"Discovered By One Neger"
On this day in 1689 the then-governor of New York, Jacob Leisler, wrote a letter to King William and Queen Mary of England about Fort Amsterdam situated right along State Street (at that time the water line was at State Street) informing them that the city was nearly destroyed.
“I have immediately proceeded to the proclaiming [of a day for prayer and thanksgiving] which was solemnly effected the 22nd day of June when we had miraculous deliverance of a fyre which had been kendled in three severall places upon the Terret of the Church in the fort six thousand pounds of powder being next under the same roof and suspected to be done by one Papist who had been there before and was discovered by one Neger, and fort, city and the people were trew God’s mercy, saved of that hellish design."
A few days after Jacob Leisler wrote the king and queen he mounted a rebellion of his own, seizing the very fort the Papist had allegedly tried to destroy. Leisler claimed that he was holding the fort for William and Mary, but then snubbed his nose at the aristocracy, and being a Calvinist, the mostly-Anglican merchant class, gaining their complete scorn. King William sent a new governor in 1691, Leisler refused to cede authority, an armed scuffle ensued, and Leisler was arrested, charged with treason, found guilty, hung until near-dead, and then beheaded.
No one knows what happened to the black man, or even what his name was. For more on colonial New York take a look here.
“I have immediately proceeded to the proclaiming [of a day for prayer and thanksgiving] which was solemnly effected the 22nd day of June when we had miraculous deliverance of a fyre which had been kendled in three severall places upon the Terret of the Church in the fort six thousand pounds of powder being next under the same roof and suspected to be done by one Papist who had been there before and was discovered by one Neger, and fort, city and the people were trew God’s mercy, saved of that hellish design."
A few days after Jacob Leisler wrote the king and queen he mounted a rebellion of his own, seizing the very fort the Papist had allegedly tried to destroy. Leisler claimed that he was holding the fort for William and Mary, but then snubbed his nose at the aristocracy, and being a Calvinist, the mostly-Anglican merchant class, gaining their complete scorn. King William sent a new governor in 1691, Leisler refused to cede authority, an armed scuffle ensued, and Leisler was arrested, charged with treason, found guilty, hung until near-dead, and then beheaded.
No one knows what happened to the black man, or even what his name was. For more on colonial New York take a look here.
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