Van Dam was not to act in the Governor's place, that, for a time, it
looked very much as though there would be a riot. There was a member of
the Assembly named George Clarke, and when his fellow-members chose him
for the place that Rip Van Dam should have had, there was more
grumbling. But as no Governor came from England for seven years, Clarke
looked after the province all that time. He was an easy-going man, who
tried by every possible means to make friends. There was one happening
in particular by which he is remembered. It was called the Negro Plot.

Slaves had been brought to the city, until now there were 2,000 of them.
The 8,000 citizens were in constant dread lest the negroes should some
day rise up in revolt. Early in the spring of the year 1741 several
fires occurred in different parts of the city, and the citizens felt
quite sure that the slaves had started them. As the hours passed, the
idea of a plot grew until it seemed a fact. Then a reward was offered to
anyone who would tell of a conspiracy or of anyone concerned in one.

Just at this time a woman was arrested for a small theft, and when she
heard of the reward, she all at once remembered that there had been
meetings of negroes at a small tavern where she had worked. She told of
a plan to kill every white person; to set all the negroes free, and to
make one of them King of the city. The woman who told this story was
Mary Burton. The tavern-keeper, his wife, and several other negroes were
hanged in short order. Still the fires kept on. There were dozens within
ten days, and among others the Governor's house in the fort was burned
to the ground.

[Illustration: The Negroes Sentenced.]

Mary Burton now began a remarkable series of confessions which grew