Eighteenth-century New York executed rebellious slaves with prolonged public torture

Evidence

New Yorkers had a way of dealing with Negro slaves who rebelled against their masters. In 1712, a number of Blacks set fire to a house in New York and killed the Whites as they hurried to extinguish the flames. For this crime, 21 slaves were executed: “some were burnt, others hanged, one broke on the wheel, and one hung alive in chains in the town.” Those who were burned were roasted over a slow fire in order to prolong their torment for eight or ten hours… . — Lyn H. Lofland, World of Strangers_ Order and Action in…, 183