USA > Michigan > Wayne County > Detroit > The city of Detroit, Michigan, 1701-1922, Vol. I > Part 20
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"3d. That we will not vend or sell any spiritous liquors whatsoever to any person or persons intending to retail or otherwise disposed of the same to savages of any nation whatsoever, neither will we on our own proper account send or carry any rum or spiritous liquors among any tribe or nations of Indians, with an intent to vend the same to said Indians.
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"4th. We further oblige ourselves not to vend or dispose of rum or spiritous liquors to any person or persons residing or sojourning among the savages, or to any person concerned in traffic with them in any wise whatsoever, unless the persons who purchase those liquors shall first bind him or themselves under oath properly taken before the commanding officer, or some magistrate, not to dispose of, vend, or sell by retail or otherwise, the said liquors to savages, or to any person intending to sell the same to savages.
"5th. And to prevent strangers or others not immediately bound by this agreement from reaping advantages to the detriment of the subscribers or con- veying rum or spiritous liquors among the savages, in order there to sell the same, we do hereby agree that should it so happen that any person or persons shall sell rum to trade among the savages, that we will send immediately to the place sufficient cargo on our joint account that the concerned in this agreement may reap equal benefit with those who may not join them in their good intention of confining the trade of rum to the fort.
"That James Sterling, James Abbott, Alexander Macomb, and John Porteous be hereby constituted and appointed a committee to regulate and transact all affairs for the mutual concerns of the subscribers, having hereby full authority to act as such and to assemble and advise with all the members upon receiving notice of any material regarding the concerned, who shall likewise regulate the accounts, sales, transactions and rotation of serving or attending the general store.
"We also hereby bind ourselves and our heirs and executors severally to the whole subscribers in the penal sum of three hundred pounds lawful money of the province of New York, which penal sum of three hundred pounds aforesaid we bind and oblige ourselves, our heirs and executors, to pay or cause to be paid to the said subseribers for every offenee or break of the aforesaid or subse- quent articles, and for the better and more steady execution of this article we likewise bind and oblige ourselves to have all differences that may arise decided by the award of four indifferent arbitrators mutually chosen, who, upon their disagreeing, are hereby empowered to choose a fifth person as an umpire, whose award we oblige ourselves to abide by. We also hereby give and grant full power and authority to the committee immediately to seize or distrain the property of offenders in execution of the said award that no unnecessary delays may be caused thereby, hereby warranting and defending them for such pro- ceedings against our heirs and assigns for any consequences therefrom arising. We further agree that the above articles shall be equally binding in every respect as if drawn up agreeable to all forms of law necessary in such cases,
"We further agree that the above mentioned articles and obligations shall take place and commence from and after the first day of May next ensuing the date hereof and shall continue of full force so long as may be thought proper to be kept up by the majority of the subscribers, not to exceed the term of two years from the commencement hereof unless mutually agreed upon. We also hereby oblige ourselves to give every information we can possibly procure at all times to the committee of every occurrence respecting the general concern.
"In witness whereof we have hereunto set our hands and seals at Detroit this fourteenth day of April in the fourteenth year of the reign of our sovereign Lord George the third of Great Britain, France and Ireland, king etc. etc. in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and seventy-four.
"Booty Graves.
"Signed and sealed in presence of
"Wm. Forsyth,
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"Mc Williams & Co.,
"Collin Andrews,
"John Porteous, for self & Co.
"Gregor McGregor,
"Jas. Sterling,
"Simon McTavish,
"A. Macomb,
"Jas. Thompson,
"Abbott & Finchly,
"Robinson & Martin,
"William Edgar,
"James Rankin,
"Gerrit Graverat,
"F. Visgar, "Geo. McBeath,
"Jos. Cochran,
"Norman McLeod, "Wm. Allen."
The agreement, which was understood to hold for two years, was not found to be profitable and was dissolved in the following year (June 12, 1775) when the parties acknowledged receipt of their shares of the community property and divided it among them.
CONTENCINEAU CASE: ITS IMPORTANCE
The firm of Abbott & Finchly carried on one of the largest trading establish- ments in the place. One of their employes was a Frenchman named Jean Baptiste Contencineau. A negro slave belonging to James Abbott was named Ann (or Nancy) Wyley. The Frenchman and the slave formed a plan to rob the storehouse of the firm and then to set fire to it in order to avoid detection. The only property they wanted was the content of the box usually kept in the storehouse, but the house was, at the time, filled with valuable furs and com- modities that entailed a great loss on the firm, entirely out of proportion in value to the articles coveted by the thieves. All the testimony taken in the case was transcribed by Dejean into the old records, but it is too voluminous to be repro- duced here. On June 24, 1774 the Frenchman, at the request of the woman, set fire to the building and carried away from it, as the plunder he wanted, a small box containing six dollars (piastres) of which four dollars were silver and two dollars were paper. There was some evidence that the Frenchman had, at other times, stolen some beaver skins and some small knives from his employers. The prisoners confessed their guilt, but each attempted to lay the blame upon the other.
Some of the subsequent transactions connected with this affair have not been unearthed, but the result of the case was of far-reaching and national importance.
At this time Henry Hamilton was lieutenant-governor and Philip Dejean was the justice of the peace. Dejean had long been considered the tool of Hamilton and was willing in this, as in other cases, to do the bidding of the governor. Public opinion was aroused against the Frenchman and the slave and there was a determined effort to get rid of them from the community, but it was thought best to do this with a seeming compliance with legal forms.
The prisoners were tried before Dejean, the justice, possibly with a jury, and Vol. 1-13
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certainly with the approbation of Hamilton. They were found guilty and Dejean senteneed them to be hanged. Without unnecessary delay, the day of execution was set, but publie sentiment had so changed that it was found impossible to get an executioner. Hamilton then agreed to free the woman from the penalty about to be inflicted upon her, if she would aet as executioner on the Frenchman. Of course, she agreed and the Frenchman was accordingly swung off.
The execution of Conteneineau was the final aet that drove the people of Detroit to a rebellion against the illegal aets of the justice, for no matter how much the people thought the Frenchman should be punished, they wanted it done in a legal manner.
INDICTMENT OF DEJEAN
In 1778 a grand jury was called at Montreal and the faets of this and other eases were laid before the jury. Both Hamilton and Dejean were indieted for the murder of the Frenchman. The jury was composed largely of Montreal citizens, but there are a few Detroit names in the list, such as Richard Pollard, J. Grant and Ahdemar. The foreman was James McGill, a man closely allied with Detroit in business affairs and the founder of MeGill University. The witnesses were, some of them, Detroit people, as William Macomb, George MeBeath and Jonas Schindler.
The indictment of Dejean was a voluminous affair, covering nine closely written pages. It charged him with illegally and under color of legal authority and the administration of justice, in December, 1775, trying a man named Ellers, who was accused of murdering Charles Morin. When Ellers was found guilty of the charge, Dejean passed sentence of death upon him. Ellers was executed for this erime at Detroit in December, 1775. Then, in February, 1776, came the Conteneineau ease described above, for which Dejean was indieted for criminal misuse of his authority.
In June, 1776, Jonas Schindler, a silversmith, was illegally imprisoned at the instance of Dejean, and tried for issuing base metal as pure silver. He was acquitted, but he was nevertheless kept in prison by Dejean for some time and then led through the garrison of Detroit as a felon and as some heinous offender, attended with a drum and guard and drummed out of the garrison for some supposed crime, to-wit, that he had used the trade of silversmith without having served an apprenticeship thereto.
In August, 1777, Dejean rendered judgment and issued execution against Louis Prejean in the sum of ten pounds sterling. In February or March of the same year Dejean seized the goods of one Elliot under color of justice and sold the same. In the winter of 1777 Dejean fined Montague Tremble ten pounds for misdemeanors committed by Tremble's servants.
The above are the specifications in the indictment of Dejean, and the grand jury found in them "the great unfitness and inability as well as the illegal, unjust and oppressive conduet of the said Philip Dejean, acting as a magistrate and judge of criminal offenses at Detroit, is matter of great moment and coneern, as well to his majesty's liege subjeets as to the just and due administration of the laws and government."
At the same time the grand jury presented a true bill against Henry Hamil- ton, lieutanant-governor of Detroit, for aiding Dejean in his illegal aets and
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suffering and permitting them to be carried out. Warrants were directed to be issued for the apprehension of both Hamilton and Dejean.
HISTORICAL IMPORTANCE
The date of these findings of the grand jury, September 8, 1778, was at the most trying time of the Revolutionary War. Rumors of an attempt on the part of the colonial troops to take Detroit were constantly heard in the British camps and in the garrison at Detroit. Gen. George Rogers Clark, with a few soldiers, had taken Vincennes, then an important place in the Indian country, and had passed on westward to take Kaskaskia. If he could retain these places as a base he could proceed to Detroit with his army and capture that place also.
Governor Hamilton was a civil officer and ought not to have undertaken anything in the military line further than protecting Detroit. He learned of the actions of the grand jury and was afraid that a warrant was out for his arrest. He hoped to do something to win the favor of the British government in order to escape punishment for his crime. Utterly without authority and even against the expressed wishes of Governor Haldimand, he gathered all the provisions and soldiers that he could at Detroit and set off for the Indian coun- try, not notifying Haldimand of his plans until he had started and it was too late to recall him. In a few days he reached and took Vincennes which was pro- tected by only one officer, Capt. Moses Henry, and one soldier.
Those who wish to read the circumstances of the return of General Clark and the recapture of Vincennes and of General Hamilton, the "hair-buyer general," and of Dejean, will find a full account in Maurice Thompson's "Alice of Old Vincennes."
The consequences of this capture were that Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin became a part of the new United States in the treaty of 1783, claimed by the old colonies by right of conquest in the capture of Hamilton.
Thus it seems that to the blood of Jean Contencineau we owe, in part at least, the fact that we are citizens of Michigan in the great sisterhood of states.
The privy council of Great Britain directed that neither Hamilton nor Dejean be punished, because in the tumult of war no trial could be had where all the witnesses could be summoned. Hamilton and Dejean remained a long time in prison at Williamsburg, Virginia. The former, on his exchange, returned to England, but subsequently came back to Canada and later became governor of the Bermudas, where the city of Hamilton was founded and, it is sometimes said, named in his honor. This statement is probably erroneous, as the entire island was originally granted to the Hamilton family, more than one hundred years before Henry Hamilton visited it, and it is likely that this ancient owner- ship led to the naming of the city.
Dejean took the oath of neutrality and was permitted to return to Detroit, but he never afterward officiated as justice there.
In order to make a connected story of the indictments against Hamilton and Dejean, we have passed over a considerable time, for it was not until October 7, 1778, that Hamilton left Detroit, and it was some days later that Dejean followed him.
WATCH FOR ANTI-ROYALISTS
At the outbreak of the Revolution there were many of the royalists who hastened from the east and south to take up their residence in Detroit, in order
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to be under the protection of the English soldiers. There were also many others who came here to avoid the war, but who were secretly in favor of the new government. A strict watch had to be maintained to prevent the Vir- ginians, as the colonial forces in the west were called, from becoming established amidst the citizenry of Detroit. Charles Moran, a citizen of Detroit and the father of the late Judge Charles Moran, was a captain in the local militia and one of the military orders given to him by Governor Hamilton, and now in the possession of the family of Mr. John V. Moran, directs that all strangers who arrive in the place must immediately report their place of residence to the cap- tain of militia, and the latter must report the fact to the governor within twelve hours. Every stranger and every suspected citizen was watched and his actions and sayings were reported to the governor. If the suspicions seemed to be well-founded, the suspect was brought before Hamilton and he was put under bonds to behave himself as a British citizen.
It was no uncommon circumstance that persons were unjustly suspected. On the 29th day of December, 1775, Garrett Graverat was brought before Hamil- ton and compelled to enter into a bond in the sum of four hundred pounds sterling, conditioned that he would not correspond with, carry intelligence to, or supply any of his majesty's enemies, nor do anything detrimental to this settlement in particular, or against any of his majesty's good subjects, for one year and one day. The sureties on the bond were William Edgar, George MeBeath, James Rankin, and Simon MeTavish. No list of better names could be selected from the business directory of Detroit of that day. It seems very probable that Graverat was entirely misjudged at that time, for he remained a British subject at Detroit so long as it was under British control. Philip Boyle was compelled to give a similar bond on March 6, 1777.
ARTICLE OF INDENTURE
John Simon bound himself to work for Obediah Robins for one year from October 31, 1776, for twenty-four pounds, New York currency (about sixty dollars). Simon was to work as a hired man, and was to behave himself and was honestly to obey every lawful command, and was to go with said Obediah Robins wherever he should direct him, or wherever his business required.
An entry dated October 27, 1772, is recorded on the 26th of the following July, whereby Israel Ruland (it is spelled Rouland in this place) bound himself to Garret Graverat until Ruland became of age. Ruland was born on Long Island and was to be sixteen years of age on the 2d of the following May. He agreed to serve Graverat until he became of age, and was then to receive forty pounds, New York currency, and one suit of clothes "fit for a servant of his station."
SALE OF SLAVES
Slavery existed at Detroit even later than the year 1800, but it existed legally only until the surrender of the post in 1796. There were two kinds of slaves, negro and panis. The latter were Indians originally captured by Indian tribes in their wars, the captives being reduced to servitude. There exists a bill of sale or deed, of two slaves, male and female, for two thousand livres, equal to one hundred twenty-three pounds, six shillings and eight pence, New York currency. The sale was made in 1777 by Charles Langlade, interpreter for the king, to Pierre Labeille. Langlade will be remembered as one of the Canadians who took an active part in protecting the English soldiers at Mackinac in 1763.
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FIRST CLAIM FOR DOWER IN REAL ESTATE
Arbitrators could be resorted to in order to settle pending differences, without the aid of the justice. Such a case occurred in 1777, between James Cassety, a farmer, and Edward Abbott, lieutenant-governor of Post Vincennes. Cassety was a well-known character in later years, but at this time he had but recently come to Detroit and settled upon a farm at Grosse Pointe. He was the owner of a lot in the village, which he sold to Abbott.
Upon examining the title to this lot, Abbott ascertained Cassety had pur- chased it from John Witherhead and Henry Van Schaak and had received warranty deeds, but that Mrs. Bainbouts claimed a dower interest in the lot. Thomas Williams, James Sterling, Gregor MeGregor and D. Baby were chosen arbitrators, without the approval of Dejean. The arbitrators decided that Abbott should retain thirty pounds in his hand until the title to the land was perfected.
This is the first claim for dower in real estate in the post and search of the records discloses very few instances in which the wife joined in the conveyance of lands by the husband. This is not the first time mention is made of Thomas Williams. Mr. Williams was a citizen of Albany, N. Y., whose feelings led him to seek Detroit as a home during the war, either because he sided with the British or because he wished to avoid participation in the conflict. He remained at Detroit many years and became a prominent citizen. His property at Albany was confiscated by the state of New York, but was finally restored to him or his family. He married Cecelia, a sister of Joseph Campau, the first millionaire of Michigan. He had three children. The only son, the one of the children best known to citizens of Detroit, was John R. Williams, who in 1824 became the first elected mayor of the city. Gregor McGregor was also a prominent citizen and was appointed sheriff towards the end of the British rule.
REAL ESTATE TITLES
In 1778 a question was raised regarding the title to one of the parcels of land within the fortifications and in the course of the investigations the history of the lot was gone into quite fully. It appeared that one lot on St. Jacques Street, thirty feet front by sixty-five feet deep, bounded on one side by Laurent Parent and on the other by St. Germain Street, and in the rear by St. Joseph Street, was sold by Nicolas LaSalle, representing Jacques LaSalle, Jr., October 20, 1754, to Nicolas Vernet dit Bourguignon, and that another parcel on Ste. Anne Street, thirty fect front by fifty-four deep, bounded on the northeast side by the guardhouse, and on the west by a new street called St. Germain Street, and extending to St. Jacques Street, was sold by Mr. Dequindre to said Vernet on the same day. On each of said lots were buildings erected-log houses built "log on log"-as the deed describes them. From the earliest founding of the village the log houses were built of logs set on end in the ground, placed closely together, and the interstices filled with mud or clay. The newer build- ings were built of logs placed upon cach other lengthwise, as in the pioneer log houses of a later day.
It became appropriate for the conveyancer, Navarre, to indicate that class of building as "une maison de piece sur piece."
The two parcels were sold by Vernet, October 19, 1760, to Francois Picote de Belestre for thirty thousand livres. Belestre was the last French com-
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mandant and upon the surrender of Detroit to Maj. Robert Rogers in 1760, he was hurried off to Presque isle with the French soldiers as a prisoner of war, and the property he left was taken possession of by the British.
When the title of these parcels of land was questioned in 1767, the then commandant, Capt. George Turnbull, appointed a court of inquiry to examine the title. The members of the court were: Lieut. Daniel MeAlpine, of the Sixty-eighth regiment (president) and Lieut. John Christy of the Sixtieth regiment, and John Amiel, ensign in the Sixtieth regiment (member). Belestre claimed to own the property under the deed to him, and the commandant elaimed that Belestre took the conveyance for the benefit of his government, and that with the fall of New France all government property passed to the British. Belestre testified that he bought both parcels of land for himself and that he paid taxes on them, and the king's dues, amounting to six hundred and sixty-six livres, six soldats, on the purchase of the property. One of these lots was taken by the soldiers and sold; the other lot had been in possession of his Britannie majesty for some years. The court was apparently prejudiced in favor of the king, and it is small wonder that Belestre, the poor Frenchman, got little satisfaction out of his suit.
FIRST FUGITIVE SLAVE
An entry dated May 6, 1778, signed by Henry Hamilton, lieutenant-governor and superintendent, reads, translated, as follows:
"On the representations which have been made by the mulatto woman, who belonged to the late Louis Verrat, and on the verbal depositions of different persons concerning the liberty of the said mulatto woman, I have judged proper to stop the sale of the woman, and have directed that she be sent back to Kas- kaskia, in the Illinois country, consigned to Mr. Rochblave, commandant for the king at that place, for further information."
This was, apparently, either a case of abduction of a slave and an attempt to sell her at Detroit or the return of a fugitive slave. It is the first recorded instance of a fugitive from slavery, to be followed by the thousands of others, increasing each year in number until the civil war ended the slavery curse.
DISTURBING THE PEACE
The records show that the hilarious individuals who make the night hideous with their "warhoops" were not unknown to Detroit in 1778. Jean Bte. Mont- reuil and Joseph Cerre dit St. Jean were arrested, tried and convicted of "breaking the peace of our sovereign lord, by disturbing, in the night, the repose and tranquillity of the public," and they were put under bonds of one hundred pounds each for their good behavior for a year and a day. Pierre Desnoyers became the bondsman for Montreuil and Joseph Pouget was surety for Cerre.
(Continued in the next chapter)
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CHAPTER XI LAW AND ORDER IN EARLY DETROIT (Continued)
BY CLARENCE M. BURTON
UNCERTAIN NEWS-DEJEAN'S SUCCESSOR-REAL ESTATE SPECULATION IN 1780 PETITION FOR MILL-PROTESTANT MARRIAGE CEREMONIES-CENSUS OF 1782 TERRITORIAL CHANGE AFTER 1782-KING'S OWNERSHIP OF DETROIT PROP- ERTY-MILITARY AUTHORITY OVER DEBTS-IMPROVEMENT OF RIVER LAND- HEALTH MEASURES-REMOVAL OF RECORDS TO QUEBEC-FORMATION OF DISTRICT OF HESSE-APPOINTMENT OF ASSESSOR-HAY AN UNPOPULAR GOV- ERNOR-BRITISH VIEW OF DETROIT IN 1787-COURT OF COMMON PLEAS ES- TABLISHED-OPPOSITION OF ENGLISH TO NEW COURT-FIRST JUSTICE OF COMMON PLEAS-DIVISION OF CANADIAN PROVINCES-PARLIAMENTARY ELEC- TION IN DETROIT-MINOR SUITS OF INTEREST-POLICE REGULATIONS-FIRE PREVENTION-PARLIAMENTARY LAWS FOR DETROIT-PREPARATIONS FOR SECOND SESSION-ANTIPATHY TOWARD AMERICAN SYMPATHIZERS-VISIT OF GOVERNOR SIMCOE-SECOND SESSION OF PARLIAMENT-REGULATION OF MARRIAGES-LEGISLATION ON SLAVERY-PROBATE AND SURROGATE COURTS- LIQUOR LICENSE FUND FOR LEGISLATIVE SALARIES-THIRD SESSION OF FIRST PARLIAMENT- COURT OF KING'S BENCH-FOURTH SESSION OF FIRST PAR- LIAMENT-FIRST SESSION OF SECOND PARLIAMENT.
UNCERTAIN NEWS
In an old letter-book which was kept at Mackinae during the Revolutionary war are several interesting items. An extract from one of these letters, which is dated June 4, 1778, and written by John Askin to John (Jehu) Hay, who was the last British governor of Detroit, will be given. n reading the letter one may see how uncertain and unreliable the news was which proceeded from the seat of war at that time. The news received would equal some of the tele- graph items of today. Another matter of interest in the letter is that news of all kinds from the East reached Mackinac before it did Detroit. The letter is as follows:
"The two vessels, the first canoes from Montreal and the Ottawa Indians going to war, all arrived yesterday, the latter is now daneing at my door, my things eoming on shore in the greatest confusion and the Angelica preparing to sail.
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