A Venerable Man Accused of Horse-stealing — His Petition

To his excellency George Clinton Esqr. Governor of the State of New York, Commander in chief of the Militia thereof and vice Admiral of the same.

The Petition of William Rogers of the District of Hosick in the County of Albany Yeoman, and other Subscribers in his Behalf, humbly sheweth[:]

That the Petitioner is entering into the Seventyeth Year of his Age, and has been lately convicted for having feloniously taken and led away Horses, the Petitioner does not deny that He took the Horses, but that He did not take them clandestinely or with an Intent to convert them to his own Use, and that the Petitioner was compelled and obliged to go and demand the said Horses from the Owners by Threats and Fear of some of the Officers of General Burgojne's Army, Who came to the Petitioner's House in the Night, after their Defeat at Benington; that the Petitioner has lost all that he had in the World (that He has long been an Inhabitant of the City of Albany,) and [has] a large Family to support destitute of every Necessary of Life. The Petitioners, therefore, humbly pray that your Excellency will take the Prisoners advanced Age and other distressed Circumstances into your tender and serious Consideration & earnestly beg that He may become an Object of Mercy and Obtain your Excellencies Pardon.

[signed] William Rogers. Albany 18 May 1778.

David Schuyler, Garret Roseboom, Thomas Hun, Nanning Harmense Visscher, Bastiaen Visscher, John Cluet, Jun'r, B. Visscher, Joh's Beeckman, W. Mancius, John H. Ten Eyck, Barent Ten Eyck, Miegel Henry, Adam Hardell, John Spoon, Barent Staats, Joseph Hall, Peter Quackenboss, Peter Quackenbos, Jr., Coenrad Scharp, Eli Arnold, Wouter Knicker Backer, Walter Quackenbos, Jun., Peter Gansevort, Isaac Deforeest, Corn's Van Schelluyne, Henry Beasley, Balshazer Lyons, James Sharpe, Henry Van Dyck, Hendrick Van nes, Johanes Pruin, Isaac I. Truax, Corn's Glen, Jacob Cuyler, Francis Nicoll, Dirck Roseboom, Dirick B. Van Schoonhoven, Henry Van Schoonhoven.

Printed in Clinton Papers, vol. 3, p 334. Most origional spellings and usages have been retained. This community-based survey includes the name of thirty-eight, predominately city people and helps demonstrate the consensus-based nature of decision-making even in wartime Albany.