Popular panics rank among the most fatal disasters that can overtake a people. The frenzy of wild and excited masses in a populous city, like the combustion of vast stores of inflammable material, is truly frightful. In such periods neither age, nor rank, nor sex, nor condition, can be said to afford any pledge of permanent security. Among others, the celebrated Popish Plot concocted by Titus Oates of England, and the no less singular Witchcraft delusion of New England, may be mentioned as examples. The New York negro plot of 1741 may be ranked with the preceding, and deserves a passing notice in this chapter on colonial history. The lapse of the one hundred and thirty years which have since intervened has thrown so dense a haze over the period that nothing can be certainly known concerning it, save what has been transmitted to us by successive historians. It is impossible for us to determine how many grains of truth found place in that storm of prejudice and passion, which resulted in the heartless slaughter of a multitude of ignorant and defenceless beings. The population of New York at that time amounted to about ten thousand, nearly two thousand of whom were colored slaves. Having grown up in ignorance and moral neglect, they were considerably addicted to pilfering and other vices, and often caused their masters considerable anxiety. The most stringent measures were adopted to prevent their assembling together; yet, as in all slave communities, a latent fear filled the minds of the whites, which every now and then burst forth into a matter of public alarm. Some time in the winter of 1740-41, a Spanish vessel, manned in part with black sailors, was brought into the harbor as a prize, and the negroes sold at auction, having previously enjoyed their freedom, and not relishing their changed relations, it was but natural that some complaints and threats should fall from their lips which were not particularly heeded at the time.

On the 18th of March, 1741, the Governor''s house in the fort was discovered to be on fire, and despite the efforts to save it the flames continued to rage until the building, the King''s chapel, the Secretary''s office, the barracks, and stables, were wholly consumed. The Governor, in reporting the matter to the Assembly, declared that a plumber had left fire in the gutter between the house and the chapel, and that from this circumstance the accident had probably occurred. Some days later the chimney of Captain Warren''s house, situated near the fort, took fire, but no damage occurred. After a few days a fire broke out in the storehouse of one Van Zandt, and was said to have resulted from the carelessness of a smoker. Three days later a cow stable was discovered to be on fire, but this was soon extinguished; and the same day the house of Mr. Thompson was found on fire, the fire having begun in the chamber where a negro slave slept. Coals were discovered the next day under John Murray''s stable on Broad way. On the day following two more fires occurred, one in the house of a sergeant near the fort, and the other on the roof of a house near the Fly Market, both of which were extinguished with slight damage. It now came to be believed that these fires were the work of incendiaries, and who the guilty parties were became a matter of earnest inquiry. Some wise head conceived that these Spanish slaves had undertaken to destroy the city, while others believed the whole colored population of the island had conspired to burn the city and massacre the whites. One of the Spanish negroes, living near where a fire had occurred, on being questioned, was considered a suspicious character; the demand for the arrest of the Spanish negroes became general, and they were accordingly thrown into prison. Another fire occurring during the afternoon, while the magistrates were in consultation, the panic became so general that negroes of all ages were arrested by the wholesale and thrown into close confinement. Search was now instituted for strangers, but as none were found many families concluded to escape from this threatened Sodom before it was consumed. The stampede to the suburbs and regions round about became general, and every available vehicle was drafted into service. On the eleventh of April the Assembly offered a reward of one hundred pounds and full pardon, to any one who would turn State''s evidence and make known the plot and the names of the conspirators. This was far too tempting a bait for a class of terrified, ignorant negroes, who saw nothing but the dungeon and a frightful death before them, unless by some revelation they were to regain their liberty, and such wealth as they had never aspired to. For the investigation of the case the Supreme Court convened on the 21st of April, Judges Philipse and Horsmanden presiding. Robert Watts was foreman of the grand jury.