Document: Dutch colonial council minutes, 10 June 1645

Court proceedings. Rev. Francis Douty vs. Willem Gerritsen, an Englishman, for libel, consisting of a defamatory song against plaintiff and his daughter; defendant pleads guilty; sentence, to stand bound to the May-pole in the fort, with two rods around his neck and the libel over his head, until the conclusion of the English sermon; and should he ever sing the song again, to be flogged and banished. [1645]