296 HISTORY OF THE COUNTY OF WESTCHESTER. 



larly at Oost dorp; for, among the town records, is a small volume, 

 entitle Book of Court Acts, from 1657 to 1662," from which ft 



extract the following memoranda : — 



Feb. 1st, 1657, Wiliarn Benfield for contempt of athority is bound over to 

 it coarte." 



"Febraythel, 1657. — Esttowne — the sentence of eoarte upon "Wiliam Ben- 

 field for contempt of athority is fine — twenty guilders, besid's other charges that 

 amounts to eleven guilders three stivers." 



On the same occasion, " John Archer, plaintiff against Roger Wiles, 

 in an action of debt for the value of seventy-four guilders, principal." 



East town, the 13th of September, 1662, at a court held before 

 Edward Walters, Robert Huestis and William Bett, by order and power 

 of the Governor General, Peter Stuyvesant, Governor of the province of 

 New Netherland, and the high council, etc. 



Thomas Higgins, plaintiff, complains of Lawrence Turner, in an action 

 of slander done by his wife, &c, ended by arbitration. 



When Richard Nicolls, the Duke of York's Governor, convened an 

 Assembly from the towns of Long Island and Westchester, to meet ak 

 Hempstead, March 1st, 1665, there appeared the following deputies 

 from this place — Edward Jessup, John Quimby." 



Acgfst 6tii, 1665. — We whose names are underwritten, doe jointly agree to 

 set to our hands to send the eight townsmen to Governor Nicolls, to stand by 

 them in what they doe in that particular, for the settlement of the towne. 



William Qctmbt, Thomas Miller, 



John Febbis, John Smith, 



Robert Pixcexey, C. Wood, 



Edward Waters. Edwaed Jbssdfe, 



RlOHABD PoXTOX, THOMAS HrNT, 



:tel Baep.et, Thomas Hunt, Je., 



Thomas Vaile. 



At this early period, a portion of the judicial power appears to have 

 lodged in the hands of the constable ; for in the town records, this 

 entry occurs : — 



Westchester, Sept. 3. 1665. 



At a town court holden by the constable and the commissioners appointed, 



is Hunt complained against an Indian called Pomoqucee, that the said 



Indian took his canoe from the shore, where it was safe, and carried it quite 



away. Upon examination, the Indian confessed that he took the canoe from the 



shore, but said it was not secured. 



a Alb. Bee. Gen. Entries, 16&1-5, page %.— See Duulap Hist., N. Y. 



