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The 6th of March anno 1649

In council is presented a certain petition of Adriaen vander Donck, on which the director and council have caused the following apostil to be made:

The petitioner is ordered by plurality of votes to remain in confinement until he be examined and shall have answered the interrogatories, pursuant to the resolution of March 4, anno 1649, in New Amsterdam, New Netherland.

^[1]The 8th of March

The honorable director general produces in council and exhibits to the members a writing and after reading it to them asks their opinion whether said writing should not be read to the entire commonalty when met.

Mr. Dincklagen refuses to express his opinion thereon.
Fiscal van Dyck states that he considers it well and advisable that it be read to the commonalty.
La Montagne, ut supra
Briant Nuton, ut supra
Adriaen Keyser, commissary, ut supra
Paulus Leendertsz, ut supra

The 11th of March

Whereas on the 9th of March last one Symon Walingen vant Bilt was found dead at Pavonia near Paulus Hoeck, having been killed, as it appears from the arrows and the wound in his head, by the Indians, without our knowing, however, of which nation, the opinion thus far being that they must have been outsiders, either Baretangs, or Indians from the south, who committed this crime from motives of avarice, since they took from the house in which the slain man lived 300 gl. in strung seawan, 4 beavers and 5 otters, together with a small quantity of trading cloth or duffel, which theft no doubt was the cause of the slaying of the man, who was found dead outdoors, about a pistol shot from the door or path with a small ladder^[2] in his hand. And whereas the slain man, without the knowledge of the court and contrary to the general ordinance, was removed by private individuals from the place where he was found dead and brought from the other side to the Manhatans before this city, no small commotion was thereupon caused among the inhabitants as well as among the Indians, the more so as some of our nation began to take hold of them and others to scold them, so that a general flight of the Indians from the Manhatans followed and this rumor spread everywhere. Therefore, before it flares up further, it is by us, the director and council, judged advisable in the best interest of the country at first not to make any commotion about this murder, but to make every effort and use all diligence to set at rest the natives and the inhabitants, to cause the body to be buried in the most civil manner possible and to notify the Christians not to show any signs of vengeance. Thus done and resolved in council the 11th of March. Present: the honorable director and all the members of the council.

Notes

References

Translation: Scott, K., & Stryker-Rodda, K. (Ed.). New York Historical Manuscripts: Dutch, Vol. 4, Council Minutes, 1638-1649 (A. Van Laer, Trans.). Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc.: 1974.A complete copy of this publication is available on the New Netherland Institute website.