Note 586 — Chapter XII · OBLIGATORY CIVIL MARRIAGE IN THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES (continued 2)

There are (1) many cases of bastardy, the woman being usually fined or whipped and the man in most cases sentenced merely to contribute to the child's support; for a few examples see MSS. Records of the Court of Gen. Sessions of Suffolk, I, 112 (1705), 190, 192 (1709); II, 234 (1719); III, 154, 308 (1724); IV, 331 (1731): MSS. Records of the Court of Gen. Sessions of Middlesex, II, 197, 203, 204 (1729-30); (2) killing of bastard, at least ten convictions between 1692 and 1725, in nine of which the woman was sentenced to death; and not less than a dozen presentations and one capital sentence after 1725: see examples in MSS. Records of the Superior Court of Judicature, II (1686-1700), 49, 50; III (1700-1714), fol. 270; ibid. (1725-29), fol. 111; ibid. (1772), fol. 98; ibid. (1757-59), 295; (3) miscegenative fornication, a number of cases, the white woman almost always receiving twenty stripes: examples in MSS. Records of the Court of Gen. Sessions of Suffolk, I, 144 (1706), 206 (1710); II, 43, 45 (1713); (4) rape, at least two cases: MSS. Records of Superior Court of Judicature (1739-40), fol. 225; ibid. (1767-68), fol. 261; (5) prostitution of wife, one case: MSS. Minute Books of the Court of Gen. Sessions of Suffolk, III, Dec. 3, 1756. The darker crimes were, however, not unknown to the period of the first charter. Between 1674 and 1681 in Massachusetts four persons were sentenced to death for rape: Noble, Records of the Court of Assistants, I, 21, 50, 74, 199.