Chapter 2

THE NEGRO RIOTS OF 1712-1741.

Almost impossible for the present Generation to comprehend its true Character and Effect on the People.--Description of New York at that Time.--The Negro Slaves.--The Negro Riot of 1712.--Description of it.--The Winter of 1741.--Governor's House burned down.--Other Fires.--Suspicion of the People.--Arrest and Imprisonment of the Blacks.--Reward offered for the supposed Conspirators.--Alarm and Flight of the Inhabitants.--Examination and Confession of Mary Burton.--Peggy, the Newfoundland Beauty, and the Hughson Family.--The Conspiracy.--Executions.--Fast.--Hughson's Hearing.--Hung in Chains.--The Body, and that of a Negro, left to swing and rot in the Air.--Strange Change in the Appearances of the Bodies.--The People throng to look at them.--Negroes burned at the Stake.--Terrific Spectacle.--Bloody Summer.--Execution of a Catholic Priest.--Strange Scenes.--Upper Classes accused.--Executions stopped.--Reason of the Panic.