slaveryto
freedom
A series of pages exploring
various aspects of enslavement in Pennsylvania
Assaults, Murders and Arson
Violence committed by Enslaved People Against Enslavers in Pennsylvania
The Murder of Mary Martin, May 1710
The item below was transcribed and abstracted by Terry A. McNealy, and published as "Bucks County, Pennsylvania Coroners' Records, 1710-1729," in the Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine, Vol. 35, No. 3 (1988), pp191-198.
21 May 1710.
Place: "at the house of Samuel Martin near Neshamenah Creek."
Report: "being found dead lying at the door of the house of the sd Samuel Martin with one wound mortall through the fore side of her Neck, of the length of three Inches & the breadth of one Inch on either side of her Neck, And one small wound under her right Ear, And one more upon her breast, And several wounds in the In sides of both her hands, being found as aforesd at the place aforesd the twentieth of sd month in the said year about seven a Clock in the Evening [she] was willfully & feloniously Murdered by some person not Certainly know[n], but there being a Cap found under the right arm of the sd Mary Martin which a certaine Negro man of the sd Samuel Martin's named Tobie used to wear, And was upon his head when his master went from home, And none known to be at the house aforesd Except the sd Mary & the sd Negro man from about twelve a Clock of the Nineteenth day of the month aforesd in the yeare aforesd, at which time the aforesd Samuel Martin left the sd Mary his wife well in health (to his best knowledge) And the sd Negro man at work upon his Plantation, And the sd Negro man being fled or absented himself from his service when the sd Mary was found dead lying gives sufficient reason to believe that the sd Negro man was the Murderer...."
Jury: Samuel Griffith (mark), Nicholas Randall, Thomas Woodford (mark), Abraham Vandine (mark), Bartholomew Longstreth, James Kirle (mark), Thomas Davids, William Marshall, John Shaw, William Stockdale, James Heaton, Henry Comly, Thomas Kimber, James Carter.
Coroner: John Cutler.
Source: Terry A. McNealy, "Bucks County, Pennsylvania Coroners' Records, 1710-1729," transcribed from records of the Court of Quarter Sessions preserved as Record Group 2, Ser. 11, in Bucks County Archives housed at the Spruance Library of the Bucks County Historical Society. Published in the Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine, Vol. 35, No. 3 (1988), pp191-198.