CONCERNING the NEGRO PLOT
The citizens were so far from being pleased when they learned that Rip
Van Dam was not to act in the Governor's place, that, for a time, it
looked very much as though there would be a riot. There was a member of
the Assembly named George Clarke, and when his fellow-members chose him
for the place that Rip Van Dam should have had, there was more
grumbling. But as no Governor came from England for seven years, Clarke
looked after the province all that time. He was an easy-going man, who
tried by every possible means to make friends. There was one happening
in particular by which he is remembered. It was called the Negro Plot.
Slaves had been brought to the city, until now there were 2,000 of them.
The 8,000 citizens were in constant dread lest the negroes should some
day rise up in revolt. Early in the spring of the year 1741 several
fires occurred in different parts of the city, and the citizens felt
quite sure that the slaves had started them. As the hours passed, the
idea of a plot grew until it seemed a fact. Then a reward was offered to
anyone who would tell of a conspiracy or of anyone concerned in one.
Just at this time a woman was arrested for a small theft, and when she
heard of the reward, she all at once remembered that there had been
meetings of negroes at a small tavern where she had worked. She told of
a plan to kill every white person; to set all the negroes free, and to
make one of them King of the city. The woman who told this story was
Mary Burton. The tavern-keeper, his wife, and several other negroes were
hanged in short order. Still the fires kept on. There were dozens within
ten days, and among others the Governor's house in the fort was burned
to the ground.
[Illustration: The Negroes Sentenced.]
Mary Burton now began a remarkable series of confessions which grew
wilder with each passing day. Negro slaves accused by her were arrested
in numbers. Liberty was promised all who would speak the truth, and
speaking the truth was understood to mean giving information of a
conspiracy. Very soon several negroes were burned at the stake in a
little valley beyond the Collect Pond. This awful death frightened many,
who hastened to cry out that they knew all about the plot. There were
some who saved their lives by confessing things that were not true; many
more did not.
During the whole long, hot summer the hanging and burning of negro
slaves went on. Late in the year, when Mary Burton had seen every person
she had accused arrested, she grew more bold. She sought some new story
to tell, and found one in remembering for the first time that white
people had been connected with the plot. Twenty-four white citizens had
been arrested, when Mary Burton began to attack prominent townsmen; even
those who had been foremost in the prosecution of the negroes. It was
only then realized that the woman's words could not be relied upon. She
was paid the hundred pounds that had been promised her, and she
disappeared, leaving no trace.
Gradually the fury of feeling against the slaves died away. Whether
there had ever been any real plot will always remain unanswered.
Certain it is, however, that the witnesses on whose words arrests were
made were all of uncertain and unreliable character; that the evidence
was contradictory, and that most of it was extorted under pain of death.
The excitement passed away after a time, and George Clarke went on
talking finely and managing his own affairs so well that he was growing
very rich indeed when his official life came to a sudden end.