599 Page – American State Trials 1918 Volume X Leo Frank Document

Here is the translated text as follows:

THE TRIAL OF ALEXANDER WHISTELO FOR BASTARDY, NEW YORK CITY, 1808

THE NARRATIVE

In New York City, a dissolute woman charged a negro coachman with being the father of her child, which he denied. When the infant was produced, it proved to be white. The question that the Court had to decide was whether such a thing could be possible. Dr. Mitchill, the great expert of the day, thought the thing quite possible. Although he fortified his opinion with much learning and much authority from history, both sacred and profane, the Court decided that the woman's claim was not proved.

THE TRIAL

In the Court of General Sessions, New York City, August 1808:

Hon. De Witt Clinton, Mayor
Hon. Peter C. Van Wyck, Recorder
Mott, Brinckerhoff, and Drake, Aldermen

Bibliography

* *The Commissioners of the Almshouse vs. Alexander Whistelo, a Black Man, Being a Remarkable Case of Bastardy, Tried and Adjudged by the Mayor, Recorder, and Several Aldermen of the City of New York. 'The wisely curious rack their brain, to solve this problem, all in vain.'* New York. Published by David Longworth, at the Shakespeare Gallery, 1808.
* *Wheeler's Criminal Cases.* See 1 Am. St. Tr.
* *Commissioners of the Almshouse vs. Alexander Whistelo, A Black Man: Being a Remarkable Case of Bastardy.* New York, 1858.

De Witt Clinton (1769-1828)

Born in Little Britain, N.Y., he was elected to the New York Senate in 1799. In 1802, he fought a duel with Mr. Swartwout on account of a political controversy over Aaron Burr. He served as a United States Senator in 1802 and as Mayor of New York from 1803 to 1815. He was several times a State Senator and Lieutenant Governor, and in 1812, he was the candidate of the Peace Party for the Presidency of the United States. He was elected Governor of New York in 1824 and re-elected in 1826. He was the author of several books.

*Note: There are two lawyers of the surname Van Wyck in New York.*

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