The New York Conspiracy

xxv, 491 pp. "Like the Salem witch trials, but much more murderous, the New York Conspiracy of 1741 was one of the most extraordinarily revealing events in American colonial history. ...an account of the trials of 20 whites and more than 150 slaves accused of conspiracy. Compiled by Daniel Horsmanden, one of the judges, it contains his narrative of the events which led to the trials and the trial record based on his own notes, those of his fellow judges, and the lawyers on the various cases. Eventually 13 slaves were burned alive, 4 whites and 18 blacks were hanged, and more than 70 people were banished from the province of New York. The story begins with a robbery involving both blacks and whites, and a series of fires which, compounded by uneasiness over an unpopular war with Spain and anti-Catholicism, intensified the ever-present fear of a slave uprising."