Document: Order for a contribution in cloth from each of the merchants for the ransom of the poor prisoners in the hands of the Indians

[ 12 April ]

[The report of those authorized to make a collection for the children still in captivity among the barbarians has been received, and as for their ransom (besides what has been already collected or given from the honorable company’s and the deacons’ treasury, consisting of sewant) some pieces of duffels are required and necessary and are not to be had for sewant. Thus for this supplement the merchants are hereby requested and solicited, in the name of and on behalf of the poor, to deliver, each and everyone, to the bearer hereof, whether as charity for the poor prisoners or otherwise for our account one piece of cloth. Done at Fort Amsterdam in New Netherland. Ady ut supra. (Was signed:) P. Stuyvesant, Nicasius de Sille, La Montagne, Cor. van Tienhoven.[1]