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The Trial of Jan Jurriaensen Becker
The following account is based on information recorded in
Documents Relative to the Colonial History of New York , Vol. 12, Dutch and Swedish Settlements at the Delaware River,
Fernow, LoC Cat #: 71-93943. It displays a unique slice of life in that
remote, rough and ready settlement
on the shores of the Delaware River, Fort Altena being located at
the site of the
current city of Wilmington (this fort was known by
the name of Fort Christina by the Swedes who had settled there in 1638, but the Dutch took the fort by force in 1655).
The Complaint
The first indication of trouble is a letter from William Beekman (Vice-Director of the South (Delaware) River
portion of the New Netherland colony to Director-General Peter Stuyvesant
at New Amsterdam, in which he complains about Jan Becker selling liquor to
Indians and to soldiers on credit.
This letter is dated 8-Nov-1659.
In a
letter from Beekman to Stuyvesant dated 14-Jan-1660, the peeved Vice-Director describes Becker's activity in more
detail:
"...I have to inform your Noble
Worship again of the irregularities of Jan Juriaen Becker in selling
strong drinks. He incites the soldiers to drunkenness, as he offers to
sell them brandy on account or to give them credit and some, principally
of the new men, have already spent for drinks 2 or 3 months' wages, before
they have been here 6 or 7 weeks, while he takes their bond, wherein is
set forth, that he had advanced such a sum for the necessities of life. I
have secretly warned him not to do it, whereas they often come to the Fort
at night singing and boisterous, also several times quarrels among them
have been caused; nevertheless it was continued and I have finally been
compelled, to forbid him not to sell any more strong drink by the small
measure.
Yet it goes on still, although
secretly. The said crediting has caused, that two soldiers, being drunk,
burned a little Indian canoe, whereupon the natives threatened to set fire
to a house or to kill some cattle, so that I was obliged to satisfy them
immediately. Nor has he ceased to sell liquor to the natives,
notwithstanding that I have several times reproved him for it, so that
several difficulties have arisen by it, as on the 7th November, when 6
natives, being quite drunk, made a great commotion in the evening among
Jan Becker's neighbors, so that they came to me for assistance: while
doing this act of hostility they took from Sander Boyer's house his gun or
the Honorable Company's musket, which up to this time I have not been able
to recover. The farmers have informed me, that these natives kept going to
and from Jan Juriaensen's house the whole afternoon. On the 18th of the
same month, Pieter Mayer met far in the woods or bushes a native, who had
with him a two-quart-measure full of liquor and said he had bough it from
Johannis. The native requesting him to sit down and drink with him, he did
so at different times. Next morning this native was found dead a little
farther into the woods, the can with a little liquor in it lying near him:
hereupon the natives threatened Johannis, as they call him, with death,
they said that he had poisoned the native. The declaration of Pieter
Mayer, that he had drank several times with him in the afternoon, when the
native had bought the liquor, gave some satisfaction to the natives. They
placed this dead native upon a hurdle and put it on four great prongs
opposite to the house of Jan Juriaensen in the bushes. Some say, that,
whereas he has drunk himself to death, he is not yet worthy of a grave,
other natives say, that he must curse there the house, where he got the
liquor; on the 12th of December, Jan Juriaensen with his wife and girl
being at New Amstel, a native came to his house and knocked with a can,
which he had with him; two of our soldiers' wives, who live thereabouts,
hearing this asked, what he wanted; he said: I bring back the can, which
was fetched from here with liquor; he gave the can to the women and
requested them to hand it to Johannis: this can was directly brought to me
and I know the can very well, as Maria Becker has had it often with her in
the canoe, when she went with me to New Amstel.
Nevertheless I have not been able to
catch him again, since the soldiers are somewhat devoted to him for giving
them liquor on credit and other reasons. I dare not let him come near to
my papers, especially to copy letters and other things, for he is only a
tell-tale: he does not perform any other service here, than to read aloud
on Sundays, which I can have done by the Sergeant or any other. If your
Honor required him at another place, I can, under correction, miss him
here very well. ..."
The Investigation
The govering council at New Amsterdam gave the
following instructions to Nicasius de Sille, who was being sent to the
South River to prosecute the murderers of some Indians who had been
killed, which created a crisis: "...Whereas at different
times several complaints have reached our ears against Jan Juriaensen
Becker and his wife in regard to the sale of brandy to the natives,
whereby already several difficulties have been originated and more are to
be apprehended, he shall, in presence of the gentlemen accompanying him,
Mr. Paulus Lendertsen vad de Grist, Ex-Burgomaster and Jacob Backer,
managing Scheepen of this City, inquire of the Commissary Beekman and
others, whom it concerns and at the same time examine the said Commissary,
why the said Jan Juriaensen Becker is not, for his assistance, employed as
secretary or clerk, for which he was expressly sent and engaged. If he
discovers any evidence, proof and sufficient reason for the one or the
other he is to bring here the said Becker, that further proceedings and
measures may be taken against him according to law and his deserts.
..."
The Indictment
Indictment of and Proceedings against Jan Juriansen Becker for selling liquor
to the
Indians, and Papers connected
with his case.
To their noble Worships, the
Director-General and Council of New Netherland.
Honorable, Noble, very Worshipful
Gentlemen,
Whereas Jan Juriaensen Becker of
Amsterdam, residing outside of Fort Altena on the South River, has at
present been brought here by the undersigned Fiscal, because he did not
hesitate, contrary to the strict interdict and in contempt of the issued
and repeated placats of Director-General and Council of N.N., to sell
brandy to the natives, for which he has long been notorious, as the
evidences extant thereof sufficiently prove, viz. the declarations by
Bartolomeus Aertse, Jan du Parck, and Pieter Klaessen of 14th of October
1659, also the declarations of the 18th of November 1659 and of Janneke
Baernts and Teuntje Jurriaens of the 12th of December 1659 further the
affidavits of Jeams Andriesen and Mary Andriesen of the 7th of March of
this year; and whereas this is a matter of very bad consequences, from
which, as is found by experience, a great deal of mishap has resulted and
more is to be expected, unless it be stopped and punished according to the
placats as an example to others; therefore the Fiscal concludes ex
officio, that Jan Jurriaensen Becker be brought to the place, where
sentences are usually executed, be put there into the pillory with a
brandy-measure around his neck and also be sentenced to pay a fine of five
hundred guilders according to the Placats and to be banished this
province, but be kept in prison provisionally, until your Honorable
Worships' sentence or finding shall be executed. Done at Fort Amsterdam,
the 1st of April, 1660.
Your Honorable Worships'
servant,
Nicasius de Sille
The Plea
To Their Honorable, Noble Worships,
the Director-General and Council of New Netherland
Honorable, Noble, Very Worshipful
Gentlemen,
The defendant denies upon the true
word of man, that in contempt of your Noble Honorable Worships' placats he
has sold brandy to the natives, much less made a profession of it whereby
he should, since a long time, have become notorious; but it is thus, that
the persons, who have declared and testified this of him through secret
hatred and envy, they belong mostly to those, who deserve no or only
little credence, to with Bartolomeus Aertse, Jean du Parck and Pieter
Claessen are soldiers, who had been sent out by Mrs. Beekman with a
native, having Mr. Beekman's own can, to impose upon him, the defendant,
pretending, that he had the consent of the said gentleman, to get brandy,
which however he did not receive. Pieter Mayer is inclined to the
party, as he himself makes it a profession to sell brandy to the natives,
with which Mr. Beeckman is not unacquainted. Jannetje Barentsen is
likewise not impartial, having at present a lawsuit with the defendant
about a case of theft committed by her. Teuntje Jeuriansen is
notoriously disreputable, as she has been in the service of disreputable
people, for instance in that of Margareth Davits, alias the Scotch Woman,
herself a known prostitute and keeping a thieves' den. Jams
Andriesen and Maria Andriesen, being ... man and wife, have been forbidden
by the former Swedish Commander, Jan Rysingh, to appear before his court
on account of their troublesome and slandering talk. Consequently it
is nothing but envy and villainy, with which they have tried to bespatter
the defendant and to make him hated by your Honorable Worships; for
having formerly by your Honorable Worships' favor provisionally filled the
position of Commissary, he is therefore until now considered as a chief by
the natives and hence he is often given by the native Sachems a goose, a
duck or a deer or a turkey, in return for which, it is true, the defendant
never hesitated to give or present them a drink of brandy, but that only
to such Sachems, as Meckeck Schinck, Wechenarent, Areweehingh and
Hoppaming etc. whom neither Dutchmen nor Swedes disdain openly to
provide with liquor or to drink with at the tavern, which is done so
free, frank and open, as anything, that is allowed, can be done,
consequently the defendant never conjectured, that he made himself liable
to punishment thereby, the more so as such bartering, even the sale of
brandy was there a common and necessary custom, as can be seen formt the
annexed affidavit, and if the Honorable Fiscal had been pleased to inform
himself more in this respect on the South River, he would most likely have
found no or only few persons among the Dutch as well as the Swedish
nation, who were exempt from (the charge of) selling liquor to the
natives, because without it is hard to get provisions. The defendant
prays therefore very humbly, that what has passed as related above may not
be charged to him, an old servant of the Company, as a misdemeanor, but if
there was nay wrong in it, that it might be graciously overlooked, as
having been done in ignorance and not through contempt of your Noble,
Honorable Worships' placats and ordinances, while he promises to avoid in
future this and all other mistakes.
Thus doing, etc., Amsterdam in N.
Netherland, 12th of April, 1660.
Your Noble Honorable Worships'
obedient servant,
Jan Jeuriaens Becker
(attachment: an affidavit sworn
by Rutgert Willemsen van Weesp, 45 years old, Jan Schottes of
Amsterdam, 25 years old, and Jan de Widt from Seerdam, 24 years old, each
having lived in the Colony of New Amstel on the South River of New
Netherland, before Notary Public Matheus de Vos on the 12th of April,
1660)."
The Judgment
Jan Becker remained imprisoned waiting for
the next sitting of the court on the 26th of April, when the following judgment
was handed down:
"Whereas Jan Juriaens Becker, former
Clerk and Reader in the service of the Honorable Priv. West-India Company
at Fort Altena on the South River of New Netherland, has not hesitated,
contrary to the strict interdict and in contempt of the repeatedly
published placats of Director-General and Council of New Netherland, to
sell and trade strong liquors to the natives, which is a matter of very
bad consequences and influences, whereby at different times and places
many mishaps have resulted and occurred and therefore can and must not be
suffered, but must be punished as an example to others, Resolved that
Director-General and Council of New Netherland after examination of the
Fiscal's complaint and the defendant's, Jan Juriaensen Becker's, own
admission and confession and after consideration of everything, which has
to be considered in this case, administer justice in the name of their
High Mightinesses the Lords States-General of the United Netherlands and
theh Noble Lords-Directors of the Priv. West-India Company, Department of
Amsterdam, and sentence, as they hereby do, the aforesaid Jan Juriaensen
Becker to the payment of a fine of five hundred guilders to be
applied according to the tenor of the placats issued against the
sale of liquor to the natives; they further degrade the said Becker
from his office as Clerk and Reader and order, that as quickly as possible
he and his wife break up their household and remove from the said South
River, also pay the costs and expenses of law incurred hereby, while they
reject the further complaint fo the Fiscal.
Done at Amsterdam in New Netherland,
on the 26th of April, 1660."
The Appeal
A fine
of 500 guilders was no trivial thing for the
colonists of the time, with a highly valued beaver pelt going for
80 guilders or so. In comparison, the fine for a typical misdemeanor
offense, such as serving beer on Sunday (a charge that Jan Becker was later
to be brought up on) was a mere 30 guilders. Facing financial ruination
if forced to pay this heavy fine, Becker made one last
appeal to Peter Stuyvesant along with a further affidavit attesting to the conditions at the
South River colony:
"To the Noble, Very Worshipful Mr.
Petrus Stuyvesant, Director-General and the Honorable Council of New
Netherland,
Shows with due reverence Jan
Jeuriansen Becker, that he, petitioner, has seen with great embarrassment
of mind and grief the sentence pronounced against him by your Honorable
Worships, which, if he has to satisfy it, will cause the total ruin of the
petitioner. May it please your Honorable Worships to consider, that
the petitioner has never thought of treating contemptuously the orders or
placats of your Honorable Worships; but as the sale of strong liquors to
the natives on the South River was carried on so publicly by high and low
officers of the State, the petitioner also has now and then traded some
for Indian corn and deer-meat to be used for food, without ever having
made it a profession as others have done it. The Honorable Mr.
Paulus Leendertsen van der Grift, Burgomaster, Jacobus Backer, Schepen of
this City and several other inhabitants, as Jan de Jonge etc. who all have
been on the South River lately, will be able to attest, if your Honorable
Worships demand it, as likewise appears from the annexed affidavit, how
publicly it was done there by Dutchmen and Swedes, even to the extent of
whole ankers at one time, which misled the petitioner and made him
believe, that it was rather permitted by your Honorable Worships and he
therefore prays that in consideration of the above statement and the
petitioner's former conduct your Honorable Worships will please to excuse
graciously the committed error and mercifully and compassionately prevent
his total ruin, which doing he shall always be and remain,
Your Honorable Worships'
servant,
(signed) J. Becker
Done at Amsterdam in N. Netherland the
3rd of May, 1660."
Mercy of the Court
Upon hearing Jan
Becker's appeal and considering the affidavit, which showed still more evidence
that he was right concerning the widespread sale of liquor to the natives, the following
decree was promulgated:
"The above petition was taken up and
read and after deliberating upon it and considering the petitioner's
circumstances, the question having been put it was decreed:
The petitioner is for reasons relieved
of the payment of the fine, provided that he arranges with the Honorable
Fiscal for the costs and mises of the law.
Done at Amsterdam in New Netherland,
the 3rd of May, 1660."
Jan Becker, his wife Maria and young daughter
would remain in New Amsterdam for another year or so. Jan obtaining
a license to earn a living as a tavernkeeper, an occupation that
would make him no stranger to the colonial
magistrates.
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