Report of the Judges of Oyer and Terminer to Governor George Clinton, 19 May 1778
Report of the Judges of Oyer and Terminer to Governor George Clinton
Albany 19th. May 1778.
Sir,
On this Day the Commission for holding a Court of Oyer and Terminer and Gaol Delivery in and for the County of Albany expires. At this Court the following persons have been convicted of capital offences. They will have this Day Judgment of Death and we have agreed to order their execution on fryday the fifth day of June next.
| David Dick | Robbery. On Sufficient Evidence. | |
| James Esmond Robert Ferguson |
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Murder. They were of the party who robbed Van Ness. Jacob Korpender one of that party at the time of the robbery murdered Abraham Van Ness—full Evidence Robbery, of Van Alstyne. sufficient Evidence. |
| Christopher Galer | Murder of Abraham Van Ness in Like manner with Esmond & Ferguson.1 | |
| Carel Muller | Horse stealing. He plead Guilty. | |
| Daniel Shaver | |
Horse stealing. full Evidence. |
| Francis Deboe | ||
| William Rogers | Horse stealing on two Indictments. full Evidence in one, Very slender in the other. | |
| James Hart | Horse stealing. On the direct and distinct Testimony of Frederick Reemer a sensible Lad of 16 Years, from whose immediate Possession the Horse was taken.2 | |
| Benjamin Rogers | Horse stealing. very slender Evidence indeed. |
Of these Convicts we think it our duty to recommend the following to your Excellency for pardon, for the following Reasons.
David Dick. Because his character heretofore was uniformly that of a domestic inoffensive man, because he appears to have had very little agency in the Robbery. and that with a degree of reluctance which indicates his being a Young Sinner. And Because in our opinion he is one of the most ignorant uninformed men we ever met with.
Francis DeBoe. A Young Canadian. Because we are well informed that he rendered essential service to the American Army when in Canada and retreated with it. He is very penitent and his character heretofore good.
Benjamin Rogers. Because in our opinion the Evidence against him was insufficient, and that the offence he committed, so far as it respected the taking the Horse, amounted not to Horse stealing, but trespass— He is a Lad of about 18, and under the influence of his father William Rogers one of the Convicts aforesaid.3
With respect to the other Convicts nothing appeared to us in the course of their tryals or otherwise sufficient to induce us to think them objects of mercy. Circumstances favourable to them may however be made known to your Excellency in the Course of the applications they will probably make to you, with which we are at present unacquainted. We have the Honour to be with the greatest respect and esteem Your Excellency’s most obedient humble Servants.
P.S. Mr. Hobart is Absent.
| John Jay | Abm. Ten Broeck |
| Robert Yates | Wm. Yates Junr.4 |
| John Barclay |
ALS, NN (EJ: 1054). Addressed: “To his Excellency / George Clinton Esqr. / Governor of the State of / New York &c. / Poughkeepsie.” Endorsed: “19th. May 1778 / Report of Judges of Oyer & Terminer / held at Albany.” The body of the report is in JJ’s hand.
1. In August 1777, a band of Loyalists looted the farm of John Van Ness at Kinderhook in Columbia County, killing his son Abraham, a soldier home on furlough. On the same raid, the outlaws robbed the home of Abraham Van Alstyne, a Patriot farmer at nearby Chatham. Franklin Ellis, History of Columbia County, New York (Philadelphia, 1878), 30–31, 220; , 2: 361–62, 372–73; Minutes of the Albany Committee of Correspondence, 1775–1778 (2 vols.; Albany, 1923–24), 1: 860, 867, 948; Minutes of the Commissioners for Detecting and Defeating Conspiracies in the State of New York, Albany County Sessions, 1778–1781 (3 vols., Albany, 1909–10), 1: 87, 129.
2. The New York Journal and the General Advertiser of 15 June 1778 described Hart and Rogers as “the most noted” of the criminals tried at this court. The records of the Albany Commissioners for Detecting Conspiracies for 18 Apr. 1778 list the two among those who had been “some time since Confined by the Committee of the County of Albany for being Persons disaffected to the Cause of America.” Minutes of the Commissioners for Detecting and Defeating Conspiracies in the State of New York, Albany County Sessions, 1778–1781, 1: 89, James Thacher, A Military Journal during the American Revolutionary War, from 1775 to 1783, 2nd ed. (Boston, 1827), 130.
3. Although Clinton’s reply to this report is no longer extant, it is clear that he acted affirmatively on the judges’ recommendations for clemency for David Dick, Francis Deboe, and Benjamin Rogers. The New York Journal and General Advertiser, 15 June 1778.
4. Robert Yates was a puisne justice of the state supreme court. John Barclay (d. 1779) was the mayor of Albany and chairman of the Albany Committee of Correspondence. Brigadier General Abraham Ten Broeck (1734–1810) commanded the Albany County militia. William Yates Jr., a prominent Albany attorney, served in the state senate, 1777–90.