Mary White Makes a Mistake

New York, 1895

Mary White, colored, of Jamaica, was arraigned before Justice Hendrickson upon a charge of entering her mother's home and helping herself to property left by her grandmother. Mary said that her grandmother had willed her the property and she was entitled to it. It was proved that Mary's grandmother died without a will, and Mary was threatened with a term in jail. She agreed to return the property if the complaint could be withdrawn. This the mother consented to.

—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, NY, May 10, 1895, p. 1.