The Great Stain

by Noel Rae

  NEW YORK

  Fifty years after the Salem Witch Trials, New York put on its own show trial, bigger and more elaborate, though still on a very small stage, the city then containing only some twelve thousand inhabitants, of whom nearly a quarter were slaves. The official report of the trial bore the title A Journal of the Proceedings in the Detection of the Conspiracy Formed by some White People, in Conjunction with Negro and other Slaves, for Burning the City of New York in America, and Murdering the Inhabitants. This was later, and significantly, modified to The Great Negro Plot. The author was Daniel Horsmanden, who played a major role in stage-managing the events that followed the supposed conspiracy, he being a judge on the province’s supreme court while also holding the post of city recorder. His motives in going to so much “drudgery” in writing up his lengthy account were, first, to refute those “wanton, wrong-headed persons amongst us, who took the liberty to arraign the justice of the proceedings,” some even going so far as to declare “that there was no plot at all!” And second, to warn “every one that has Negroes to keep a very watchful eye over them, and not to indulge them with too great liberties,” but rather to “keep themselves upon a strict guard against these enemies of their own household.”

  The opening scene took place on the night of Saturday, February 28, 1741, when “a robbery was committed at the house of Mr. Robert Hogg, in the city of New-York, merchant, from whence were taken divers pieces of linen and other goods, and several silver coins, chiefly Spanish, and medals, and wrought silver, etc. to the value in the whole of sixty pounds and upwards.” Among those planning the robbery was “one Wilson, a lad of about seventeen or eighteen, belonging to the Flamborough, man of war, on this station,” who often came to Mr. Hogg’s house to visit friends who lodged there. “Wilson, it seems, had a more familiar acquaintance with some Negroes of very suspicious character, particularly Caesar, belonging to John Vaarck, baker; Prince, to Mr. John Auboyneau, merchant; and Cuffee, to Adolph Philipse, Esq.” These three “catched at the proposal” to rob the store “and the scheme was communicated by them to John Hughson, who kept a public house by the North [Hudson] River, in this city, a place where numbers of Negroes used to resort, and be entertained privately (in defiance of the laws) at all hours … Thither they used to bring such goods as they stole from their masters or others, and Hughson, his wife and family”—who were white—“received them.” Later on, a grand jury was to bring in a complaint about “the mean alehouses and tippling houses within this city, who make it a practice (and a most wicked and pernicious one it is,) of entertaining Negroes and the scum and dregs of white people in conjunction; who to support such expense are tempted and abetted to pilfer and steal, that they may debauch each other upon the plunder and spoils of their masters and neighbours.”

  “At Hughson’s lodged one Margaret Sorubiero, alias Salingburgh, alias Kerry, commonly called Peggy, or the Newfoundland Irish Beauty, a young woman about one or two and twenty; she pretended to be married, but no husband appeared; she was a person of infamous character, a notorious prostitute, and also of the worst sort, a prostitute to Negroes. She was here lodged and supported by Caesar, before mentioned, and took share (in common with Hughson’s family) of the spoils and plunder, the effects of Caesar’s thefts, which he brought to Hughson’s; and she may be supposed to have been in most of their wicked secrets … With this Peggy, as she will be hereafter commonly called, 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 came there to lodge a second time in the fall, not long before Christmas, 1740, big with child by Caesar, as was supposed, and was brought to bed there not many days before the robbery at Hogg’s, of a baby largely partaking of the black complexion.”

  Soon after the robbery there was an outbreak of suspicious fires, starting on Wednesday, March 18, at the governor’s house, which formed part of Fort George; the house and fort, like most of the city’s buildings were of wood. “Upon the chapel bell’s ringing, great numbers of people, gentlemen and others, came to the assistance of the lieutenant-governor and his family. Most of the household goods, etc. were removed out and saved, and the fire engines were in a little time brought thither; but the wind blowing a violent gale at S.E., soon as the fire appeared in different places of the roof, it was judged impossible to save the house and chapel.” Moreover, “an alarm being given that there was gunpowder in the fort” many left the scene. It was suspected that this alarm “was given by some of the conspirators themselves, with artful design to intimidate the people and frighten them from giving further assistance.”

  “Wednesday, April 1. A fire broke 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 N.E. side of the roof, before it had taken the hay.” Neighbors rallied around and “threw buckets of water with such extraordinary activity it stopped the progress of the fire.”

  Three days later fire was discovered in the kitchen of a house nearby. It was soon put out, but “upon examination it was found that the fire had been put between a straw and another bed laid together, whereon a Negro slept.” Next day “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 the Broadway and near some dwelling-houses, which had it taken fire would have been in great danger; but the coals went out of themselves.” However, “there were coals and ashes traced along from the fence to a neighbouring house next adjoining the stables, which caused a suspicion of the Negro that lived there.”

  Next Sunday, “as three Negroes were walking up the Broadway towards the English church, about service time, Mrs. Earle, looking out of her window, overheard one of them saying to his companions, with a vapouring [bragging] sort of an air, ‘Fire, Fire, Scorch, Scorch, A LITTLE, damn it, BY-AND-BY,’ and threw up his hands and laughed; the woman conceived great jealousy at these words, and thought it very odd behaviour.” Mrs. Earle shared her suspicions with her neighbor, Mrs. George, who told her local alderman, “who informed the rest of the justices thereof at their meeting the next day.”

  The fires continued. “Monday, April 6. About ten o’clock in the morning there was an alarm of a fire at the house of Serjeant Burns, opposite 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, there were grounds to suspect a villainous design in it.” Then another fire broke out in another house, but “being timely discovered,” was soon put out. However, “upon view, it was plain that the fire must have been purposely laid.” But “who did it was a question remained to be determined. But there was a cry among the people, The Spanish Negroes! The Spanish Negroes! Take up the Spanish Negroes!” These were sailors who had been taken captive in the war then going on against Spain (The War of Jenkins’ Ear), brought to New York, and despite their claims that they had been free men in their own country were condemned by the Admiralty court to be sold as slaves. Some of them then “began to grumble at their hard usage of being sold as slaves.” That afternoon fire broke out at Col. Philipse’s storehouse, “a small streak of fire running up the shingles, like wildfire, from near the bottom to the top of the roof, on the side directly against the wind as it then blew.” It was soon brought under control, but then there was yet another cry of fire, and “a man who had 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! The Negro made very good speed home to his master’s. He was generally known,” and the cry changed yet again, this time to “Cuff Philipse! Cuff Philipse! The people ran to Mr. Philipse’s house in quest o
f him; he was got in at the back door and being found was dragged out of the house and carried to jail, borne upon the people’s shoulders. He was a fellow of general ill character.” Several other Negroes “who were met in the streets after the alarm of their rising, were hurried away to jail.”

  In the meantime, John Hughson and his wife, Sarah, and Peggy, the “Newfoundland Irish Beauty,” were committed to jail, “being charged as accessories to divers felonies and misdemeanours,” including receiving stolen goods; and on May 8, Mr. Vaarck’s Caesar [Peggy’s lover] and Mr. Auboyneau’s Prince were tried for the robbery at Mr. Hogg’s. They pleaded not guilty, but were easily convicted, the judge telling them that being “wicked fellows, hardened sinners, and ripe as well as ready for the most enormous and daring enterprizes,” they were also undoubtedly involved in the plot “to burn this city and to destroy its inhabitants.” He urged them to confess all they knew about the plot; if they did not, then “be assured God Almighty will punish you for it.” When passing sentence, the judge told them that they were “to be taken hence to the place from whence you came, and from thence to the place of execution, and there you, and each of you, are to be hanged by the neck until you be dead. And I pray the Lord to have mercy on your souls.” The judge also ordered that after the execution “the body of Caesar be hung in chains.” The sentence was carried out two days later. “They died very stubbornly, without confessing anything about the conspiracy.”

  Next up for trial were Philipse’s Cuffee and Roosevelt’s Quack, both charged with arson, Cuffee, for setting fire to his owner’s storehouse, and Quack for setting fire to Fort George. Cuffee claimed an alibi: “he had been sawing wood that afternoon with a white boy,” which the white boy confirmed. Some neighbors also declared that they had seen him well away from the scene of the fire when the bell rang, “but an old man who had known Cuffee for several years deposed that he had seen him at the storehouse, and that he stood next him. There seemed to be some objection against the man’s evidence; it was thought he might be mistaken, being very near sighted.” However, the old man was able to distinguish colors, so his evidence was accepted, and Cuffee was held for trial.

  Further damaging evidence came from Mary Burton, an illiterate sixteen-year-old orphan recently arrived from England and now working for the Hughsons as an indentured servant—a form of temporary slavery to pay the costs of her passage to America. At first she refused to testify, but “after 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 make discovery” of the conspiracy, “she considered the better of it.” Through all the trials that followed her testimony was crucial.

  Among the statements made by Mary Burton were: “‘That Caesar, Prince, and Mr. Philipse’s Negro man (Cuffee) used to meet frequently at her master’s [Hughson’s] house, and that she had heard them talk frequently of burning the fort; and that they would go down to the Fly [the east end of the city] and burn the whole town; and that her master and mistress said they would aid and assist them as much as they could … That when all this was done, Caesar should be governor, and Hughson, her master, should be king … That Cuffee used to say that a great many people had too much, and others too little … 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 … That Hughson 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.’”

  “The evidence of a conspiracy, not only to burn the city but also destroy and murder the people, was most astonishing to the grand jury,” wrote Horsmanden. “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. This was a scheme of such villainy” there had to be “a conspiracy of deeper design and more dangerous contrivance than the slaves themselves were capable of.” (Throughout his record of the trials, Horsmanden kept harping on this idea that the slaves were mentally incapable of planning a major conspiracy. This was not to excuse them, but it did help to explain things.)

  On May 29, Quack and Cuffee were brought to trial, Quack for “wickedly, voluntarily, 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 setting on fire, burning and consuming the house of our sovereign lord the king”; and Cuffee “for wickedly, etc. conspiring, etc. with Quack and divers other Negroes to kill and murder the inhabitants of this city; and also for setting on fire and burning an out-house belonging to Frederick Philipse, Esq.” Both men pleaded not guilty. Neither of them, nor indeed any of the other accused, had a lawyer.

  After outlining his case, the Attorney General summoned Mary Burton, who repeated the hearsay evidence she had given earlier.

  Other witnesses against Cuffee included Sarah Higgins, who said “that on Sunday, the day before Col. Philipse’s store house was set on fire, she saw four Negroes lurking about the garden behind that storehouse” and that one of them was Cuffee. Isaac Gardner said that at the fire at the fort he “observed Cuffee when the flames of the house blazed very high, he huzza’d, 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 …”

  As to Quack, his master, Mr. Roosevelt, the butcher, declared “that Quack was employed most part 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, as usual, evidence given by an owner on behalf of his slave was discounted, since it was supposed that his motive was to protect his property rather than tell the truth.

  Addressing the jury of twelve white men, a prosecutor named Smith then summed up for the prosecution: “No scheme more monstrous could have been invented” than “this most horrid conspiracy” whereby “the white men should be all killed, and the women become the prey to the rapacious lust of these villains!”

  One aspect of the prisoners’ conduct was especially heinous: “Gentlemen, the monstrous ingratitude of this black tribe is what exceedingly aggravates their guilt. Their slavery among us is generally softened with great indulgence; they live without care, and are commonly better fed and clothed, and put to less labour, 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.” (A reference to the plot of 1712, described later.)

  “Then the jury were charged, and a constable was sworn to attend them as usual; and they withdrew; and being soon returned found the prisoners guilty.” After which one of the judges passed sentence, but not until he too had expressed amazement at the ingratitude and folly that prompted them to take part in “so vile, so wicked, so monstrous, so execrable and hellish a scheme, as to murder and destroy your own masters and benefactors.” He also urged them to reveal everything they knew about the conspiracy, as only by doing so could they obtain “mercy at the hands of God, before whose judgment seat ye are so soon to appear.” He then passed sentence: “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.” This sentence was carried out the next day in front of a large and hostile crowd, “their resentment being
raised to the utmost pitch against them, and no wonder.”

  After that, the focus was on Hughson, “the contriver and chief schemist of the conspiracy.” He, his wife, his daughter Sarah, and Margaret Kerry, alias Peggy, alias the Newfoundland Irish Beauty were “indicted for conspiring, confederating and combining with divers Negroes and others to burn the city of New York, and also to kill and destroy the inhabitants thereof.” Though never apparently much more than a petty crook who dealt in stolen goods and ran a low-life tavern where he drank too much and talked too wildly, at his trial John Hughson was presented as the master-mind behind “all this mystery of iniquity.”

  Particular importance was given to the evidence of Mary Burton, the Hughsons’ servant, despite the fact that she evidently bore a grudge and stood to benefit from the lieutenant governor’s reward of £100 and freedom from her indentured servitude. Clearly aware of what was expected of her, Mary often mentioned the interracial fraternizing—“there were many Negroes frequently at Hughson’s at nights, ever since she came to the house, eating and drinking; that she has seen twenty or thirty at a time there, but most of a Sunday … that Hughson, his wife and daughter, and Peggy, used at such meetings to be amongst the Negroes; and that they talked of burning the town and killing the people.”