1 00:00:01,040 --> 00:00:04,800 Speaker 1: You are listening to History on Trial, a production of 2 00:00:04,880 --> 00:00:14,800 Speaker 1: iHeart Podcasts. Listener Discretion advised. Darkness was falling over the 3 00:00:14,880 --> 00:00:18,400 Speaker 1: Rhode Island woods by the time Roger Williams reached the 4 00:00:18,440 --> 00:00:22,280 Speaker 1: wounded man. When Williams had heard that a man had 5 00:00:22,280 --> 00:00:26,000 Speaker 1: been attacked, he'd set off quickly, hoping that he could help. 6 00:00:26,600 --> 00:00:30,160 Speaker 1: But looking at the man lying before him, Williams knew 7 00:00:30,280 --> 00:00:35,720 Speaker 1: the situation was hopeless. Williams was no stranger to violence, 8 00:00:36,280 --> 00:00:39,360 Speaker 1: no one living in New England in the sixteen thirties was. 9 00:00:40,400 --> 00:00:44,400 Speaker 1: He knew that wounds like these, a long, ugly gash 10 00:00:44,479 --> 00:00:47,440 Speaker 1: running up one leg ending in a deep wound in 11 00:00:47,479 --> 00:00:52,360 Speaker 1: the belly, could not be overcome. Nonetheless, the doctors Williams 12 00:00:52,360 --> 00:00:55,920 Speaker 1: had brought with him, John Green and Thomas James, did 13 00:00:55,960 --> 00:00:59,800 Speaker 1: what little they could. Then the three men along with 14 00:00:59,800 --> 00:01:03,200 Speaker 1: this three in Narrogansett hunters who had discovered the wounded man, 15 00:01:03,640 --> 00:01:07,320 Speaker 1: picked the man up and began the trek back to Providence, 16 00:01:07,840 --> 00:01:12,440 Speaker 1: the settlement that Williams had founded two years earlier. It 17 00:01:12,480 --> 00:01:16,800 Speaker 1: was an arduous journey through the dense forest. The wounded 18 00:01:16,840 --> 00:01:21,039 Speaker 1: man must have been in excruciating pain, but he found 19 00:01:21,040 --> 00:01:25,080 Speaker 1: the strength to tell his rescuers his story. His name 20 00:01:25,440 --> 00:01:29,160 Speaker 1: was Penowan Yankis. He said he was a member of 21 00:01:29,200 --> 00:01:32,560 Speaker 1: the Nitmuk tribe. He had been set upon by four 22 00:01:32,600 --> 00:01:36,440 Speaker 1: men who tried to rob and kill him. He had escaped, 23 00:01:36,840 --> 00:01:41,200 Speaker 1: but he knew his wound was grave. Infection was setting 24 00:01:41,200 --> 00:01:45,679 Speaker 1: in a fever taking hold. Penowon Yankuis began to pray, 25 00:01:46,280 --> 00:01:51,640 Speaker 1: calling out to Mukwachaquan, the children's God. Mukwachaquan was known 26 00:01:51,720 --> 00:01:55,320 Speaker 1: to save lost boys. As a child, Penowa Yankis had 27 00:01:55,400 --> 00:01:58,560 Speaker 1: encountered the god in the form of an animal, and 28 00:01:58,640 --> 00:02:01,720 Speaker 1: now he called upon the god's protection. But it was 29 00:02:01,800 --> 00:02:06,920 Speaker 1: too late. Penawa Yanquist was beyond saving. Before he slipped away, 30 00:02:06,920 --> 00:02:12,480 Speaker 1: though he told the men one last crucial fact. His attackers, 31 00:02:12,760 --> 00:02:17,320 Speaker 1: he said, were English. Roger Williams, with a pit in 32 00:02:17,360 --> 00:02:20,840 Speaker 1: his stomach, knew who the four men must be. He 33 00:02:20,960 --> 00:02:23,560 Speaker 1: had seen them just that morning when they had shown 34 00:02:23,680 --> 00:02:27,640 Speaker 1: up at his doorstep, but draggled and starving, Claiming to 35 00:02:27,680 --> 00:02:30,519 Speaker 1: have gotten lost in the woods. They said they were 36 00:02:30,520 --> 00:02:34,480 Speaker 1: trying to get to Connecticut. Williams fed them, assigned them 37 00:02:34,560 --> 00:02:37,760 Speaker 1: narrogantic guides, and gave them a few letters to deliver 38 00:02:37,880 --> 00:02:41,440 Speaker 1: on their way. Williams had just been trying to be kind, 39 00:02:42,080 --> 00:02:46,919 Speaker 1: but now he knew the sickening truth he had assisted murderers. 40 00:02:47,639 --> 00:02:50,360 Speaker 1: He resolved at once that he would hunt these men 41 00:02:50,440 --> 00:02:54,560 Speaker 1: down soon enough, with the help of the narrogantic guides 42 00:02:54,639 --> 00:02:58,320 Speaker 1: and the English colonists on Aquidneck Island present day Portsmouth, 43 00:02:58,360 --> 00:03:04,080 Speaker 1: Rhode Island. William had his men. They were four indentured servants, 44 00:03:04,720 --> 00:03:10,600 Speaker 1: Arthur Peach, Thomas Jackson, Richard Stinnings and Daniel Cross. Now 45 00:03:10,639 --> 00:03:13,520 Speaker 1: that Williams had apprehended the murderers, he faced a new 46 00:03:13,639 --> 00:03:17,560 Speaker 1: challenge what to do with them. Their attack on Penawa 47 00:03:17,639 --> 00:03:20,760 Speaker 1: yanquists had taken place in a no man's land of sorts, 48 00:03:21,320 --> 00:03:24,520 Speaker 1: a swampy patch claimed by neither the Narraganset nor the 49 00:03:24,560 --> 00:03:28,960 Speaker 1: Wampanog tribes, nor by any of the English colonies. And 50 00:03:29,040 --> 00:03:32,880 Speaker 1: while the killers were English, their victim was Nitmuck. Who 51 00:03:32,880 --> 00:03:37,000 Speaker 1: should have jurisdiction over the murderers? It was a question 52 00:03:37,160 --> 00:03:41,720 Speaker 1: with serious implications. For the past two years, the brutal 53 00:03:41,760 --> 00:03:46,440 Speaker 1: Pequot War had raged through New England. Tensions between colonists 54 00:03:46,520 --> 00:03:50,720 Speaker 1: and indigenous peoples were at an all time high. Would 55 00:03:50,720 --> 00:03:55,600 Speaker 1: this murder spark disaster. The Indians sent for mister Williams 56 00:03:55,680 --> 00:03:59,680 Speaker 1: recorded William Bradford, the former governor of Plymouth Colony, and 57 00:04:00,080 --> 00:04:04,360 Speaker 1: made a grievous complaint. His friends and kindred were ready 58 00:04:04,400 --> 00:04:08,839 Speaker 1: to rise in arms and provoke the rest thereunto some 59 00:04:08,960 --> 00:04:12,640 Speaker 1: conceiving they should now find the Pequot's word true, that 60 00:04:12,720 --> 00:04:17,240 Speaker 1: the English would fall upon them. Roger Williams Bradford writes 61 00:04:17,600 --> 00:04:21,840 Speaker 1: quote pacified them and told them they should see justice 62 00:04:21,960 --> 00:04:25,320 Speaker 1: done upon the offenders. It was determined that the men 63 00:04:25,360 --> 00:04:28,680 Speaker 1: would be tried before a jury in Plymouth Colony. Could 64 00:04:28,680 --> 00:04:32,720 Speaker 1: the colonists, would their scant resources manage a fair trial? 65 00:04:33,360 --> 00:04:37,240 Speaker 1: Could they overcome their innate prejudices towards their indigenous neighbors. 66 00:04:37,720 --> 00:04:41,479 Speaker 1: Could they stave off a looming war? And most of all, 67 00:04:41,800 --> 00:04:47,720 Speaker 1: could they fulfill William's promise? Could they see justice done? 68 00:04:48,240 --> 00:04:51,599 Speaker 1: Welcome to history on trial. I'm your host, Mira Hayward. 69 00:04:52,000 --> 00:04:58,760 Speaker 1: This week Plymouth Colony v. The Peach Gang. In late 70 00:04:58,800 --> 00:05:03,200 Speaker 1: December sixteent any English colonists from the Mayflower arrived at 71 00:05:03,200 --> 00:05:06,360 Speaker 1: the remains of a Peduxt village on the southeastern coast 72 00:05:06,480 --> 00:05:11,799 Speaker 1: of present day Massachusetts. The new arrivals dubbed this settlement Plymouth. 73 00:05:12,720 --> 00:05:17,000 Speaker 1: The first winter at Plymouth was brutal. Almost half of 74 00:05:17,040 --> 00:05:20,279 Speaker 1: the colonists fifty out of one hundred and two, died, 75 00:05:20,760 --> 00:05:25,320 Speaker 1: succumbing to disease and starvation. The remaining populations struggled to 76 00:05:25,320 --> 00:05:28,200 Speaker 1: build adequate shelter and to make use of the land's 77 00:05:28,240 --> 00:05:33,200 Speaker 1: natural resources. Salvation arrived in the form of the Wampanogu Confederation. 78 00:05:34,160 --> 00:05:37,000 Speaker 1: The Wampanogue had once been a dominant presence along the 79 00:05:37,040 --> 00:05:41,000 Speaker 1: present day Massachusetts and Rhode Island coasts, with a population 80 00:05:41,120 --> 00:05:44,719 Speaker 1: of some forty thousand people living in sixty seven villages. 81 00:05:45,480 --> 00:05:49,520 Speaker 1: But between sixteen sixteen and sixteen nineteen, a period that 82 00:05:49,600 --> 00:05:53,960 Speaker 1: became known as the Great Dying, thousands of Wampanog died 83 00:05:54,000 --> 00:05:58,760 Speaker 1: from infectious diseases brought by European explorers. A neighboring group, 84 00:05:58,960 --> 00:06:03,320 Speaker 1: the Narragansett, who had been less impacted by disease, began 85 00:06:03,440 --> 00:06:08,240 Speaker 1: to encroach on Wampanog territory. When the Plymouth colonists arrived 86 00:06:08,279 --> 00:06:12,640 Speaker 1: in sixteen twenty, the Wampanog saw an opportunity. An alliance 87 00:06:12,640 --> 00:06:15,640 Speaker 1: with the English could provide weapons and bodies to fight 88 00:06:15,680 --> 00:06:18,839 Speaker 1: off the nar against it In the spring of sixteen 89 00:06:18,880 --> 00:06:22,720 Speaker 1: twenty one, the Wampanogue established contact with the English, and 90 00:06:22,800 --> 00:06:25,800 Speaker 1: in late March the two groups signed a peace treaty. 91 00:06:26,440 --> 00:06:32,880 Speaker 1: This alliance saved the colonists. Their Wampanog allies provided invaluable assistance, 92 00:06:33,240 --> 00:06:37,120 Speaker 1: teaching the colonists how to work the land, maximize crop output, 93 00:06:37,320 --> 00:06:40,760 Speaker 1: and hunt. Over the next decade, thanks to this knowledge, 94 00:06:40,920 --> 00:06:44,799 Speaker 1: the colonists began to thrive. By the mid sixteen thirties, 95 00:06:44,880 --> 00:06:48,360 Speaker 1: Plymouth's population had more than tripled, and it was about 96 00:06:48,400 --> 00:06:52,200 Speaker 1: to grow even more. Colonists lived in neat houses with 97 00:06:52,279 --> 00:06:56,720 Speaker 1: small gardens behind them. A large defensive wall encircled the town, 98 00:06:57,000 --> 00:07:00,280 Speaker 1: and a meeting house sat atop the town's highest point. 99 00:07:00,680 --> 00:07:05,240 Speaker 1: The establishment of further English colonies, the Massachusetts Bay, Saybrook 100 00:07:05,279 --> 00:07:10,120 Speaker 1: and Connecticut colonies, gave Plymouth residents further security and opportunities 101 00:07:10,120 --> 00:07:15,280 Speaker 1: for trade, but not all was well in Plymouth. In 102 00:07:15,320 --> 00:07:18,600 Speaker 1: sixteen thirty six, the various English colonies allied with the 103 00:07:18,680 --> 00:07:22,120 Speaker 1: Narraganset and Mohegan tribes in a war against the Pequots. 104 00:07:22,800 --> 00:07:26,440 Speaker 1: Though the English dominated the conflict, the brutality of the war, 105 00:07:26,640 --> 00:07:30,000 Speaker 1: which included a massacre of more than four hundred Pequot 106 00:07:30,040 --> 00:07:34,640 Speaker 1: in a single day in sixteen thirty seven, deeply concerned 107 00:07:34,720 --> 00:07:38,720 Speaker 1: the English's native allies what would happen if the English 108 00:07:38,760 --> 00:07:43,960 Speaker 1: turned against them? The English, too were becoming increasingly wary 109 00:07:44,000 --> 00:07:50,720 Speaker 1: of their indigenous neighbors, prejudice against native people's crew earnest interactions, 110 00:07:50,800 --> 00:07:53,760 Speaker 1: writes historian Toby Pearl in her book Terror to the 111 00:07:53,760 --> 00:08:00,400 Speaker 1: Wicked gave way to mistrust, suspicion, and hatred are also 112 00:08:00,520 --> 00:08:04,960 Speaker 1: tensions between the English colonies. The Massachusetts Bay Colony was 113 00:08:05,000 --> 00:08:08,920 Speaker 1: growing much faster than Plymouth, sucking up resources and land 114 00:08:09,000 --> 00:08:14,680 Speaker 1: and new arrivals, including indentured servants, which Plymouth Colony desperately needed. 115 00:08:15,720 --> 00:08:19,560 Speaker 1: The colony relied on these servants, men and women who 116 00:08:19,600 --> 00:08:22,400 Speaker 1: agreed to a period of unpaid labor in exchange for 117 00:08:22,480 --> 00:08:25,080 Speaker 1: passage to the colony and the promise of land at 118 00:08:25,080 --> 00:08:28,240 Speaker 1: the end of their indenture to keep it running. But 119 00:08:28,320 --> 00:08:32,400 Speaker 1: by the late sixteen thirties, with land becoming scarce, Plymouth 120 00:08:32,440 --> 00:08:35,880 Speaker 1: Colony leaders reduced the amount of land guaranteed to indentured 121 00:08:35,920 --> 00:08:41,160 Speaker 1: servants from one hundred acres to five, which would only 122 00:08:41,240 --> 00:08:44,920 Speaker 1: be granted to servants that the colony deemed fit. These 123 00:08:45,000 --> 00:08:50,360 Speaker 1: unattracted terms quickly stemmed the flow of indentured servants. These 124 00:08:50,440 --> 00:08:55,280 Speaker 1: changes also infuriated many of Plymouth's existing indentured servants, who 125 00:08:55,280 --> 00:08:59,680 Speaker 1: felt cheated out of their futures. One such servant was 126 00:08:59,760 --> 00:09:04,120 Speaker 1: Our Peach, a twenty three year old Irishman. Peach had 127 00:09:04,120 --> 00:09:07,160 Speaker 1: sailed on the Plain Joan from Gravesend to England to 128 00:09:07,200 --> 00:09:10,160 Speaker 1: the Colony of Virginia in the spring of sixteen thirty five. 129 00:09:10,920 --> 00:09:13,360 Speaker 1: In sixteen thirty six, he had traveled to New England, 130 00:09:13,760 --> 00:09:16,080 Speaker 1: where he signed a four year in denture contract with 131 00:09:16,240 --> 00:09:20,520 Speaker 1: Edward Winslow, a prominent Plymouth resident. Peach spent part of 132 00:09:20,559 --> 00:09:23,480 Speaker 1: the first years of his contract as a soldier fighting 133 00:09:23,520 --> 00:09:28,040 Speaker 1: for Plymouth in the Pequot Wars. William Bradford, the Plymouth governor, 134 00:09:28,320 --> 00:09:32,040 Speaker 1: recorded that Peach had done as good service as the 135 00:09:32,080 --> 00:09:35,800 Speaker 1: most there and was one of the forwardest in any attempt. 136 00:09:36,360 --> 00:09:41,199 Speaker 1: Peach was brave, no doubt. Unfortunately, domestic life did not 137 00:09:41,280 --> 00:09:45,360 Speaker 1: suit him as well as war did. Peach was loathe 138 00:09:45,520 --> 00:09:50,000 Speaker 1: to work, Bradford wrote. Instead of completing his duties for Winslow, 139 00:09:50,280 --> 00:09:53,240 Speaker 1: Peach spent most of his time at Stephen Hopkins's house. 140 00:09:54,240 --> 00:09:58,320 Speaker 1: Hopkins hosted a makeshift cavern and gambling den there, much 141 00:09:58,400 --> 00:10:02,200 Speaker 1: to the chagrin of Plymouth's leader. Peach quickly racked up 142 00:10:02,440 --> 00:10:06,560 Speaker 1: large gambling debts to Hopkins. He also got entangled with 143 00:10:06,640 --> 00:10:12,560 Speaker 1: Dorothy Temple, one of Hopkins's indentured servants. Relationships between servants 144 00:10:12,600 --> 00:10:15,760 Speaker 1: were forbidden in Plymouth, but that didn't stop Peach from 145 00:10:15,760 --> 00:10:20,280 Speaker 1: wooing Temple. If Plymouth officials discovered the relationship, Peach and 146 00:10:20,320 --> 00:10:25,360 Speaker 1: Temple would both face punishment fines or whippings or both. 147 00:10:26,559 --> 00:10:30,880 Speaker 1: Despite this burgeoning romance, Arthur Peach was unhappy. He didn't 148 00:10:30,920 --> 00:10:34,199 Speaker 1: know if he could bear two more years of indentured servitude. 149 00:10:34,840 --> 00:10:36,400 Speaker 1: He didn't know if he could ever pay off his 150 00:10:36,520 --> 00:10:42,760 Speaker 1: gambling debts. He craved adventure, but indentured servants couldn't leave 151 00:10:42,760 --> 00:10:46,760 Speaker 1: Plymouth colony without their master's permission. What was Arthur Peach, 152 00:10:47,160 --> 00:10:51,240 Speaker 1: who William Bradford called quote a lusty and desperate young 153 00:10:51,320 --> 00:10:57,360 Speaker 1: man to do? Run? That was Arthur Peach's answer. He 154 00:10:57,440 --> 00:11:01,960 Speaker 1: would flee dry, drab Plymouth for the exciting possibilities of 155 00:11:02,040 --> 00:11:06,520 Speaker 1: New Amsterdam, the Dutch settlement on Manhattan Island. He wouldn't 156 00:11:06,600 --> 00:11:10,520 Speaker 1: go alone at Stephen Hopkins's house he'd made friends with 157 00:11:10,559 --> 00:11:15,080 Speaker 1: a number of similarly disillusioned servants, and he'd convinced three 158 00:11:15,080 --> 00:11:19,160 Speaker 1: of them, Thomas Jackson, Richard Stinnings, and Daniel Cross, to 159 00:11:19,280 --> 00:11:23,480 Speaker 1: leave with him. On July twenty fourth, sixteen thirty eight, 160 00:11:23,880 --> 00:11:26,320 Speaker 1: in the dark of night, the men met on the 161 00:11:26,360 --> 00:11:30,200 Speaker 1: Green Harbor Path, a well trodden byway running along the coast. 162 00:11:30,840 --> 00:11:33,959 Speaker 1: Fearing pursuit, they decided to leave the path and head 163 00:11:33,960 --> 00:11:38,040 Speaker 1: into the thick woods. The woods were dense and imposing, 164 00:11:38,840 --> 00:11:46,440 Speaker 1: but through them Peach believed lay freedom. For three exhausting, 165 00:11:46,840 --> 00:11:50,760 Speaker 1: frustrating days, Arthur Peach and his companions stumbled their way 166 00:11:50,800 --> 00:11:54,560 Speaker 1: through the forest. They likely argued as they went. The 167 00:11:54,600 --> 00:11:57,280 Speaker 1: three other men had only joined Peach because he claimed 168 00:11:57,320 --> 00:11:59,640 Speaker 1: to know the way to New Amsterdam, but as the 169 00:11:59,720 --> 00:12:02,480 Speaker 1: days wore on, it became clear that he did not. 170 00:12:03,200 --> 00:12:06,240 Speaker 1: The Peach Gang, as the group would become known, also 171 00:12:06,360 --> 00:12:09,480 Speaker 1: had not packed well. They were running short on food 172 00:12:09,559 --> 00:12:13,280 Speaker 1: and water. On July twenty seven, the gang stopped to 173 00:12:13,320 --> 00:12:16,720 Speaker 1: rest in miss Quam Squeeze, a swampy patch of land 174 00:12:16,880 --> 00:12:21,160 Speaker 1: north of present day Seaconk, Massachusetts. They were only thirty 175 00:12:21,200 --> 00:12:23,960 Speaker 1: six miles from Plymouth, as the crow flies, but it 176 00:12:24,040 --> 00:12:28,319 Speaker 1: must have felt much further. Mosquitoes nipped at their ankles, 177 00:12:28,520 --> 00:12:31,680 Speaker 1: their heads throbbed in the heat, and their stomachs ached 178 00:12:31,720 --> 00:12:36,400 Speaker 1: from hunger. The atmosphere was oppressive. Some locals called the 179 00:12:36,480 --> 00:12:41,000 Speaker 1: area the Devil's swamp. All At once Arthur Peach heard 180 00:12:41,000 --> 00:12:44,800 Speaker 1: a rustling behind him. He grabbed his rapier, a thin, 181 00:12:44,920 --> 00:12:48,360 Speaker 1: double edged, deadly sharp sword, the only thing he had 182 00:12:48,400 --> 00:12:52,920 Speaker 1: taken with him from Plymouth. The gang tensed who was 183 00:12:52,960 --> 00:12:56,080 Speaker 1: walking through the woods, a party from Plymouth out to 184 00:12:56,120 --> 00:12:59,520 Speaker 1: apprehend them or an animal they could kill for food. 185 00:13:00,520 --> 00:13:04,200 Speaker 1: The rustling grew louder. A lone man emerged from the 186 00:13:04,240 --> 00:13:08,240 Speaker 1: trees at the clearing's edge. Nervous. None of the Peach 187 00:13:08,320 --> 00:13:11,840 Speaker 1: gang addressed the man. He walked silently through the clearing 188 00:13:11,960 --> 00:13:15,679 Speaker 1: and disappeared back into the trees. Arthur Peach had been 189 00:13:15,720 --> 00:13:19,000 Speaker 1: caught off guard by the man's appearance, but it had 190 00:13:19,040 --> 00:13:23,040 Speaker 1: given him an idea, a dark idea. He told his 191 00:13:23,120 --> 00:13:26,800 Speaker 1: men that they would not be traveling further that day. 192 00:13:27,080 --> 00:13:29,640 Speaker 1: The man they had just seen is known by history 193 00:13:29,679 --> 00:13:33,480 Speaker 1: as Penawa Yanquis. This is likely not his real name. 194 00:13:34,080 --> 00:13:38,520 Speaker 1: Penaway means foreigner or stranger in Eastern Algonquin, so the 195 00:13:38,559 --> 00:13:41,760 Speaker 1: man may have been describing himself as a stranger when 196 00:13:41,760 --> 00:13:45,679 Speaker 1: he later gave his name to Roger Williams. Penawa Yanquis 197 00:13:45,800 --> 00:13:50,320 Speaker 1: was a member of the Nitmuck people. Nitmuk means freshwater people, 198 00:13:50,760 --> 00:13:53,839 Speaker 1: a fitting name given that their homelands contained the headwaters 199 00:13:53,880 --> 00:13:57,320 Speaker 1: of all major rivers in eastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island. 200 00:13:58,320 --> 00:14:01,760 Speaker 1: The Nitmuk lived in villages across the interior of present 201 00:14:01,800 --> 00:14:05,480 Speaker 1: day Massachusetts and parts of Rhode Island and Connecticut. When 202 00:14:05,520 --> 00:14:09,439 Speaker 1: the Mayflower colonists landed at Plymouth in sixteen twenty, there 203 00:14:09,440 --> 00:14:13,559 Speaker 1: were an estimated five to six thousand Nitmucks, but contact 204 00:14:13,640 --> 00:14:17,360 Speaker 1: with the English and the infectious diseases they carried decimated 205 00:14:17,360 --> 00:14:21,280 Speaker 1: the tribe's population. By sixteen thirty eight, the Nitmuck were 206 00:14:21,320 --> 00:14:24,880 Speaker 1: paying tribute to the Narragansett tribe in exchange for protection. 207 00:14:26,200 --> 00:14:28,960 Speaker 1: On July twenty seventh, when he crossed paths with the 208 00:14:28,960 --> 00:14:31,720 Speaker 1: Peach Gang, penawa Yanquis was on his way to the 209 00:14:31,800 --> 00:14:36,600 Speaker 1: Uptuxet Trading Post outside of present day Bourne, Massachusetts. The 210 00:14:36,680 --> 00:14:39,600 Speaker 1: trading post had been built in sixteen twenty seven to 211 00:14:39,680 --> 00:14:43,200 Speaker 1: facilitate trade between the Wampanog the Dutch and the English. 212 00:14:43,920 --> 00:14:47,320 Speaker 1: The Narragansett, being enemies of the Wampanogu, could not visit 213 00:14:47,360 --> 00:14:50,600 Speaker 1: the trading post, so they set members of affiliated tribes 214 00:14:50,880 --> 00:14:54,360 Speaker 1: like the Nipmuck to do their trading for them. Penawa 215 00:14:54,400 --> 00:14:57,840 Speaker 1: Yanquist carried beaver pelts and beads with him, which was 216 00:14:57,880 --> 00:15:02,320 Speaker 1: trading on behalf of Mixano Canonicus, leader of the Narraganset. 217 00:15:02,920 --> 00:15:06,080 Speaker 1: At the trading post, Penawa Yankuis exchanged his pelts and 218 00:15:06,120 --> 00:15:09,760 Speaker 1: beads for three cloth coats and five fathoms of wampum. 219 00:15:10,280 --> 00:15:15,400 Speaker 1: Wampum small shell beads were used as currency. A fathom 220 00:15:15,440 --> 00:15:18,400 Speaker 1: consisted of three hundred and sixty wampum strung in six 221 00:15:18,440 --> 00:15:23,400 Speaker 1: foot lengths. Five fathoms was worth approximately six contemporary English 222 00:15:23,440 --> 00:15:27,480 Speaker 1: pounds or around twelve hundred dollars to day. It was 223 00:15:27,520 --> 00:15:30,760 Speaker 1: a small fortune to carry through the woods a magnet 224 00:15:30,840 --> 00:15:35,600 Speaker 1: for danger, especially since traders were required to trade unarmed, 225 00:15:36,720 --> 00:15:40,720 Speaker 1: But Penawa Yanquist was well trained, he knew this land intimately, 226 00:15:41,280 --> 00:15:43,400 Speaker 1: he likely had no fear as he set out from 227 00:15:43,400 --> 00:15:47,120 Speaker 1: the trading post, heading west. He walked until dark, set 228 00:15:47,200 --> 00:15:50,640 Speaker 1: up camp, and then resumed his journey along the Narraganset Trail. 229 00:15:50,720 --> 00:15:54,440 Speaker 1: The next morning, further down the trail, Arthur Peach and 230 00:15:54,480 --> 00:15:58,240 Speaker 1: his men huddled in a clearing. Seeing Penawa Yankuist two 231 00:15:58,320 --> 00:16:01,880 Speaker 1: days earlier had given Arthur pea teach an idea. The 232 00:16:01,920 --> 00:16:07,359 Speaker 1: things he and his gang wanted food, water, money, required 233 00:16:07,400 --> 00:16:10,840 Speaker 1: hard work. Wouldn't it just be easier to steal them 234 00:16:10,880 --> 00:16:13,360 Speaker 1: from someone else? All they had to do was wait 235 00:16:13,400 --> 00:16:17,160 Speaker 1: for a traveler to pass by. Their first opportunity appeared 236 00:16:17,200 --> 00:16:21,240 Speaker 1: in a clatter of hoofs. John Throckmorton, a Providence resident, 237 00:16:21,520 --> 00:16:25,680 Speaker 1: was traveling the trail on horseback. Throckmorton recoiled at seeing 238 00:16:25,760 --> 00:16:30,120 Speaker 1: four dirty, disheveled men step out onto the trail. Suspicious, 239 00:16:30,160 --> 00:16:33,240 Speaker 1: he urged his horse into a gallop and rode past quickly. 240 00:16:33,920 --> 00:16:36,760 Speaker 1: The Peach gang was out of luck. They settled back 241 00:16:36,800 --> 00:16:40,760 Speaker 1: down to wait. Some time later, they heard the sounds 242 00:16:40,800 --> 00:16:45,080 Speaker 1: of someone approaching on foot. It was penawan Yanquist. Arthur 243 00:16:45,160 --> 00:16:49,440 Speaker 1: Peach was prepared this time. The gang had built a fire, 244 00:16:49,720 --> 00:16:53,000 Speaker 1: and Peach invited penawa Yanquist to sit beside it, offering 245 00:16:53,040 --> 00:16:56,760 Speaker 1: his pipe too. Penawan Yanquist, having no reason to fear 246 00:16:56,800 --> 00:17:01,680 Speaker 1: these friendly travelers, approached. Now that the moment was upon them. 247 00:17:01,840 --> 00:17:06,119 Speaker 1: Peach's compatriots hesitated. One of them told Peach not to attack, 248 00:17:07,119 --> 00:17:10,960 Speaker 1: but Peach would not be deterred. Hang him rogue. I 249 00:17:11,000 --> 00:17:13,840 Speaker 1: had killed many of them, he cried, speaking of his 250 00:17:13,920 --> 00:17:17,240 Speaker 1: time in the Pequot War, and then he thrust his 251 00:17:17,320 --> 00:17:20,600 Speaker 1: rapier at Penawa Yankuists, sinking the blade into the man's 252 00:17:20,600 --> 00:17:23,600 Speaker 1: stomach and pulling it down his belly through his upper thigh. 253 00:17:24,840 --> 00:17:29,080 Speaker 1: Penawa Yankis reeled, but his reflexes were faster than Peach's. 254 00:17:29,520 --> 00:17:32,679 Speaker 1: He dodged a second blow and turned to run. Another 255 00:17:32,760 --> 00:17:36,080 Speaker 1: gang member lashed out at him, but Penawa Yankis bounded away. 256 00:17:36,840 --> 00:17:39,800 Speaker 1: He knew his greatest advantage was his knowledge of the land. 257 00:17:40,520 --> 00:17:43,840 Speaker 1: He sprinted into the thick vegetation of the swamp. The 258 00:17:43,880 --> 00:17:47,080 Speaker 1: Peach gang gave chase, slashing at plants with their blades. 259 00:17:47,640 --> 00:17:51,280 Speaker 1: Penawa Yankuist did not look back. He splashed through the swamp, 260 00:17:51,400 --> 00:17:55,040 Speaker 1: holding his stomach as blood poured from his wounds. He 261 00:17:55,160 --> 00:17:59,040 Speaker 1: tripped and fell, and then, hearing his pursuers nearby, pulled 262 00:17:59,119 --> 00:18:02,920 Speaker 1: himself up and made one more agonizing push deeper into 263 00:18:02,960 --> 00:18:06,159 Speaker 1: the swamp. Unable to go further, he lay down in 264 00:18:06,200 --> 00:18:10,920 Speaker 1: the brackish water, letting the reeds shelter him. The Peach 265 00:18:11,000 --> 00:18:14,920 Speaker 1: Gang gave up the hunt. They figured Penawa Yankish would 266 00:18:14,960 --> 00:18:18,399 Speaker 1: soon lead out, and they had what they wanted, the 267 00:18:18,440 --> 00:18:21,960 Speaker 1: strings of wampum and the coats. With this small fortune, 268 00:18:22,000 --> 00:18:26,240 Speaker 1: they could establish themselves in New Amsterdam. They just needed 269 00:18:26,280 --> 00:18:31,040 Speaker 1: to get there, but luck was not on their side. 270 00:18:31,080 --> 00:18:34,840 Speaker 1: Not far away, near Pawtucket Falls, the Peachgang encountered a 271 00:18:34,840 --> 00:18:38,960 Speaker 1: group of Narragansetts. The Narragansets were concerned to see four 272 00:18:39,080 --> 00:18:42,640 Speaker 1: filthy Englishmen wandering in the woods and encouraged the men 273 00:18:42,680 --> 00:18:46,720 Speaker 1: to travel south to nearby Providence, where the settlement's leader, 274 00:18:47,160 --> 00:18:51,280 Speaker 1: Roger Williams, could help them. The Peach Gang declined, saying 275 00:18:51,320 --> 00:18:55,320 Speaker 1: that they were headed west to Connecticut, but the Narragants 276 00:18:55,320 --> 00:18:58,080 Speaker 1: were worried about the men and decided to report them 277 00:18:58,080 --> 00:19:02,000 Speaker 1: to Roger Williams, one of the first colonists in Boston. 278 00:19:02,440 --> 00:19:05,919 Speaker 1: Williams's unorthodox beliefs had gotten him kicked out of the 279 00:19:05,920 --> 00:19:10,520 Speaker 1: Massachusetts Bay Colony in sixteen thirty five. Williams headed to 280 00:19:10,560 --> 00:19:13,399 Speaker 1: present day Rhode Island, where he founded a settlement that 281 00:19:13,480 --> 00:19:18,919 Speaker 1: he named Providence. Williams was fascinated by indigenous culture and 282 00:19:19,119 --> 00:19:23,080 Speaker 1: enjoyed close relationships with many native people. He advocated for 283 00:19:23,160 --> 00:19:25,760 Speaker 1: fair dealings with the tribes and learned to speak a 284 00:19:25,840 --> 00:19:30,840 Speaker 1: number of Algonquin dialects, including Narragansett. But Williams also owned 285 00:19:30,840 --> 00:19:35,040 Speaker 1: a Pequot slave, a child called will and he could 286 00:19:35,040 --> 00:19:39,760 Speaker 1: be brusque and temperamental. When the Narragansett party informed Williams 287 00:19:39,760 --> 00:19:42,360 Speaker 1: about the men in the woods, he sent a messenger 288 00:19:42,400 --> 00:19:46,000 Speaker 1: with food and an invitation to visit him. The messenger 289 00:19:46,080 --> 00:19:48,400 Speaker 1: returned with the news that the men preferred to get 290 00:19:48,440 --> 00:19:51,280 Speaker 1: some sleep. The Peach gang must have realized that it 291 00:19:51,320 --> 00:19:55,399 Speaker 1: would look suspicious to turn Williams down indefinitely. Early the 292 00:19:55,400 --> 00:19:59,120 Speaker 1: next morning, they set off for Providence. Williams welcomed them 293 00:19:59,119 --> 00:20:02,760 Speaker 1: into his home, offering them food and water. Learning that 294 00:20:02,800 --> 00:20:05,320 Speaker 1: they were bound for Connecticut, he asked them to deliver 295 00:20:05,440 --> 00:20:08,879 Speaker 1: some letters for him. They agreed, and Williams arranged for 296 00:20:08,960 --> 00:20:12,000 Speaker 1: some narrogant guides to accompany them so they didn't get 297 00:20:12,040 --> 00:20:15,320 Speaker 1: lost again. Around the time that the Peach gang arrived 298 00:20:15,320 --> 00:20:19,840 Speaker 1: in Providence, a group of Narragansett hunters stumbled across Penawa Yanquists. 299 00:20:20,720 --> 00:20:23,600 Speaker 1: Sometime in the night, the wounded man had mustered the 300 00:20:23,640 --> 00:20:27,480 Speaker 1: strength to pull himself onto a path. The hunters immediately 301 00:20:27,520 --> 00:20:30,159 Speaker 1: sent word to Roger Williams that a nipmuck trader had 302 00:20:30,200 --> 00:20:33,360 Speaker 1: been attacked by a party of Englishmen. By the time 303 00:20:33,400 --> 00:20:37,400 Speaker 1: the message arrived, the Peach gang had already left. Williams 304 00:20:37,400 --> 00:20:40,840 Speaker 1: summoned two physicians, John Green and Thomas James, and set 305 00:20:40,840 --> 00:20:44,680 Speaker 1: off to find the Penawa Yanquist. Before leaving, Williams sent 306 00:20:44,720 --> 00:20:48,480 Speaker 1: a messenger to surreptitiously warn the Narraganset guide that their 307 00:20:48,520 --> 00:20:54,440 Speaker 1: traveling companions might actually be fugitives. Williams hoped the messenger 308 00:20:54,480 --> 00:20:59,080 Speaker 1: could catch up with them in time. Penawa Yankuis's strength 309 00:20:59,200 --> 00:21:03,480 Speaker 1: rapidly faded as his rescuers carried him towards Providence. It 310 00:21:03,600 --> 00:21:06,720 Speaker 1: was incredible that he had even lived this long, long 311 00:21:06,840 --> 00:21:10,480 Speaker 1: enough to tell his story, but his grasp on life 312 00:21:10,560 --> 00:21:14,840 Speaker 1: was slipping. Exactly when he died is unknown. None of 313 00:21:14,880 --> 00:21:17,879 Speaker 1: the written records we have contained an account of his death, 314 00:21:18,280 --> 00:21:22,600 Speaker 1: and Williams, for one, did not witness it. Miles away, 315 00:21:23,000 --> 00:21:26,320 Speaker 1: Arthur Peach knew that his time was running out. At 316 00:21:26,320 --> 00:21:29,120 Speaker 1: some point, he had learned that Penawa Yanquist had survived 317 00:21:29,160 --> 00:21:33,840 Speaker 1: and identified his assailants. Desperate, Peach abandoned his pretense of 318 00:21:33,880 --> 00:21:36,760 Speaker 1: going to Connecticut and told the guides that he needed 319 00:21:36,760 --> 00:21:40,480 Speaker 1: to stop at a Quidneck Island in Narragansett Bay. A 320 00:21:40,560 --> 00:21:43,200 Speaker 1: Quidneck had recently been settled by a group of religious 321 00:21:43,240 --> 00:21:46,520 Speaker 1: exiles from the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and Peach hoped that 322 00:21:46,560 --> 00:21:49,960 Speaker 1: these people would shelter him. He pushed his group to hurry, 323 00:21:50,000 --> 00:21:53,040 Speaker 1: and they'd eventually made it to Narragansett Bay. All that 324 00:21:53,160 --> 00:21:56,280 Speaker 1: was between the gang and freedom was a canoe ride. 325 00:21:57,200 --> 00:22:00,000 Speaker 1: As the boats pushed off from shore, Arthur Peach must 326 00:22:00,160 --> 00:22:03,600 Speaker 1: have sighed in relief when he reached a Quidnick. The 327 00:22:03,640 --> 00:22:11,480 Speaker 1: settlers there welcomed him. He had made it well, not quite. 328 00:22:11,680 --> 00:22:14,840 Speaker 1: Arthur Peach didn't know it, but a trap was closing 329 00:22:14,880 --> 00:22:19,920 Speaker 1: in on him. Miraculously, Williams's messenger had managed to track 330 00:22:19,960 --> 00:22:23,639 Speaker 1: the party down and secretly notify the Narraganset guides of 331 00:22:23,680 --> 00:22:27,320 Speaker 1: the gang's true nature. The guides, knowing that they were 332 00:22:27,359 --> 00:22:31,320 Speaker 1: outnumbered by the Englishmen, had maintained their composure and betrayed 333 00:22:31,359 --> 00:22:34,920 Speaker 1: nothing of their knowledge. They had bided their time until 334 00:22:34,920 --> 00:22:38,920 Speaker 1: they arrived at a Quidneck. Then, while the Peach Gang rested, 335 00:22:39,280 --> 00:22:42,840 Speaker 1: they told the settlers there about the crime. A Quidneck 336 00:22:42,920 --> 00:22:46,960 Speaker 1: Islanders didn't like the colonial authorities, but they didn't like 337 00:22:47,119 --> 00:22:51,399 Speaker 1: murderers either. Working with the Narragansetts, they took the Peach 338 00:22:51,400 --> 00:22:56,560 Speaker 1: Gang by surprise and arrested them. Unfortunately, the island had 339 00:22:56,560 --> 00:23:00,320 Speaker 1: no place to hold the captives. Daniel Cross, member of 340 00:23:00,320 --> 00:23:03,720 Speaker 1: the Beach Gang, took advantage of this. He managed to 341 00:23:03,760 --> 00:23:06,879 Speaker 1: loose his bindings and slip away, stealing a canoe and 342 00:23:06,960 --> 00:23:10,879 Speaker 1: heading for land. Once there, he traveled some one hundred 343 00:23:10,960 --> 00:23:15,200 Speaker 1: miles north to the settlement of Piscataqua, near present day Portsmouth, 344 00:23:15,240 --> 00:23:20,760 Speaker 1: New Hampshire. Piscataqua had a reputation for welcoming misfits. John Winthrop, 345 00:23:20,880 --> 00:23:25,439 Speaker 1: governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, wrote contemptuously of Piscataquans, 346 00:23:25,560 --> 00:23:29,159 Speaker 1: that it was their usual manner, some of them, to 347 00:23:29,280 --> 00:23:34,240 Speaker 1: countenance all such lewd persons as fled from us to them. 348 00:23:34,520 --> 00:23:37,640 Speaker 1: As for the other three prisoners, there would be no reprieve. 349 00:23:38,440 --> 00:23:42,639 Speaker 1: After a conversation between leaders from the Massachusetts Bay Colony, Providence, 350 00:23:42,680 --> 00:23:46,440 Speaker 1: Aquinnock Island, and Plymouth, it was determined that Arthur Peach, 351 00:23:46,800 --> 00:23:51,160 Speaker 1: Thomas Jackson, and Richard Stinnings would stand trial in Plymouth. 352 00:23:52,080 --> 00:23:55,119 Speaker 1: After barely a week on the run, the Peach gang 353 00:23:55,280 --> 00:24:00,640 Speaker 1: was headed right back to where they'd started. What did 354 00:24:00,680 --> 00:24:04,280 Speaker 1: the law look like in Plymouth Colony? Unlike the neighboring 355 00:24:04,320 --> 00:24:08,000 Speaker 1: Massachusetts Bay Colony, Plymouth Colony had not been granted a 356 00:24:08,119 --> 00:24:11,600 Speaker 1: Royal Charter by the King of England. Charters defined the 357 00:24:11,680 --> 00:24:15,040 Speaker 1: laws in a colony and gave the colonies leader authority 358 00:24:15,080 --> 00:24:18,560 Speaker 1: to enforce set laws. Without a charter, it was up 359 00:24:18,560 --> 00:24:22,040 Speaker 1: to Plymouth's residents to define their own government. In late 360 00:24:22,119 --> 00:24:25,440 Speaker 1: sixteen twenty forty, one of the settlers signed a document 361 00:24:25,520 --> 00:24:30,200 Speaker 1: declaring themselves quote a civil body politic with the power 362 00:24:30,240 --> 00:24:34,440 Speaker 1: to create laws for quote the general good of the colony, 363 00:24:35,000 --> 00:24:40,280 Speaker 1: unto which promise all due submission and obedience. In sixteen 364 00:24:40,320 --> 00:24:44,640 Speaker 1: thirty six, two years before Penawa Yanquis's murder, Plymouth produced 365 00:24:44,680 --> 00:24:48,320 Speaker 1: its first written set of laws. Enforcement of the laws 366 00:24:48,359 --> 00:24:51,439 Speaker 1: would be managed in part by the colony's General Court, 367 00:24:52,040 --> 00:24:55,000 Speaker 1: a part judicial and part legislative body led by the 368 00:24:55,000 --> 00:24:59,159 Speaker 1: colony's elected governor. The laws in this code were shaped 369 00:24:59,200 --> 00:25:03,639 Speaker 1: by the English in law, but there were some key differences. Too. 370 00:25:04,000 --> 00:25:08,000 Speaker 1: Many Plymouth residents had experienced or been witnessed to grave 371 00:25:08,200 --> 00:25:13,200 Speaker 1: injustices perpetrated by the English legal system. Religious dissenters were 372 00:25:13,280 --> 00:25:16,720 Speaker 1: frequently punished for criticizing the Church of England and the King. 373 00:25:17,320 --> 00:25:22,520 Speaker 1: Punishments could include whippings, brandings, and having one's ears chopped off. 374 00:25:23,480 --> 00:25:27,119 Speaker 1: The colonists did not eliminate corporal or capital punishments from 375 00:25:27,160 --> 00:25:29,960 Speaker 1: their legal code, but they greatly reduced the number of 376 00:25:30,000 --> 00:25:33,520 Speaker 1: crimes that could receive such penalties, and they tried to 377 00:25:33,640 --> 00:25:37,159 Speaker 1: ensure that the punishments were not arbitrarily applied, as they 378 00:25:37,200 --> 00:25:40,600 Speaker 1: so often had been in England by the infamous Star Chamber. 379 00:25:41,480 --> 00:25:45,760 Speaker 1: In sixteen twenty three, Plymouth Colony Governor William Bradford declared 380 00:25:45,800 --> 00:25:49,679 Speaker 1: that all criminal trials must be heard by quote a 381 00:25:49,800 --> 00:25:53,719 Speaker 1: jury upon their oaths, so the Peach Gang would receive 382 00:25:53,840 --> 00:25:57,600 Speaker 1: a jury trial. The jury selection process in sixteen thirty 383 00:25:57,640 --> 00:26:01,240 Speaker 1: eight looked quite different than it does today. To begin 384 00:26:01,320 --> 00:26:04,040 Speaker 1: with that very few people were eligible for jury service. 385 00:26:04,880 --> 00:26:07,639 Speaker 1: Plymouth at this time had only five hundred and fifty 386 00:26:07,680 --> 00:26:12,600 Speaker 1: residents from that pool. Women, children, the elderly, and of 387 00:26:12,600 --> 00:26:17,680 Speaker 1: the sick were automatically excluded, so were indentured servants, who 388 00:26:17,720 --> 00:26:21,240 Speaker 1: made up around a fifth of the population. Coawnee officials 389 00:26:21,240 --> 00:26:25,760 Speaker 1: and religious leaders were also exempt. That didn't leave many options, 390 00:26:26,560 --> 00:26:28,960 Speaker 1: so instead of summoning a random jury pool like we 391 00:26:29,040 --> 00:26:34,280 Speaker 1: do now, Plymouth leaders carefully hand selected jurors for this trial. 392 00:26:34,400 --> 00:26:37,960 Speaker 1: Twelve men served on the jury. Two additional men served 393 00:26:38,000 --> 00:26:41,280 Speaker 1: as grand jurors, which meant in this time that they 394 00:26:41,320 --> 00:26:44,480 Speaker 1: served as watchdogs over the jury and the trial to 395 00:26:44,560 --> 00:26:48,600 Speaker 1: make sure no laws were broken. On September fourth, sixteen 396 00:26:48,680 --> 00:26:52,280 Speaker 1: thirty eight, the trial began at the Plymouth Meetinghouse, a 397 00:26:52,320 --> 00:26:56,520 Speaker 1: thick walled building made of rough planks. The meetinghouse loomed 398 00:26:56,560 --> 00:26:59,639 Speaker 1: over the town from its spot atop a hill. The 399 00:26:59,680 --> 00:27:03,320 Speaker 1: meeting house served many purposes. Originally built as a fort, 400 00:27:03,440 --> 00:27:06,919 Speaker 1: the second floor sported six cannons, while the first floor 401 00:27:07,000 --> 00:27:10,640 Speaker 1: hosted church services. On this day, the meeting house would 402 00:27:10,680 --> 00:27:14,639 Speaker 1: be a courthouse. It was dark and hot in the 403 00:27:14,680 --> 00:27:18,359 Speaker 1: meeting house. The only windows were thin, defensive slits for 404 00:27:18,440 --> 00:27:22,040 Speaker 1: firing guns out of on the second floor. The colony's 405 00:27:22,080 --> 00:27:26,919 Speaker 1: military commander, Myles Standish, had provided a disturbing decoration for 406 00:27:27,000 --> 00:27:31,040 Speaker 1: the occasion. The severed head of an Indian named Wittawomet, 407 00:27:31,440 --> 00:27:35,879 Speaker 1: whose standish had killed years earlier. The skull grinned down 408 00:27:35,960 --> 00:27:39,720 Speaker 1: at the convicts, a grim reminder of their possible fate. 409 00:27:41,320 --> 00:27:44,960 Speaker 1: Arthur Peach, Thomas Jackson, and Richard Stinnings were charged with 410 00:27:45,080 --> 00:27:48,879 Speaker 1: wilful murder, one of the few crimes punishable by death 411 00:27:48,960 --> 00:27:52,560 Speaker 1: under Plymouth laws. The men who had been jailed in 412 00:27:52,600 --> 00:27:56,000 Speaker 1: the colonies since their capture a month earlier were malnourished 413 00:27:56,080 --> 00:28:00,120 Speaker 1: and filthy. The fourth member of the gang, Daniel Cross, 414 00:28:00,200 --> 00:28:04,600 Speaker 1: would not be in attendance. Pscataqua had refused Plymouth's requests 415 00:28:04,640 --> 00:28:09,960 Speaker 1: to extradite the fugitive. Cross's ultimate fate is unknown. The 416 00:28:10,000 --> 00:28:14,400 Speaker 1: meetinghouse was packed. English colonists and members of the Narragansett 417 00:28:14,440 --> 00:28:17,560 Speaker 1: and Wampanog tribes filled the room. Those who could not 418 00:28:17,640 --> 00:28:23,399 Speaker 1: squeeze in stayed outside, listening intently through the walls. Thomas Prince, 419 00:28:23,560 --> 00:28:26,800 Speaker 1: the current governor of Plymouth Colony, presided over the trial. 420 00:28:27,440 --> 00:28:30,359 Speaker 1: Prince was not only the judge, he was also Toby 421 00:28:30,400 --> 00:28:35,639 Speaker 1: Pearl Writes quote both FactFinder and prosecutor, supervising the proceedings 422 00:28:35,680 --> 00:28:39,960 Speaker 1: and interviewing witnesses and defendants alike. Four hundred years on 423 00:28:40,040 --> 00:28:43,600 Speaker 1: from this trial. We can't accurately reconstruct a play by play, 424 00:28:44,240 --> 00:28:48,400 Speaker 1: but we do know enough to sketch an outline. John Throckmorton, 425 00:28:48,480 --> 00:28:51,200 Speaker 1: the Providence colonist who had encountered the Peat Gang in 426 00:28:51,240 --> 00:28:54,480 Speaker 1: the woods, was on call to establish the gang's presence 427 00:28:54,520 --> 00:28:59,840 Speaker 1: near the crime scene. The defendants unsurprisingly denied ever seeing Brockmorton. 428 00:29:00,840 --> 00:29:04,959 Speaker 1: Next up was Roger Williams. Williams had been intimately involved 429 00:29:04,960 --> 00:29:08,200 Speaker 1: in the story almost from its beginning and had interacted 430 00:29:08,200 --> 00:29:12,080 Speaker 1: with both the Peachgang and Penawa Yanquist. He could repeat 431 00:29:12,080 --> 00:29:15,920 Speaker 1: what Penawa Yanquist told him in his dying declaration that 432 00:29:16,240 --> 00:29:20,360 Speaker 1: quote four English had slain him. He could describe the 433 00:29:20,360 --> 00:29:24,720 Speaker 1: way the Peach Gang tried to escape, but Williams could 434 00:29:24,760 --> 00:29:27,600 Speaker 1: not testify on the matter at the heart of the case. 435 00:29:28,360 --> 00:29:32,240 Speaker 1: Had the Peach Gang truly killed Penawa Yanquist. No one 436 00:29:32,280 --> 00:29:36,800 Speaker 1: had actually seen Penawa Yanquist die. We don't know why 437 00:29:36,840 --> 00:29:40,760 Speaker 1: this is. Maybe realizing the end was near Penawa Yankuis 438 00:29:40,800 --> 00:29:43,960 Speaker 1: had asked to be alone, and after his death his 439 00:29:44,080 --> 00:29:48,240 Speaker 1: body had disappeared, perhaps because local indigenous people had cremated 440 00:29:48,280 --> 00:29:50,800 Speaker 1: it in order to return his ashes to his family. 441 00:29:52,160 --> 00:29:54,800 Speaker 1: So how could it be proved that this was really 442 00:29:54,840 --> 00:29:58,240 Speaker 1: a murder. At the trial, both Roger Williams and doctor 443 00:29:58,280 --> 00:30:02,760 Speaker 1: Thomas James swore an oath that Penawa Yanquist's quote wound 444 00:30:03,200 --> 00:30:07,240 Speaker 1: was mortal. As a physician, Doctor James's testimony on this 445 00:30:07,320 --> 00:30:11,080 Speaker 1: matter carried weight, but would it be enough? So much 446 00:30:11,200 --> 00:30:15,240 Speaker 1: doubt still existed. Two men arrived in the courtroom to 447 00:30:15,280 --> 00:30:17,920 Speaker 1: try to settle the matter. It had not been an 448 00:30:17,960 --> 00:30:22,040 Speaker 1: easy decision for these men to testify. There was considerable 449 00:30:22,120 --> 00:30:26,800 Speaker 1: danger involved. These men were two of the naraganst hunters 450 00:30:26,800 --> 00:30:30,440 Speaker 1: who had discovered Penawa Yanquists and fetched help. It was 451 00:30:30,480 --> 00:30:34,120 Speaker 1: only with quote much difficulty that they were procured to 452 00:30:34,160 --> 00:30:37,720 Speaker 1: come to trial John winthroprote, for they still feared that 453 00:30:37,760 --> 00:30:42,320 Speaker 1: the English were conspiring to kill all the Indians. But 454 00:30:42,440 --> 00:30:46,320 Speaker 1: despite the dangers, the Narragansetts were here. They were willing 455 00:30:46,400 --> 00:30:49,440 Speaker 1: to risk their lives to see justice done, and they 456 00:30:49,480 --> 00:30:52,600 Speaker 1: told the court as much. Neither of these men had 457 00:30:52,600 --> 00:30:56,640 Speaker 1: seen Penawa Yanquist die, but in court they both swore 458 00:30:56,720 --> 00:30:59,880 Speaker 1: that quote, if he were not dead of that wound, 459 00:31:00,320 --> 00:31:04,640 Speaker 1: then they would suffer death. With four men all taking 460 00:31:04,680 --> 00:31:07,880 Speaker 1: oaths that Penawa Yankuist must be dead. The matter of 461 00:31:07,920 --> 00:31:11,000 Speaker 1: whether or not this was murder was likely settled, but 462 00:31:11,080 --> 00:31:14,640 Speaker 1: that didn't mean that a guilty verdict was guaranteed. There 463 00:31:14,680 --> 00:31:17,720 Speaker 1: were a number of complicated factors at play for the jurors, 464 00:31:17,720 --> 00:31:20,600 Speaker 1: who now began their deliberations on the second floor of 465 00:31:20,640 --> 00:31:24,440 Speaker 1: the meetinghouse. As we've discussed before, no court room is 466 00:31:24,480 --> 00:31:29,480 Speaker 1: a vacuum, the outside world inevitably leaks in. In this case, 467 00:31:29,600 --> 00:31:32,040 Speaker 1: the jurors couldn't have helped but to be aware of 468 00:31:32,080 --> 00:31:37,320 Speaker 1: the heightened pensions between colonists and indigenous tribes. Roger Williams 469 00:31:37,320 --> 00:31:40,760 Speaker 1: had promised the naragainst its justice. It was only this 470 00:31:40,880 --> 00:31:45,440 Speaker 1: promise that had kept the narrogainst from quote rising in arms. 471 00:31:46,240 --> 00:31:49,520 Speaker 1: A guilty verdict might satisfy the tribe and stave off 472 00:31:49,560 --> 00:31:52,840 Speaker 1: a war. A guilty verdict could also serve as a 473 00:31:52,840 --> 00:31:56,160 Speaker 1: deterrent for other indentured servants who were considering running off. 474 00:31:57,280 --> 00:32:00,600 Speaker 1: But on the other hand, news of three indented servants 475 00:32:00,640 --> 00:32:04,800 Speaker 1: being executed might not exactly be great marketing material for 476 00:32:04,880 --> 00:32:08,720 Speaker 1: a colony desperate to entice more indentured servants. And that 477 00:32:08,880 --> 00:32:11,680 Speaker 1: wasn't the only reason to consider a not guilty verdict. 478 00:32:12,200 --> 00:32:15,840 Speaker 1: Arthur Peach had valuable fighting skills that the colony afford 479 00:32:15,880 --> 00:32:19,320 Speaker 1: to lose a soldier, especially as the Pequot War had 480 00:32:19,360 --> 00:32:23,280 Speaker 1: not yet ended. There were also more philosophical reasons to 481 00:32:23,400 --> 00:32:26,880 Speaker 1: let the Peach gang off. Many colonial leaders believed in 482 00:32:26,920 --> 00:32:31,200 Speaker 1: a lenient application of the law. In the infancy of plantations, 483 00:32:31,280 --> 00:32:35,040 Speaker 1: John Winthrop wrote justice should be administered with more lenity 484 00:32:35,080 --> 00:32:38,360 Speaker 1: than in a settled state, because people are more apt 485 00:32:38,400 --> 00:32:42,600 Speaker 1: than to transgress. Partly out of opposition, many colonists in 486 00:32:42,640 --> 00:32:45,360 Speaker 1: New England had been escaping the tyranny of the English 487 00:32:45,440 --> 00:32:48,240 Speaker 1: crown and courts. They might have been more inclined to 488 00:32:48,280 --> 00:32:52,160 Speaker 1: give defendants the benefit of the doubt. This inclination is 489 00:32:52,200 --> 00:32:56,680 Speaker 1: reflected in conviction rates during the colonial era. Toby Pearl rites, 490 00:32:56,880 --> 00:33:00,360 Speaker 1: nearly half of defendants were acquitted. Of those who faced 491 00:33:00,440 --> 00:33:04,200 Speaker 1: preliminary grand jury, many were not indicted. This meant that 492 00:33:04,240 --> 00:33:09,240 Speaker 1: approximately two thirds of accused criminals avoided conviction. What's more, 493 00:33:09,760 --> 00:33:13,760 Speaker 1: Arthur Peach was English, the man he had killed was not. 494 00:33:15,200 --> 00:33:18,680 Speaker 1: William Bradford noted that quote. Some of the rude and 495 00:33:18,760 --> 00:33:22,080 Speaker 1: ignorant sort murmured that an English should not be put 496 00:33:22,120 --> 00:33:25,880 Speaker 1: to death for the Indians, though Roger Williams exhorted his 497 00:33:25,960 --> 00:33:30,400 Speaker 1: fellow colonists to quote, boast not proud English of thy 498 00:33:30,440 --> 00:33:34,000 Speaker 1: birth and blood. Thy brother Indian is by birth as good. 499 00:33:34,840 --> 00:33:39,080 Speaker 1: Not everyone in Plymouth had the same beliefs. Many colonists 500 00:33:39,160 --> 00:33:43,680 Speaker 1: simply valued Arthur Peach's life more than they valued Penawan Yanquish's. 501 00:33:44,760 --> 00:33:48,120 Speaker 1: So what would the jury do? At the trial's start, 502 00:33:48,480 --> 00:33:51,560 Speaker 1: Thomas Prince had asked them to swear an oath to 503 00:33:52,200 --> 00:33:56,000 Speaker 1: quote give a true verdict according to law and evidence. 504 00:33:56,680 --> 00:34:00,000 Speaker 1: But the evidence in this case was not necessarily rock solid. 505 00:34:00,920 --> 00:34:04,400 Speaker 1: Everyone knew Penawa Yanquist was dead, but the absence of 506 00:34:04,400 --> 00:34:07,280 Speaker 1: a body left the jurors just enough wiggle room to 507 00:34:07,480 --> 00:34:11,520 Speaker 1: justify either verdict. By the day's end, the jury had 508 00:34:11,560 --> 00:34:16,120 Speaker 1: reached a conclusion. Returning to the meetinghouse's first floor, they 509 00:34:16,160 --> 00:34:19,799 Speaker 1: announced their verdict to the crowd on the charge of 510 00:34:19,840 --> 00:34:23,600 Speaker 1: wilful murder for the death of Penawa Yanquist. The defendants 511 00:34:23,760 --> 00:34:32,359 Speaker 1: Arthur Peach, Thomas Jackson, and Richard Stinnings were found guilty. 512 00:34:33,040 --> 00:34:36,320 Speaker 1: With their fate sealed, the convicted men saw no point 513 00:34:36,400 --> 00:34:40,280 Speaker 1: in further denying their actions. They all confessed to attacking 514 00:34:40,320 --> 00:34:45,239 Speaker 1: Penawa Yanquists to quote get his wompum. The confession did 515 00:34:45,280 --> 00:34:48,640 Speaker 1: nothing to change their sentence. There was only one punishment 516 00:34:48,680 --> 00:34:52,680 Speaker 1: in Plymouth, for wilful murder death. They did not have 517 00:34:52,719 --> 00:34:55,560 Speaker 1: to wait long for the end. The three convicts were 518 00:34:55,600 --> 00:34:58,960 Speaker 1: taken by cart to the gallows. All the fight had 519 00:34:59,000 --> 00:35:01,399 Speaker 1: gone out of them, or at least out of two 520 00:35:01,440 --> 00:35:05,680 Speaker 1: of them, who, according to John Winthrop quote, died very penitently. 521 00:35:06,440 --> 00:35:08,919 Speaker 1: We don't know if it was Stinnings or Jackson who 522 00:35:08,960 --> 00:35:13,000 Speaker 1: refused to repent, but Arthur Peach at least expressed remorse. 523 00:35:13,800 --> 00:35:18,960 Speaker 1: John Winthrop called him quote especially penitent, and subsequently gave Peach, 524 00:35:19,080 --> 00:35:23,400 Speaker 1: despite his crimes, a fine obituary, describing him as quote 525 00:35:23,600 --> 00:35:26,799 Speaker 1: a young man of good parentage and fair conditioned, and 526 00:35:26,840 --> 00:35:30,400 Speaker 1: who had done very good service against the Peaquots. A 527 00:35:30,440 --> 00:35:34,439 Speaker 1: reputation for good service and for murder wouldn't be Arthur 528 00:35:34,480 --> 00:35:39,120 Speaker 1: Peach's only legacy in Plymouth Colony. Sitting in the shadows 529 00:35:39,120 --> 00:35:42,600 Speaker 1: at his trial and perhaps in attendance at his execution, 530 00:35:43,320 --> 00:35:47,319 Speaker 1: was Dorothy Temple, Peach's twenty three year old lover. She 531 00:35:47,560 --> 00:35:52,400 Speaker 1: was pregnant with Arthur Peach's child. Her employer, Stephen Hopkins, 532 00:35:52,560 --> 00:35:55,920 Speaker 1: the town libertine, who made money from gambling and liquor sales, 533 00:35:56,280 --> 00:36:00,239 Speaker 1: apparently drew a line at pregnancy. Out of wedlock, Temple 534 00:36:00,280 --> 00:36:03,640 Speaker 1: gave birth to a son in early February sixteen thirty nine. 535 00:36:04,000 --> 00:36:06,759 Speaker 1: Hopkins tried to kick her out of his house, but 536 00:36:06,800 --> 00:36:09,480 Speaker 1: the Plymouth General Court ruled that he was required to 537 00:36:09,520 --> 00:36:13,600 Speaker 1: support Temple. Shortly after, John Holmes, a member of the 538 00:36:13,680 --> 00:36:17,440 Speaker 1: jury at Arthur Beach's trial, bought Temple's in denture contract 539 00:36:17,480 --> 00:36:21,920 Speaker 1: from Hopkins. Temple moved in with the Holmes family. In June, 540 00:36:22,160 --> 00:36:25,520 Speaker 1: only four months after giving birth, she was sentenced to 541 00:36:25,560 --> 00:36:30,560 Speaker 1: be whited twice four quote uncleanness and bringing forth a 542 00:36:30,600 --> 00:36:35,040 Speaker 1: male bastard. She fainted during the first whipping, so the court, 543 00:36:35,480 --> 00:36:38,279 Speaker 1: in its mercy, let her off without the second one. 544 00:36:39,160 --> 00:36:42,600 Speaker 1: What became of Dorothy Temple and her son are unknown. 545 00:36:43,360 --> 00:36:47,279 Speaker 1: What of penawon Yanquis's family, We don't know exactly who 546 00:36:47,320 --> 00:36:50,080 Speaker 1: they were, but we can imagine how deeply his loss 547 00:36:50,160 --> 00:36:54,799 Speaker 1: must have affected them. Besides the emotional devastation, penawa Yanquis's 548 00:36:54,840 --> 00:36:57,640 Speaker 1: role as a trader made him valuable to his tribe. 549 00:36:58,360 --> 00:37:02,000 Speaker 1: Financial restitution for crime was common in Plymouth, and at 550 00:37:02,040 --> 00:37:04,719 Speaker 1: the close of the trial, Governor Prince had ordered that 551 00:37:04,719 --> 00:37:07,600 Speaker 1: the Peach gang provide payment to the Nitmuk, but the 552 00:37:07,640 --> 00:37:10,640 Speaker 1: men had declared that they had quote no lands or 553 00:37:10,640 --> 00:37:15,360 Speaker 1: tenement goods or cattle's Penawa Yankuis's family would receive no 554 00:37:15,560 --> 00:37:19,680 Speaker 1: compensation for their loss. At least the killers had been 555 00:37:19,719 --> 00:37:22,759 Speaker 1: caught and convicted. We can hope that this gave some 556 00:37:22,840 --> 00:37:25,719 Speaker 1: sort of peace to the Nitmuk. At the very least, 557 00:37:25,840 --> 00:37:29,200 Speaker 1: the guilty verdict did help reduce tensions between the colonists 558 00:37:29,200 --> 00:37:33,040 Speaker 1: and the tribes. No new conflicts arose, and old ones 559 00:37:33,040 --> 00:37:36,960 Speaker 1: were settled. On September twenty first, sixteen thirty eight, a 560 00:37:36,960 --> 00:37:40,320 Speaker 1: little more than two weeks after the trial, representatives of 561 00:37:40,360 --> 00:37:43,640 Speaker 1: the English, the Narragansett, and the Mohegan signed the Treaty 562 00:37:43,680 --> 00:37:48,359 Speaker 1: of Hartford, ending the Pequot War. The Pequots themselves had 563 00:37:48,360 --> 00:37:52,680 Speaker 1: been nearly entirely wiped out. The treaties stripped the approximately 564 00:37:52,760 --> 00:37:57,279 Speaker 1: two hundred survivors of their lands and identities. That this 565 00:37:57,360 --> 00:38:01,440 Speaker 1: trial happened at all is remarkable. A colony with no 566 00:38:01,600 --> 00:38:05,560 Speaker 1: officially sanctioned government managed to conduct a jury trial in 567 00:38:05,600 --> 00:38:10,200 Speaker 1: a fort. As Toby Pearl writes, quote when juries made 568 00:38:10,280 --> 00:38:14,239 Speaker 1: law in the colonies. They wrested control from centralized authorities 569 00:38:14,320 --> 00:38:18,799 Speaker 1: and empowered local communities, a foundational principle for the fledgling nation. 570 00:38:19,600 --> 00:38:29,160 Speaker 1: Average individuals, otherwise disenfranchised became surrogate lawmakers. They became world changers. Unfortunately, 571 00:38:29,440 --> 00:38:33,360 Speaker 1: these world changers would not always use their powers for good. 572 00:38:34,040 --> 00:38:37,240 Speaker 1: But the sixteen fifties, writes Jennifer Altman in her study 573 00:38:37,320 --> 00:38:41,879 Speaker 1: Native Americans in criminal cases of Plymouth Colony, quote, impatience 574 00:38:41,960 --> 00:38:45,840 Speaker 1: with Native Americans resistance to adopting English custom and religion 575 00:38:46,440 --> 00:38:49,359 Speaker 1: caused the court to show more leniency towards its own 576 00:38:49,400 --> 00:38:55,080 Speaker 1: people and less toward Native Americans. This trend only intensified 577 00:38:55,760 --> 00:38:59,960 Speaker 1: in the sixteen sixties as Plymouth colonies demands for land skyrocketed, 578 00:39:00,400 --> 00:39:04,120 Speaker 1: leading to increased resistance from its native neighbors. The focus 579 00:39:04,160 --> 00:39:09,200 Speaker 1: of the court, Altman says, became quote not restitution but 580 00:39:09,320 --> 00:39:13,919 Speaker 1: retribution for crimes that white settlers were usually fined for. 581 00:39:14,640 --> 00:39:19,240 Speaker 1: Indians were whipped. By the sixteen seventies, the Plymouth Court 582 00:39:19,480 --> 00:39:23,560 Speaker 1: was selling Indians convicted of crimes into slavery in the Caribbean. 583 00:39:24,280 --> 00:39:27,240 Speaker 1: The same legal system that had once convicted the killers 584 00:39:27,239 --> 00:39:30,240 Speaker 1: of a Native man was now being used to tear 585 00:39:30,320 --> 00:39:35,640 Speaker 1: Indigenous people from their lands and families. In both its 586 00:39:35,719 --> 00:39:39,920 Speaker 1: victories and its failings, the Plymouth Colony legal system mirrors 587 00:39:39,960 --> 00:39:44,279 Speaker 1: our own legal system. The outcomes are often inequitable and 588 00:39:44,320 --> 00:39:48,520 Speaker 1: the process is often unfair, But in some cases we 589 00:39:48,640 --> 00:39:53,680 Speaker 1: can transcend our biases, and, as Roger Williams once promised, 590 00:39:54,480 --> 00:39:59,560 Speaker 1: see justice done. That's the story of Plymouth Colony VI. 591 00:39:59,760 --> 00:40:02,400 Speaker 1: The Peach Gang. Stay with me after the break to 592 00:40:02,480 --> 00:40:08,480 Speaker 1: learn more about the remarkable history of the Nitmucks. Today, 593 00:40:08,840 --> 00:40:12,080 Speaker 1: many people in the town of Grafton, Massachusetts, commute to 594 00:40:12,120 --> 00:40:16,320 Speaker 1: work in Worcester or Boston. Before Grafton was a commuter suburb, 595 00:40:16,600 --> 00:40:18,880 Speaker 1: it was a mill town, and before it was a 596 00:40:18,880 --> 00:40:22,560 Speaker 1: mill town, it was a hub for leather manufacturing. Before 597 00:40:22,640 --> 00:40:26,319 Speaker 1: all of this, though, Grafton was hassen amiss It the 598 00:40:26,360 --> 00:40:31,239 Speaker 1: place of small Stones, home to the Hassenamisco band of Nitmucks. 599 00:40:31,840 --> 00:40:35,040 Speaker 1: The Nitmuks who lived on this land planted corn and 600 00:40:35,120 --> 00:40:38,880 Speaker 1: beans and squash, caught fish from the rivers, and hunted 601 00:40:38,880 --> 00:40:43,640 Speaker 1: deer and rabbits. In sixteen fifty four, John Elliot, an 602 00:40:43,640 --> 00:40:49,279 Speaker 1: English missionary, established a praying town at Hassenamissit, occupying eight 603 00:40:49,360 --> 00:40:53,239 Speaker 1: thousand acres. Elliott had developed the Praying town model as 604 00:40:53,280 --> 00:40:57,600 Speaker 1: a method of converting Indians to Christianity. Indigenous people living 605 00:40:57,640 --> 00:41:00,520 Speaker 1: in these villages had to conform to English go customs 606 00:41:00,560 --> 00:41:03,919 Speaker 1: and Christian dictates in exchange. Those who moved to these 607 00:41:03,920 --> 00:41:07,800 Speaker 1: towns hoped to receive protection from rival tribes or establish 608 00:41:07,840 --> 00:41:12,080 Speaker 1: better relationships with the English. But, writes Cheryl Tony Holley, 609 00:41:12,360 --> 00:41:16,640 Speaker 1: the current Sansqua, or female leader of the Hassenamisco quote, 610 00:41:16,880 --> 00:41:20,440 Speaker 1: while Hassenamissit was a safe harbor for nitmucks, it also 611 00:41:20,520 --> 00:41:25,040 Speaker 1: meant publicly relinquishing nitmuck lifeways to stay, and a further 612 00:41:25,160 --> 00:41:29,239 Speaker 1: blow to nitmuck society was looming. During King Philip's War 613 00:41:29,239 --> 00:41:32,520 Speaker 1: in the late sixteen seventies, the nitmucks at Hassenamissit who 614 00:41:32,520 --> 00:41:35,120 Speaker 1: had not moved into the Praying Town were driven off 615 00:41:35,160 --> 00:41:39,200 Speaker 1: their land. After the war, the Praying Town itself was dissolved. 616 00:41:40,040 --> 00:41:43,160 Speaker 1: Over the next six decades, some nitmuck families returned to 617 00:41:43,200 --> 00:41:46,840 Speaker 1: the area, but in seventeen twenty eight, the colonial government 618 00:41:46,880 --> 00:41:50,200 Speaker 1: decided to transfer most of the eight thousand acres used 619 00:41:50,200 --> 00:41:54,200 Speaker 1: by the Praying town to English settlers. Twelve hundred of 620 00:41:54,200 --> 00:41:57,960 Speaker 1: the acres were set aside for only seven Nitmuck families. 621 00:41:58,320 --> 00:42:03,680 Speaker 1: Many Nitmuck families were not allocated anything. The Hassenamisco. Nitmuck 622 00:42:03,719 --> 00:42:06,600 Speaker 1: were supposed to receive payment for this land, as the 623 00:42:06,680 --> 00:42:10,200 Speaker 1: National Park Service records quote, a system was set up 624 00:42:10,239 --> 00:42:14,280 Speaker 1: whereby non native trustees or guardians were responsible for investing 625 00:42:14,320 --> 00:42:17,520 Speaker 1: the proceeds from the land transfer and protecting the remaining 626 00:42:17,600 --> 00:42:22,040 Speaker 1: native lands from encroachment by English settlers. However, the system 627 00:42:22,080 --> 00:42:25,160 Speaker 1: failed to protect either the principle from the sale or 628 00:42:25,320 --> 00:42:30,080 Speaker 1: the lands of the Nipmuck families. Sheryl Tony hollywrites, quote. 629 00:42:30,400 --> 00:42:33,879 Speaker 1: The twenty five hundred pounds paid by forty English proprietors 630 00:42:34,360 --> 00:42:37,080 Speaker 1: was placed in trust by the guardians or trustees of 631 00:42:37,120 --> 00:42:41,160 Speaker 1: the Hassanamisco. The Hassenamisco were to be paid the interest 632 00:42:41,200 --> 00:42:44,640 Speaker 1: on the fund annually, but according to multiple petitions to 633 00:42:44,680 --> 00:42:49,239 Speaker 1: the legislature, this only sometimes happened. Trustees also took it 634 00:42:49,320 --> 00:42:52,520 Speaker 1: upon themselves to decrease the principle of the fund from 635 00:42:52,600 --> 00:42:56,360 Speaker 1: time to time to pay their own debts. These stolen 636 00:42:56,440 --> 00:43:00,359 Speaker 1: funds are still owed to the tribe today. The next 637 00:43:00,360 --> 00:43:03,880 Speaker 1: century and a half, the remaining Hassenamiscow Nitmunks sold their 638 00:43:03,960 --> 00:43:07,919 Speaker 1: land or lost it through rig deals with settlers. By 639 00:43:07,960 --> 00:43:12,360 Speaker 1: eighteen fifty seven, all the land was gone, all the land, 640 00:43:12,480 --> 00:43:16,160 Speaker 1: that is, except for three acres belonging to a Nitmuck 641 00:43:16,200 --> 00:43:21,439 Speaker 1: woman named Sarah Arnold Cisco. Today, nearly four hundred years 642 00:43:21,480 --> 00:43:25,720 Speaker 1: after Penawa Yankuis's death, the land still belongs to the Nitmuck. 643 00:43:26,360 --> 00:43:29,680 Speaker 1: It is called the Hassenamisco Reservation, and it is the 644 00:43:29,719 --> 00:43:33,680 Speaker 1: only plot of land in all of Massachusetts that has 645 00:43:33,880 --> 00:43:38,120 Speaker 1: never left the hands of Native people. Thank you for 646 00:43:38,200 --> 00:43:41,280 Speaker 1: listening to History on Trial. If you've enjoyed this episode, 647 00:43:41,320 --> 00:43:44,200 Speaker 1: please consider leaving a rating or review. They can help 648 00:43:44,239 --> 00:43:47,480 Speaker 1: new listeners find the show. My main sources for today's 649 00:43:47,520 --> 00:43:51,480 Speaker 1: episode were Toby Pearl's book Terror to the Wicked, America's 650 00:43:51,520 --> 00:43:54,200 Speaker 1: first trial by jury that ended a war and helped 651 00:43:54,200 --> 00:43:57,360 Speaker 1: to form a nation, as well as the Plymouth Colonial 652 00:43:57,480 --> 00:44:01,680 Speaker 1: Archive and various primary sources, including the writings of Roger Williams, 653 00:44:01,760 --> 00:44:05,319 Speaker 1: William Bradford, and John Winprepp. Special thanks to Chief Peter 654 00:44:05,400 --> 00:44:09,200 Speaker 1: Silva of the Hassinamisco Nitmuk tribe for his assistance. For 655 00:44:09,239 --> 00:44:11,480 Speaker 1: a full bibliography, as well as a transcript of this 656 00:44:11,520 --> 00:44:15,560 Speaker 1: episode with citations, please visit our website History on Trial 657 00:44:15,680 --> 00:44:21,400 Speaker 1: podcast dot com. History on Trial is written and hosted 658 00:44:21,440 --> 00:44:25,280 Speaker 1: by me Mira Hayward. The show is edited and produced 659 00:44:25,320 --> 00:44:29,360 Speaker 1: by Jesse Funk, with supervising producer Trevor Young and executive 660 00:44:29,360 --> 00:44:34,680 Speaker 1: producers Dana Schwartz, Alexander Williams, Matt Frederick, and Mira Hayward. 661 00:44:35,239 --> 00:44:38,440 Speaker 1: Learn more about the show at History on Trial podcast 662 00:44:38,680 --> 00:44:42,320 Speaker 1: dot com and follow us on Instagram at History on 663 00:44:42,440 --> 00:44:47,840 Speaker 1: Trial and on Twitter at Underscore History on Trial. Find 664 00:44:47,880 --> 00:44:53,200 Speaker 1: more podcasts from iHeartRadio by visiting the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, 665 00:44:53,560 --> 00:44:56,359 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.