Document: Sentence of Andrew Vrydach

[several lines lost] in various [ ] during the [ religious service ] [ ] had tapped [ ] and [ drank ] himself full; being contented, he [ took ] a [ sword ],[i] which he, as a mason, was not [ supposed ] to carry [ without ] orders, and looked for trouble and a fight [ ] with one Raeff Torner, soldier, calling him a rogue, and on top of it, challenged him to a fight, saying that the cutlass that the said Raeff had received from the Company, and which he carried on his side, was not more than a knife, and that he did not consider it any more than that either. This caused him to get into a sword fight with the said Raeff Torner, receiving a wound on his fingers himself, from which affair further calamities could have resulted, yes, [ it could have ] ended in manslaughter. This neither can, nor may be tolerated in a place where law and justice is being administered and maintained, but deserves to be punished severely as an example to others; therefore the honorable lord director general and councilors, having heard the claim of the fiscal and the confession of the prisoner, and having paid attention to what is relevant in the matter, performing justice in the name of the honorable high and mighty lords States General of the United Netherlands, and the honorable lords directors of the Chartered West India Company, chamber Amsterdam, the aforesaid [several lines lost] [ ] as an example to other such people. Thus done and condemned [ in ] Amsterdam in N: Netherland, 21 July 1658.

Rights: This translation is provided for education and research purposes, courtesy of the  New York State Library Manuscripts and Special Collections, Mutual Cultural Heritage Project. Rights may be reserved. Responsibility for securing permissions to distribute, publish, reproduce or other use rest with the user. For additional information see our Copyright and Use Statement Source: New York State Archives. New Netherland. Council. Dutch colonial council minutes, 1638-1665. Series A1809. Volume 8.