[Peter Cutul (2025)] the greater part of the effects of this poor, but loyal people.” 27 Henry Noble MacCracken, Old Dutchess Forever! The Story of An American County (New York: Hastings House), 283. 23 Oscar Handlin and Irving Mark, “Chief Daniel Nimham v. Roger Morris, Beverly Robinson, and Philip Philipse - An Indian Land Case in Colonial New York, 1765-1767”, Ethnohistory, Vol. 11, No. 3 (Summer 1964), Published by Duke University Press: 205. 24 Thomas J. Humphrey, Land and Liberty, Hudson Valley Riots In The Age of Revolution (Illinois: Northern Illinois University Press), 66. 25 Ibid, 206. 26 Thomas J. Humphrey, Land and Liberty, Hudson Valley Riots In The Age of Revolution (Illinois: Northern Illinois University Press), 67. 27 Oscar Handlin and Irving Mark, “Chief Daniel Nimham v. Roger Morris, Beverly Robinson, and Philip Philipse - An Indian Land Case in Colonial New York, 1765-1767”, Ethnohistory, Vol. 11, No. 3 (Summer 1964), Published by Duke University Press: 209. 22 *Champerty is essentially “ambulance chasing” – agreeing to take on a suit with the intention of sharing in the financial gain of the suit Robinson’s rough dealings with noncompliant tenants soon led to violent clashes between Robinson’s mercenaries (joined by tenants willing to sign revised leases), and tenants resistant to those forces. The new Robinson leases were far less desirable than those the tenants had with the Wappinger. In a shrewd attempt to garner widespread tenant support and counter the harsh terms of Robinson’s and Morris’s leases, Nimham, representing the Wappinger, began offering leases to tenants with terms as generous as “2 peppercorns per annum to be paid on the feast of Saint Michael the Archangel for 999 years.” 28 These attractive agreements became known as “Indian deeds” and did indeed garner popular tenant support. 29 Although tenants were happy to sign leases with the Wappinger, these agreements were not recognized by Robinson, Morris and Philipse, who continued to evict tenants who failed to sign new leases with them. In the fall of 1765 while meeting at a tavern in Patterson, NY, frustrated tenants nominated Irish emigrant William Prendergast of Pawling, NY to lead their revolt against the landlords. 30 Inspired to action after finding out that he was paying more in rent for his 120 acre farm than Roger Morris was paying to the Crown for his 60,000 acre estate, Prendergast became a fiery, outspoken champion of the average yeoman. 31 The situation soon turned ugly as mobs of land rioters began to evict, sometimes forcefully, new tenants that had signed revised leases with either Robinson, Morris, or Philips. In the spring of 1766 Prendergast led an angry group of approximately 200 men to New York City to free rioters that authorities had imprisoned. 32 Prendergast and the mob threatened to burn down New York City if the men were not released. 33 Governor Moore acquiesced to the rioter’s demands to deescalate the situation, but because of landlord pressure, soon reneged on his word and proceeded to put a bounty on Prendergast’s head and the rest of the rioters. 34 Prendergast was captured a few months later in July and on Aug. 6, 1766, was sentenced to: “...be hanged by the neck, and then shall be cut down alive, and his entrails and privy members shall be cut from his body, and shall be burned in his sight, and his head shall be cut off, and his body shall be divided in four parts, and shall be disposed of at the King’s pleasure.” 35 In a dramatic last ditch attempt to save her husband, Prendergast’s wife, a Quaker named Mehetibal Wing, rode non-stop over 70 miles to personally petition the Governor to save her husband. 36 Her tear**Handlin and Mark state in the Introduction to their 1964 paper that the narrative they present is taken from an anonymous firsthand source that evidence indicates was a young, lawyer from CT sympathetic to the Wappinger (believed by Dutchess Historian, Henry Noble MacCracken, to be Asa Spalding, the attorney who represented the Wappinger in 1767). Handlin and Mark’s version is based on a Library of Congress transcript of the original manuscript located in the British Museum. 28 Henry Noble MacCracken, Old Dutchess Forever! The Story of An American County (New York: Hastings House), 209 29 Thomas F. Maxon, Mount Nimham: The Ridge of Patriots, Historical Timeline (New York: Thomas Maxon, 2009), 27. 30 https://www.pawlingrecord.org/single-post/2018/08/18/The-Heroine-of-Quaker-Hill 31 https://prendergast-rent-war.blogspot.com/2015/05/from-peaceful-farmer-to-rebel-leader.html 32 Thomas J. Humphrey, Land and Liberty, Hudson Valley Riots In The Age of Revolution (Illinois: Northern Illinois University Press), 69. 33 https://www.pawlingrecord.org/single-post/2018/08/18/The-Heroine-of-Quaker-Hill 34 https://www.prendergastlibrary.org/local-history/mehitable-wing-prendergast/ 35 https://www.pawlingrecord.org/single-post/2018/09/14/The-Heroine-of-Quaker-Hill 36 https://www.prendergastlibrary.org/local-history/mehitable-wing-prendergast/ fueled, dramatic appeal worked as the Governor issued a stay of execution for Prendergast, awaiting word from the King as to his ultimate fate. Sometime in late January or early February of 1767 word arrived from the King declaring, “His Majesty