Page:History of Hudson County and of the Old Village of Bergen.djvu/34

26 actions against him for carrying off some hogs as if he had obtained them in a scandalous manner, by stealing" whereas he had simply taken his own hogs from an enclosure where they were being withheld from his possession. The Schout informed the Council that the Captain had not been charged with stealing but simply with "inconsiderate removal of the hogs." The Captain, thus pressed, acknowledged that perhaps he had "rashly removed the said hogs." The Director-General and Council, after deep deliberation, solemnly cleared Captain Berry of the suspicion of theft, but found that he "had gone too far in inconsiderate removal of the hogs"—and fined him one hundred guilders.

The surrounding little settlements also did not always agree with the Schout and Schepens. The latter had to complain in 1674 to the General Council that the inhabitants of "the dependent hamlets of Gemoenepa, Mingaghue and Pemrepogh" had refused to carry out an agreement "respecting the making and maintaining of a certain common fence to separate the heifers from the milk cows, and that they also refused to pay their quota for support of the Precentor and the Schoolmaster."

The men of the three hamlets were so indignant that they almost issued a Declaration of Independence. There were great ferriages to the Fort at Manhattan to fight it out. The Council debated and decreed. So fierce became the contest that arbitrators were appointed and greater debates ensued. The arbitrators met the fate of all arbitrators. Gemoenepa, Mingaghue and Pemrepogh did not like their decision, and therefore unanimously called it no decision at all. Loureno