as well as the utmost diligence, in the conduct
of the inquiry concerning it: and upon the whole, it was judged
most advisable, as there was an absolute necessity that a mat-
ter of this nature and consequence should be fathomed as soon
as possible, that it should be taken under the care of the su-
preme court; and for that purpose, that application should be
made to his honor the lieutenant-governor, for an ordinance
to enlarge the term for the sitting of that court, which in the
ordinary method would terminate on the Tuesday following.

The genthmen of the law generously and unanimously offer-CONSPIRATORS AT NEW YORK IN 1741.

37

ed to give their assistance on every trial in their turns, as this
was conceived to be a matter that not only affected the city,
but the whole province.

Margaret Kerry, commonly called Peggy, committed for
Hogg’s robbery, being impeached by Mary Burton, as one of
the conspirators, the judges examined her in prison in the even-
ing ; they exhorted her to make a full confession and discovery
of what she knew of it, and gave her hopes of their recom-
mendation to the governor for a pardon, if they could be of
opinion that she deserved it, assuring her (as the case was) that
they had his honor’s permission to give hopes of mercy to
such criminals as should confess their guilt, and they should
think proper to recommend to him as fit and proper objects ;
but she withstood it, and positively denied that she knew any-
thing of the matter; and said, that if she should accuse any
body of any such thing, she must accuse innocent persons, and
wrong her own soul. She had this day been examined by
the grand jury, and positively denied knowing anything about
the fires.

SUPREME COURT.

Friday, April 24.—Present, Mr. Justice Philipse, and
Mr. Justice Horsmanden.	*

The King against Caesar and Prince, negroes.

The grand jury having found two bills of indictment for
felonies, against the prisoners; Mr. Attorney General moved,
that they be brought to the bar, in order to be arraigned.

It was ordered, and they being brought, were arraigned ac-
cordingly, and severally pleaded not guilty.

The King against John Hughson, Sarah, his wife, Margaret
Sorubiero, alias Kerry.

The grand jury having found a bill of indictment for felony,
against the defendants in custody, Mr. Attorney General
moved, that they be brought to the bar in order to be ar-
raigned.

It was ordered, and the prisoners being brought, were ar-
raigned accordingly, and severally pleaded not guilty.

Ordered, that the trials of the two negroes, the Hughsons,
and Kerry, come on to-morrow morning.

Court adjourned till nine o’clock to-morrow morning.

SUPREME COURT.

Saturday, April 25.—Present, Mr. Justice Philipse.38

PROCEEDINGS AGAINST THE

The King against Caesar and Prince, negroes.

The King against John Hughson, Sarah, his wife, Margaret
Kerry.

Ordered, that the prisoners’ trials be put off till Tuesday, the
28th instant.

Court adjourned till nine o’clock Monday morning.

SUPREME COURT.

Monday, April 27.—Present, Mr. Justice Philipse.

His majesty’s ordinance published in court for enlarging the
present term to the last Tuesday in May next.

Court adjourned till ten o’clock to-morrow morning.

SUPREME COURT.

Tuesday, April 28.—Present, Mr. Justice Philipse, Mr.
Justice Horsmanden.

The King against Caesar and Prince, negroes.

The King against John Hughson, Sarah, his wife, Margaret
Kerry. ■

Upon motion of Mr. Attorney General, ordered that the
trials of the prisoners in both causes be put off till the first day
of May.	*•

Court adjourned till Friday, 1st May, at ten o’clock in the
morning.

The-following letter, dated this day at New York, was some
time afterwards intercepted in New Jersey, aftird sent up from a
magistrate there to another here.

The original in Dutch followeth, so much of it as is material
to the present purpose.

“Nieu York den 21 April 1741.

“ Beminde Man Johannis Romme
“ Dit is om U bekent te maken dat ik U brief ontfangen heb
by de brenger van deze en daer nyt verstaen dat gey van sins
ben om weer na huis te komen myn beminde ik versoek van U
dat gy het best van U wegh maekt om varder te gaen en niet
in Niu Yorck te komen en om U self niet bekent te maken waer
gey ben voor John Husen die is van dese dagh zyn tryell te
hebben enook zyn vrou en de mydt is king evidens tegen baye
gar en zy het U naemook in kwetze gebrocht en ik ben bang
det John Husen en zyn vrou gehangen sail worden by wat ik
kan horen en de schout en bombeles soeken voor U over all want
Fark neger die houdt zyn woort standen voor jou Brother LucasCONSPIRATORS AT NEW YORK IN 1741.

39

is voor een jeure man gekosen en die hoort hoe het is So niet
maer maer bly vende U eerwarde vrou Elezabet Romme tot ter
doet toe.”

Thus translated:

“ Beloved Husband John Romme,

“ This is to acquaint you that I have received your letter by
the bearer hereof and understand out of it that you intend to
return home again my dear I desire of you that you make the
best of your way to go further and not to come in New York and
not to make yourself known where you are for John Hughson
is this day to have his tryal as also his wife and the servant
maid is king evidence against both and she has brought your
name likewise in question and I am afraid that John Hughson
and his wife will be hanged by what I can hear and the sheriff
and bombailiffs seek for you every where Varack’s negro
he keeps his word stedfast for you Brother Lucas is chosen
one of the jurymen and he hears how it is So no more but
remaining your respectful wife Elezabet Romme even till
death.”

Superscribed, for Mr. John Romme Q D G-
SUPREME COURT.

Friday, May 1.—Present Mr. Justice Philipse, and Mr.
Justice Horsmanden.

The King against Csesar and Prince, negroes. On trial.

The jury called, and the prisoners making no challenge, the
following persons were sworn, viz.:

Roger French,	Patrick Jackson,

John Groesbeek,	Benjamin Moore,

John Richard,	William Hamersley,

Abraham Kipp,	John Lashier,

George Witts,	Joshua Sleydall,

John Thurman,	John Shurmur.

These two negroes were arraigned on two indictments, the
twenty-fourth of April last: the one for their entering the
dwelling house of Robert Hogg, of this city, merchant, on the
first day of March then last past, with intent then and there to
commit some felony ; and for feloniously stealing and carrying
away then and there goods and chattels of the said Robert
Hogg, of the value of four pounds five shillings sterling, against
the form of the statutes in such case made and provided, and40

PROCEEDINGS AGAINST THE

against the peace of our sovereign lord the king, his crown and
dignity.

The other for their entering the dwelling house of Abraham
Meyers Cohen in this city, merchant, on the first day of March
with intent then and there to commit some felony; and for felo-
niously stealing and carrying away then and there the goods
and chattels of the said Abraham Meyers Cohen, of the value
of five pounds sterling, against the form of the statutes, and
against the king’s peace.

To each of which indictments they pleaded not guilty.

The Attorney General having opened both the indictments,
he with Joseph Murray, Esq., of counsel for the king, pro-
ceeded to examine the witnesses, viz :

For the king, Mrs. Hogg, Mrs. Boswell, Christopher Wilson,
Rachina Guerin, Mr. Robert Hogg, Mr. Robert Watts, Marga-
ret Sorubiero, alias Kerry, Abraham Meyers Cohen, James
Mills, Thomas Wenman, John Moore, Esq., Cornelius Brower,
Anthony Ham, Mary Barton.

For the prisoners, Alderman Bancker, Alderman Johnson,
John Auboyneau.

The prisoners upon their defence denied the charge against
them. And,

The evidence being summed up, which was very strong and
full, and the jury charged, they withdrew; and being returned,
found them guilty of the indictments.

Ordered, that the trials of the Hughsons and Margaret
Kerry be put off until Wednesday the 6 th inst.

Court adjourned until Monday morning, 4th May, at ten
o’clock.

Sunday, May 3.—Arthur Price, servant of Captain Vincent
Pearse, having been committed upon a charge of stealing out
of his master’s house goods belonging to the Lieutenant Gov-
ernor, which had been removed thither for safe custody from
the fire at the fort; he informed the under-sheriff that he had
had some discourse in the jail with Peggy, which he -would
communicate to a magistrate : the under-sheriff acquainted one
of the judges therewith, and he examined Price in the evening,
and the following deposition was taken :—

Deposition, No. 1.—Arthur Price being duly sworn, saith,

1. “ That about the beginning of last week, Peggy Carey,
or Kerry, now in jail, came to the hole in the prison door, in
which he is confined, and told him she was very much afraid
of those fellows (meaning the negroes, as he understood) tell-
ing or discovering something of her; but, said she, if they do,CONSPIRATORS AT NEW YORK IN 1741.

41

by God, I will bang them, every one; but that she would not
forswear herself, unless they brought her in. Upon which the
deponent asked her, Peggy, how forswear yourself ? To which
she answered, there is fourteen sworn. Upon which he further
asked her, what, is it about Mr. Hogg’s goods ? And she re-
plied, no, by G—d, about the fire. Upon which the deponent
said to her, what, Peggy, were you going to set the town on
fire ? And she made answer, she was not; but said, by G—d,
since I knew of it, they made me swear. Upon which the
deponent asked her, was John and his wife in it? (meaning
John Hughson and his wife). And she answered, yes, by
G—d, they were both sworn as well as the rest. Then the
deponent asked her,*if she was not afraid that the negroes
would discover her ? And she said no; for Prince, Cuff, and
Caesar, and Forck’s (Varack’s) negro, were all true-hearted
fellows. Then he asked her, if Caesar was not Forck’s negro ?
And she answered, no, by G—d, it was the other ; but what
other she meant he did not know.

2. " That yesterday in the afternoon the said Peggy came to
him again, and told him, she had no stomach to eat her victuals ;
for that that bitch (meaning Hughson’s maid, as he understood)
has fetched me in, and made me as black as the rest, about the
indigo, and Mr. Hogg’s goods; but if they did hang the two
poor fellows below (meaning Caesar and Prince, as understood)
they (meaning the rest of the negroes) would be revenged on
them yet; but if they sent them away, it was another case.
Upon which this deponent said to Peggy, I don’t doubt but
they will endeavor to poison this girl that has sworn, (meaning
Hughson’s maid). And Peggy replied, no, by G—d, I don’t
believe that; but they will be revenged on them some other
ways:	And she further said to the deponent, for your life

and soul of you, you son of a b—h, don’t speak a word of
what I have told you.”

About this time, i.e. the beginning of this month, at Hacken-
sack, in New Jersey, eight miles from this city, the inhabitants
of that place were alarmed about an hour before day, and pre-
sented with a most melancholy and affrighting scene! no less
than seven barns in that neighborhood were all in flames ; and
the fire had got such head, that all assistance was in vain ;
for in a short time they were burnt down to the ground. , Two
negroes, the one belonging to Derick Van Hoorn, the other to
Albert Van Voerheise, were suspected to have been guilty of
this act; the former having been seen coming out of one of
the barns with a loaded gun, who pretended, on his being dis-
covered, that he saw the person who had fired the barns, upon42

PROCEEDINGS AGAINST THE

which his master ordered him to fire at him, and the negro
thereupon immediately discharged his piece. The latter was
found at his master’s house loading a gun with two bullets,
which he had in his hand ready to put in. Upon these and
other presumptive circumstances and proofs, both negroes were
apprehended, and in a few days tried, convicted, and burnt at
a stake—the former confessed that he had set fire to three of
the barns ; the latter would confess nothing.,

SUPREME COURT.

Monday, May 4.—Present, Mr. Justice Philipse and Mr.
Justice Horsmanden.	•

The Court opened and adjourned till to-morrow afternoon
at three o’clock.

SUPREME COURT.

Tuesday, May 5.—Present, Mr. Justice Philipse and Mr.
Justice Horsmanden.

The Court opened and adjourned till to-morrow morning
9 o’clock.

SUPREME COURT.

Wednesday, May 6.—Present, Mr. Justice Philipse, and
Justice Horsmanden.

The King against John Hughson, Sarah his wife, Margaret
Sorubiero, alias Kerry, on trial.

The Jury were called and the following jurors sworn, viz.:—

John Shurmur,

John Hastier,

John Robins,

Henry Vandewater,

Aaron King,

Alexander Ward.

Benjamin Peck and Joseph North, jurors challenged by the
prisoners.

They were indicted for feloniously, &c., receiving on the
third day of March then last past, divers stolen goods, knowing
the same to have been stolen, against the form of the statute,
and the king’s peace.

To which indictment they all pleaded, not guilty, upon their
arraignment as before.-

Henry Lawrence,
William Hammersley,
Sidney Breese,

John Smith,

Samuel Weaver,
Patrick Jackson,CONSPIRATORS AT NEW YORK IN 1741.

43

Council for the King, the Attorney General, and Joseph
Murray, Esq.

The Attorney General opened the indictment, and then he
and Mr. Murray examined the witnesses against the criminals,
viz.:—Witnesses for the king—Robert Hogg, Mrs. Hogg,
Rachina Guerin, Anthony Ham, constable, Alderman Romme,
Robert Watts, Esq., Richard Nicholls, Esq., James Mills,
Mary Burton, Alderman Moore, Thomas Wenman, constable,
John Cruger, Esq., mayor, Alderman Johnson, William Ja-
mison, Esq.

The conviction of Caesar and Prince read.

The examination of Hughson before the justices read.

Witnesses for the prisoners—John Nichols, Capt. Lee,
Peter Anderson, and his wife.

And the charge against them being fully proved; the evi-
dence summed up; the arguments closed, and the jury
charged, they withdrew; and being returned, found them all
guilty.

Sarah Hughson, single woman, daughter of John Hughson
and Sarah his wife, was this morning committed as one of the
confederates in the conspiracy, being apprehended while the
court was sitting.

Court adjourned till ten o’clock to-morrow morning.

Jack (Sleydall’s negro) was this day committed on suspicion
of putting fire to Mr. Murray’s haystack.

SUPREME COURT.

Thursday, May 7, a.m.—Present, Mr. Justice Philipse, and
Mr. Justice Horsmanden. Court opened, and adjourned until
4 o’clock in the afternoon.

Present, as before. Court opened and adjourned until to-
morrow morning, 10 o’clock.

Deposition taken before the judges.—No. 2. Arthur Price
being duly sworn, saith,

1.	“ That yesterday morning having discourse with Sarah,
the daughter of John Hughson, about the fires which have lately
happened in the town, she told him that she had been with a
fortune-teller, who told her that in less than five weeks’ time
she would come to trouble, if she did not take good care of
herself, but after that she would come to good fortune ; then
he inquired of her father’s fortune, and she said her father
would be tried and condemned, but not hanged, but was to go
over the water.

2.	“ That then, after some other discr "”,se. the deponent44

PROCEEDINGS AGAINST THE

told her that some of the negroes who were concerned in the
plot about the fires, had discovered; upon which she said
she did not know of any plot; and thereupon he told her
that they that were sworn in the plot, had discovered and
brought them every one in, upon which she colored, and put
her bonnet back, and changed color several times, and asked
him if he knew who it was, and when he had heard it ? and he
told her he had heard it by the by, and it was kept private,
upon which she made a long stop, and then said, it must be
either Holt's negro, or Todd’s ; for, said she, we were always
afraid of them, and mistrusted them, though they were as bad
as the rest, and were to have set their own master’s houses on
fire ; and then she said, I wish that Todd had sent his black
dog away, or sold him, when he was going to do it.

3.	“ That then the deponent told her, sure you had better
tell everything that you know; for that may be of some ser-
vice to your father; upon which she said, no, for that they
were doing all that they could to take his life away; and that
she would sooner suffer death, and be hanged with her daddy
(if he was to be hanged), than she would give them that satis-
faction of telling or discovering anything to them, or words
to that effect; that she was to have gone up into the country
(like a fool that she was that she did not go), but staid to see
what would become of her mammy and daddy ; but that now
she would go up in the country, and that she would be hanged
if ever they should get her in York again; but if they (mean-
ing the people of this city, as he understood) had not better
care of themselves, they would have a great deal more damage
and danger in York than they were aware of; and if they did
hang her daddy, they had better do something else ; and as
to the fire at the fort, they did not set the saddle on the right
horse.

4.	“ That on Monday last Peggy came to him, and bid him
not discover anything for his life, that she had told him; for
if he did, by God she would cut his throat!

5.	“ The deponent further saith, that as to the expression
made use of by Sarah Hughson, viz. As to the fire at the
fort, they did not set the saddle on the right horse; the occa-
sion of these words was, the deponent’s telling her that they
had been picking out of him what they could concerning the
fire at the fort, and thought that he knew something of it; but
he said to her, that he took God to be his judge that he did
not know anything of it.”

Upon the information by this deposition, Dundee (Todd’sCONSPIRATORS AT NEW YORK IN 1741.

45

negro) was apprehended and committed; but upon examina-
tion, denied knowing anything of the conspiracy.

The other negro was at this time gone with his master
(Holt), a dancing-master, to Jamaica, in the West Indies, who
thought it proper to remove from hence soon after the fire at
the fort.

Voluntary confession.—Margaret Sarinbirr, alias Keary, de-
clares, “That she was several times at the house of John
Homme, shoemaker, and tavern-keeper, and saw several meet-
ings of the negroes from time to time ; and in particular in the
month of December last past, she saw assembled there in or
about ten or twelve in number, viz.—Cuff, belonging to Mr.
Philipse; Brash, Mr. Jay’s; Curacoa Dick, a negro man;
Caesar, Pintard’s; Patrick, English’s; a negro belonging to
Mr. Breasted, in Pearl-street (Jack), Cato, Alderman Moore’s.

“ The rest of the names that were in the combination, I
cannot remember, or their master’s names. They proposed
to burn the fort first, and afterwards the city; and then steal,
rob and carry away all the money and goods they could pro-
cure, and was to be carried to Romme’s, and were to be joined
by the country negroes, and that they were to murder every
one that had money.

“ The reason why I did not make this discovery before,
Romme swore them all never to discover, and swore me too;
and I thought I would wrong my own soul, if I discovered it.
And that all the rest of the negroes in city and country were to
meet in one night.

“ All the above I am ready to declare upon oath.”

Signed with her mark X.

This declaration was sent from the jail, by the under-sheriff,
to one of the judges late this night.

The conviction of the two negroes, Caesar and Prince, as
principals in the two robberies; and of Hughson, his wife, and
Peggy herself, as accessories in receiving the goods stolen ;
alarmed her so, that she seemed now to think it high time to
do something to recommend herself to mercy ; and this con-
fession coming voluntarily from her, it gave hopes that she was
in earnest, and would make some material discoveries.

SUPREME COURT.

Friday, May 8.—Present, Mr. Justice Philipse and Mr.
Justice Horsmanden.

The King against Caesar and Prince, negroes.

The prisoners having been capitally convicted on two several46

PROCEEDINGS AGAINST THE

indictments for felony, and being brought to the bar, the court
proceeded to give sentence; which was passed by Mr. Justice
Philipse as followeth:

“ You, Caesar and Prince, the grand jury having found two
indictments against each of you, for feloniously stealing and
taking away from Mr. Hogg, and Mr. Meyers Cohen, sundry
goods of considerable value. To these indictments you seve-
rally pleaded not guilty; and for your trials put yourselves
upon God and the country ; which country having found you
guilty, it now only remains for the court to pronounce that
judgment which the law requires, and the nature of your
crimes deserves.

“ But before I proceed to sentence, I must tell you, that you
have been proceeded against in the same manner as any white
man, guilty of your crimes, would have been. You had not
only the liberty of sending for your witnesses; asking them
such questions as you thought proper; but likewise making
tbe best defence you could ; and as you have been convicted
by twelve honest men upon their oaths, so the just judgment
of God has at length overtaken you.

“ I have great reason to believe, that the crimes you now
stand convicted of, are not the least of those you have been
concerned in; for by your general characters you have been
very wicked fellows, hardened sinners, and ripe, as well as ready,
for the most enormous and daring enterprises, especially you,
Caesar: and as the time you have yet to live is to be but very
short, I earnestly advise and exhort both of you to employ it
in the most diligent and best manner you can, by confessing
your sins, repenting sincerely of them, and praying God of his
infinite goodness to have mercy on your souls: and as God
knows the secrets of your hearts, and cannot be cheated or
imposed upon, so you must shortly give an account to him,
and answer for all your actions; and depend upon it, if you
do not truly repent before you die, there is a hell to punish
the wicked eternally.

“ And as it is not in your powers to make full restitution for
the many injuries you have done the public; so I advise both
of you to do all that in you is, to prevent further mischiefs, by
discovering such persons as have been concerned with you, in
designing or endeavoring to burn this city, and to destroy its
inhabitants. This I am fully persuaded is in your power to do
if you will; if so, and you do not make such discovery, be as-
sured God Almighty will punish you for it, though we do not:
therefore I advise you to consider this well, and I hope both of
you will tell the truth.CONSPIRATORS AT NEW YORK IN 1741.

47

“ And now, nothing further remains for me to say, but that
you Caesar, and you Prince, are to be taken hence to the place
from whence you came/and from thence to the place of execu-
tion, and there you, and each of you, are to be hanged by the
neck until you he dead. And I pray the Lord to have mercy
on your souls.”

Ordered, that their execution be on Monday next, the eleventh
day of this instant, between the hours of nine andJ one of the
same day. And further ordered that after the execution of
the said sentence, the body of Caesar be hung in chains.

Court adjourned till ten o’clock Monday morning next.

Peggy was examined by the judges touching the matter of
her confession delivered in writing last night, which she declared
for truth; and for the greater solemnity was sworn to it,
after having been seriously admonished not to dare td say any-
thing but the truth, or to accuse innocent persons; she was told,
that we had dived so far into this mystery of iniquity already,
that we could easily discern whether she prevaricated or not;
and that if she did, she must not flatter herself with the hopes
of being recommended to mercy; so that such disingenuous
behavior would but deceive herself, and make her case despe-
rate, or words to that purpose: she put on the air of sincerity,
as if disposed to make a discovery, but seemed to be under ter-
rible apprehensions. What she said, corresponded with the
scheme of the plot so far as we had got light into it, and in a
great measure confirmed what Arthur Price said in his deposi-
tion, No. 1, before, with this difference, that she shifted the
scene from John Hughson’s to John Romme’s, and protested
that she did not know that the Hughsons were any wise privy
to, or concerned in the conspiracy.

At this examination, she related a great many particulars,
which for want of time, were not committed to writing; but
her further examination deferred to the next day.

Romme at this time absconded ; orders having been given
for apprehending him long before, upon suspicion of his having
received some of the goods stolen from Mr. Hogg’s; and Peggy
and her advisers might think as he was out of reach, she might
safely shift the scene to his house; or this bloody scheme might
have been brooding at both places, and with her knowledge;
but one may be persuaded, from the course of the evidence,
that Romme was apprised at least of the conspiracy carrying
on at Hughson’s.

Upon this examination, Romme’s wife was apprehended and
committed.48

PROCEEDINGS AGAINST THE

Saturday. May 9.—Many hours were taken up in Peggy’s
examination yesterday and this day; which was committed to
writing, as followeth :—

Examination taken before the judges, No. 1. Margaret
Salingburgh, alias Kerry, saith,

1.	“ That some time last fall she took lodgings with one Frank,
a free negro, fronting the new battery, within this city, about
three or four doors from the house of John Romme, shoemaker,
and continued there till the beginning of February last, during
which time she employed the said Romme in making shoes for
her; and on that account became acquainted with him and his
wife, and used often to go backwards and forwards to and from
the said house ; by which means she had the opportunity of
seeing many negroes there at several different times, who used
to resort thither to drink drams, punch and other strong
liquors, the said Romme keeping a public house; and that often
numbers of them have continued at the said Romme’s house till
two or three o’clock in the morning, to her knowledge, drink-
ing, singing and playing at dice.

2.	“ That on or about the beginning of November last, on a
Sunday evening, between the hours of 11 and 12, she (the ex-
aminant) being returning home to her said lodging, by the way
of Whitehall, saw two negroes coming towards her with each
of them a firkin upon their shoulders, and saw them turn into
Romme’s gate ; and that presently after the same two negroes
returned from the said Romme’s house, and went by the exami-
nant (who stood under Hunt’s shed) at some distance towards
the water side; and returned again by her, with each of them
one firkin more upon each of their shoulders, and went with
them also in at the said Romme’s gate, and returned by the
examinant a second time, and went towards the water side ;
and in the same manner made as many turns, till the examinant
counted that the said negroes had carried into the said Romme’s
gate, sixteen of the said firkins : and the reason of the exami-
nant’s staying under the said Hunt’s shed to observe the mo-
tions of the said negroes was, because she suspected them to
be stolen goods.

3.	“ That one evening, some time about Christmas last, about
eight or nine o’clock, she was at the house of the said John
Romme where she saw in company, together with the said
Romme and his wife, ten or eleven negroes, all in one room,
and the said John Romme was observing to the negroes, how
well the rich people at this place lived, and said, if they (mean-
ing the negroes, as she understood) would be advised by him,
they (including himself and the negroes as she understood)CONSPIRATORS AT NEW YORK IN 1741.

49

should have the money. To which Cuff (Mr. Philipse’s negro)
replied, how will you manage that ? Well enough, said Romme,
set them all a light fire ; burn the houses of them that have the
most money, and kill them all, as the negroes would have done
their masters and mistresses formerly:	That he (Romme)

should be captain over them (meaning, the negroes, as the ex-
aminant understood) till they could get all their money, and
then he (Romme) would be governor. To which Cuff said,
they could not do it. Yes, says Romme, we’ll do well enough ;
we’ll send into the country for the rest of the negroes to help,
because he could write, and he knew several negroes in the
country that could read. And he encouraged them, and said,
he would stand by them, and that the sun would shine very
bright by and by, and never fear my lads : But that if it should
happen that anything should come out, he would make his
escape, and go to North Carolina, Cape Fear, or somewhere
thereabouts ; or into the Mohawk’s country, where he had lived
before; but besides, the d—1 could not hurt him; for he had
a great many friends in town, and the best in the place would
stand by him; or the said Romme expressed himself in words
to the effect before mentioned.

4.	That during all the discourse of the said Romme to
the negroes as above mentioned, she did not observe any of
the said number of ten or eleven, to make any answer to
Romme’s discourse aforesaid, excepting Cuffee (Philipse’s),
Curacoa Dick, Pintard’s Caesar, Will (Weaver’s, since dead),
and Mr. Moore’s Cato; but Cuffee spoke the most, and said,
“ The devil take the failerthough the other four seemed to
be as forward for the plot as Cuff.

5.	“ That the other negroes that were present at the above
discourse, whose persons or names she now remembers, were
Patrick (English’s), Jack (Breasted’s), and Brash (Mr. Jay’s).

6.	“ That at the same meeting there were several other
negroes, which made up the number to ten or eleven, whose
names, or the names of their masters, she does not now
remember, but believes she should remember their faces again
if she should see them.

7.	“ That at the same meeting, the said John Romme pro-
posed to the said negroes present, * To bum the fort first, and
afterwards the city; and then to steal and rob, and carry
away all the money and goods they could procure;’ and that
they should be brought to Romme’s house, and he would take
care to hide them away.

8.	“ That Romme said further, that if the fire did not suc-
ceed, and they could not compass their ends that way, then he

450

PROCEEDINGS AGAINST THE

proposed to the negroes present, that they should steal all
that they could from their masters; then he would carry them
to a strange country, arid give them their liberty, and set them
free. After this Romme asked them if it would do ? That is
whether the negroes then present liked his proposals (as she
understood). To which Cuff answered, ‘ There’s great talking,
and no cider,’ and so they broke up. And the negroes remain-
ing at that time all departed, some of them, to wit, Brash,
Patrick, Jack, and the several other negroes (whose names
the examinant cannot at all remember), having left the com-
pany about an hour before ; but Cuff, Curacoa Dick, Weaver’s
Will, Cato, and Pintard’s Caesar staid till the last.

9.	“ That she well remembers that Cuff, Curacoa Dick,
Weaver’s Will, Pintard’s Caesar, and Mr. Moore’s Cato, and
also Auboyneau’s Prince, and Varack’s Caesar, used much to
frequent that house in the evenings, and to stay often late in
the night, drinking and playing at dice, but she never heard
any discourse amongst them about burning the fort, or setting
fire to the town, but the time above mentioned.

10.	“ That immediately after the negroes broke up the
meeting before mentioned, the said John Romme insisted upon
this examinant’s being sworn to secrecy, that she would not
discover anything that she knew had passed in his house,
either relating to the butter, or the fire, or discourse at the
said meeting, which she accordingly was, and kissed a book;
what book it was knows not.

11.	“ That Romme’s wife was by all or most part of the
time during the meeting and discourse aforesaid ; and when
Romme insisted that this examinant should be sworn as afore-
said, as well as his wife—for the said Romme declared they
were both sworn to secrecy, and all the negroes; but the
examinant saith, that the said Romme’s wife did not at all join
in any of the discourse before mentioned.”

Elizabeth Romme, wife of John Roirime, was sent for and
examined concerning what Peggy had declared to have passed
at her house.

Examination.—1. She denied, “ That she knew anything
at all ^bout the conspiracy for firing the fort and the town, and
murdering the people.

2.	“ Denied there were ever such companies of negroes met
at her house as Peggy declared.

3.	“ She confessed there had been some firkins of butter
brought thither about the time mentioned by Peggy ; but said
that they were received by her husband, and she knew nothing
of them.CONSPIRATORS AT NEW YORK IN 1741.

51

4.	“ Denied she had ever heard or knew of any oath of
secrecy imposed by her husband, or administered by him to
her or Peggy, or any other person whatsoever, with regard to
secrecy concerning the stolen butter, or any other goods, or
concerning the conspiracy.

5.	“ Confessed that a negro (the father of Mr. Philipse’S
Cuffee) kept game-fowls at their house, and used to come
there to bring them victuals, but never used to stay long.
Confessed that he was there about Christmas last. And

6.	“ That the last winter Cuff’s father brought them sticks
of wood now and then, and she believed he had them out of
his master’s yard.

1. “ Confessed that negroes used to come to their house to
drink drams, but never used to stay; that Caesar (Yarack’s
negro) used to come morning and evening often, Auboyneau’s
Prince sometimes, Mr. Moore’s Cato once or twice, and not
oftener, as she remembered ; never saw Breasted, the hatter’s
negro, there at all, nor Mr. Jay’s Brash, nor Patrick (English’s
negro), but had seen Bastian (Yarack’s negro) there, and Mr.
Pintard’s Caesar; but never saw above three negroes at a time
there, and that very seldom ; and that when there were three,
they were always Cuffee (Philipse’s), Caesar (Varack’s), and
Prince (Auboyneau’s).”

This afternoon orders were given for apprehending the
several negroes, mentioned by Peggy to have been present at
Romme’s, at the time she said Romme and the negroes were
talking of the conspiracy ; those of them whom she knew by
name, and were not before committed, were soon found and
brought to jail.

In the evening the judges came to the City Hall, and sent
for Peggy, and had the several negroes brought one by one,
and passed in review before her, viz.: Patrick (English’s),
Cato (Col. Moore’s), Curacoa Dick, Csesar (Alderman Pintard’s)
Brash (Mr. Jay’s), and Jack (Breasted’s), and she distinguished
them every one, called them by their names, and declared
those were at the above-mentioned meeting.

These negroes were each of them separately examined, and
denied being at any such meeting, or that they knew any-

was brought by mistake
instead of-Patrick,'and Peggy declared he was not English’s
negro which she meant. Cork was unfortunately of a coun-
tenance somewhat ill-favored, naturally of a suspicious look,
and reckoned withal to be unlucky too. His being sent for be-
fore the magistrates in such a perilous season might be thought

thing of the conspiracy.

At first Cork (English’s negro)52

PROCEEDINGS AGAINST THE

sufficient to alarm the most innocent of them, and occasion the
appearance of their being under some terrible apprehensions,
but it was much otherwise with Cork, and notwithstanding the
disadvantage of his natural aspect, upon his being inter-
rogated concerning the conspiracy, he showed such a cheerful,
open, honest smile upon his countenance (none of your ficti-
tious hypocritical grins) that every one that was by, and ob-
served it (and there were several in the room), came imme-
diately to the opinion that they never saw the fellow look so
handsome. Such an efficacy have truth and innocence that
they even reflect beauty upon deformity!

On the contrary, Patrick’s visage betrayed his guilt. Those
who are used to negroes may have experienced that some of
them, when charged with any piece of villainy they have been
detected in, have an odd knack or (it is hard what to call or
how to describe it) way of turning their eyes inwards, as it
were, as if shocked at the consciousness of their own perfidy,
their looks, at the same time, discovering all the symptoms of
the most inveterate malice and resentment—this was Patrick’s
appearance, and such his behavior upon examination as served
to induce one’s credit to what Peggy had declared ; so far at
least that he was present at a meeting when the conspiracy
was talked of, and was one of the persons consenting to act a
part in that infernal scheme; so that he was committed to
jail, and the rest of them, whom Peggy declared as they were
produced, to be the persons she meant.

These negroes, impeached by Peggy, and committed upon
her information, and which had passed in review before her,
were likewise shown to Mary Burton, who declared that she
did not remember that ever she saw any of them at Hughson’s,
which seemed to add strength to what Peggy had declared in
her examination, that this villainous scheme was carrying on
at Romme’s as well as Hughson’s.

Deposition taken before one of the judges.—Abigail Earle,
being sworn, deposeth, “ that just before the going in of the
afternoon church, on the same Sunday that coals were found
in Mr. Murray’s haystack, she saw three negro men coming
up Broadway; that she was then looking out of her window
up one pair of stairs in the house where Mr. Williams now
lives; and as they passed under the window, she heard one
of them say, viz., Dire, fire, scorch, scorch, a little, damn it,
by and by ! and then threw up his hands and laughed. That
after the said negroes were gone by she went into Mrs.
George’s house and told her what she had heard : and about
an hour after, when church was out, she saw the same negroesCONSPIRATORS AT NEW YORK IN 1741.

53

coming down Broadway; and then showed Mrs. George the
negro that had spoke the aforesaid words: whereupon Mrs.
George said, that is Mr. Walter’s Quaco.”

Lydia George being sworn, deposed, “ that she heard the
above written deposition of Abigail Earle read, and knows that
all therein mentioned, which any ways relates to her, the de-
ponent, is true.”

Upon these depositions Quaco was recommitted this evening.

Sunday, May 10.—A young negro fellow of Mrs. Carpen-
ter’s had given some information, that Sarah, (Niblet’s negro
wench) had told him that Sawney, alias Sandy (Niblet’s negro
boy of about 16 or 17 years of age) had been concerned in
setting the fort on fire ; that he had likewise set Muchado’s
house, next door to his master’s, on fire; and had also thrown
fire over Alderman Bancker’s fence into his yard. This negro
fellow was sent for, and likewise Sarah (Niblet’s), and he de-
clared before one of the judges and others, to Sarah’s face, to
the same purpose. The wench seemed to be under great
terror, and trembled much ; but nothing could be got out of
her more than a peremptory denial that she had ever said
any such things to the above negro.

Sarah was committed.

Sandy had then lately been sent away by his master to
Albany in order to be sold ; but orders were immediately sent
to bring him back.

Niblet the master was sent for, and examined as to the
characters of these servants; but he said, he knew no harm of
them.

SUPREME COURT.

Monday, May 11.—Present, Mr. Justice Philipse.

Ordered, that the gibbet on which the body of the negro
Caesar is to be hanged in chains, be fixed on the island near
the powder house.

Court adjourned till Monday morning, ten o’clock.

Caesar and Prince were executed this day at the gallows,
according to sentence. They died very stubbornly, without
confessing anything about the conspiracy; and denied they
knew anything of it to the last. The body of Caesar was ac-
cordingly hung in chains.

These two negroes bore the characters of very wicked idle
fellows; had before been detected in some robberies, for
which they had been publicly chastised at the whipping-post,54

PROCEEDINGS AGAINST THE

and were persons of most obstinate and untractable tempers ;
so that there was no expectation of drawing anything from
them which would make for the discovery of the conspiracy,
though there seemed good reason to conclude, as well from
their characters as what had been charged upon them by in-
formation from others, that they were two principal ring-
leaders in it amongst the blacks. It was thought proper to
execute them for the robbery, and not wait for the bringing
them to a trial for the conspiracy, though the proof against
them was strong and clear concerning their guilt as to that
also; and it was imagined, that as stealing and plundering
was a principal part of the hellish scheme in agitation,
amongst the inferior sort of these infernal confederates, this
earnest of example and punishment might break the knot, and
induce some of them to unfold this mystery of iniquity, in
hopes thereby to recommend themselves to mercy, and it is
probable, that with some it had this effect.

SUPREME COURT.

Tuesday, May 12.—Present, Mr. Justice Philipse, and
Mr. Justice Horsmanden.

The King against John Hughson, and Sarah, his wife.

The prisoners, John Hughson and Sarah his wife having
been indicted for conspiring, confederating and combining
with divers negroes and others, to bum the city of New
York, and also to kill and destroy the inhabitants thereof,
were set to the bar and arraigned on the said indictment; and
thereupon pleaded, not guilty.

Margaret Kerry was also included in this indictment; but
she being in a disposition, as it was thought at that time, for
making a discovery, it was judged proper to postpone her
arraignment.

Court adjourned to Friday the 15th instant, ten o’clock in
the morning.

Arthur Price having been found by experience to j?e very
adroit at pumping out the secrets of the conspirators, in the
two instances of Peggy and Sarah Hughson the daughter,
before set forth; the under-sheriff was ordered to put Cuffee
(Mr. Philipse’s negro) into the same cell with him, and to give
them a tankard of punch now and then, in order to cheer up
their spirits, and make them more sociable. These directions
were accordingly observed, and produced the desired effects ;
and one of the judges being acquainted that Arthur had some-CONSPIRATORS AT NEW YORK IN 1741.	55

thing to communicate he went up this morning in order to ex-
amine him.

Deposition taken before one of the judges, JVo. 3.—Arthur
Price being duly sworn, saith, 1. “ That having discourse on
Saturday night last, with Cuffee, a negro slave belonging to
Mr. Philipse, he, the said Cuffee, amongst other discourse,
said, that he was one of the Geneva club* that was sworn;
but being overcome with sleep, he did not go to their meet-
ing at that time: that Cuffee asked the deponent what could
be the reason that Peggy was called down so often ? The
deponent replied, he thought Peggy was discovering the plot
about the fire; that he had heard she had discovered about
the fire at the fort; Cuffee replied, she could not do that unless
she forswore herself, he knew; for that he that had done that
was sworn after she (Peggy) was in prison ; he (Cuffee) left
his master’s house in the evening, and went along the wharves
to the Fly Market, and waited there till one Quaco came out
of his master’s house; they two then went to the house of
John Hughson, where they met nobody but John Hughson,
his wife, and daughter Sarah; that they (the two negroes)
called for a tankard of punch; that Hughson swore Quaco
three times; that they only drank out their punch, and then
went down to the Fly. That this deponent then said, I be-
lieve I know this Quaco, and that he lived with a butdher;
Cuffee replied, no; he doth not live with a butcher, but he
lived with a painter, who lived within a few doors of a butcher;

* There was a confederacy of negroes, of which Caesar (Varack’s)
and Prince (Auboyneau’s) both hanged yesterday, and Cuffee (Mr.
Philipse’s) were the heads and ringleaders; who robbed, pilfered and
stole whenever they had an opportunity: and it happened about five or
six years ago, a cellar of one Baker, a tavern-keeper in this city, had
one night been broken open, and robbed of some Geneva; many of the
parties concerned were detected, viz., several negroes, of which Caesar
and Prince were two principals; and all that were discovered were
chastised at the public whipping-post. From thence it may be supposed
they became distinguished among each other by the name of the Geneva
Club; for they used frequently to be junketing together at nights with
Cuff, upon the produce of the spoils of their pilfering. But it came out
upon the examination of these negroes, that they had before that time
the impudence to assume the style and title of Free Masons, in imita-
tion of a society here; which was looked upon to be a gross affront
to the provincial grand master and gentlemen of the fraternity at that
time, and was very ill accepted; however, from this time the negroes
may be supposed to have declined their pretensions to this title; for we
heard nothing more of them afterwards under that style. But it is
probable that most of this Geneva Club that were sworn (as Cuff said)
were of the conspiracy; and it is likely that by the swearing, Cuff
meant, sworn of the conspiracy.56

PROCEEDINGS AGAINST THE

which painter’s name he understood to be Roosevelt, aooortr
ing to the best of his remembrance.

2.	“ That Cuffee told him, that Quaco was married to a
negro wench who is cook to the fort, to the governor as he
understood; that they were all to meet at Hughson’s the
Sunday after Quaco was sworn; but some came and some
did not. That the deponent, upon some further discourse,
asked Cuffee how Quaco could do it ? (meaning the setting
fire to the house in the fort;) Cuffee answered, he could not
tell how he did it; but that Quaco was to do it, and did do it.

3.	“ That Cuffee said, they were to meet and have a club
at John Hughson’s in the Easter holidays, but that the d—d
constables hindered them.

4.	“ That he asked Cuffee, whether he did not think that
the firing would be found out; he replied, no, by G-d, he
did not think it ever would.

5.	“ That he further asked Cuffee, if he was not afraid that
the two negroes who were to be executed on Monday, would
discover (the affair about the firing of the fort and town mean-
ing) ; Cuffee answered, he was not afraid of that; for that he was
sure they would be burnt to ashes before they would discover
it; he would lay his life on it.

6.	“That yesterday the deponent having some further dis-
course with Cuffee, he said, he wondered why they only took
up the Long Bridge boys, and did not take up those of the
Smith’s Fly ; for he believed, if the truth was knoijyn, they (the
Smith’s Fly negroes meaning) were as much concerned as they
(of the Long Bridge meaning).”

Upon this deposition, Quaco (Roosevelt’s) was apprehended
and committed, who was one of the Smith’s Fly Boys, as
Cuffee called them.

Wednesday, May 13.—This being the day appointed by
the Lieutenant Governor’s proclamation, issued the 10th of
April last, to be observed throughout the province, as a day of
public fasting and humiliation, the same was reverently-and
decently observed, particularly in this city, by persons of all
persuasions ; the shops were all shut up, and persons of all
ranks resorted to their respective places of divine worship, and
seemed deeply affected with a sense of the calamities with
which we had of late been visited : his most gracious majesty,
for the vindicating the honor of his crown, having declared
war against the king of Spain, the visitation which the pro-
vince underwent with the severity of the cold weather the last
winter, which reduced many families to extremity and want,CONSPIRATORS AT NEW YORK IN 1741.	57

by the loss of their cattle, <fcc., the many houses and dwellings
that had been fired about our ears, without any discovery of the
cause or occasion of them, which had put us into the utmost
consternation: all these distresses succeeding upon the heels
of each other, were surely most likely to awaken us to our
duty, and a due sense of our demerits.

Deposition before the judges, No. 2.—Mary Burton, being
duly sworn, deposed, 1. “ That a day or two after she was ex-
amined before the grand jury, she was coming by Yarack’s
door in Broad-street of this city, and saw a negro of the
said Yarack’s, who (now at the time of her examination being
produced) called himself by the name of Bastian, but used to
be called by the negroes, Tom Peal, who asked the deponent,
whether she had discovered anything about the fires ? To
which deponent answered no. To which he replied, d—n you,
it was not best for you, for fear you should be burnt in the
next.

2.	“ That Quaco, the negro man now produced to her, she
has often seen at Hughson’s door along with Philipse’s Cuff,
Caesar (Yarack’s), and Prince, (Auboyneau’s) but never saw
Quaco within Hughson’s house, as she remembers.

3.	“ That she has seen Jack (Sleydall’s, the tallow chandler)
very often at Hughson’s house, and believes he was very well
acquainted with Hughson’s eldest daughter Sarah; but does
not remember she ever saw him there at the times of the meet-
ings of the negroes, when they talked about the fires ; but
from the kindness shown to him by Hughson, his wife, and
daughter aforesaid, she had great reason to think he was in
their secrets.

4.	“ That she hath often times seen many negroes at Hugh-
son’s house, she believes thirty together, especially on a Sun-
day ; many of them playing at dice, whose faces she could
remember if she saw them ; and she believes there were thirty
of them concerned in the conspiracy about the fires; and some
country negroes, particularly one Jamaica.

5.	“ That Hughson and his wife, and Peggy, and Sarah
Hughson the daughter, used, at the meetings of the negroes,
to be the forwardest of any of them in talking about fires,
(that is to say) that they would burn the fort; then they would
go to the Fly and burn the whole town, and destroy all the
people ; to which all the negroes present were consenting ; and
by name Cuff, Caesar and Prince, Albany, Tom Peal, alias
Bastian, amongst the rest.

6.	“That she knows Hughson and his family, and John
Romme were very intimately acquainted, and the latter used58

PROCEEDINGS AGAINST THE

frequently to be at Hughson’s house, where they used to retire
to a private room, where Peggy afterwards lay in, and used ta
have a great deal of discourse together; but when the de-
ponent overheard them, they were talking Dutch ; but Romme
used to tell Hughson he was afraid of the deponent. To
which Hughson replied, he need not be afraid of her, for that
she was bound to him, and she dared not tell; for if she did
he would murder her : And afterwards Romme would be more
free before the deponent.

7. “That she knows Jonneau (Varack’s negro) and has seen
him at Hughson’s house drinking with other negroes; but don’t
remember he was present at any time of the discourse about
the fires, or killing the white people.”

Jonneau, Albany and Bastian were immediately apprehended
and committed.

Thursday, May 14.—This day Sandy, alias Sawney, (Nib-
let’s negro boy) was brought down from Albany, and com-
mitted to jail.

Deposition before the judges—No. 3.—Mary Burton deposed,

1.	“ That at the time when she saw the meetings of the several
negroes at Hughson’s house, as mentioned in the deponent’s
deposition of yesterday, the said Hughson said, they were all
sworn, (meaning the negroes and all the white people present,
as she understood) that is, Hughson himself, his wife, and
daughter Sarah, and Peggy, and she understood by Hughson,
that the purport of the oath was, that they were not to discover
the secrets about firing the fort, the houses at the Fly, and the
whole town; and about murdering the white people; and
Hughson said to the negroes present, which were Cuff, Caesar
and Prince; now you must take care, for you are all sworn ; and
the deponent at the time saw a Bible (as she took it to be) in
Hughson’s hand ; and when the deponent came into the room,
he laid it upon the table; and then Caesar spoke to the de-
ponent, and cautioned her not to tell; and Hughson made an-
swer, that she dared not; and Cuff said, d—n his bl—c?, if he
would tell of any, if he was burnt ; and so said the other two
negroes ; and so said Hughson, his wife, their daughter Sarah,
and Peggy.

2.	“ That Hughson asked Caesar if he could get any others
(meaning the negroes) to help them ? Caesar answered he
could get enough, who dared not but go if he spoke.

3.	“ That she saw Caesar pay Hughson twelve pounds in
eight shilling Spanish pieces, as Hughson said, after counting
them; which was paid him, in order to buy guns; and thatCONSPIRATORS AT NEW YORK IN 1741.

59

Hughson afterwards went abroad with his boat, and was ab-
sent three days, or thereabouts, and brought back with him
seven or eight guns, three pistols and four swords, which were
hid away under the boards in the garret floor in Hughson’s
house.”

Examination, before the judges, No. 2.—Margaret Saling-
burgh, alias Kerry, saith,

1.	“ That about a fortnight after she came to lodge at Hugh-
son’s house (she believes it was about the beginning of Feb-
ruary) John Romme came there, when Hughson was gone into
the woods to cut firewood; but Hughson’s wife being at home
Romme entered into conversation with her, when the exami-
nant was present; and she heard him say to her (after calling
for a mug of punch, and after observing how hard the winter
was) that he did know how it was with them ; and though he
had money enough himself, yet he could not buy wood for it;
but that he had a parcel of good children (meaning the negroes,
as she understood) who brought him wood almost every night,
or words to that purpose ; so that he had done well enough
hitherto. And the examinant saith, that the reason why she
understood the said Romme to mean the negroes by the words,
good children, was, because she herself several times sa-^ Cuff
(Mr. Philipse’s) and Csesar, (Varack’s) and sometimes Cuff’s
brother, and the white boy called Yorkshire bring wood there
at night: That Hughson’s wife answered, that it was poor
enough with them; that he (Romme) was a gentleman, and
could live without work ; to which Romme said that if Hugh-
son would join with him, and take a quantity of fifty or sixty
firkins of butter in ; meaning, as the deponent understood, into
Hughson’s house, to conceal them; for Romme said, it was too
hard for him to conceal such a quantity ; but that Hughson, in
his large house, might much easier make away with them, and
conceal them. To which Hughson’s wife said, she did not
know, but she believed her husband would not have any hand
in it: oh! says Romme, I want to talk to him myself; for that
he knew how circumstances were with them: by and by
towards the evening he would come again and talk to him; for
that he wanted a load of wood.

2.	“ That she was afterwards informed by Hughson himself,
that Romme was returning to Hughson’s house in the evening,
and met Hughson with a sleigh-load of wood in the street,
which Hughson carried down to Romme’s house.

3.	“That at the time of Romme’s discoursing with Hugh-
son’s wife about receiving butter as aforesaid, he further said,
that as to butter, the weather was so hard, and the ground so60

PROCEEDINGS AGAINST THE

frozen, that he did not know how to hide them away; and as
no vessels could go out, he could not ship them off; and he be-
lieved gammon would do better; that his brother was going to
Carolina, and that he could stow them in his cabin, when there
could not be room to stow there fifty or sixty firkins of butter.
And by the discourse, the deponent understood that Romme
proposed to get the butter and gammons both from the weigh-
house, or some of the storehouses thereabouts.

4. “ That she had at several times seen goods of several
kinds brought to Romme’s house, that she suspected to have
been stolen: and that after the oath of secrecy taken by the
deponent, and mentioned in a former examination, the said
Romme would talk freely to her about such stolen goods as
she happened to see brought to his house; and Romme’s
wife used to help receive such stolen goods, and used to con-
ceal them away.”

From what had hitherto come to light concerning this mys-
tery of iniquity, it was scarce to be doubted, but Peggy had
it in her power to unfold a great deal more of it, as she
lodged at Hughson’s; which, from the course of the other
evidence, was the principal place the conspirators resorted to
for holding their consultations : and though what Peggy had
already disclosed seemed to merit something, yet it was not
altogether satisfactory; and it was thought proper she should
be arraigned upon the indictment for the conspiracy, upon the
supposition that this step might probably be a means of bring-
ing her to a resolution of making a full discovery of what she
knew.

SUPREME COURT.

Friday, May 15.—Present, Mr. Justice Philipse and Mr.
Justice Horsmanden.

The King against Margaret Kerry, and others.

The prisoner, Kerry, being brought to the bar and arraigned
on an indictment for a conspiracy, &c., pleaded not guilty.

Ordered, that her trial, together with Hughson and his wife,
be on Wednesday next.

I{ote. This was the same indictment upon which Hughson
and his wife were arraigned the twelfth instant.

Court adjourned till Tuesday next, the 19th inst., at ten
o’clock in the morning.

Saturday, May 16.—The examination of Sarah Hughson,
the daughter, was deferred thus long, in expectation that Ar-CONSPIRATORS AT NEW YORK IN 1741.

61

thur Price might succeed further in drawing more secrets con-
cerning the conspiracy from her, as he had before done from
Peggy and the negro Cuffee; but Price being often sent for,
it was apprehended they began to suspect him; for after
Quaco (Roosevelt’s) was brought to jail, none-of the three be-
fore mentioned would hold any conversation with him: and this
being understood to be the case, Sarah was sent for, and in-
terrogated upon the matter of the conspiracy in general, and
particularly as to what passed between her and Arthur Price,
as set forth in his deposition of the 7th inst., but she positively
denied that she knew anything of the conspiracy, though part
of the conversation she confessed, as followeth:

Examination, before one of the judges, No. 1.—Sarah
Hughson, single woman, acknowledges “she had some dis-
course with Arthur Price soon after she came into jail. That
she talked to him about some conversation passed between
her and a fortune-teller, who said to her, that her father would
escape narrowly with his life, if he did escape at all; and that
if he did escape, he would go over the water.”

Owns “ that Priee said to her, that if she knew anything
about the fires, that she had better tell it: to which she an-
swered, if she knew anything she would tell the truth.”

As soon as the examination was taken, Arthur Price was
sent for to confront with her; and he told all that had passed
between him and Sarah, agreeable almost word for word with
his deposition of the 7th inst., and most of which she had de-
nied very positively before he was brought into the room;
and after all, when Price vouched the thing to her face,
she did but faintly contradict what he said ; and it being pro-
posed to her to ask him any questions, she answered she had
no questions to ask him, but at length denied in gross all that
Price had charged upon her, which any ways related to the
fires. The high sheriff being present, he perused Price’s de-
position whilst he was telling his story before Sarah ; and he
declared Price had repeated the substance very exactly, and
almost word for word.

Deposition, before one of the judges, No. 4.—Arthur Price
being duly sworn, saith,

1.	“That Cuffee (Philipse’s negro) told him, that he knew
he was to suffer death, and wondered why they did not bring
him to his trial, for he was sure he was to go the same way
the other two went.

2.	“ That after Quaco (mentioned in this deponent’s exami-
nation of the 12th inst.) was committed, Cuffee never men-62

PROCEEDINGS AGAINST THE

tioned anything concerning the former conversation, but read
sometimes, and cried much.”

Monday, May 18.—A few days ago John Romme was
stopped and secured by a magistrate at Brunswick, in New
Jersey, which he very prudently did, and notified to a magis-
trate of this city ; whereupon Romme was sent for, and this
day committed to our jail.

Romme, upon examination, also confessed, as his wife had
done before, that some firkins of butter had been brought by
the negroes into his house; and he was even with his wife,
saying, they were received by her, that he had no hand in it;
and he also positively denied that he knew anything of the
plot, and that any such discourse had passed at his house, as
before declared by Peggy in her examinations. He was re-
manded, and examined several times afterwards; but not a
word would he own about the conspiracy.

Then Romme’s wife was sent for down again to be farther
examined : but nothing more could be got out of her. But
in the course of her examination some hints having dropped,
that her husband had acknowledged the negroes brought the
butter to their house, but that he knew nothing of it, and said
it was received by her; she being remanded to her prison,
and going by her husband’s apartment, and he putting his
head out of the wicket, she saluted him with a slap on the
chops.

SUPREME COURT.

Tuesday, May 19.—Present, Mr. Justice Horsmanden.

The court opened and adjourned till Thursday morning, ten
o’clock.

Wednesday, May 20.—Examination, before one of the
judges—No. 3.—Margaret Salinburgh saith,

1.	“That as to the butter brought by the negroes-to
Romme’s house, as mentioned in one of her former examina-
tions ; that Caesar was one of the negroes that brought the
butter, as Romme informed her himself; and that about a
week before, she herself heard Romme making a bargain with
Caesar to get him as much butter as he could, and he would
give him fifteen shillings a firkin for it; but Gaesar insisted on
twenty.

2.	“ That the next day she was asking Romme who those
negroes were that brought the butter in the night before ? andCONSPIRATORS AT NEW YORK IN 1741.

63

he answered, Caesar, but the other he did not know; for that
it was dark, and he did not care to light a candle for fear of
being discovered.

3.	“ That Romme said, he lay abed, and that his wife was
up and saw the butter put in the yard ; and that after the ne-
groes were gone, he himself got up and stowed it away under
the wood in an old house in the yard.

4.	“ That Caesar told Romme, in her presence, that they
had got the butter from a Frenchman’s near the Long Bridge,
and that he thought it belonged to a countryman, who had
left it in the said Frenchman’s storehouse till it could be sold,
or shipped off in the spring; or words to that effect.

5.	“ That the cloth coat Romme has now upon his back,
with a cape to it, was stolen by Caesar from a countryman’s
boat near Hughson’s, as she heard Caesar tell Romme ; and
heard both Romme and Caesar say, that Romme gave Caesar
ten shillings for it.

6.	“ That Caesar and Prince had stolen twenty pieces of
eight out of Ellis’ boat, and a speckled new shirt and a pair of
new stockings, which were brought by them directly to
Romme’s house, and the money they delivered into Romme’s
hands, and they told Romme, in her hearing, where they had
got it, and two pieces of eight a-piece they gave to Romme,
and the rest they were to leave in his hands to drink out.”

For the greater solemnity of the matter, Peggy also swore
to and signed her three several examinations.

The history of Peggy’s, contained in her three examinations,
corresponds so exactly as to the persons of, and charges
against such negroes, mentioned by others, which she brings
in question, and also with the matter and circumstances of the
conspiracy, which the reader may hereafter perceive from the
whole current of depositions and examinations of whites and
blacks, that one may be very apt to conclude, she only shifted
the scene, and laid it in a wrong place.

Peggy very well knew that Romme had fled the country
upon the inquiry about the robbery at Hogg’s ; and probably
that finding her own life in jeopardy concerning that felony,
as well as the conspiracy, which she now was sensible had
got air, and was like to be detected, and partly by her own
frank talk and openness with her fellow-prisoner, Price ; she
might therefore think it high time to provide for her own
safety, if she could do it so cheap as by amusing us with a
narrative of the plot; which, though real and true in other
respects, nevertheless she charged the confederacy and con-
sultations about it to have been held solely at Romme’s as to64

PROCEEDINGS AGAINST THE

the knowledge she had concerning it; and so screened the
other confederates, Hughson, his wife and family, at whose
house principally these miscreants associated; though what
she declared might be true as to both places, and there seems
to be too much reason to mistrust it was so; yet she absolute-
ly denied to the last, that she had ever heard any such dis-
course at Hughson’s, "though frequently interrogated very
strictly to that purpose, and admonished in the most solemn
manner to declare the whole truth, if she intended to do her-
self any service, or induce the judges to recommend her as an
object deserving of mercy.

However, though there was little reason to think that Peggy
had told all she knew of the matter, yet that what she said
was, in the main, true, there seemed no doubt, as said before,
from the correspondence between her stoiy and that of the
other evidences, so far as they had discovered with relation to
the conspiracy; the only question was, whether it was car-
ried on at Romme’s as well as Hughson’s ? From her i lodg-
ing and intimacy with the Hughsons, she might be inclined to
favor them, and lay the scene at Romme’s only, who was
then thought to be out of reach, and so make a merit of a fal-
lacious sort of discovery. But we had great hopes, that if she
should be convicted upon the indictment for the conspiracy,
she would come to a resolution to make an ingenuous confes-
sion in order to save herself; and with this expectation, and
considering what she had confessed already, the judges were
induced to recommend her to the Lieutenant Governor for a
pardon, on this condition nevertheless, that it should not pass
the seal till she should be thought amply to have merited it.

And a pardon was accordingly prepared for her, ready to
pass the seal when it should be sent for by the judges.

SUPREME COURT.

Thursday, May 21.—Present, Mr. Justice Philipse and
Mr. Justice Horsmanden.

The court opened and adjourned till to-morrow morning, ten
o’clock.

SUPREME COURT.

Friday, May 22, A.M.—Present, Mr. Justice Philipse.
Court opened, and adjourned until four o’clock in the afternoon.

Present, as before. Court opened, and adjourned until to-
morrow morning, ten o’clock.CONSPIRATORS AT NEW YORK IN 1741.

65

The grand jury having been informed that Sawney, Niblet’s
negro boy, was brought to town and committed upon suspi-
cion of being a confederate in the conspiracy, they requested
the court that he might be brought before them ; which be-
ing accordingly done; upon interrogation Sawney denied he
knew anything of the fires, or any conspiracy concerning them.
The grand jury for a long time argued with him, to persuade
him to speak the truth ; being convinced from the evidence
of Mrs. Carpenter’s negro, who already had been examined
by them, that he could give some account of the fires.. They
told him if he would speak the truth, the Governor would
pardon him, though he had been concerned in them; and this
was the time for him to save his life by making a free and in-
genuous confession ; or in words to this purpose. He answer-
ed, that the time before (alluding to the conspiracy of 1712)
after that the negroes told all they knew, then the white people
hanged them. The grand jury assured him that it was false;
for that the negroes who confessed the truth and made a
discovery, were certainly pardoned, and shipped off: [which
was the truth]—and upon this assurance he began to open,
and gave the following evidence.

Examination of Sawney (Niblet’s negro) before the grand
jury, No. 1.—He said,

1.	“That about three weeks before the fire at the fort,
Quaco ^Mr. Roosevelt’s negro) asked him to assist him to set
the fort on fire; and that he answered, no, he would not run
the risk of being hanged; but that he might go to hell and
be d—d.

2.	“ That he heard the said Quaco and Mr. Philipse’s Cuflfee
say, they would set fire to Mr. Philipse’s storehouse.

3.	“ That Cuflfee said, d—n him, that hang him or burn him,
he would set fire to the town.

4.	“ That William (Capt. Lush’s Spanish negro) told him that
if they did not send him over to his own country, he would
ruin the city.

5.	“ That Curracoa Dick said, he would set fire to Mr. Yan
Zant’s storehouse ; and that he was to b6 a captain.

6.	“ That Juan (Capt. Sarly’s negro) said, he would set fire
or help to set fire to Hilton’s house ; and was to be captain of
the Fly company.

7.	“ That Francis (Capt. Bosch’s negro) threw fire into Mr.
Bancker’s yard, and told him so.

8.	“ That Anthony (Mr. Peter Delancey’s negro Spaniard)
said, he would burn his master’s house.

9.	“ That Augustine (M'Mullen’s Spanish negro) said, he

566

PROCEEDINGS AGAINST THE

would burn his master’s house; and was to have been an offi-
cer.

10.	“That Jack and an old man (Gerardus Comfort’s) said,
they would set fire to their master’s house, and assist in their
designs.

11.	“ That Cuffee (Gomez’s) said, he would burn his mas-
ter’s house; and was to have been an officer in the Fly com-
pany ; said so to a country fellow, and he heard him.

12.	“ That just by Coenties-market he heard Patrick (Eng-
lish’s negro) and Cato (Col. Moore’s) say, they would set fire to
their master’s houses.

13.	“ That Fortune (Wilkins’s) was to set fire to his master’s
house.

14.	“ Sawney being asked what the negroes proposed by

rising and doing all this mischief ? He answered, * that their
design was to kill all the gentlemen, and take their wives;’
and that Quaco and Cuffee were particular persons that
talked so.	•

15.	“That while he was in jail, Francis (Capt. Bosch’s) said,
he would kill him if he told anything; and that when Mr.
Mills came for him, several negroes winked as he came out.

16.	Being asked if Quaco (Mr. Walter’s negro) was knowing
or concerned in the affair ? he answered, no,Jhough he was al-
ways cursing the white people.

17.	Being asked if he had much acquaintance with Danby,
the Governor’s negro, and if he knew anything ? he answered,
‘ he had very little; and he believed not.’

18.	“That Caesar (Varack’s) that was hanged, was con-
cerned, and was to have been captain of the Long Bridge com-
pany.*

* It seems that the conspirators had divided the city, as it were, into
two districts, and the confederates in each were distinguished by the
denominations of the Fly Boys, and the Long Bridge Boys; being re-
markable places, the one towards the east, and the other towards the
west end of the town. This may be drawn from Cuffee’s confession to
Arthur Price, set forth in his deposition, 12th May, No. 3 § 6. -And in
these districts, it should seem, were several companies; for several of
the officers were appointed captains, and others, as appears not only by
this, but several other examinations, as well as depositions; and this
seems to strengthen the evidence given by Peggy in her examinations,
that the conspirators held their cabals at Romme’s as well as Hughson’s;
the former being more convenient for the Long Bridge Boys, as Hugh-
son’s for the Smith’s Fly Beys, for the mustering the companies, with
regard to the respective distances from their homes. And if Peggy told
the truth as to Romme, these were the two lodges in the two districts (as
may be concluded from the course of the evidence) where the conspira-
tors met; though the ringleaders, or heads of the negroes, such as Cssar
(Varack’s), Prince (Auboyneau’s) and Cuffee (Philipse’s) might resortCONSPIRATORS AT NEW YORK IN 1741.

67

19. “That about a fortnight before the fire at the fort, at
Comfort’s house, he overheard Jack and the old man (Cook)
in company with four other negroes he did not know, talk
about the rising of the negroes ; and Jack said, that there was
not enough of them, and he would stay longer, or to that pur-
pose.”

Fortune (Wilkins’s negro) was apprehended, examined and
committed.

The examination of Fortune, the negro of John Wilkins, be-
fore the grand jury, No. 1.—He said,

1.	“ That Quaco, the negro of John Roosevelt, about a week
or ten days before the fort was burnt, desired him the exami-
nant, to take a walk with him (being Sunday afternoon) and
that he went with him into the common; where Quaco left him
a little while, and went down into the swamp, near the powder-
house, where he gathered something and soon returned to him
again.

2.	“ That when Quaco came back, the examinant asked him
what he had got ? To which Quaco replied, he would not tell
him ; but asked him the examinant to go with him to the fort,
and he would give him some punch, and see his wife ; that ac-
cordingly they went to the fort, though the examinant says,
that he did not go very willingly.

3.	“ That when they came to the fort, Quaco carried him
into the kitchen, where he kept him till it began to grow dark,
and then the examinant told Quaco, that he must be going, for
that the watch would take him up; to which Quaco answered,
that there was no danger of that.

4.	“ That Quaco gave him no punch, but asked him to drink
a dram, which the examinant refused ; and so they both came
from the fort, keeping company till they came by the house of
Captain Pearse, where they parted; the examinant returning
through Beaver street, and Quaco (as the examinant believed)
went back to the fort.

5.	“ That what is above recited was all that passed between
them at their first meeting, on Sunday afternoon ; but that two
or three days after, Quaco met him at the pump near the
great slip, but nothing was said or passed between them re-
markable.

6.	“ That about three days after that he met with Quaco

to both places, for transacting those deeds of darkness and inhumanity, in
combination with the most flagitious, degenerated, and abandoned, and
scum and dregs of the white people, and others of the worse hearts, if
possible, because of abler heads, who entitled themselves to be ten times
more the children of Belial, than the negroes themselves.68

PROCEEDINGS AGAINST THE

again, near the house of Mrs. Carpenter, at which place he
(Quaco) asked him why he was in such haste when he was last
at the fort ? to which the examinant answered as before, that
he was afraid of the watch; to which Quaco replied again,
that there was no fear of that, and invited him to come and see
him again at the fort, but the examinant refused, saying that
he had promised him punch before and gave him none.

7. “That about two days before the fort was burnt, he met
with Quaco again, near the house of Mrs. Rickets, where he
told the examinant, that in a few days there would be great al-
terations in the fort; on which the examinant asked him what
alterations ? to which Quaco answered, that the fort would be
burnt: the examinant on that asked him who would do it ?
Quaco replied, you may ask Niblet’s negro, and he will tell you.
That he did ask Niblet’s negro who was to burn the fort ? to
which he answered, Quaco, himself, and Cuffee (Gomez’s) they
would do it.

8.	“ That next day after the fire, the examinant met Sandy
(Niblet’s) who said to him, we have done the business; and the
same day he met Quaco, who likewise said to him, the business
is done ; that when Quaco told him that the business was done,
he asked him what business ? to which Quaco answered, the
fort is burnt; do you not remember that I told you, there
would be a great alteration in the fort ? and that he told him
at the same time, that he (Quaco) Niblet’s Sandy, and Gomez’s
Cuffee had done it.”

9.	Being further interrogated whether he knew of any other
negroes concerned in burning the fort, besides those above
named ? he answered, “ that he kngw not of any but Sandy,
Quaco and Cuffee.”

10.	Being further asked, if he knew any person concerned
in setting fire to any of the houses in the town ? he answered,
“ No.”

Jamaica (Ellis’s negro, a fiddler) apprehended and com-
mitted.

SUPREME COURT.

Saturday, May 23.-—Present, Mr. Justice Philipse.

The court opened and adjourned till Monday morning, ten
o’clock.

Examination of Fortune (Wilkins’s) before the grand jury—
No. 2.

Memorandum.—The examination foregoing was read overCONSPIRATORS AT NEW YORK IN 1741.

69

distinctly to the negro Fortune, who acknowledged it to be
agreeable to the evidence which he gave yesterday.

1.	“ The examination being continued, the examinant was
asked (since he had time to recollect) whether he did not re-
member some others concerned in the late fires, besides Quaco,
Sandy, and Cuffee ? If he did, it was expected he should
name them, without any regard to persons, be they white men
or negroes; he answered in the negative; only that Sandy
told him a day or two before his master sent him to prison,
that his master was going to send him to Albany, on which the
examinant asked him for what ? to which Sandy replied, I set
fire to the house, three times, but my master discovered and
extinguished it, and therefore is resolved to send me away.

2.	“ That on Sunday, the day before the storehouse of Mr.
Philipse was set on fire in New street, being sent towards the
evening by his master, on an errand to their apprentice boy,
who lived in the Broadway, he went by way of New street,
where he saw Cuffee (Mr. PhilipseY negro man) and spoke
with him, who said that he was going to one of his master’s
store-houses, on which they parted ; and he went to the Broad-
way, and tarried there till it was duskish: that he returned the
same way, and as he came by the house of Captain Phoenix,
at the corner of New street, he saw Cuffee, and two negroes
more at some small distance from him, but being dark, who
they were knew not.

3.	“ That he spoke with Cuffee, and asked him what he did
there so late ? to which Cuffee made answer that he waited
there for his master, who wanted something out of the store-
house, and that , he was to come, and bring the key with him,
on which they parted—but he believes fine of the two negroes
was a Spaniard, because when he left Cuffee, he heard one of
them call to him, venez a qui seignior.

4.	<c The question being asked the examinant, whether he
was acquainted with Hughson and his family ? he answered,
that he had been frequently asked by Caesar, Prince, and
Cuffee (Philipse’s) to go there, but never did go, but was told
that they had a dance there every other night.

5.	“ Being asked if he ever went to Romme’s house, or
knew what negroes frequently resorted thither ? he answered,
that he never went there himself nor was he acquainted with
those that did.”

Sunday, May 24.—This evening Will, or Gill (Lush’s) and
Cuffee (Gomez’s), negroes were committed.70

PROCEEDINGS AGAINST THE

SUPREME COURT.

Monday, May 25.—Present, Mr. Justice Philipse, and Mr.
Justice Horsmanden.

Court opened and adjourned till to-morrow morning, ten
o’clock.

Examination of Sawney or Sandy, before the grand jury—
No. 2.—He said,

1.	“ That going by Comfort’s one Sunday evening, about a
month before the fort was set on fire, Jack called him in,
where were about twenty negroes, of which he only knew the
said Jack and the old man (Comfort’s negroes), Fortune (Van-
derspiegle’s), Caesar (Peck’s), Cato (Cowley’s), Sarah, Burk’s
negro wench, and the only negro woman there.

2.	“ That upon his coming into the room, they gave him
drink, and then asked him to burn houses ; and be not giving
a ready answer, Sarah swore at him, and the negroes did
also; and with knives in their hands, that they frightened
him, and he was afraid they would kill him; and upon it, he
promised he would, and would burn the Slip Market, and soon
after he went home.

3.	“ That he saw in his master’s yard, Mr. Machado’s
negro wench called Diana, put fire in the shingles of Mr.
Machado’s house; and on his telling of it, and saying that it
might be laid on him, she gave him four shillings to hold his
tongue.

4.	u That Sarah and Fortune (Yanderspiegle’s) were to
have set fire to the meal market.

5.	“ That at the meeting at Comfort’s house, they swore to
be true to one another*on the oath, that God Almighty would
strike them dead with the first thunder.

C. That being asked, if he used Hughson’s and Homme’s
houses with the other negroes, he said, “ he never was at
either of their houses.” And who told of what he had
related, he answered, “ that Jack did, and of the Spanish
negroes who were concerned.” Also, that if he did assist, in
setting the fort on fire ? he answered, “ no; only before it,
Quaco did ask him to help him, and he gave the answer
before mentioned, and that then Quaco said he would do it.

7. “ That Diana (Mr. Machado’s negro) in a passion, because
her mistress was angry with her, took her own young child
from her breast, and laid it in the cold, that it froze to death”

Caesar (Peck’s), Cato (Cowley’s), Sarah (Burk’s), Fortune
(Vanderspiegle’s), committed.

Examination of Sarah (Mrs. Burk’s negro wench), beforeCONSPIRATORS AT NEW YORK IN 1741.

71

the grand jury—No. 1.—After abundance of questions upon
Sawney’s evidence, she said, “ she knew nothing of the
matter ; evaded about her being at Comfort’s house but on
confronting Sawney with her, and Peck’s Caesar, she at last
said, u that Sawney had, at the pump in the neighborhood,
said, supposing his master had been angry with him, G—d
d—n all the white people ; that if he had it in his power, he
would set them all on fire.”

SUPREME COURT.

Tuesday, May 26.—Present, Mr. Justice Philipse, and Mr.
Justice Horsmanden.

An ordinance published for enlarging the term to the last
Tuesday in June next.

Court adjourned till four o’clock in the afternoon.

Present, Mr. Justice Philipse.

The Court opened and adjourned till Thursday, 28th inst.,
ten o’clock in the morning.

Jack and Cook (Comfort’s negroes) apprehended and com-
mitted.

SUPREME COURT.

Thursday, May 28.—Present, Mr. Justice Philipse, and
Mr. Justice Horsmanden.

The King against (Roosevelt’s) Quaco, and (Philipse’s)
Cuffee.

These negroes were arraigned upon two indictments, for a
conspiracy to burn the town, and murder the inhabitants; and
for two actual burnings, the house in the fort, and Mr. Phi-
lipse’s storehouse; whereto they pleaded not guilty.

Ordered, their trials be on to-morrow morning ten o’clock.

Court adjourned till to-morrow morning ten o’clock.

SUPREME COURT.

Friday, May 2.—Present, Mr. Justice Philipse, and Mr.
Justice Horsmanden.

The King against (Roosevelt’s) Quaco, and (Philipse’s)
Cuffee, negroes, on trial upon two indictments.

The prisoners brought to the bar. Jury called and sworn,
viz.:—

Samuel Weaver,	John Shurmer,

John Lashier,	Charles Arding,

George Witts,	Thomas Bohenna,

Daniel Bonett,	John Robins.72

PROCEEDINGS AGAINST THE

The panel being mislaid, no more of the jurors could be
recollected.

The negro Quaco having been indicted for wickedly, volun-
tarily, feloniously and maliciously conspiring, combining and
confederating with Cuffee and with divers other negroes, to
kill and murder the inhabitants of this city ; and also for set-
ting on fire, burning and consuming the house of our sovereign
lord the king, then standing at the fort in this city, contrary
to the form of an act of assembly* in such case made and
provided, and against the king’s peace.

The negro CufFee had been also indicted for wickedly con-
spiring with' Quaco and divers other negroes, to kill and mur-
der the inhabitants of this city; and also for setting on fire
and burning an outhouse belonging to Frederick Philipse, Esq,,
then standing and being in this city, contrary to the form of
the act of assembly, and against the king’s peace.

To which indictments each of these criminals, upon their
arraignment, pleaded not guilty.

The Attorney-General having opened the indictments, spoke
to the court and jury as follows :—

“ May it please your honors, and you, gentlemen of the jury:
“ This is a cause of very great expectation, it being, as I
conceive, a matter of the utmost importance that ever yet
came to be tried in this province; wherefore, before I call the
witnesses to prove these two negroes guilty, I shall briefly
mention to you something concerning this mystery of iniquity
in general, how and where it was formed and carried on, and
what share these two criminals had in it.

* By an act of assembly of this province, passed in the fourth year of
his present majesty’s reign, entitled, “ An act for the more effectual pre-
venting and punishing the conspiracy and insurrection of negroes and
other slaves ; for the better regulating them, and for repealing the acts
therein mentioned relating thereto”—it is enacted (inter alia) That all
and every negro, Indian, or other slave, or slaves, who, after the publica-
tion of this act, shall murder or otherwise kill (unless by misadventure
or in the execution of justice), or conspire or attempt the death of any of
his majesty’s liege people, not being slaves ; or shall willfully burn any
dwelling-house, barn, stable, outhouse, stacks of com or hay; and shall
thereof be convicted before three or more of his majesty’s justices of the
peace for the county where -such fact shall be committed, one whereof to
be of the quorum, who are thereby authorized to hear and determine the
same, in conjunction with five of the principal freeholders of the county,
without a grand jury, seven of whom agreeing, shall put their judgment
in execution according to this act; or before any court of oyer and termi-
ner or general jail delivery; he, she or they so offending, shall suffer the
pains of death, in such manner and with such circumstances as the aggra-
vation or enormity of their crimes, in the judgment of the justices of those
courts aforesaid, or as in the judgment of seven of the said justices and
freeholders, shall merit and require.CONSPIRATORS AT NEW YORK IN 1741.

73

“ Gentlemen,—Not only these two negroes, but divers oth-
ers, and several white people, as will appear to you in the
course of our evidence, have been concerned with these
wretched offenders in this most wicked and devilish conspi-
racy.

“ Gentlemen,—You will hear from the mouths of our wit-
nesses, that these two negroes, with divers others, frequently
met at the house of one John Hughson, in this city. It was
there they were harbored—there was the place of their gen-
eral rendezvous—and there it was this hellish conspiracy was
brooded, formed*' consented, and agreed to. It was there that
these two negroes and the rest of the conspirators came to a
resolution of burning the king’s house at the fort, and this
whole town, and of murdering the inhabitants as they should
come to extinguish the flames. Crimes, gentlemen, so as-
tonishingly cruel and detestable, that one would think they
never could have entered into the minds, much less the resolu-
tion of any but a conclave of devils to execute; and yet such
monsters in iniquity are these two criminals and the rest of
their confederates.

“ Gentlemen,—It will likewise appear to you, by Quaco’s
own confession, as we shall in the course of our evidence for
the king upon this trial show you, that in prosecution of such
their most abominable conspiracies, the king’s house was by
him, at the instigation of the rest of the conspirators, set on
fire, burnt down, and consumed.

“ And then as to Cuffee, we shall show you that he is doubt-
less guilty of the charge against him.

“ Gentlemen,—The eyes of the inhabitants of this city and
province are upon you, relying on and confiding in you, that
by the justice of your verdict in this cause this day, the peace
and safety of this city and province may for the future be se-
cured to them; which at present, until some examples are
made, seem very precarious.

“ Gentlemen,—It is in you, the people in general place their
hopes and expectations of their future security and repose;
that they may sit securely in their own houses, and rest quietly
in their beds, no one daring to make them afraid.

“ I shall now proceed to examine the witnesses for the king,
to support the charge against each of these criminals; and can
make no doubt, gentlemen, but when you have heard the evi-
dence against them, you will for your own sakes, your oath’s
sake, and for the peace, quiet and security of your country,
find these two negroes.”

Mr. Murray and Mr. Smith, of council also for the king.74

PROCEEDINGS AGAINST THE

Witnesses for the king, called and sworn, Mary Burton, Sa-
rah Higgins, Jacohus Stoutenburgh, Arthur Price, John Pe-
terson, Daniel Gautier, Isaac Gardner, Mr. Hilliard, James
M’Donald.

Negro evidence, Fortune (Wilkins’s) Sandy (Niblet’s.)

Evidence against Cuffee.—Mary Burton said, “ That Cuffee,
with Csesar and Prince, the two negroes hanged, used fre-
quently to meet at her master’s (Hughson’s) house, and that
she heard them often talk of burning the fort, and that they
would go down to the Fly and burn the whole town; and that
her master and mistress said they would aid,and assist them
as much as they could.

“ That in their common conversation they used to say, that
when all this was done, Csesar should be governor, and Hugh-
son (her master) king.

“ That Cuffee used to say, that a great many people had too
much, and others too little; that his old master had a great
deal of money, but that in a short time, his master would have
less and himself have more.

“ That at the meetings of the said three negroes, Cuffee,
Caesar, and Prince, at her master’s house, they used to say in
their conversations, that when they set fire to the town, they
would do it in the night; and as the white people came to ex-
tinguish it, they would kill and destroy them.

“ That she has known, at times, seven or eight guns in her
master’s house, and some swords; and has seen twenty or
thirty negroes at one time there ; and that at such large meet-
ings the three aforesaid negroes, Cuffee, Caesar, and Prince,
were generally present and most active; and used to say, that
the other negroes durst not refuse to do what they commanded
them; and that they were sure they had a number sufficient
to stand by them : that the negroes swore, that if ever she
published or discovered their design of burning the town, they
would burn her whenever they met her.”

Court. Did the prisoner Cuffee ever threaten you so ?

M. Burton. Yes, he, Caesar and Prince, and the rest.

“ That about three weeks after she came to Hughsoji’s,
which was about midsummer last, the negroes were there
talking of the plot, and some of them said perhaps she would
tell; and Cuffee said no, she would not, he intended to have
her for a wife; and then run up to her; and she had a dish-
clout in her hand, which she dabbed in his face, and he ran
away.

“ That at a meeting of the negroes at Hughson’s house,
Hughson said they were all sworn, negroes and white peopleCONSPIRATORS AT NEW YORK IN 1741.

75

present, as she understood: that is, Hughson, his wife, daugh-
ter Sarah, and Peggy, and that the purport of the oath
was, that they were not to discover the secrets about firing the
fort, the houses at the Fly, and the whole town, and about
murdering the white people: and Hughson said to the negroes
present, which were Cuffee, Caesar, and Prince, now you must
take care, for you are all sworn; and at the same time the
witness saw a Bible, as she took it to be, in Hughson’s hand,
and when the witness came into the room he laid it upon the
table; and when Caesar spoke to the witness and cautioned her
not to tell, and Hughson made answer that she dared not;
and Cuffee said, d—n his bl—d, if he would tell of any, if
he was burnt; and so said the other two negroes, and so said
Hughson, his wife, daughter Sarah, and Peggy.”

Arthur Price said, “ That soon after Cuffee, the prisoner at
the bar, came to jail, he had some discourse with him over
a bowl or tankard of punch, being confined in the same room
together, and that, amongst other things, Cuffee said, that he
was one of the Geneva Club that was sworn, but being over-
come with sleep, he did not go to their meetings at that time:
that Cuffee asked the witness what could be the reason that
Peggy was called down so often ? The witness answered, he
thought Peggy was discovering the plot about the fire at the
fort. Cuffee replied, she could not do that unless she forswore
herself, he knew; for that he that had done that was sworn
after she was in prison; that he left his master’s house in the
evening, and went along the wharves to the Fly-Market, and
waited there till one Quaco came out of his master’s house;
they two went then to John Hughson’s, where they met no-
body but John Hughson, his wife, and daughter Sarah ; that
they called for a tankard of punch; that Hughson swore
Quaco three times ; that they only drank out their punch, and
then went down to the Fly. That the witness thereupon said
to Cuffee, that he believed he knew that Quaco, and that he
lived with a butcher ; Cuffee replied, no; he doth not live with
a butcher, but he lives with a painter, who fives within a few
doors of a butcher; which painter’s name he understood to be
Roosevelt, to the best of the witness’s remembrance.

“ That Cuffee told him, that Quaco was married to the ne-
gro wench who is cook to the fort, (to the governor), as the
witness understood him.

“ That Cuffee said they were all (the negroes as he under-
stood him) to meet at Hughson’s the Sunday after Quaco was
sworn, but some came and some did not.

“ That witness asked Cuffee how Quaco did do it ? (mean-76

PROCEEDINGS AGAINST THE

ing the setting fire to the fort) that Cuffee answered he could
not tell how he did it, but that Quaco was to do it, and did
do it.

“ That Cuff said they were to meet and have a club at
Hughson’s in the Easter holidays, but that the d—d constables
hindered them*

“ That the witness further asked Cuffee, whether he did not
think that the firing would be found out ? and he replied, no,
by G-d, he did not think it ever would.

“ That the witness asked Cuffee, whether he was not afraid
that the two negroes who were to be executed next Monday,
would discover the fires about the fort and town ? Cuffee an-
swered, he was not afraid of that, for that he was sure they
would be burnt to ashes before they would discover it, he would
lay his life on it.

“ That afterwards, upon further discourse with Cuffee, he
said he wondered why they only took up the Long Bridge boys,
and not those of the Smith’s Fly, for he said he believed, if
the truth was known, the Smith’s Fly negroes were as much
concerned as the others.

“ That Cuffee said to the witness, he knew he was to suffer
death, and wondered why they did not bring him to his trial,
for he was sure he was to go the way the other two went;
meaning (as he understood him) the negroes Csesar and Prioee,

“That after Quaco, the other prisoner at the bar, was com-
mitted, Cuffee never mentioned anything concerning the for-
mer discourse to the witness, but read sometimes, and cried
very much.”

Sarah Higgins said, “ That on Sunday afternoon, the day
before Col. Philipse’s storehouse was set on fire, she saw four
negroes lurking about the Garden, behind that storehouse,
but she knew but one of them, and him only by sight, which
was Cuffee, the prisoner at the bar.

“ That in the dusk of the evening, she saw four negroes in
the same garden again, and they seemed to keep mostly abo\jt
Kip’s brewhouse, which was on the side of the garden oppo-
site to the said storehouse, they shuffled about as though they
would hide themselves; she distinguished Cuffee to be one, that
he had on a blue coat; she imagined they were upon some ill
design, and therefore got Capt. Phoenix’s sons to go along with
her with small arms (swords she meant) and they went in with
her, and searched Kip’s brewhouse for the said negroes, but
did not find them.

“ The said Cuffee had come several times to the house whereCONSPIRATORS AT NEW YORK IN 1741.

77

she used to live, but she did not know beforePthen, who he be-
longed to.”

John Peterson said, that when Col. Philipse’s storehouse was
on fire, he went to assist there, and coming up to it he met
Cuffee (Philipse’s) coming out of the door of the storehouse, and
he asked Cuff, what he did there? Cuff swore a great oath,
and said the people were looking for negroes. That the wit-
ness had a bucket of water in his hand, and gave it to Cuff,
and bid him hand it: and he. took the bucket from the witness :
that Cuff had a blue coat on lined or faced with red, and he
knew his voice very well when he answered him. The wit-
ness said, he used to work for Cuff’s master, and knew the ne-
gro very well.

“ That after the fire at the storehouse was extinguished, and
the people were drawn away from thence by a new cry of fire,
Mr. Philipse (Cuff’s master) and Mr. Chambers were standing
together in the garden near the storehouse, and somebody caine
up and told Mr. Philipse that they had taken Cuff out of his
house, and were carrying him to jail, and that it was he that
had set the fire; Mr. Philipse made answer, how can that be,
I left him at home at work, making a vane for the boat ? that
he the witness standing near by and hearing that, said I am
sure I saw him there just now at the fire and spoke to him, and
he answered me, and I handed him a bucket of water.”

Jacobus Stoudenburgh said, “ That he had known the
prisoner (Cuffee) by sight a long time, but did not know who
he belonged to.

“ That he (the witness) went to assist at the fire at Mr. Phi-
lipse’s storehouse; and when that fire was extinguished he was
at the top of the roof, when there was another alarm of fire,
which drew most of the people away from thence; when some-
body cried out there were negroes in the storehouse ; and there
being a great many shingles pulled off the roof, he could see
down into them, and he espied out Cuff in the storehouse next
to that on fire, and he was letting himself down through the
laths in order to catch him, but he was hindered by a nail catch-
ing hold of his breeches, or he believed he had taken him; that
he saw him leap out of the window at the end of the storehouse,
and so made haste away, leaping over several garden fences,
and made his escape; that when the witness went back with
the fire-engines towards the City Hall, and he heard the people
say they had got the negro; and then he said if it was the
same negro he should know him again; and there was a great
crowd of people bringing him to jail, and when the witness78

PROCEEDINGS AGAINST THE

saw him he knew him to be the same (Cuffee) the prisoner at
the bar.”

Isaac Gardner said, “ He saw Cuffee, the prisoner at the bar,
at the fire at the fort; there were rows made of people in the
garden, negroes as well as white men, from the water side
through the sally port, in order to hand water along to the fire,
and the witness observed that when the buckets came to Cuffee,
instead of handing them along to the next man, he put them
upon the ground and overset them, by which means the ground
which was at first dry and hard, became so wet that the wit-
ness who stood next him, was almost up to the ankles in mud,
and that the witness then observed Cuff when the flames of
the house blazed up very high, he huzzaed, danced, whistled
and sung, and that the witness said to him, you black dog, is
this a time for you to dance and make game upon such a sad
accident; and he only laughed and whispered to Albany (Mrs.
Carpenter’s negro) who stood next to him on the other side :
whereupon the witness seeing Col. Moore, he said to him he
wished he would speak to those negroes, who only laughed and
made game whenever he forbid them oversetting the water,
and that Col. Moore did speak to them, but after his back was
turned, they went on again in the same manner, and so con-
tinued until they broke up from the fire.”

Evidence affecting both prisoners.—Daniel Gauthier, car-
penter, said, that he was one of the first who went up to the
fort upon the alarm of the fire. When he came up towards
it, he observed that great part of the outside of the roof was
covered with smoke, but none for a considerable distance from
the end next the chapel; when he came upon the ramparts
next the chapel, he was asking how it came, and was told it
was occasioned by the plumber’s carrying his fire-pot into the
gutter, which he was mending between the house and the cha-
pel (as it was a leaden gutter which the plumber had been sol-
dering to stop a leak) and some sparks of the fire had blown
out of the pot and catched the shingles; whereupon the wit-
ness seeing a ladder set up against the gutter, he went up, and
looking in at the dormant window at the end of the house
towards the chapel, he saw the inside of the garret roof in a
blaze, and there was no fire within twenty foot of the end he
looked in at; wherefore he was then of opinion it could not
have been occasioned by the plumber’s working there; for
when the fire broke out at the top of the roof, it was, as he
thought, twenty foot from the end next the gutter, and he ob-
served the fire broke out in several places further ; and the wit-CONSPIRATORS AT NEW YORK IN 1741.

79

ness said, that upon his first view of it, he gave the house over
for lost.

Hilliard, the plumber, said, “ that he thought the fire could
m ' have been occasioned by his working there, for that he was
ery careful of the fire 'he carried up, and he had a soldier to
attend him; that his fire-pot was set on a board which laid
over the gutter from the chapel to the house, but was much
lower than the dormant window ; that he did not think that
any sparks of fire did fly out of the fire-pot; for it was an in-
closed pot like a dark lantern, with an opening only before
to put his soldering iron in, and that he was careful to put the
back of it towards the wind; that the fire was on the other
side of the roof, not near where he was at work.”

Mr. Murray observed, that by an act of assembly of this
province, as in all other of his majesty’s colonies where there
are negroes, the negro evidence is good against each other: and
he read the particular clauses in the act for the purpose, and
further remarked upon the reasonableness and necessity of this
law.

[The title of it is mentioned in the note upon the abstract of
the first indictment in this trial.]

Negro evidence affecting Cuffee.—Fortune (Wilkins’s negro)
said, “ that on Sunday, the day before Col. Philipse’s store-
house in New street was set on fire, being sent by his master,
towards evening on an errand to their apprentice boy, who
lived in Broadway, he went by the way of New street, where
he saw Cuffee and spoke with him, and that he said he was
going to one of his master’s storehouses, on which they parted,
and the witness went to Broadway, and tarried there till it was
duskish ; that he returned the same way, and as he came by the
house of Captain Phoenix, at the corner of New street, he saw
Cuffee again, and two negroes more at some small distance
from him, but who they were knew not: that he spoke with
Cuffee, and asked him what he did there so late ? he answer-
ed, he waited there for his master, who wanted something out
of the storehouse, and that he was to come and bring the key
with him, on which they parted again, but the witness believ-
ed one of the other two negroes was a Spaniard, because when
he left Cuffee, he heard one of them call him, venez a qui
seignior.

The witness said, “ that he had been often asked by Caesar
(Varack’s), Prince (Auboyneau’s) and Cuffee, the prisoner to go
with them to Hughson’s, but that he never did, but was told
they had a dance there every other night.”

Negro evidence affecting Quaco and Cuffee.—Sandy said,80

PROCEEDINGS AGAINST THE

“ that he heard Quaco and Cuffee say, they would set fire to
Mr. Philipse’s storehouse.

“ That Cuffee said, d—n him, that hang him or burn him,
he would set fire to the town.”

Evidence affecting Quaco only.—Mary Burton said, “ that
she had often seen Quaco at Hughson’s door, along with
Cuffee (Philipse’s), Csesar (Varack’s) and Prince (Auboyneau’s),
but never saw him within the house.”

Negro evidence against Quaco.—Fortune, (Wilkins’s) said,
“ that Quaco, about a week or ten days before the fort was
burnt, (being a Sunday afternoon) desired the witness to take
a walk with him, and that he went with him into the common,
where Quaco left him a little while, and went down into the
swamp, near the powder house, where he gathered something,
and returned to him again.

“ That when he came back, the witness asked him what he
had got ? He answered, he would not tell him; but then
asked the witness to go down with him to the fort, and
said he would give him some punch; that accordingly the
witness went with him to the fort, though he did not go very
willingly.

“ That when they came to the fort, Quaco carried him
into the kitchen, where he kept him till it began to grow dark,
and then the witness told him he must be going, for that the
watch would take him up; Quaco answered, there was no dan-
ger of that.

' “ That Quaco gave him no punch at the fort, but asked
him to drink a dram, which he refused; and so both came
away from thence together, keeping company till they came to
Captain Pearson’s house, where they parted; the witness re-
turned home, and Quaco, as the witness believed, went back to
the fort.

“ This was all that passed between the witness and Quaco
at their first meeting, on Sunday afternoon.

“ That about three days after that, the witness met Quaco
again, near Mrs. Carpenter’s, where Quaco asked the witness,
why he was in such haste when he was last at the fort ? To
which the witness answered, that he was afraid of the watch.
Quaco replied, there was no fear of that, and invited him to
come and see him again at the fort, but the witness refused,
saying that he had promised him punch before and gave him
none.

“ That about two days before the fort was burnt, he met
Quaco again, near Mrs. Rickets’s, where he told the witness
that in a few days there would be great alterations in the fort.CONSPIRATORS AT NEW YORK IN 1741.

81

The witness asked him what alterations ? to which Quaco re-
plied, that the fort would be burnt. The witness asked him
who would do it ? Quaco replied, you may ask Niblet’s negro,
and he will tell you. That the witness did ask Niblet’s negro
who was to burn the fort ? To which he answered Quaco,
himself (Sandy), and Gomez’s Cuffee would do it.

“That the next day after the fire at the fort the witness met
Sandy (Niblet’s negro), who said to him, we have done the
business ; and the same day the witness met Quaco, who like-
wise said to him, the business is done ; thereupon the witness
asked him what business ? to which Quaca replied, the fort is
burnt: don’t you remember that I told you there would be
great alterations in the fort ? and Quaco told him at the same
time that he himself, Niblet’s Sandy, and Gomez’s Cuffee, had
done it.”

Sandy, alias Sawney (Niblet’s negro), said, “ that about
three weeks before the fire at the fort, Quaco asked him to set
the fort on fire, and he, the witness, answered no, he would not
run the risk of being hanged ; but that he might go to h—11
and be d—d. Then Quaco said he would do it himself.”

Against Quaco and Cuffee.—Sandy said, “ that they two
particularly talked of killing the gentlemen, and taking their
wives to themselves ; that he heard Quaco say, since he came
to jail, that he burnt the fort.”

Witnesses called at the request of the prisoners.—Jacob
Bursen, Peter Jay, Lewis Parent, Gerardus Beekman, Mr.
Niblet, Captain Rowe, John Roosevelt and his son, Catharine
Wells, Adolph Philipse, Esq.

Adolph Philipse, Esq. (Cuffee’s master) said, that all he
could declare about him was, “ that the afternoon his nephew’s
(Col. Philipse’s) storehouse was on fire, he had left him at
home not long before the alarm of the fire at work, sewing a
vane upon a board for his boat—that as to his character he
could say nothing.”

Quaco’s master (Mr. Roosevelt) and his son, both declared
“ that Quaco was employed most part of that morning the
fort was fired, from the time they got up, in cutting away the
ice out of the yard; that he was hardly ever out of their
sight all that morning, but a short time while they were at
breakfast and that they did not think he could that morning
have been from their house as far as the fort.”

James M’Donald being called and sworn for the king, said,
“ that the day the fort was fired, he stood sentry at the gate,
about eleven o’clock in the morning, a little before or after,
and that Quaco came up to the gate and offered to come in;

682

PROCEEDINGS AGAINST THE

the witness said, he knew that the governor had sometime
before forbid him coming to the fort, and therefore he scrupled
to let him in; Quaco answered, that he was free now and had
liberty to come in, and so he let him pass.

“ That not long before that, the witness was posted one
night at the same gate, and Quaco (the prisoner) came up in
order to go to the governor’s house, and the witness knew
that the governor had before then lately forbid him coming
there, and therefore opposed his entrance within the gate; but
Quaco was resolute, and pushed forward whether he would or
no, and said he would go in. The witness then bid him take
what followed, and clubbed his firelock, and knocked him
down ; and then Quaco got up again and collared the witness,
and cried out murder; and the witness was going to strike
him again, and the officer of the guard hearing a bustle, called
to the witness, and forbid him striking him any more; and
Quaco then run in-doors into the governor’s kitchen, and they
went and fetched him, and turned him out of the fort.”

Captain Rowe and Beekman said, “ Quaco was employed
last year to work at the new battery, and that he minded his
business very well.”

The other witnesses called at the request of the prisoners
said nothing more material.

The prisoners being asked what they had to offer in their
defence, they offered nothing but peremptory denials of what
had been testified against them, and protestations of their
innocency.	/

Mr. Smith then proceeded to sum up and remark upon the
evidence, and spoke as follows

“ May it please your honors, and you, gentlemen of the jury :

“ The part assigned to me on this trial is to sum up the
evidence which you have heard ; and in general it may be
observed, that a most horrid conspiracy has been formed to
burn this city, and to destroy the white people.

“ That, great numbers of persons have been concerned in
the plot; some whites, and many blacks. That the place of
their general rendezvous was the house of John Hughson.
That there thirty negroes have met at a time. That their
meetings were chiefly on Sundays. That Hughson, as the
captain of this hellish band, swore himself and others into this
dark confederacy. That some arms and ammunition were
provided by Hughson for the purpose; and that the night
season was agreed on for putting it in execution.

“ Gentlemen,—No scheme more monstrous could have been
invented ; nor could anything be thought of more foolish, thanCONSPIRATORS AT NEW YORK IN 1741.

83

the motives that induced these wretches to enter into it! What
more ridiculous than that Hughson, in consequence of this
scheme, should become a king l Caesar, now in gibbets, a
governor ! That the white men should be all killed, and the
women become a prey to the rapacious lust of these villains !
That these slaves should thereby establish themselves in peace
and freedom in the plundered wealth of their slaughtered
masters! It is hard to say whether the wickedness or the
folly of this design is the greater ; and had it not been in part
executed before it was discovered, we should with great diffi-
culty have been persuaded to believe it possible, that such a
wicked and foolish plot could be contrived by any creatures in
human shape.

“ Yet, gentlemen, incredible as such a plot would have
seemed to have been, the event has in part proved it to be
real. Whence else could so many fires have been lighted up
all around you in so short a time, with evident marks of willful
design ? A design that could not be executed but by several
hands.

“ Now, gentlemen, the prisoners at the bar stand charged
with being principal parties in this tragical design, and two of
the prime incendiaries—Quaco for burning his majesty’s house
in the fort, and Cuffee for burning Col. Philipse’s storehouse.”

Afterwards Mr. Smith proceeded to observe on the several
parts of the evidence against each of the prisoners, particularly
to show that Cuffee was one of the first of the negroes that
were sworn into the plot to burn and murder; that he appeared
one of the most forward and active in promoting it; that Mr.
Philipse’s storehouse, by divers circumstances, appeared to
have been willfully set on fire; that the prisoner declared that
he would burn that storehouse ; that he was seen there before
the fire broke out, in a suspicious appearance, and was present
at the time of it; and at the cry of some persons that negroes
were in the storehouse, the prisoner jumped out of a window,
leaped over two fences, and ran away; that he seemed exceed-
ingly well pleased with the fire at the fort; overset the buck-
ets that were filled with water, and did what he could to pre-
vent the extinguishing of the fire, and then inferred, from the
facts proved, and circumstances attending them, that there
appeared violent presumption of guilt, which the law esteems
full proof.

As to Quaco, he observed, that the witnesses proved that
Quaco was sworn into the conspiracy, and particularly that he
bad agreed to burn the fort; that he repeatedly said he would
do it; that the fire where it broke out could not easily be ac-84

PROCEEDINGS AGAINST THE

counted for from any accidental cause ; that the prisoner had
confessed the crime both before he was apprehended and since
he had been in jail; all which amount to full proof.”

The particular remarks on the testimony of the witnesses to
the several points before mentioned, are here omitted for the
sake of brevity, and because the substance of the evidence is
before related. Then concluded,

“ Thus, gentlemen, I have distinguished the several points
of the evidence against the prisoners, and have repeated the
substance of what each witness has said to each point, and
shall leave it to you to determine whether the prisoners are
guilty or not. I have endeavored to lay no more weight upon
any part of the evidence that it will well bear; and I hope I
have not urged any consequence which the fact proved will
not fairly warrant.

“ Gentlemen,—The prisoners have been iindulged with the
same kind of trial as is due to freemen, though they might
have been proceeded against in a more summary and less
favorable way. The negro evidence, in the manner in which
it has been produced, is warranted by the act of assembly that
has been read to you; the law requires no oath to be admin-
istered to them, and indeed it would seem to be a profanation
of it, to administer it to a heathen in the legal form. You have
seen that the court has put them-under the most solemn cau-
tion, that their small knowledge of religion can render them
capable of. The being and perfections of an Almighty, all-
knowing, and just God, and the terrors of an eternal world,
have been plainly laid before them, and strongly pressed .upon
them. Unless they were professed Christians, and had taken
upon them the bonds and obligations of that religion, their
word, with the cautions that have been used, I suppose will be
thought by you as satisfactory as any oath that could have been
devised. But, gentlemen, the court has no power to ad-
minister an oath but in the common form, and if pagan negroes
could not be received as witnesses against each other without
an oath in legal form, it is easy to perceive that the greatest
villainies would often pass with impunity.

“ Before I conclude, I cannot help observing to you, gentle-
men, that by divers parts of the evidence, it appears that this
horrid scene of iniquity has been chiefly contrived and promoted
at meetings of negroes in great numbers on Sundays. This in-
structive circumstance may teach us many lessons, both of
reproof and caution, which I only hint at, and shall leave the
deduction of the particulars to every one’s reflection.

“ Gentlemen, the monstrous ingratitude of this black tribe isCONSPIRATORS AT NEW YORK IN 1741.	85

what exceedingly aggravates their guilt. Their slavery among
us is generally softened with great indulgence; they live with-
out care, and are commonly better fed and clothed, and put to
less labor, than the poor of most Christian countries. They
are indeed slaves, but under the protection of the law, none
can hurt them with impunity : they are really more happy in
this place, than in the midst of the continual plunder, cruelty,
and rapine of their native countries; but notwithstanding all
the kindness and tenderness with which they have been treated
amongst us, yet this is the second attempt of the same kind,
that this brutish and bloody species of mankind have made within
one age.* That justice that was provoked by former fires, and
the innocent blood that was spilt in your streets, should have
been a perpetual terror to the negroes that survived the ven-
geance of that day, and should have been a warning to all that
had come after them. But I fear, gentlemen, that we shall
never be quite safe, till that wicked race are under more re-
straint, or their number greatly reduced within this city. But
I shall not insist further, but refer you, gentlemen, to the di-
rection of the court; and if the evidence against these pris-
oners prove sufficient in your judgment to convict them, I
make no doubt but you will bring in a verdict accordingly, and
do what in you lies to rid the country of some of the vilest
creatures in it.”

Then the jury were charged, and a constable was sworn to
attend them as usual; and they withdrew ; and being soon re-
turned, found the prisoners guilty of both indictments.

The prisoners were asked, what they had to offer in arrest
of judgment, why they should not receive sentence of death?
and they offering nothing but repetitions of protestations of
their innocence, Mr. Justice Horsmanden proceeded to sen-
tence, as followeth:—

“ Quaco and Cuffee, the criminals at the bar :

“ You both now stand convicted of one of the most horrid
and detestable pieces of villainy, that ever Satan instilled into
the heart of human creatures to put in practice. You, and
the rest of your color, though you are called slaves in this
country, are far, very far, from the condition of other slaves in
other countries; nay, your lot is superior to that of thousands
of white people. You are furnished with all the necessaries
of life, meat, drink, and clothing, without care, in a much
better manner than you could provide for yourselves, were you
at liberty ; as the miserable condition of many free people here
of your complexion might abundantly convince you. What

* Alluding to the negro plot in 1712.86

PROCEEDINGS AGAINST THE

then could prompt you to undertake so vile, so wicked, so
monstrous, so execrable and hellish a scheme, as to murder and
destroy your own masters and benefactors ? nay to destroy,
root and branch, all the white people of this place, and to lay
the whole town in ashes.

“ I know not which is the more astonishing, the extreme
folly, or wickedness, of so base and shocking a conspiracy; for
as to any view of liberty or government you could propose to
yourselves, upon the success of burning the city, robbing,
butchering and destroying the inhabitants; what could it be
expected to end in, in the account of any rational and con-
siderate person among you, but your own destruction ? And as
the wickedness of it, you might well have reflected, you that
have sense, that there is a God above, who has always a clear
view of all your actions, who sees into the most secret recesses
of the heart, and knoweth all your thoughts; shall he not, do
ye think, for all this bring you into judgment, at that final and
great day of account, the day of judgment, when the most
secret treachery will be disclosed, and laid open to the view,
and every one will b6 rewarded according to their deeds, and
their use of that degree of reason which God Almighty has
intrusted them with ?

“ Ye that were for destroying us without mercy, ye abject
wretches, the outcasts of the nations of the earth, are treated
here with tenderness and humanity; and, I wish I could not
say, with too great indulgence also; for you have grown wan-
ton with excess of liberty, and your idleness has proved your
ruin, having given you the opportunities of forming this villain-
ous and detestable conspiracy; a scheme compounded of the
blackest and foulest vices, treachery, bloodthirstiness, and in-
gratitude. But be not deceived, God Almighty only can and
will proportion punishments to men’s offences; you that have
shown'no mercy here, and have been for destroying all about
you, and involving them in one general massacre and ruin, what
hopes can ye have of mercy in the other world ? For shall
not the judge of all the earth do right? Let me in compassion
advise ye then; there are but a few moments between ye and
eternity ; ye ought therefore seriously to lay to heart these
things; earnestly and sorrowfully to bewail your monstrous and
crying sins, in this your extremity ; and if ye would reasonably
entertain any hopes of mercy at the hands of God, ye must
show mercy here yourselves, and make what amends ye can
before you leave us, for the mischief you have already done, by
preventing any more being done. Do not flatter yourselyes,
for the same measure which you give us here, will be measuredCONSPIRATORS AT NEW YORK IN 1741.

87

to you again in the other world; ye must confess your whole
guilt, as to the offences of which ye stand convicted, and for
which ye will presently receive judgment; ye must discover
the whole scene of iniquity which has been contrived in this
monstrous confederacy, the chief authors and actors, and all
and every the parties concerned, aiding and assisting therein,
that by your means a full stop may be put to this horrible and
devilish undertaking. And these are the only means left ye
to show mercy; and the only reasonable grounds ye can go
upon, to entertain any hopes of mercy at the hands of God,
before whose judgment seat ye are so soon to appear.

“Ye cannot be so stupid, surely, as to imagine, that when ye
leave this world, when your souls put off these bodies of clay,
you shall become like the beasts that perish, that your spirits
shall only vanish into the soft air and cease to be. No, your
souls are immortal, they will live forever, either to be eternally
happy, or eternally miserable in the other world, where you
are now going.

“ If ye sincerely and in earnest repent you of your abomina-
ble sins, and implore the divine assistance at this critical junc-
ture, in working out the great and momentous article of the
salvation of your souls; upon your making all the amends,
and giving all the satisfaction which is in each of your powers,
by a full and complete discovery of the conspiracy, and of the
several persons concerned in it, as I have observed to ye before,
then and only upon these conditions can ye reasonably expect
mercy at the hands of God Almighty for your poor, wretched
and miserable souls.	'

“ Here ye must have justice, for the justice of human laws
has at length overtaken ye, and we ought to be very thankful,
and esteem it a most merciful and wondrous act of Providence,
that your treacheries and villainies have been discovered ; that
your plot and contrivances, your hidden works of darkness
have been brought to light, and stopped in their career ; that
in the same net which you have hid so privily for others your
own feet are taken; that the same mischief which you have
contrived for others, and have in part executed, is at length
fallen upon your own pates, whereby the sentence which I am
now to pronounce will be justified against you ; which is,

‘‘ That you and each of you be carried from hence to the
place from whence you came, and from thence to the place of
execution, where you and each of you shall be chained to a
stake, and burnt to death ; and the Lord have mercy upon your
poor, wretched souls.

Ordered, that the execution of the said Quaco and Cuffee be88

PROCEEDINGS AGAINST THE*

on Saturday, the 30th of this instant, between the hours of
one and seven o’clock in the afternoon of the same day.

The Couift adjourned till Tuesday, the 2d of June next, at
ten o’clock in the morning.

Saturday, May 30.—This day Quaco and Cuffee were ex-
ecuted at the stake according to sentence.

The spectators at this execution were very numerous ; about
three o’clock the criminals were brought to the stake, surround-
ed with piles of wood ready for setting fire to, which the peo-
ple were very impatient to have done, their resentment being
raised to the utmost pitch against them, and no wonder. The
criminals showed great terror in their countenances, and looked
as if they would gladly have discovered all they knew of this
accursed scheme, could they have had any encouragement to
hope for a reprieve. But as the case was, they might flatter
themselves with hopes: they both seemed inclined to make
some confession ; the only difficulty between them at last being,
who should speak first. Mr. Moore, the deputy secretary, un-
dertook singly to examine them both, endeavoring to persuade
them to confess their guilt, and all they knew of the matter,
without effect; till at length Mr. Roosevelt came up to him,
and said he would undertake Quaco, whilst Mr. Moore examin-
ed Cuffee; but before they could proceed to the purpose,
each of them was obliged to flatter his respective criminal that
his fellow sufferer had begun, which stratagem prevailed;
Mr. Roosevelt stuck to Quaco altogether, and Mr. Moore took
Cuff’s confession, and sometimes also minutes of what each
said; and afterwards upon drawing up their confessions in
form from their minutes, they therefore intermixed what came
from each.

Quaco’s confession at the stake. He said—

1.	“ That Hughson was the first contriver of the whole plot,
and promoter of it; which was to burn the houses of the
town; Cuffee said, to kill the people.

2.	“ That Hughson brought in first Caesar, Varack’s; then
Prince, Auboyneau’s ; Cuffee, Philipse’s; and others, amongst
whom were old Kip’s negro ; Robin, Chambers’; Cuffee, Go-
mez’s; Jack, Codweis’s, and another short negro, that cooks
for him.

3.	“ That he (Quaco) did fire the fort; that it was by a
lighted stick taken out of the servant’s hall, about eight o’clock
at night; that he went up the back stairs with it, and so
through Barbara’s room, and put it near the gutter, betwixt the
shingles and the roof of the house.CONSPIRATORS AT NEW YORK IN 1741.

89

4.	“ That on Sunday afternoon, a month before the firing of
the fort, over a bowl of punch, the confederates at Hughson’s
(amongst whom were the confederates above named, Albany,
and Tickle, alias Will, Jack and Cook, Comfort’s; old Butch-
ell, Caesar, and Guy, Horsfield’s; Tom, Van Rant’s; Caesar,
Peck’s; Worcester, and others) voted him, (Quaco),as having
a wife in the fort, to be the person who should fire the fort;
Sandy and Jack, Codweis’s; Caesar and Guy, Horsfield’s;
were to assist him in it.

5.	“ That Hughson desired the negroes to bring to his house
what they could get from the fire, and Hughson was to bring
down country people in his boat to further the business, and
would bring in other negroes.

6.	“ That forty or fifty to his knowledge were concerned,
but their names could not recollect. [The mob pressing and
interrupting.]

7.	“ That Cuffee, Gomez’s; and Caesar, Peck’s, fired Van
Zant’s storehouse.

8.	“ That 'Mary Burton had spoke the truth, and could name
many more.

9.	“Fortune, Wilkins’s, and Sandy, had done the same;
and Sandy could name the Spaniards, and say much more,
which Cuffee particularly confirmed.

10.	“ Being asked what view Hughson had in acting in this
manner ? he answered, to make himself rich.

11.	“ That after the fire was over, Quaco was at Hughson’s
house, Jack, Comfort’s, a leading man, Hughson, wife, and
daughter present, and said the job was done, meaning the
fire; that he went frequently to Hughson’s house, and met
there Tickle and Albany.

12.	“ Quaco said his wife was no ways concerned, for he
never would trust her with it; and that Denby * knew noth-
ing about the matter.

13.	"Jamaica, Ellis’s, not concerned that he knew of, but
was frequently at Hughson’s with his fiddle.

14.	“ Said he was not sworn by Hughson, but others
were.” f

* The governor’s negro boy. Quaco’s wife was the governor’s cook,
t If this be true, then he was sworn there by somebody else; but Cuff
told Arthur Price, as he says, that he (Cuff) went down with Quaco to
Hughson’s, and that Hughson swore Quaco three times. See Price’s de-
position, No. 3, ^ 1, 12th May. Perhaps Cuff said no more than that he
saw Quaco sworn there three times. From what had been discovered of
this villainy at that time, and for some time afterward, it was the
general opinion, that Hughson was the contriver and chief schemist of
the conspiracy, and these two negroes, it should seem, knew no better,90

PROCEEDINGS AGAINST THE

M’Donald (the witness against Quaco upon the trial,) at the
stake, desired Mr. Pinhorne to ask Quaco, whether he had
wronged him in what he had said of him at court ? He an-
swered no; it was true he did pass him at the fort gate,
about eleven o’clock that morning.

The witness then went up to him himself, and asked him the
same question; and he answered the same as to Mr. Pinhorne,
that he had not wronged him, and further, “ That he (Quaco)
thought the fort would have been on fire the night before; for
that he had taken a firebrand out of the servants’ hall, and
carried it up into the garret, on the seventeenth, at night (St.
Patrick’s), and when he came up the next morning into the
garret, he found the brand alight, and blew it, and then went
away again.” *

%Cuffee’s confession at the stake.—He said,

and from Quaco’s being carried to Hughson’s, and sworn three times
there, Price might naturally enough conclude he was sworn by Hughson
himself, and understand Cuffee so. It will scarce be expected a witness
should depose precisely the same words which pass in a long discourse,
but the substance of them only, according to his own apprehension and
remembrance. It was thought that the false, ensnaring, damnable no-
tion (which had, no doubt, with great art and industry, been instilled into
these wretches) of the obligation of that infernal oath, which had been
so often administered to them by Hughson and other principal conspira-
tors, was the true reason of the backwardness and hesitancy of the crim-
inals, and their alternately insisting upon the punctilio of the others open-
ing first. The hopes and promises of paradise for doing the devil’s work,
is no new invention of worldly, wicked, and bloodthirsty politicians, for
involving such as they are pleased to 6tyle heretics, in butchery and de-
struction.

* This to some may seem incredible; but those who have experienced
hickory or walnut firewood, which has the preference of all other fire-
wood in this country, (amongst other reasons for the durableness of the
coal), have affirmed, that they have known when a fire has been laid up,
and brands-ends or sticks put by in the chimney corner, that they have
mouldered slowly away, and been often found alive twenty-four hours
afterwards; which is much longer than this brand lay upon the beam in
the garret at the fort; and this was in a place where little or no air came
to quicken it, and where it lay, being upon a beam next the shingle roof,
it was possible there might have been some leak which had made it
damp or wet, which by the brand and the ashes mouldering from it, was
at length dried by the time Quaco came up there the next morning,
about eleven o’clock, which was about eleven hours after the brand was
laid there, by Quaco’s account; and the ashes which in that time had
mouldered from the brand, might possibly guard the beam from the fire,
till Quaco had blown them away, and enlivened the brand, by which
means it might afterwards take effect, though it was about an hour and a
half after this, that the smoke and smother appeared on the outside of
the roof. But however it was, these were declared by the witness
M’Donald, to be part of Quaco’s dying words, whatever objections they
may be liable to. And Quaco, it seems, was the occasion of this mis-
chief.CONSPIRATORS AT NEW YORK IN 1741.

91

1.	t£ That Hughson was the first contriver of all, and press-
ed him to it: that he, Cuffee, was one of the first concerned.

2.	“ The fire was intended to begin at Comfort’s shingles,
and so go through the town.

3.	“ Old Kip’s negro; Robin, Chamber’s ; Jack, Comfort’s ;
and Cuffee, Gomez’s; were of the conspirators : Albany and
Tickle were concerned.

4.	“ That he was sworn, and Caesar and Prince also by
Hughson.

5.	“ That Cuffee, Gomez’s; and Caesar, Peck’s ; burnt Van
Zant’s storehouse.

6.	“ That Sandy set fire to Mr. Machado’s house ; Niblet’s
negro wench can tell it, and Becker’s Bess knows it.

7.	“ That he set fire to the storehouse as sworn against him,
that when his master went to the Coffee-House, he ran out of
the other door, and went the back way into the storehouse,
having lighted charcoal in his pocket between two oyster shells,
he put the fire between the ropes and the boards, and leaving
it on fire, went home.

8.	“ That Hughson’s people were to raise a mob to favor
the design.

9.	“That the evidence Peterson did see him ; that Fortune
did see him the night before.

10.	“ That Fortune knew and was as deeply concerned as
he; and Sandy was concerned, and knew the Spaniards.
And (being asked) did confess there was a design to kill the
people, but not told to all. And said,

11.	“ There was about fifty concerned; and that all were
concerned that a constable who stood by had seen at Hugh-
son’s house.”

After the confessions were minuted down (which were
taken in the midst of great noise and confusion) Mr. Moore
desired the sheriff to delay the execution until the governor be
acquainted therewith, and his pleasure known touching their
reprieve ; which, could it have been effected, it was thought
might have been a means of producing great discoveries; but
from the disposition observed in the spectators, it was much
to be apprehended there would have been great difficulty, if
not danger in an attempt to take the criminals back. All this
was represented to his honor; and before Mr. Moore could
return from him to the place of execution, he met the sheriff
upon the common, who declared his opinion, that the carrying
the negroes back would be impracticable ; and if that was his
honor’s order it could not be attempted without a strong
guard, which could not be got time enou"-1' ? and his honor’s92

PROCEEDINGS AGAINST THE

directions for the reprieve being conditional and discretionary,
for these reasons the execution proceeded.

Cuffee, from the course of the evidence, was one of the
principal negroes who was first initiated into this detestable
enterprise ; one that Hughson, no doubt, found so thoroughly
qualified for his purpose, that he might put more than ordina-
ry confidence in him, and intrust him with a greater share of
this infernal secret than others of his color; but more espe-
cially as to the parties blacks, and whites, engaged in it. It
was notorious Cuff had a great deal of idle time upon his
hands, perhaps more than any negro in town, consequently
was much at large for making frequent daily or nightly visits
at Hughson’s, the head lodge, where these deeds of darkness
and inhumanity were brooding ; and therefore indeed must of
course have become personally acquainted with a greater
number of the conspirators, than others who had fewer of the
like opportunities.

Quaco had a master who kept him fully employed, days at
least, and it seems he was a much later convert; Price having
told Cuff, “ that he had heard Peggy had discovered about
the fire at the fort, Cuff replied, she could not do that unless
she forswore herself, he knew, for he that had done that was
sworn ” (perhaps he meant into the conspiracy also, but at
least he must mean to do that fact) “ after Peggy was in
prison.” And so Cuff goes on and tells the circumstances of
his meeting Quaco (it should seem according' to appointment)
and carrying him down to Hughson’s, and Hughson’s swearing
him three times, to make sure of him. This could not have
been long before the fort was burnt down, for Peggy was com-
mitted on the 4th March, and the fort burnt the 18th, but in-
tended for the 1/th at night; and by Cuff’s saying, “she
could not do that unless she forswore herself he knew,” i. e.
(Cuff must mean) she could not discover the person who set
fire to the fort. Quaco must therefore have been engaged in
this wicked purpose but a little before he put it in execution,
and though Hughson and his advisers might have known long
before that Quaco was a fit tool for them, and as such made
very much of him, because he had pretensions to go to tha
fort and stay there nights with his wife, and though probably
he might have been engaged and sworn into the general design
of the conspiracy, yet they might not think it so safe to at-
tempt the engaging him for this particular fact, long before
the time calculated for the execution of it, for they might ap-
prehend some danger in that; during a long interval there
would have been more hazard nf tuTHnr* nf.it. and perhapsV CONSPIRATORS AT NEW YORK IN 1741.

93

to his wife, who, if she had any influence over him, and had
happened to have a grain of honesty or gratitude towards her
master and his family, she possibly might have persuaded
him to make a merit to them both, of detecting this infernal
cpnfederacy, and therefore it seems most probable the devil
and his agents deferred the attempting his resolution upon
this grand article, till some short time before the execution of
it; if they found Quaco of a pliable disposition, they might
think if they could, upon a surprise, fix him in the persuasion
that such an oath was at all obligatory; by the reiterating of
it,, they might make the deeper impression upon him, and fix
him the more firmly, and that there would be less hazard of
his failure in the engagement, the shorter time he had to cool
and deliberate upon it.

Both these criminals declare their opinions, that Hughson
was the first contriver and promoter of the conspiracy, so far
as they knew of the matter; that he was the first promoter as
to them they were sure of; he drew Cutf into it several years
before, as will appear hereafter. But if the foregoing reflec-
tions are right, surely they import a train of policy beyond
what could be expected from an illiterate cobbler, Hughson.

However, from these confessions, there was another satis-
faction beyond these criminals’ acknowledgment of their own
guilt—that the testimony of Mary Burton, Sandy and Fortune,
negroes, witnesses upon the trial (upon the credit whereof
chiefly these criminals were convicted) was by them particular-
ly and expressly confirmed in the midst of flames, which is the
highest attestation; and by consequence from the whole,
Arthur Price’s also, who was the first that gave information
that Quaco was the person who set fire to the fort, and Cuffee
told him so.

Upon the confessions of these two criminals, one of the
judges issued a warrant for apprehending the negroes on
Nassau Island by them impeached, belonging to Mr. Codweise,
and the Horsfields ; and in consequence thereof, and the orders
given to the constables in town, the following slaves were com-
mitted this evening, viz.:—

Harry, (Kip’s) Tickle alias Will, Caesar, (Israel Horsfield’s)
Cambridge, (Codweise’s) Guise alias Galick, (Tim. Horsfield’s)
Tom, (Van Rants’s) Worcester, (Varian’s.)

The other negroes, mentioned in the confessions, were in
custody before.

Monday, June 1.—Examination of Sandy (Niblet’s negro)
before one of the judges—No. 3.—He said,94

PROCEEDINGS AGAINST THE

1.	“That he heard by Captain Lush’s house, about six of
the Spaniards, about fourteen days before the fort was burnt,
say, that if the captain would not send them to their own coun-
try, they would ruin all the city ; and the first house they would
burn should be the captain’s, for they did not care what they
did. He, Sandy, stood by Arden’s door, and they did not, as
he thought, see him; and that, pointing to Lush’s house, they
said, d—n that son of a b—h, they would make a devil of him,
which was the first time he ever heard of the conspiracy.

2.	“ That the second time Quaco called to him by Coen-
ties Market, and told him he wanted to speak to him; and said,
will you help to burn the fort ? and answered as be said at the
trial, and in his examination before the grand jury ; said that
Quaco told him the first time he met him, he would make an
end of him.

3.	“ That the third time, at Comfort’s house, one Sunday,
when Comfort’s Jack called to him to come to him, and he went
in, Sarah d—d him, and bid him drink, having before refused.

4.	“ That there was a great number of negroes present, and
about six Spanish negroes among them; but none of them were
the same that he saw at Lush’s. That he did drink.

5.	“ That Comfort’s Jack brought out about eleven penknives,
which were rusty; some complained that their knives were dull
and would not cut, which they went to sharpen on a stone;
Jack, Comfort’s, said his knife was so sharp, that if it came
across a white man’s head, it would cut it off; on which he
Sandy, said, if you want to fight, go to the Spaniards, and not
fight with your masters.

6.	“ That they asked him, and Comfort’s Jack in particular,
if he would help to burn some houses; he cried; on which
Jack, Comfort’s, said, d—n you, do you cry ? I’ll cut your
head off in a hurry, and surrounded him; on which Burk’s
wench said he deserved it, if he would not say yes, on which
he consented, and said yes ; whereupon they did not threaten
him, but bid him say nothing to black or white about it, and
every one would do his part, and take a round, and fire the
town.

7.	“ That Jack, Comfort’s, said they had not men enough
this year, but next year would do it, every one present was to
set his master’s house on fire first, and then do the rest at once,
and set all the houses on fire in the town, which when they
had done, they would kill all the white men, and have their
wives for themselves.

8.	“That Mr. Moore’s Cato, Caesar, Pintard’s negro, Mr.
Jay’s Brash, Jack, that is in jail, knows him if he sees him;CONSPIRATORS AT NEW YORK IN 1741.

95

Todd’s Dundee, Chambers’s Robin, Patrick, English’s, Peck’s
Caesar, a Caromantee, Cowley’s Cato, Comfort’s Mapb, alias
Cook, Kip’s Harry, and three country negroes, who called Com-
fort’s Jack, uncle, and brother, and cousin (this meeting was
about a fortnight before the fort was burnt) ; Ben Moore’s
Tom, Leffert’s Pompey, Duane’s Prince, Comfort’s old Caro-
mantee woman, Varack’s Caesar, were there also, the room
being quite full.

9.	“ That Augustine and Wilkins’s Fortune were to burn their
master’s houses, which he heard them say as they were talk-
ing by Frazier’s corner, about a week before the fort was
burnt.

10.	“ That at the aforesaid meeting at Comfort’s, Jack, the
old man, and the old woman, and three of the Spaniards were
sworn to the effect, that the first thunder that came, might
strike them dead, if they did not stand to their words.

11.	“That they asked him to come again the next day to
be sworn; the rest said they would come to be sworn the next
day.”

The negroes Tom, Ben. Moore’s ; Prince, Duane’s; and Pom-
pey, Leffert’s, apprehended and committed.

Examination of Fortune, Wilkins’s negro, before one of the
judges—No. 3.—He said,

1.	“That Quaco, one Sabbath day afternoon, asked him to
walk into the fields, and pressed him to it; third meeting, told
him he should see a great alteration at the fort; and told him
that they were going to burn the fort; threatened that some
of his mates would poison him if he told.

2.	“ That Niblet’s boy told him that Gomez’s negro was to
assist in burning the fort.

3.	“ That he heard Quaco talk to Gomez’s negro, Cuffee, on
the dock, that he must meet him to burn the house, and if
white people came, to shoot them with pistols; which was be-
fore the meeting him by Mr. Rickets’s.

4.	“ That when he asked Sandy, Niblet’s negro, who was to
burn the fort ? He answered, Quaco, himself, and Gomez’s
Cuffee ; that he asked him, Sandy, Niblet’s negro, to be con-
cerned, and that he said to Quaco, he had no mind to be
hanged, he might go to h—11 and be d—d.

5.	“ That he never talked to any negro but Quaco and Nib-
let’s about any conspiracy or design of firing.

6.	“Never heard of a house where they met, nor knew
Hughson. Cuffee however has asked him to go down to a
house by the North River, and dance with him ; but he never
did.”96

PROCEEDINGS AGAINST THE

Examination of Sarah, Burk’s negro wench, before one of
the judges, Mr. Chambers, and others—No. 2.—She said,

1.	“ That one Sunday afternoon, about four or five of the
clock, she was at Comfort’s house, in the kitchen, about five
weeks before the fort was fired ; a great many negroes sitting
round the table, betwixt twenty and thirty, amongst whom
were Dr. Fisher’s Harry, Bagley’s Jemmy, widow Schuyler’s
tall slender negro, Abeel’s mulatto Tom, Niblet’s Sandy ; she
staid there about an hour, and rum was there ; Mrs. Clopper’s
Betty, Robin, Chambers’s negro, Mr. Clarkson’s Tom, Groes-
beck’s Mink, an impudent toad, Rowe’s Father Tom, Old
Frank, Philipse’s Cuffee, Teller’s Sarah, Yarack’s Caesar, Au-
boyneau’s Prince, Comfort’s Jack, Comfort’s Cook, Comfort’s
Jenny, Jack, a busy man, Patrick, English’s boy, Hunt’s War-
wick, (a negro that cut His throat), Todd’s Dundee, Brinker-
hoff’s Tom, Pintard’s Caesar, Old Kip’s Harry, Teneyck’s Bill,
Sylvester’s Sambo, a tall negro, living at John Dewit’s, a
stranger, Kierstead’s Braveboy, John Hunt’s Jenny, the Long
Bridge Boys. Patrick, English’s boy, used to say, let us go
to Romer’s, Alsteyn’s Cato, Shurmur’s Cato, Leffert’s Pompey,
Comfort’s Jack and others sharpened their knives, and
said they would go and set fire along the docks ; Com-
fort’s Jack proposed the fort first ; Cook said no, they
would find them out if they did ; every one was to set their
master’s house on fire ; Clopper’s Betty carried her there; they
swore, and said they wished thunder might strike them to the
hearts if they told. Three negroes, viz., Comfort’s two, and
old Harry, swore ; Cuffee was sworn, and Caesar, Ayboyneau’s
Prince. All that made the right bargain swore, the rest were
to come the next day ; De Lancey’s Anthony there, and Roose-
velt’s Quaco; Comfort’s Jack drew out his knife and threatened
the negro of Niblet, on which Sandy consented.

2.	“ That they whetted their knives on a stone, some com-
plaining that their knives were rusty and blunt, and, some said
that their knives were sharp enough to cut off a white ipan’s
head; that they would kill the white men, and have the white
women for their wives.

3.	“ That on a dispute between them, Quaco was pitched
upon to fire the fort; others having refused, Quaco undertook
it; Curacoa Dick was there, and consented.

4.	“ Confessed she threatened Niblet’s negro, and bid them
cut his head off, if he did not drink.

5.	“ That she believed there were Spanish negroes there,
and that Mr. Moore’s Cato was there, and consented.”~	8921iWIISWP

wtemimk

mm

SHHf

l^8ESiM8s^