Babette, 1765

An enslaved child goes on an illicit shopping spree and is made to suffer the consequences

CommentaryOn October 12, 1765, the Superior Council of Louisiana issued its judgment against Babette. The judges declared her guilty of theft and pondered their options for her sentencing and punishment. Their deliberations were not entered into the court record (judges’ deliberations never were). When they pronounced her sentence, they decreed that she be “condemned to only fifty forty lashes of the whip,” to be administered on the Place d’armes (now Jackson Square) for all to see (Figure 1). The strikeout shows that the judges had grappled at length with how best to handle her case. Perhaps they had been swayed by the fact that Babette’s owner, Charles Jean Baptiste de Fleuriau, was an important settler and son of the previous attorney general. But in sentencing her, they cited her age and her “impuberty” as the reason for the reduced sentence, which would later be further reduced to twenty lashes. What had brought on this trial, and this sentence? Babette had found a sum of money, taken it, and gone around town shopping for clothes and buying treats. Babette was all of eleven years old.1

Figure 1

[Ignace-François] Broutin, Plan de la Nouvelle Orléans telle qu’elle estoit le premier janvier mil sept cent trente deux, Jan. 20, 1732. FR ANOM 04 DFC 90 A. Courtesy Archives nationales d’outre-mer, Aix-en-Provence, France

The prominent placement of the Place d’armes (present-day Jackson Square) is shown in Broutin’s 1732 map of New Orleans.

Babette’s sentence fell within the norm for prepubescent children under French law. Whipping was the standard punishment for convicted children in France, though it was not supposed to be carried out in public. The 1724 code noir did not offer any guidance in the case of enslaved children beyond stipulating that the number of lashes was at the discretion of the judges.2

Babette had used the money to shop for a jacket, shoes, colorful and patterned skirts and handkerchiefs, a gold-colored adornment, nuts, and sweets. That she was taken to trial for this activity reflected longstanding French cultural notions about property ownership. In Louisiana, investigations and prosecutions would disproportionately target the enslaved rather than settlers, especially after the 1720s. The enslaved might have had different conceptions of property ownership given the circumstances they found themselves in. What’s more, the concept of crime, including theft, is deeply problematic where the enslaved are concerned, for it raises the question of how enslaved persons could be guilty when they themselves were stolen—their time, labor, and even family ties stripped from them. Such considerations did not trouble the judges.3

The Trial

Babette was convicted during the court’s investigation into the disappearance of sixteen piasters (a large sum of silver coins) that had gone missing when the town jailer, Pivoteau, the man to whom she was leased, forgot to lock his chest and it became known that Babette had made a number of purchases in town (Figure 2). There is no information on what work she, an eleven-year-old girl, was to do for Pivoteau, but if it was for the jail, it might have included food preparation, laundry, cleaning, and additional tasks as needed (Figures 3 and 4). Likewise, there is no information on how she was treated within Pivoteau’s household. Other documents, however, hint at the endemic physical violence that was likely her fate. One 1766 trial centered on an altercation and dispute between a colonist and his lodger, the former testifying that he had asked the lodger “why he had the audacity to beat his sister who had been kind enough to let him beat her slaves.” Such sharing of responsibilities for inflicting violence on the enslaved was clearly not out of the ordinary.4

Figure 2

Spanish piastre, 1741. Silver. Private Collection

Figures 3 & 4

Anonymous, Plan, profil, et elevation des prisons de la Nouvelle Orleans, 14 Janvier 1730. Watercolor. FR ANOM 04 DFC 84 B. Courtesy Archives nationales d’outre-mer, Aix-en-Provence, France

This 1730 architectural plan shows the New Orleans prison, which was the first major building constructed of brick without a timber frame, covered in masonry. Two stories high, consisting of two separate buildings linked by a walled-in courtyard for the use of prisoners, it measured approximately thirty-eight by fifty-one feet. Each cell (on the upper level) measured sixteen by twelve-and-a-half feet, meaning that these were communal cells.

Babette’s shopping trips took place around six o’clock and ten o’clock in the evening, but rather than impute from this that her workday had ended, the shopkeepers took it instead to mean she was still working, making purchases for Pivoteau and possibly providing child care for a younger girl who accompanied her on one of her trips to the shops. Once the theft of the coins was uncovered, Babette was the obvious suspect, and she immediately confessed. She then described in detail how she had spent the money on a shopping spree around New Orleans, buying cloth and apparel as well as treats (pecans and confectionary) from various merchants and traders. Called in as witnesses, these men and women corroborated her purchases and the prices paid for the goods, though they occasionally disputed the sums and the change they had given her, suggesting either that someone was remembering wrongly or, more likely, that they had tricked her. Class and economic status would be factors in how these tradespeople would be addressed, and treated, during the trial.

Enslaved Children

The prosecution of Babette raises the matter of the status and labor of enslaved children. Babette was never asked to identify her parents. Instead, when prompted to identify herself, whether in court or while shopping, she knew to give the name of her owner, Fleuriau. Had she been leased out to Pivoteau alongside her parents, or on her own? It was not long before the trial that she had become Fleuriau’s legal property, for one of the sellers, La Rochelle, said that he had recognized her “for having belonged to M. Huchon and currently to M. Fleuriau.” Babette had already changed hands three times in her young life.5

Unlike in the English colonies, according to Article 43 of the 1724 code noir, enslaved husbands, wives, and their prepubescent children in French Louisiana could not be seized and sold separately. Yet there was a caveat: the law only applied if the mother and father belonged to the same owner. The official records from Louisiana show that no prepubescent children were sold (or gifted) apart from their mothers during the French colonial period, but as the case of Babette shows, they might be leased and, in effect, separated from their parents—the code noir did not address that eventuality.6

Babette was not the only enslaved girl mentioned in the court case, for she was accompanied by three different companions, all of them girls, on three separate shopping expeditions. On one occasion, this was the younger (unnamed) child. On another, it was a girl of twelve named Françoise. It was Françoise, according to the trader Cassale, who spent the hefty sum of five livres for a silk handkerchief, paying with a piaster coin and saying it was her mistress who had sent her to buy it on her account. The third companion was twelve-year-old Marie Louise, about whose identity one vendor, Pierre St. Martin, made pointed references. He described her first as “Marie Louise of Mr. Fleuriau’s,” then as “Marie Louise aged twelve years.” Finally, he made mention of the girl’s mother, relating:

that the ninth of the month the mother of Marie Louise asked him if he had not [strikeout] received her daughter’s money to which he replied no, that it was Babet who paid him

Interrogated if he did not ask the little negresse where she had taken the money with which she was paying him?

Said no and that he had only sold it to her at the instigation of Marie Louise mulatresse.

Neither of Babette’s shopping companions, nor Marie Louise’s mother, who was also implicated, were called to testify or named as accomplices. But their awareness of Babette’s ownership of a sum of money, their participation in her purchases, and possibly their coercion once it became known that she had a sum of money hint at the extended community network that could benefit from the recirculation and repurposing of currency and consumer goods. Their involvement also suggests a different conception of property than that enshrined in French law.7

Were it not for Babette’s direct testimony in court about the theft of the piasters from Pivoteau’s unlocked chest (meaning it was a crime of opportunity and not premeditated) and her admission to the shopping spree, the case against her could be interpreted as a cover-up for the activities of the slightly older Marie Louise. St. Martin’s repeated emphasis on Marie Louise’s links to Fleuriau, his reference to her mother, and his justification for selling goods to Babette (who after all was also owned by Fleuriau) on the basis that she had come shopping with “Marie Louise mulatresse” were all meant to signal to the judges that he was aware of Marie Louise’s parentage and that she was the daughter of Fleuriau with one of his slaves. Her parentage was apparently open knowledge, yet it is rare that we find evidence of the vulnerability of enslaved women to predatory masters and, conversely, of the relative benefits and protection that this might confer on these women and their children. The endemic sexual exploitation of enslaved women usually remains invisible in the archive, but this court case shows how widely known and acknowledged these relationships were. St. Martin certainly said as much, including observing that Marie Louise’s mother was in the habit of buying from his shop. Just three years earlier, Fleuriau had married a wealthy heiress, but marriage had apparently not put an end to his interest in Marie Louise’s mother.8

Informal Networks for the Distribution of Goods

The judges prosecuting Babette’s case were primarily focused on uncovering the theft, however, they emphasized another, sweeping, motive in pursuing the investigation—public safety. “This theft, and especially, the prohibition against the sale of merchandise that some merchants sell to the negres of this colony without permission from their master,” they declared during the trial, “concerns the public good and public order.” Around the time Babette was arrested and convicted in 1765, the colony was in its waning years under French control and was in thrall to a renewed attempt to clamp down on the movement of slaves and limit their trading interactions with the white populace. In 1751, local officials had enacted a new police code that sought to control the movements of slaves and their access to the marketplace while also limiting the ability of free persons (and Native Americans) from trading with them. Previous to the 1751 police code, there was a 1723 decree aimed at preventing the purchase from slaves of clothing, chickens, produce, game, or anything else, while the 1724 code noir allowed slaves to sell goods but only with their master’s written permission. Men were posted in each marketplace charged with enforcing this statute, and masters of slaves who attempted to make transactions without the requisite approval were fined accordingly.9

Theft and the wider system of economic transactions that relied on the market for stolen and secondhand goods were key facets of the broader informal economies in both Europe and the colonies alike. Robberies put goods into circulation and proved especially beneficial to segments of the population, like the enslaved, who were locked out of the market owing to their status or inadequate buying power and who were most devoid of legitimate options for obtaining material goods. For these groups, stealing, or gaining access to stolen goods through resellers (usually at very competitive prices), might represent a viable way to procure consumer wares.10

As the chronology of court documents makes clear, Babette’s prosecution was initiated by a complaint about missing money rather than her participation in illicit trade or her acquisition and wearing of new apparel, which does not seem to have elicited any particular reaction, but her confession revealed widespread illegal participation in the marketplace. In her testimony, she described what she had done with the money and named those with whom she transacted business:

She had bought a cotton skirt and a casaquin jacket from Sr. Nicolete and another skirt from Mad[am]e St Martin, a gold joug that she said she had bought from La Rochelle, the army drummer; a silk handkerchief and a blue handkerchief from the named Cassale, merchant next to the jail, some dragées for fifty sols from Dame de Lorier, and fifty sols of pecans, a pair of shoes from Dame Olivier Pecherit for one piaster coin.

a Dit avoir achété une Jupe de Cotton et un Cazaquin chés Le Sr Nicolete. et une autre Jupe chez Made. St martin, et un Joug D’or quelle a Dit avoir acheté de La Rochelle tambour, un mouchoir de soÿe et un Mouchoir Bleu, du Nommé Cassale Marchand a Coté de La prizon. des Dragées pour Cinquante sols chéz La Dame de Lorier et Cinquante sols de pacanes, une paire de souliers chéz La Dame olivier pecherit pour une piastre Gourde

In other words, here was the case of an enslaved eleven-year-old girl openly going to different shops and approaching a spectrum of traders to make cash purchases of apparel (jacket, skirts, handkerchiefs, shoes) and edible treats using Spanish silver coins.11

None of the traders accused of selling to the girl Babette, all of whom knew her to be enslaved, queried her possession of coins or asked for proof that she had permission from her master to buy goods. Nor did they question the suitability of an enslaved eleven-year-old buying new finery. The price they paid was steep, meant to serve as a warning to others who traded with the enslaved: they were heavily fined, some were forbidden from ever trading again in New Orleans, and one of them was banished from town. The traders who sold goods to Babette also had to return the money she had paid them and take back their merchandise. Yet as seen in the court case against Babette, while colonists could be penalized severely, there were limits to their punishment. Not so for free Blacks. Jean Baptiste, a free Black, found this out when he was convicted in 1743 of stealing fine shirts and handkerchiefs and was re-enslaved as punishment. The freedom of Africans was never absolute but reversible.12

A Shopping Spree

Beyond her verbal testimony in court, Babette’s list of items serves as a reminder that material culture can be especially valuable in the insights it offers about nonverbal forms of self-expression. Babette’s selection of goods cannot be classified as strictly utilitarian; instead, they reveal an avid interest in pleasurable items. The apparel and textiles that Babette chose offered myriad means of self-expression through texture, color, pattern, fiber, cut, construction, and styling. Although the interrogatory focused on the price of the items she acquired, the witness depositions do provide a few additional details, such as that the cotton skirt cost five piasters and that the other skirt was made of indienne, or calico cotton, and worth two piasters (Figure 5). It is impossible to know how and where she planned to wear the items she bought, but here were shoes, handkerchiefs, multiple skirts, and a jacket (Figure 6). The edible items Babette purchased likewise display a desire for luxury items over practical necessities. The dragées, small sugar-coated flowers, were a type of confectionary, and the pecan nuts, which, though indigenous to Louisiana, she had to purchase, likely from Native Americans who had brought them to market, could be considered a treat, rather than a staple food item (Figure 7).13

Figure 5

“Toilles de Cotton peintes à Marseilles,” 1736. Tissus de XVIIIe siècle. Collection Richelieu. Département Estampes et photographie. RESERVE LH-45-BOITE-FOL 29-nos. 133–140. Courtesy of Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris

This 1736 manuscript page contains samples of printed calico cotton fabrics (known in France as “Indiennes” or “Guinées”). Though these samples were manufactured in Marseilles, France, these fabrics originated in India and were wildly popular in Europe and in West Africa, where they were used as an object of exchange in the slave trade.

Figure 6

Agostino Brunias, A Negroes Dance in the Island of Dominica. Private Collection. Photo. Courtesy Christie’s Images / Bridgeman Images,

The short unstructured gown, referred to as a jacket, that Babette purchased might have been like the one seen on the woman on the left and on the woman clapping.

Figure 7

Le Pacanier. From [Jean-François-Benjamin] Dumont de Montigny, Mémoires historiques sur la Louisiane, contenant ce qui y est arrivé de plus mémorable depuis l’année 1687 . . . , I (Paris, 1753), 59. Courtesy Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris

Engraving of a pecan tree published in colonist Dumont de Montigny’s memoirs of his life in Louisiana.

The apparel Babette picked out was clearly intended to supplement her clothing rations. Article 18 of the code noir stipulated that apparel be issued on a yearly basis, without specifics as to quantity and frequency. That it was primarily utilitarian is indicated in Article 20, which granted slaves recourse to the law should their masters fail to provide adequately for their needs. No such cases, however, are known to have been brought before the courts in colonial Louisiana. The enslaved also had access to some alternative sources of supply. They sometimes received gifts and bequests from masters; benefited from ad hoc distributions from estates; made purchases with money earned from their (limited) autonomous role as purveyors of services, foodstuffs, and labor; or obtained clothing through theft and the outcome of thefts.14

Cloth was the largest single category of goods imported to the colonies, and it was also usually the most valuable consumer product, in high demand and constant circulation, through formal and informal channels, legal and illicit means. Because of the intrinsic value of cloth and clothing in the early modern period, Babette could have raised funds from selling the items she had purchased, as others did. That was certainly the case in thefts of opportunity (for example, where a pile of clothes was randomly grabbed and then sold or exchanged). But Babette did not have to resort to this. She could just take Pivoteau’s money from the chest and make her purchases outright from what was available from New Orleans’s shopkeepers and small-scale retailers.15

Babette’s specific request for some red cloth with which to make herself a skirt shows that at eleven years old, she was a skilled enough seamstress to know how to cut and sew a three-dimensional garment to size. Perhaps she earned money on the side for this work, a customary practice that she might have engaged in since the trader asked her when she sought to buy the red cloth if she “earned this with the Spaniard?” There is widespread evidence in Louisiana, as elsewhere in the Atlantic world, of the involvement of enslaved and free men and women of African descent in the apparel trades working for their own account. Drawing on apparel-related skills for which they were known to the wider community, and which they put to use for their own profit independently of their masters, they forged a permanent place for themselves within the local economy as suppliers of goods and services (Figure 8).16

Figure 8

William Kay, Seamstresses, Saint Kitts, Caribbean, 1798. Courtesy Yale Center for British Art, https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:10813

Although no red cloth was available, Babette’s desire for the material as well as her purchase of handkerchiefs additionally offer a tantalizing glimpse of the persistence of West African aesthetics even among those born in the New World. African and African-descended people in Louisiana not only maintained links to their cultures of origin by way of naming practices, religion, technology, and food. They also did so through a shared aesthetic prevalent across West Africa that included the wearing of certain colors such as red and blue, an emphasis on head wraps (using handkerchiefs), and a preference for metallic and nonmetallic jewelry and ornaments. These handkerchiefs were not for blowing the nose. Instead, they were large squares of fabric that came in infinite colors and varieties of striped, checked, or floral patterns made from imported textiles manufactured in Europe in imitation of textiles from India (Figure 5). They can be seen in depictions of Africans in Louisiana by Alexandre de Batz dating from the 1730s, which show turban-like head wraps and red fabric (Figure 9). Such head wraps were used both in self-adornment and in gift giving, including in courtship (Figure 7).17

Figure 9

Alexandre De Batz, Dessein de sauvages de plusieurs nations, Nlle Orleans 1735, 1735. Gift of the Estate of Belle J. Bushnell, 1941. Courtesy the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University

Note the red-colored turban-like head covering on the figure of the unnamed African in Alexandre de Batz’s Drawing of Indians of Various Nations, New Orleans, 1735. 

Babette’s acquisition of the indienne cotton skirt likewise bears a connection to the aesthetics of the textile trade in West Africa. West Africa had its own history of technologically sophisticated textile manufacturing and dyeing traditions that preceded the arrival of Europeans, with striped or checked cloth or textiles dyed indigo blue or red circulating along complex networks of intertribal trade throughout West Africa. But with the advent of the transatlantic slave trade, printed (calico) cottons from India entered the local market via European trading companies, quickly establishing themselves as key items used to purchase captives from West Africa. By the eighteenth century, these Indian cottons made up three-quarters of the merchandise used in the transatlantic slave trade. For Babette and so many others, the sad irony is that their or their forebears’ forced removal across the Atlantic owed in part to a taste in West Africa for the very same cotton goods that they consumed in the New World, textiles imported from India via the Indian and Atlantic Oceans (and later imitated in European factories) in a global imperial trade that allied the movement of commodities to that of people.18

Conclusion

The consequences for Babette of her shopping spree would be severe, with the physical violence and public humiliation of her judicial sentence likely accompanied by further punishment at the hands of the jailer. But for a few brief hours on sundry early evenings in May, an eleven-year-old girl experienced the fleeting freedom of going shopping and having six willing traders fetch and carry at her beck and call while she decided on her purchases.

Procedure against the Negritte Babette Belonging to Mr. Fleuriau (Procedure contre la negritte nommée Babet a Mr. Fleuriau)

Transcription

Procedure against the Negritte Babette Belonging to Mr. Fleuriau[page 1]

Procedure Contre La Negritte
 nommée Babet a Mr fleuriau
 Lesr. Nicolet et St. Martin amandes

[page 2, blanche]

[page 3]

A Monsieur foucault controlleur de la marine
 faisant fonction Dordonnateur et de Premier juge
 au conseil Superieur
 Demande Le Procureur general du Roy audt. conseil
 que Le geolier des Prisons civilles nous avoit Porte sa
 Plainte disant quune negritte quil avait a loyer du
 S. fleuriau Luy avoit Pris dans un coffre ou la
 clé avoit ete Laissée Seize Piastres gourdes1 que les
 de. Piastres [avoient été] employes chez differents
 marchands. que lesdt. marchandises auroient eté
 trouves, et que Lade. negresse accusee auroit remis
 trois Piastres gourdes. comme ce vol et Particulierement
 Les desordres qui Resultent des Ventes de marchandises
 que font [certains] marchands aux negres de cette colonie
 sans Billet de leur maitre, interesse La vindicte
 Publique, et Les interet pour Lordre publique
 je Requière Pour Le Roy que Ladte. negresse quidam2
 soit decrete de Prise de corps, conduit Es Prisons civilles
 de cette ville, et soit [murement] interroge Pardevant
 un Conser. comre. en cette Partie, Sur Le Dt. Vol Sur Le
 nom du vendeur et La qualite des marchandises achetes, et comment
 elles ont ete Payes pour Le tout a nous communique
 Etre Requis ce que de droit et Etre ordonné ce quil appartiendra
 a la nlle orleans Le 9 8bre 1765

Lafreniere

Vü La Requette [es] plainte Cÿ dessüs Nous ordonnons que La3

[page 4]
 que La [sic] Negresse quidam soit Decrétée et aprehendée au
 Corps pour estre Conduite és prizons de Cette ville et
 ÿ estre interrogée sur Les faits ÿ Coutumës Circonstances et
 [dependances] et autres sur Lesquels Le procureur [General]
 d. par Mr. voudra La [faire] oüir ; pour ensuite Le [dit] interrogatoire
 Delaunay communiqué audit procureur General et rapo[rter]
 Consr estre ordonné a quil apartiendra.
 Donné en notre hotel Le dix octobre mil Sept Cens
 soixante et Cinq.
 [Foucault]

[pages 5–8, blanches]

Source: Records of the Superior Council of Louisiana (1717–1769), Louisiana History Center, Louisiana State Museum, New Orleans 1765/10/09/01 (day/month/sequence).

Ce document souffre de marques d’encre sur le verso de la page.

Translation

[page 1]

Procedure against the negritte
 named Babette belonging to Mr. Fleuriau.
 The Sr[s]. Nicolet and St. Martin, fines.

[page 2, blank]

[page 3]

To Monsieur Foucault comptroller of the Marine
 acting as ordonnateur and first judge
 of the Superior Council,
 the attorney general of the king requests of the said council:
 that the jailer of the civilian prisons had lodged a
 complaint with us, saying that a negritte that he had leased from
 S. Fleuriau had taken, from a coffer where the
 key had been left, sixteen piaster coins1, that the
 said piasters [had been] used at various
 merchants, that the said merchandise had been
 found, and that the said accused negresse [had] returned
 three piaster coins. As this theft, and especially,
 the disorders that arise from the sales of merchandise
 that [some] merchants make to the negres of this colony
 without a note from their master concerns the
 public good and concerns public order,
 I require for the king that the said unidentified2 negresse
 be decreed to be bodily seized, brought to the civil prisons
 of this town, and be [carefully] interrogated before
 a councilor commissioner in these parts on the said theft, on the
 name of the seller, and the kind of merchandise bought, and how
 it has been paid for, the whole communicated to us
 as required by right and ordered according to that which appertains.
 At New Orleans the 9 October 1765.

Lafreniere

Having seen the request and complaint above, we order that the3

[page 4]
 that the [sic] unidentified negresse be decreed to be bodily apprehended
 to be conducted to the prisons of this town and
 there interrogated on the facts, habits, circumstances, and
 [dependencies]4 and other matters on which the attorney [general]
 d. by Mr. wants to have her heard, and then the [said] interrogatory
 Delaunay [to be] communicated to the said attorney general and report[ed],
 Councilor being ordered according to that which appertains.
 Given in our hotel5 the 10 October seventeen hundred
 Sixty-five
 [Foucault]

[pages 5–8, blank]

Source: Records of the Superior Council of Louisiana (1717–1769), Louisiana History Center, Louisiana State Museum, New Orleans 1765/10/09/01 (day/month/sequence).

There is some bleeding in this document from the ink on the reverse side of the page.

Interrogatory of Babette (Interrogatoire de Babette)

Transcription

Interrogatory of BabetteNo. 1882
 Pre page
 Delaunay
 10 Octobre 1765
 Interrogatoire
 de la negresse nommée
 Babet.

Interrogatoire fait par Nous Louis Piot Delaunaÿ
 [de] La Negresse Babet [En] Vertu du decret
 de prize de Corps Decerné Contrelle par Mr. foucault
 faizant fonction D’ordonnateur [par] son ordonnance
 En Datte de Ce Jour, Laquelle nous aÿant éte
 Emménnée par Le Geolier des prizons et aprés Luÿ
 avoir fait prété serment de Dire verité a été
 par nous Interrogée ainsi quil en suit
 Du 10. 8.bre 1765

Interrogée de son nom age qualité et Demeure
 a Dit sappeller Babet appartenant a Mr. fleuriau
 agée de onze ans, catholique et apostolique et Romaine. Creolle de Cette ville.
 Interrogée qui est Ce qui L’avoit fait mettre en
 prizon
 a Dit que Cetoit un archer et quelle ne
 Connoissoit pas son nom qui L’avoit fait
 Eté cherché chés son maitre.
 Interrogée si elle na pas été Louée au Geolier
 des prizons.
 a Dit qu’ouÿ.
 Interrogée si elle ne Luÿ a Rien pris ni volé
 a Dit Luÿ avoir volé quelques piastres Gourdes
 Interrogée ou est Ce quelle avois pris les piastres
 a Dit Lavoir pris dans une Málle quelle
 avoit trouvé ouverte Cest a Dire sans estre
 fermée a clef.
 Interrogée de Ce quelle avoit fait de Ces piastres
 a Dit avoir achété une Jupe de Cotton et un
 Cazaquin chés Le Sr. Nicolete. et une autre
 Jupe chez Made. St martin, et un Joug1 D’or
 quelle a Dit avoir acheté de La Rochelle
 DeLaunay, Garic Gffier

[page 2]
 deuxieme
 DeLaunay

tambour, un mouchoir de soÿe et un Mouchoir
 Bleu, du Nommé Cassale Marchand a Coté de
 La prizon. des Dragées pour Cinquante sols
 chéz La Dame de Lorier et Cinquante sols de
 pacanes, une paire de souliers chéz La Dame
 olivier pecherit pour une piastre Gourde
 Interrogée si elle a emploÿé autre argent a Dit
 que non.
 Interrogé Combien Luÿ avoit Couté Le Jong Dor
 a Dit Luÿ avoir Couté une piastre et Deux
 platilles.2
 Interrogée Combien Luÿ avoit Couté La Jupe
 De Cotton, et Celle dindienne
 a Dit La Jupe dindiene Deux piastres Gourdes
 et Celle de Cotton Cinq piastres Gourdes
 et Le Cazaquin quelle a acheté chéz La Dame
 seignet une piastre Gourde et une piastre en
 papier
 Interrogée si elle avoit volé autre choze, et
 Ce quelle a fait du surplus de Largent, a dit
 Lavoir tout emploÿé En Ce quelle vient de declarer
 hors une piastre gourde que La femme du
 Geolier Luÿ avoit pris
 Interrogée si elle avoit quelque argent encore
 a Dit que non quelle navoit plus Rien
 qui est tout Ce quelle a Dit scavoir.
 Lecture a elle faite du prezent interrogatoire
 a Dit ses reponses Contenir verité et ÿ a persisté
 et Na sc[ú ?] signer de Ce Enquize suivant Lordce.
 Garic Gffer. DeLaunay
 Surquoÿ nous Conseiller Commissaire sus dit
 avons ordonné et ordonnons que Le present
 DeLaunay Garic Gffer

[page 3]
 Troisieme et dre
 Delaunay

Interrogatoire sera Communiqué au procureur
 General du Roÿ pour par luÿ Requerir Ce
 quil avizera et ensuite estre ordonné Ce quil appartiendra
 Donné en La chambre Criminelle a La Nlle
 orleans Le Dixieme octobre mil sept Cens soixante
 et Cinq Deux heures de Relevée.
 Delaunay
 Garic Greffer

Je Requiere Pour le Roy vu Le Present3
 interrogatoire a Charge, que La
 Requette de che. pivotot Plaignant
 et Partie Civille Les Srs nicolet La Rochelle
 cassalle et Les Dames St. martin et [des]lauriers
 firent [sic] assignés Pour Etre ouis et interrogés sur les
 charges enoncees dans Ledt. interrogatoire
 que Les effets deposés au greffe, soient Representes
 auxdts. vendeurs, et [vendeuses], pour par eux
 [E]tre Repondu si ils Reconnaissent Lesdtes
 marchandises Pour Etre Partie de Leur boutique
 et etre interrogé Sur les Prix quils Les dit
 vendus et en quelle monnaye ils ont ete
 Payes. que Les dts. interrogatoires soient [ill.]
 Les délais, Presents pour le lor[s] a nous communique
 Etre Requis ce que de droit et Etre ordonne ce
 quil appartiendra a la nlle orleans Le 10 8bre
 1765
 Lafreniere

Vü Linterrogatoire fait a La Negresse nommé Babet a La
 Requette du nommé pivoteau Geolier Le procureur General
 du Roÿ Joint; Les Concluzions du dit procureur General du
 Roÿ en datte du Jour Dhÿer, et tout Consideré Nous

[page 4]

ordonnons que Les nommés Nicolets, Cassale, La Rochelle
 Marchands, et Les Dames St. Martin, Seignest, et delaurier
 seront assignés pour estre oüis Sur Les faits Resultants
 du dit interrogatorie, et Repondre aux Conclusions que
 Le dit procureur General Du Roÿ Voudra prendre Contreux.
 Donné en notre hotel a La Nlle. orleans Le [ill.] onzieme
 Jour de octobre mil Sept Cens soixante Cinq
 Foucault

Source: Records of the Superior Council of Louisiana (1717–1769), Louisiana History Center, Louisiana State Museum, New Orleans 1765/10/10/01 (day/month/sequence).

Translation

No. 1882
 First page
 Delaunay
 10 October 1765
 Interrogatory
 of the negresse named
 Babet

Interrogatory conducted by us, Louis Piot Delaunaÿ,
 [of] the negresse Babet, [in] virtue of the decree
 of bodily seizure issued against her by Mr. Foucault,
 acting ordonnateur, [by] his order
 of this day, who, having been
 brought to us by the prison jailer and after
 being made to swear an oath to tell the truth, has
 been interrogated by us as follows.
 10 October 1765

Interrogated as to her name, age, status, and residence?
 Said she was named Babet belonging to Mr. Fleuriau,
 aged eleven years, Roman Catholic and Apostolic, creole of this town.
 Interrogated who it is who had put her in
 prison?
 Said that it was an archer [soldier], and that she
 did not know his name, that she had had
 been taken from her master’s.
 Interrogated if she has not been leased to the prison
 jailer?
 Said yes.
 Interrogated if she has not taken or stolen anything from him?
 Said she stole some piaster coins from him.
 Interrogated where she had taken the piasters?
 Said she took them from a trunk that she
 had found open, that is to say,
 unlocked.
 Interrogated what she had done with the piasters?
 Said she had bought a cotton skirt and a
 casaquin jacket from Sr. Nicolete, and another
 skirt from Mad[am]e St. Martin, a gold joug1
 that she said she had bought from La Rochelle,
 DeLaunay, Garic clerk

[page 2]
 Second [page]
 DeLaunay

army drummer, a silk handkerchief and a blue
 handkerchief from the named Cassale, merchant next to
 the jail, some dragées2 for fifty sols
 from Dame de Lorier, and fifty sols of
 pecans, a pair of shoes from Dame
 Olivier Pecherit for one piaster coin.
 Interrogated if she used any other money? Said
 no.
 Interrogated how much the gold jong had cost her?
 Said that it had cost her one piaster and two
 platilles.3
 Interrogated how much the cotton skirt had cost her,
 and the calico [indienne]4 one?
 Said the calico [indienne] skirt, two piaster coins,
 and the cotton one, five piaster coins,
 and the jacket that she had bought from Dame
 Seignet, one piaster coin and one piaster in
 paper money.
 Interrogated if she had stolen anything else, and
 what she had done with the surplus money? Said
 she had used it all for what she has just declared,
 other than one piaster coin that the wife of the
 jailer had taken from her.
 Interrogated if she still had any money?
 Said that no that she had nothing left,
 which is all that she has said she knows.
 The present interrogatory was read back to her,
 said her replies contained the truth and persisted in this,
 and did not know how to sign, this inquired in accordance with the ordinance.
 Garic clerk, DeLaunay
 Upon which we, the abovenamed councilor commissioner,
 have ordered and so order that the present
 DeLaunay, Garic clerk

[page 3]
 Third and last [page]
 Delaunay

interrogatory will be communicated to the attorney
 general of the king, for him to request that
 which he advises, and then be ordered according to that which appertains.
 Given in the criminal chamber of New
 Orleans the tenth October seventeen hundred sixty
 and five at two o’clock
 Delaunay
 Garic clerk

I request for the king, based on the present5
 interrogatory, that the
 request of Ch[arles] Pivotot, plaintiff,
 and civil parties, the Srs. Nicolet, La Rochelle,
 Cassalle, and the Dames St. Martin and [Des]lauriers,
 be assigned to be heard and interrogated on the
 charges articulated in the said interrogatory,
 that the goods deposited in the registry be shown
 to the said sellers for them
 to answer as to whether they recognize the said
 merchandise to be from their shop
 and to be interrogated as to the price that they
 sold them for and in what money they were
 paid. That the said interrogatories be done
 without delay, to be then communicated to us.
 To be required that which by right, and be ordered according to that
 which appertains, in New Orleans the 10th October
 1765.
 Lafreniere

Having seen the interrogatory given to the negresse named Babete, at the
 request of the named Pivoteau, jailer, joined by the attorney general
 of the king, the conclusions of the said attorney general of the
 king dated yesterday, and the whole considered, we

[page 4]

order that the named Nicolets, Cassale, La Rochelle,
 merchants, and the Dames St. Martin, [Seignelet] and Delaurier,
 be assigned to be heard on the facts resulting
 from the said interrogatory, and to answer the findings that
 the said attorney general of the king might want to take against them.
 Given in our hotel6 in New Orleans the twelfth
 day of October seventeen hundred and sixty-five.
 Foucault

Source: Records of the Superior Council of Louisiana (1717–1769), Louisiana History Center, Louisiana State Museum, New Orleans 1765/10/10/01 (day/month/sequence).

Summonses Served on Witnesses in the Case against Babette (Assignations des témoins contre Babette)

Transcription

Summonses Served on Witnesses in the Case against BabetteLan Mil Sept cent[s] soixante cinq Et Le onzieme Jour du mois
 Doctobre dix heures du matin En vertu de Lordonnance de monsieur foucault
 commissaire de La marine faisant fonction dordonnateur Et premier Juge
 au Conseil Superieur de La province de La Louisïanne, Et a La requeste
 du nomé pivoteau geolier des prisons civilles de cette Ville y dem[euran]t.
 a La nlle. orleans y Joint monsieur Le procureur general du Roy dem[euran]t.
 En son hotel a La nlle. Orlean[s], je joseph maison huissier audt.
 audt. [sic] Conseil Superieur de cette province residant a La nlle. orleans
 soussigné ay dument Baillé assignation Et Interpellé Le Sieur
 Nicolet Marchand demeurant a La nlle orleans En Sa maison de
 residance ou yl fait Election de domicille parlant a sa personne
 au Sieur Cassal – – – – – – – – –
 au nomé La Rochelle tambour des troupes parlant a Sa personne
 a La dame delaurier demte. a La nlle. orleans parlant a Sa personne
 a la dame Seignet demt a La nlle. orleans parlant a Sa personne
 Et ausr. St. martin demeurant a La nlle orleans parlant a Sa personne
 a Comparoir aujourdhuy quatre heures de relevées En La Chambre
 criminelle de Justice E[n] dites prisons de cette dte Ville pour Estre
 oüi sur Les faits resultants En Linterogatoirre faite a La
 Negresse Nomé[e] Babet appartenant a mr. fleuriau es autre Sur
 Les quels yl plaira a mr Le procureur general du Roy Les faire
 Entendre, Leurs declarant moy dt. huissier que faute par Eu[x]
 Es ycelle de Comparoir yls Seront contrain Et meme Jugé
 a Lamende comme yl avizera Bon Estre a monsieur Le
 premier Juge dudt. conseil, fait Et delaissé Separament Copie
 des presentes chez chacun dyceul Et ycelle parlant Comme dessus
 a ce quil Nen ygnorre [dont] acte
 J Maison

[page 2, blanche]

Source: Records of the Superior Council of Louisiana (1717–1769), Louisiana History Center, Louisiana State Museum, New Orleans 1765/10/11/01 (day/month/sequence).

Translation

The year seventeen sixty-five and the eleventh day of the month
 of October, ten o’clock in the morning, in virtue of the order of monsieur Foucault,
 commissioner of the Marine, acting ordonnateur, and first judge
 of the Superior Council of the province of Louisiana, and at the request
 of the named Pivoteau, jailer of the civil prisons of this town, residing
 in New Orleans, joined by monsieur the attorney general of the king, residing
 in his hotel1 in New Orleans, I, Joseph Maison, bailiff of the said
 said [sic] Superior Council of this province, residing in New Orleans,
 undersigned, have duly subpoenaed and questioned the Sieur
 Nicolet merchant residing in New Orleans, in his house of
 residence, where he elects domicile, speaking to his person,
 to Sieur Cassal – – – – – – – – –
 to the said La Rochelle, drummer in the troops, speaking to his person,
 to Dame Delaurier, residing in New Orleans, speaking to her person,
 to Dame Seignet, residing in New Orleans, speaking to her person,
 and also Sieur St. Martin, residing in New Orleans, speaking to his person,
 to appear today at four o’clock in the criminal justice chamber
 in the said prisons of this town to be
 heard on the facts resulting from the interrogatory given to the
 negresse named Babet belonging to Mr. Fleuriau and other[s], on
 which it please the attorney general of the king to hear them,
 I, bailiff, declaring to them that if they fail
 to appear, they will be compelled and even
 fined as advised by monsieur the
 first judge of the said council. Copy
 of the above made and left with each one of them, and spoken to each as above,
 so that they cannot claim ignorance of the said order.
 J. Maison

[page 2, blank]

Records of the Superior Council of Louisiana (1717–1769), Louisiana History Center, Louisiana State Museum, New Orleans 1765/10/11/01 (day/month/sequence).

Depositions of Witnesses against Babette and Confrontation (Dépositions des témoins contre Babette et confrontation)

Transcription

Depositions of witnesses against Babette and ConfrontationNo. 1884
 pre page
 DeLaunay
 11 octobre 1765
 Depositions
 de temoin
 Contre la négresse
 Babet.

Lan Mil sept cent Soixante cinq Et le onze octobre
 de Relevéé, En vertü de lordonnance de Monsieur foucault
 faisant fonction d’ordonnateur et de premier Juge Rendü Sur
 les conclusions du procureur général du Roy: Nous louis piot
 deLaunay conseiller audit conseil commire. en cette partie
 Sommes transportés avec le Greffier à La chambre Criminelle
 à L’effet de proceder aux Interogatoire des nommes Nicolet, Cassale
 La Rochelle, Marchand de cette ville et les dames St. Martin[,] Seignet
 et delorier, àssignéé à cet Effet par Exploit de Maison huisier
 en datte de ce jour: pour Estre oüi Sur les faits Resultant de
 Linterogatoire fait a la Negresse Babet àppt aus. fleuriau
 et ce à la Requeste Du nommé pivoteau Geolier à luy Joint M
 le procureur Général du Roy: où Etant avons procedé aux dits
 Intérogatoire ainsÿ quil ensuit.
 Premierement est comparü S. St. Martin auquel a nous
 fait prester serment de bien et fidellement Nous dire la verité
 à été par nous Interogé ainsy qu’il Suit
 Interoge de son nom àge qualité et demeure
 à dit Sapelle Pierre St. Martin Capne. de navire Marchand
 demeurant en cette ville prêt a parti[r] pour le Cap:
 Item terogé [sic] Sil connoit la negresse nommée Babet
 à dit que oüi
 Item terogé [sic] Sil luy à vendü quelqus [sic] Marchandises
 à dit Luy avoir vendü quatre aune Dindienne et quelle Estoit
 avec Marie Louise de M. fleuriau;
 Item Interogé en quel monnois Elle La payé
 à dit Luy avoir payé en deux piastres Gourde1 : et qu’il ne luy à
 vendü que Cinquante Sols L’aune dindienne,
 Interogé sil ne scait pas qu’il ést déffendü de vendre à
 des Esclaves sans avoir un Billet de leur Maitre
 à dit questant avec la ditte Marie Louise ayant environ douze ans
 DeLaunay

[page 2]
 Deuxieme
 DeLaunay

et qu’il la connoissoit pour àppartenir au S. fleuriau, et que
 L’objet qu’il leur à vendü estoit de peü de Consequance; ce qui
 a fait qu’il ne fit point de difficulté pour luy vendre, et
 que Si Elle luy Eut demande quelques choses de plus pour Lors
 il luy auroit Refusé: et que le neuf [due] mois la mere de Marie
 Louise luy demanda Sil navoit pas [rature] Reçü
 Largent de Sa fille a quoÿ il luy Repondit que non que cestoit
 Babet qui luy paya
 Interogé Sil na pas demande à la ditte negresse où [elle] avoit
 pris largent avec quoy Elle le payoit
 a dit que non et qu’il ne luy avoit Vendü qua Linstigation de
 Marie Louise: Mulatresse
 Lecture à luy faite du present Interogatoire a dit sa Reponse
 contenir verite ÿ a persiste et à signé.
 Saint Martin
 DeLaunay

Du 11 dudit
 Et aussy comparü Margueritte lapierre femme de Joseph timermagne
 dit delorie a laquelle avons fait prester serment de nous dire
 verite, à été par nous Interogéé ainsy qu’il Suit
 Interogé de Son nom àge qualité et demeure
 a dit Sapeller Margueritte lapierre Epouse du S. Joseph timermagne
 dit delorier cordonnie[r] en cette ville ÿ demeurant; agéé de trente trois ans
 Interrogé si Elle connoissoit La negresse Babet cy presente
 a dit que oüi quelle la connoist pour appartenir à M fleuriaux
 Interogé Si ladte. negritte à été acheté chez Elle quelques Chose,
 a dit que ces Jours passés Elle vendit a Ladte. negritte pour quatre
 Écalins de dragéé. que le s. Bernard a qui appartiens la boutique
 Se faisoit Razé et luy dit den donner d’un flacon qui Estoit
 commencé et que dix jours avant Elle luy vendit deux cent
 de paquanne
 DeLaunay

[page 3]
 Troisieme
 DeLaunay

Intérogé enquelle monnaie La ditte negrite luy a payé
 les dragéé
 a dit Luÿ [aveés?] donné un Ecû de Six livres. Sur lequel Elle
 Luy Remit Sept Écalins platille2 :
 La negritte Babet Luy à dit que non quelle ne luy Remit que dix
 livres en papier:
 La dame delorier luy a Soutenu que non et luy à dit luy avoir donné
 sept Escalins3 Platille en argent Blanc:
 Intérogé en quelle monnais Elle luy à paye les paquannes4
 à dit quelle luy a payé en un double Escalin gourde
 Interogé si Elle ne scait pas sil est deffendu de Vendre
 aux negres sans un Billet de leur Maître
 à dit que non comme Elle ne vend Rien et qelle na point
 de Boutique Elle na pas Ésté dans le Cas de scavoir les
 Regles à se sujet:
 Interogé Si Elle à connoissance que laditte negritte Eût
 D’autre argent
 a dit que non quelle ne Luy en à pas vêu que LEcû de
 Six livres quelle luy à changé et que même Elle luy demandé
 où Elle l’avoit pris. que ladte. negritte luy dit qu’on luy avoit donné
 Lecture à Elle faite du present Interogatoire a dit Sa Reponse
 contenir verite ÿ a persisté et à Signé
 delaurié
 DeLaunay

Est aussÿ comparü Michel Gerôme Creté dit La Rochelle auquel
 avons fait prester serment de nous dire Verité, à été par
 nous Interogé ainsy qu’il Suit
 Interogé de son nom àge qualité et demeure
 à dit Sapelle Michel Gerome Cretel dit La Rochelle àgé
 DeLaunay

[page 4]
 quatrieme
 DeLaunay

de trente un an tambour de la Compagnie de Mr. devogne
 en garnison en cette ville:
 Interogé sil connoist La negritte nommée Babet
 à dit que oüi qu’il La connoist pour avoir appartenü a M. huchon
 et actuellement à M. fleuriau
 Interogé Sil à vendü quelques choses à la ditte negresse
 à dit quil luy proposa de luy vendre un Jou dor: et qu’il Luy
 Vendit
 Interogé en quelle monnois Elle La payé
 à dit Quelle La payé en une piastre gourde et deux platille,
 et que luy aÿant rendü Sept livres dix Sols5 : Elle luy Redoit
 Encore dix Sol:
 Interogé Sil ne scait pas qu’il est defendü de vendre aux
 negres Sans un Billet de son maître
 a dit que non qu’il n’en Scavait Rien. que cependant
 il croit Bien que le code noir déffend de vendre ledt
 aux dits negre: que le prix Éstant Si modique il ne
 pensoit pas que cette petite negritte Éusse volé L’argent
 avec lequel Elle la payé; au contraire il croÿoit quelle
 L’avoit gagné
 Lecture à luy faite du present Interogatoire à dit Sa Reponse
 contenir verite y à persisté et a signe
 Crettel dit Larochel
 DeLaunay

Ést aussy comparü le S. jean Baptiste nicolet marchand au
 quel àvons fait prester serment de nous dire verite et à été
 par nous interogé
 Interogé de son nom age qualite et demeure
 DeLaunay

[page 5]
 Cinquieme
 DeLaunay

à dit sapeller Jean Baptiste nicolet Marchand de
 cette ville àgé de vingt ans:
 Interogé sil connoit La negritte nommée Babet:
 à dit qu’il la Connoist pour estre venüe Dimanche dernier Chez luy
 sur les quatres heures du soir qu’il luy demanda son nom et
 quelle luy Repondit quelle appartenoit à M fleuriau
 Interogé sil à vendü quelques chose a ladte. negresse
 à dit Luy avoir vendü deux aunes de Cotton qui luy à été
 à L’instant presenté et qu’il a Reconü, à Raison de unze
 livres cinq Sols Laune
 Interogé en quelle monnoie ladte. negritte luy à payé
 Les deux aunes de Coton
 à dit quelle luy donna Cinq piastres Gourdes Sur les quelle
 il luy Remit Dix livres en papier
 Interrogé Sil na point connoissance quelle Eü d’autre argent
 à dit que oüi que Sa poche àÿant fait du Bruit il
 Sapersut quelle avoit D’autre argent
 Interogé Sil ne luy a pas vendü autre Chose
 a dit que non quelle luy demanda de la toille Rouge pour
 se faire une jupe mais qu’il ne luy en vendit point attendü
 qu’il n’en avoit pas
 Interogé Si Luy à demandé où Elle auroît pris cet argent
 à Repondü que oüi et qu’il Luy dit tu as gagné cela
 avec Lespagnol et quelle ne luy Repondit Rien
 Interogé Sil ne scait pas qu’il est déffendü de vendre aux
 negres Sans un billet de leur maitre:
 à dit que Non qu’il ne scait pas S’il ést Déffendü que
 d’ailleurs il se conforme aux autres marchands qui en font
 autant que Luy:
 Interogé Si la petite negritte Estoit Seulle
 DeLaunay

[page 6]
 sixieme
 DeLaunay

a dit quelle Estoit avec un Enfant quelle tenoit au Col
 Interogé Sil luy à vendü autre Chose
 à dit que non
 Lecture à Luy faite du present Interogatoire à dit Sa
 Reponse contenir verité ÿ à persiste et a Signé
 J. Nicollet
 DeLaunay

11: 8bre 1765:
 Est comparü led. Louis cassal auquel avons fait prester
 Serment De nous dire verite: et à Esté Interogé par nous
 ainsy qu’il Suit
 Interogé de Son nom àge qualité et Demeure a d. [sic]
 à dit Sapeller Louis cassal àgé de trente ans Soldat de La
 compagnie de M. duplessy en garnison en cette Ville
 Interoge Sil connoist la negritt Babet
 à dit que oüi pour àppartenir aus. fleuriau et Estre Loüé a
 Pivoteau Geolier
 Interogé Sil a vendü quelques chose à ladte. Negritte
 à dit ne luy avoir Rien vendü Mais Bien à une autre negrite
 qu’il ne connoit pas dont Babet à dit quelle appartiens àus.
 olivier nommée francoise. quelle avoit envoyé cherche un
 mouchoir de soix qu’il à Reconnü pour le prix et somme
 de Cinq livres que ladte. francoise luy à paÿé en piastres Gourde[s]
 Interogé Sil na pas vendü autre choses aux ditte negritte
 à dit que non qu’il ne leur à Rien vendü.
 Interogé Sil ne sçait pas qu’il est defendü de vendre aux
 negres sans un billet de leur Maitre
 DeLaunay

[page 7]
 Septieme et dre
 DeLaunay

a dit que non qu’il n’en Scait Rien, et qu’il Croyait
 quelle estoit envoyé de la part de la maîtresse Estant sur le[s] six
 heure[s] du soir:
 Lecture à luy faite du present Interogatoire a dit Sa
 Reponse contenir verité ÿ à persisté et a declaré ne scavoir
 Signé de ce Enquis Suivant lordce.
 DeLaunay

Surquoy nous conseille[r] commissaire Susdit avons
 ordonné et ordonnons que le present Intérogre.
 Sera communique a Mr. Le procureur General
 du Roy pour ÿ Prendre droit et Requere ce
 qu’il àppartîendra
 Donné en La chambre Criminelle de justice le unze
 octobre Mil sept cent soixante Cinq
 DeLaunay

Source: Records of the Superior Council of Louisiana (1717–1769), Louisiana History Center, Louisiana State Museum, New Orleans 1765/10/11/02 (day/month/sequence).

Translation

No. 1884
 First page
 DeLaunay
 11 October 1765
 Deposition
 of witnesses
 against the negresse
 
Babet

The year seventeen sixty-five, and the eleventh of October.
 In virtue of the order of Monsieur Foucault,
 acting ordonnateur and first judge, issued based on
 the conclusions of the attorney general of the king: we, Louis Piot
 Delaunay, councilor of the said council, commissioner in these parts,
 transported ourselves with the clerk to the criminal justice chamber
 in order to proceed to the interrogatories of the named Nicolet, Cassale,
 La Rochelle, merchants of this town, and Dames St. Martin, Seignet,
 and Delorier, assigned to this effect by writ of Maison, bailiff,
 dated this day, to be heard on the facts resulting from
 the interrogatory made of the negresse Babet belonging to S. Fleuriau,
 and this at the request of the named Pivoteau, jailer, joined by M.
 the attorney general of the king. Whereupon we have proceeded to the said
 interrogatories as follows:
 First appeared S. St. Martin who has
 sworn an oath to us to well and faithfully tell us the truth.
 He has been interrogated as follows.
 Interrogated as to his name, age, status, and residence?
 Said he was named Pierre St. Martin, merchant ship captain,
 residing in this town ready to depart for Cap [Français].
 Interrogated if he knows the negresse named Babet?
 Said yes.
 Interrogated if he has sold her any merchandise?
 Said he had sold her four ells of calico [indienne]1and that she was
 with Marie Louise of M. Fleuriau’s.
 Item interrogated in what money she paid?
 Said she had paid him with two piaster coins2 and that he had
 only sold her the calico [indienne] at fifty sols the ell.
 Interrogated if he did not know that it is prohibited to sell to
 slaves without a note from their master?
 Said that she being with the said Marie Louise aged around twelve years
 DeLaunay

[page 2]
 Second
 DeLaunay

and that he knew her as belonging to S. Fleuriau, and that
 the item he had sold them was of little consequence, which
 meant that he was not unwilling to sell to her, and
 that if she had asked for any other things then
 he would have refused her; and that the ninth of the month the mother of Marie
 Louise asked him if he had not [strikeout] received
 her daughter’s money to which he replied no, that it was
 Babet who paid him.
 Interrogated if he did not ask the little negresse where she had
 taken the money with which she was paying him?
 Said no and that he had only sold it to her at the instigation of
 Marie Louise mulatresse.
 The present interrogatory was read back to him, said his answer
 contained the truth, persisted in this, and signed.
 Saint Martin
 DeLaunay

The 11th of the said [month]
 And also appeared Margueritte Lapierre, wife of Joseph Timermagne
 known as Delorie, to whom we have made swear an oath to tell us
 the truth. Has been interrogated by us as follows:
 Interrogated as to her name, age, status, and residence?
 Said she was named Margueritte Lapierre, spouse of S. Joseph Timermagne
 known as Delorier, cobbler in this town, there residing, aged thirty-three years.
 Interrogated if she knows the negresse Babet here present?
 Said yes, that she knows her as belonging to M. Fleuriaux.
 Interrogated if the said negritte had been to buy anything from her?
 Said that these days past, she sold to the said negritte four
 escalins3 worth of dragées4, that the S. Bernard, to whom the shop belongs,
 was being shaved and told her to give her some from a jar that was
 started, and that ten days earlier she had sold her two hundredweight
 of pecans.
 DeLaunay

[page 3]
 Third
 DeLaunay

Interrogated in what money the said negritte paid her for
 the dragées?
 Said she had given an écu5 of six livres on which she
 had given change of seven écalins platille6.
 The negritte Babet said that no, that she only gave her change of ten
 livres in paper money.
 Dame Delorier insisted to her no and said she had given her
 seven escalins platille in coins.
 Interrogated in what money she had paid for the pecans?
 Said she had paid her with a double escalin coin.
 Interrogated if she does not know that it is prohibited to sell
 to negres without a note from their master?
 Said no, since she does not sell anything and does not have
 a shop, she has not been in a position to know the
 rules on this subject.
 Interrogated if she has any knowledge that the said negritte had
 other money?
 Said that no, that she had only seen the écu of
 six livres that she had changed for her, and that she had even asked
 her where she had taken it, that the said negritte had told her that she had been given it.
 The present interrogatory was read back to her, said her response
 contained the truth, persisted in this, and signed.
 Delaurié
 DeLaunay

Also appeared Michel Gerôme Creté, known as La Rochelle, to whom
 we made swear an oath to tell us the truth. Has been
 interrogated by us as follows.
 Interrogated as to his name, age, status and residence?
 Said he was named Michel Gerome Cretel, known as La Rochelle, aged
 DeLaunay

[page 4]
 fourth
 DeLaunay

thirty-one, drummer in the company of Mr. Devogne
 garrisoned in this town.
 Interrogated if he knows the negritte named Babet?
 Said yes, that he knows her for having belonged to M. Huchon
 and currently to M. Fleuriau.
 Interrogated if he has sold anything to the said negresse?
 Said that he offered to sell her a gold jou7 and
 sold it to her.
 Interrogated in what money she had paid for it?
 Said that she paid with a piaster coin and two platilles
 
and that having given her back seven livres ten sols in change8, she still owed
 him ten sols.
 Interrogated if he does not know that it is prohibited to sell to
 negres without a note from their master?
 Said that no he knew nothing of that. That however
 he believes that although the code noir prohibits selling [the said]
 to negres, that the price was so modest that he did not
 think that this little negritte had stolen the money
 with which she had paid him. On the contrary, he believed she
 had earned it.
 The present interrogatory was read back to him, said his response
 contained truth, persisted in this, and signed.
 Crettel dit Larochel
 DeLaunay

Also appeared [before us] the S. Jean Baptiste Nicolet, merchant, to
 whom we have made swear an oath to tell us the truth, and has been
 interrogated by us.
 Interrogated as to his name, age, status, and residence?
 DeLaunay

[page 5]
 Fifth
 DeLaunay

Said he was named Jean Baptiste Nicolet, merchant of
 this town, aged twenty years old.
 Interrogated if he knows the negritte named Babet?
 Said he knows her for having come Sunday last [to his residence]
 at four in the evening, that he asked her her name and
 that she answered him that she belonged to Mr. Fleuriau.
 Interrogated if he sold anything to the said negresse?
 Said had sold her two ells of cotton that were
 at this instant presented to him and that he recognized, at the rate of eleven
 livres five sols the ell.
 Interrogated in what money the said negritte had paid him for
 the two ells of cotton?
 Said that she had given him five piaster coins for which
 he gave her for change ten livres in paper money.
 Interrogated if he knows if she had other money?
 Said yes, that her pocket made a noise. He
 noticed she had other money.
 Interrogated if he did not sell her anything else?
 Said no, that she asked him for some red toile9with which
 to make herself a skirt but that he did not sell her any because
 that he did not have it.
 Interrogated if he had asked her where she had taken this money?
 Replied yes and that he said to her, “Have you earned this
 with the Spaniard?” and that she replied with nothing.
 Interrogated if he does not know that it is prohibited to sell to
 negres without a note from their master?
 Said that no, he does not know that it is forbidden, that
 besides, he follows the other merchants who do it
 as much as him.
 Interrogated if the little negritte was alone?
 DeLaunay

[page 6]
 sixth
 DeLaunay

Said that she was with a child that she held by the collar.
 Interrogated if he sold her anything else?
 Said no.
 The present interrogatory was read back to him, said
 his response contained truth, persisted in this, and signed.
 J. Nicollet
 DeLaunay

11 October 1765
 Appeared before us the said Louis Cassal, to whom we have made swear
 an oath to tell us the truth, and has been interrogated by usas follows.
 Interrogated as to his name, age, status, and residence? Said
 said [sic] he was named Louis Cassal aged thirty years old soldier of the
 company of M. Duplessy garrisoned in this town.
 Interrogated if he knows the negritt Babet?
 Said yes as belonging to Sieur Fleuriau and leased to
 Pivoteau the jailer.
 Interrogated if he has sold any things to the said negritte?
 Said he had not sold her anything but instead to another negrite
 
that he does not know, whom Babet said belonged to S.
 Olivier, named Francoise. That she had sent for a
 silk handkerchief, that he recognized, for the price and sum of
 five livres that the said Francoise had paid in piaster coins.
 Interrogated if he did not sell other things to the said negritte?
 Said no that he did not sell them anything [else].
 Interrogated if he does not know that it is prohibited to sell
 to negres without a note from their master?
 DeLaunay

[page 7]
 seventh and last
 DeLaunay

Said no, that he knows nothing about this and that he thought
 she was sent on behalf of her mistress, being six
 o’clock at night.
 The present interrogatory was read back to him, said his
 response contained truth, persisted in this and declared not knowing
 how to sign, this inquired in accordance to the ordinance.
 DeLaunay

Whereupon we, the above councilor commissoners, have
 ordered and so order that the present interrogatory
 be communicated to the attorney general
 of the king for him to give orders and require
 that which appertains.
 Given in the criminal justice chamber the eleventh
 October seventeen sixty-five.
 DeLaunay

Source: Records of the Superior Council of Louisiana (1717–1769), Louisiana History Center, Louisiana State Museum, New Orleans 1765/10/11/02 (day/month/sequence).

Sentencing in the case against Babette, St. Martin, Nicolet, La Rochelle, Cassale, Deslorier (Jugement contre Babette, St. Martin, Nicolet, La Rochelle, Cassale, Deslorier)

Transcription

Sentencing in the case against Babette, St. Martin, Nicolet, La Rochelle, Cassale, Deslorier[page 1]

Vu Par nous Procureur general du Roy au conseil
 Superieur de cette colonie Le Proces Criminel
 extraordinaire [en]suite a la Requette du ne Pivotot
 avec notre [dam.]:
 Contre La negresse impubere appartenant au Sr
 fleuriau née Babet accusée et Enfermere [sic] es Prisons
 Civilles de cette ville
 et Les S. St. martin nicolet et Les ne La Rochelle et Cassal
 et La ne. desLauriers deffendeurs et deffenderesses
 ma Requette [ill.] que Lade. negritte fut decrette
 et conduit Es Prisons civilles du 9 8bre courant
 Lordonnance du Premier juge du 10 8bre courant
 L’interrogatoire Subi par La de negritte pardevant M.
 delaunay consr. comre. ne. du 10 8bre
 Le Soit communiqué du meme jour
 nos conclusions Preparatoires du meme jour
 Lordonnance du Premier juge qui ordonne que Les S. nicolet
 martin Les nes. La Rochelle cassalle et La nee. Deslauriers
 furent assignés pour Etre ouis et interoges du 11 8bre
 Lexploit dassignation du meme jour
 Les interrogatoires faits auxdt. denommes du meme
 jour
 Le tout murement examiné
 Je Requiere Pour le Roy que Les nes. nicolet et St. martin
 La Rochelle, [et] La nee. Deslauriers soient declarés

[page 2]

convaincu davoir vendu Differentes marchandises
 a La de. Babet negritte impubere accuse de [vol]
 et [Conv]aincue de vol, sans [avoir] demandé
 Le billet du maitre ou du Loue[ur] de Lade. negritte
 et davoir Recu en Payement des Piastres gourdes
 qui ne Peuvent jamais Legitimem[ent] etre [ill.]
 appartenir aux negresses.
 que Lesdt. S. nicolet et St. martin seront condamnes
 a trois cent Livres damandes en lettre de Change
 applicables a La maison de Charité a Reprendre
 Leurs marchandises vendus et a Rendre Les Piastres
 Receus quil Leur Soit defendu de jamais avoir
 magasin ou Boutique dans cette ville, sous Les Peines
 Les plus graves. que [rature] La nee.
 deslauriers soit Banni de La ville, qu[elle] soit condamne
 a Remettre Les Piastres quelle [avait] Recu[s] et [les]
 marchandises deposés au greffe Remis a la maison de
 charité que Les S. nicolet et S. martin soient condamnés
 aux depens du [ill.]
 Je consens Vu Limpuberté de la negritte Babet

[page 3]

accusé et convaincu davoir volé des Piastres
 gourdes que Le chatiment soit adouci; et quelle ne soit
 condamné qua cinquante quarente coups de fouet sur la
 Place1; et que Ladte negritte Restera Es Prisons jusqua
 ce que [ill.] maitre ait opté a abandonner
 Ladt.e negritte ou a Payer Le vol de Piastres [ill.]
 fait au ne. Pivotot.
 Je Requiere Pour le Roy que L’arrest [ill.]
 soit Lue Publie affiche et Registré es Lieux ordinaires
 de cette Ville que copies collationnées en soient
 envoyées dans Les Postes [ill.] Ressort du conseil
 Superieur a la nlle orleans Le 12 8bre. 1765
 Lafreniere

[page 4, blanche]

Source: Records of the Superior Council of Louisiana (1717–1769), Louisiana History Center, Louisiana State Museum, New Orleans 1765/10/12/07 (day/month/sequence).

Ce document souffre de marques d’encre sur le verso de la page.

Translation

[page 1]

Seen by us the attorney general of the king of the Superior
 Council of this colony, the extraordinary criminal procedure
 initiated at the request of the named Pivotot
 with our [dam.]:
 against the prepubescent negritte belonging to Sr.
 Fleuriau, named Babet, accused and locked up in the civil prisons
 of this town,
 and [against] the S. St. Martin, Nicolet, and the named La Rochelle and Cassal,
 and the named DesLauriers, defendants.
 My request [ill.] that the said negritte be summoned
 and taken to the civil prisons, of the 9 October.
 The ordinance of the first judge of the 10 October.
 The interrogatory undergone by the said negritte before M.
 Delaunay, councilor commissioner named, of the 10 October,
 it being communicated the same day.
 My preparatory conclusions of the same day.
 The order of the first judge who orders that S. Nicolet,
 Martin, the named La Rochelle, Cassalle, and the named Deslauriers
 be assigned to be heard and interrogated, of the 11 October.
 The summons in writ of the same day.
 The interrogatories made of the aforementioned of the same
 day.
 The whole duly examined,
 I require for the king that the named Nicolet and St. Martin,
 La Rochelle, and the so-called DesLauriers be declared

[page 2]

convicted of having sold sundry goods
 to the said Babet, prepubescent negritte accused of theft
 and convicted of theft, without having asked for
 the pass from the master or the leaser of the said negritte,
 and of having received in payment piaster coins
 that can never legitimately [ill.]
 to belong to negresses.
 That the said S. Nicolet and St. Martin be condemned
 to a fine of three hundred livres in bills of exchange
 payable to the alms house, to take back
 their merchandise sold [to Babette], and to return the piasters
 received. That they be forbidden from ever having their
 warehouse or shop in this town under the gravest
 penalties. That [strikeout] the named
 Deslauriers be banished from town, that she be condemned
 to give the piasters she received and the
 merchandise that was deposited with the court registry to the alms house,
 that S. Nicolet and St. Martin be condemned
 to pay expenses.
 I consent, given the impuberty of the negritte Babet,

[page 3]

accused and convicted of having stolen piaster
 coins, that the punishment be softened and that she be
 condemned to only fifty forty lashes of the whip in the
 Place1 and that the said negritte remain in prison until
 [ill.] her master has opted to abandon
 the said negritte or to pay back the piasters stolen
 from the named Pivotot.
 I require for the king that the judgment [ill.]
 be read, published, posted, and registered in the usual places
 of this town, that collated copies be
 sent to the outposts [ill.] in the jurisdiction of the Superior
 Council. At New Orleans the 12th October 1765.
 Lafreniere

[page 4, blank]

Source: Records of the Superior Council of Louisiana (1717–1769), Louisiana History Center, Louisiana State Museum, New Orleans 1765/10/12/07 (day/month/sequence).

There is some bleeding in this document from the ink on the reverse side of the page.

Extract from the Registers of the Superior Council of Louisiana concerning the case and judgement against Babette, Nicolet, and St. Martin (Extrait des Registres du Conseil Superieur concernant le procès et le jugement contre Babette, Sr. Nicolet, et St. Martin)

Transcription

Extract from the Registers of the Superior Council of Louisiana concerning the case and judgement against Babette, Nicolet, and St. MartinExtrait des Registres des
 audiances Du Conseil Superieur
 de La province de La Louizianne
 Du 12 8bre 1765

Entre Le nommé charles pivoteau Ge[oli]er des prizons
 Roÿalles de Cette Ville Demandeur et accusateur
 Le procureur General du Roÿ Join[t]
 Vü par Le Conseil Superieur La Requette du
 Demmandeur Le procureur General du Roÿ Joint
 La [dt] Requette expositive qu’une Negritte apartenante
 au Sr. fleuriau quil avoit a Loÿer Luÿ auroit priz
 Dans un Coffre ou La Clef avoit été Laissée seize[s]
 piastres Gourdes. quelle auroit emploÿé au[x] achat
 de Diverses Marchandises chez d[i]fferons Marchands
 a Lexception de trois piastres quelle auroit Remiz
 Comme Ce Vol et particulierement Les desordres qui
 Resultent des ventes que font plusieurs Marchands
 aux Negres de Cette Colonie sans Billet de Leur Maitre
 Le procureur General Requiere que La Negritte
 nommée Babet soit decretée de prize de Corps,
 Conduite és prizons Civiles de Cette ville pour ÿ estre ouie
 et Interrogée Sur Les faits Resultants de charges, sur
 Les noms des vendeurs, et La qualité des Marchandises
 achetéez et en quelle monoÿe elles ont été paÿées
 L’ordonnance Rendue sur icelle Requette par Mr.
 foucault premier Juge, portant et Decernant decret
 de prize de Corps Contre La negritte Babet pour estre
 Conduite és prizons de Cette ville pour ÿ estre oüie et
 Interrogée sur Les faits ÿ Contenir Circonstances et
 Dependances, et autres sur Les quels Le procureur General

[page 2]

Voudra La faire oüir Le tout par devant Mr. delaunaÿ
 Conseiller Commissaire en Cette partie pour Ensuite Le Dit
 Interrogatoire Communiqué et raporté estre ordonné
 Ce quil appartiendra de Droit, [Ladte.] ordonnance en datte
 du dix octobre dernier: L’ecroue1 de [Ladte] Babet et son
 emprisonnement du mème Jour. L’interrogatoire a elle
 fait a La Requette du procureur General Du Roÿ par
 Mr. Mr. [sic] Delaunaÿ Conseiller Le Dit Jour. Les Concluzions
 preparatoires du procureur General du Roÿ. [rature]
 meme Jour, autre sentance Rendüe Le onze suivant
 par Mr. foucault premier Juge portant et ordonnant
 que Les nommés Nicolet, Cassalle, La Rochelle, Le Sr. St. Martin
 Les dames seignet et delaurier seront assignés pour estre oüis
 sur Les faits Resultants du dit Interrogatoire, et repondre
 aux Concluzions que Le procureur general du Roÿ voudra
 prendre Contreux. Lexploit Dassignations Donnés
 aux denommés Cÿ Dessus par Maizon huissier en datte
 du onze present mois, Linterrogatoire fait a La
 [R]equette du dt. procureur General du Roÿ par Mr.
 Delaunay Commissaire, et separeme[nt] au Sr St. Martin
 a Margueri[t]te Lapierre epouze du dit delaurier
 a michel Jerome Cretel dit La Rochelle au Sr. Jean
 Baptiste Nicolet et a Louis Cassal en datte du
 dit onzieme du prezent Mois. Les Concluzions
 Definitives du procureur General Du Roÿ, Le
 Raport du dit Sr Delaunaÿ, Le tout Vü et
 Murement Examiné. Le Conseil a mis ors de
 Cour La[dt.] Negritte Babet comme Etant impubere
 ordonne Cependant quelle sera fouétée Sur La place
 et quil Luÿ sera d[o]nné vingt Coups de foüet: a Condamné
 et Condamne Les sieurs nicolet et St. Martin, pour avoir
 vendu a Ladte Negritte des Marchandizes Sans billet de
 Son Maitre, a trois Cens Livres Damende par chacun

[page 3]

applicable au profit de La maizon de charité de Cette ville
 et a Rembourcer Le priz qu’ils ont Recu pour Les dtes
 Marchandizes par eux Vendüe, Lesquelles Demeure[ment]
 Confisquéez au profit de Ladte. Maizon de charité
 Les Condamne en outre [solidairement] aux frais et depens du procés
 et Leur fait inhibitions et Deffenses de Recidiver
 sous plus grande peine.
 Mandons a Notre premier huissier ou sergent sur Ce
 Requiz faire pour Lexecution du prezent tous actes
 et exploits Requis et Necessaires de le faire Donnant pouvoir.
 Donné en La chambrë de Conseil Le Douze
 octobre mil sept Cens soixante et Cinq
 Par Le Conseil
 Garic Greffier

Lan Mil Sept cents soixante cinq Et Le quinze octobre apres2
 midy En Vertu de Larr[e]t de nos seign[eur]s du Conseil Superieur
 de la province de La Louizianne En datte du douze de c[e]
 mois signé garic greffier Es a la requeste du nomé
 pivoteau geolier des prisons civilles de La nelle. orleans
 monsieur Le procureur general Jean Joseph maison
 huissier audt audt. [sic] Conseil residant a La Nlle. orleans soussigne
 ay Dument signifié nottifié Et Baillé Copie dudt arrest
 que Dessus y autres parts au Sr. Nicolet md a La nlle.
 orleans y Demeurant En Sa maison de rezidenc[e] Ru[e]
 Bourbon ou yl fait Election de domicil[e] parlant a Sa
 personne ce que Du Contenu Il nen pretende Cause
 Dygnorranc[e], Luy faisant par Vertu Dy celuy commandem[ent]
 de par Le Roy sire Et Justice de Bailler Et payer depresente[ment]
 Et Sans delay Entre Les mains du greffier du Conseil où

[page 4]

a moy dt. huissier porteur de priser La somme de trois cent
 Livres argent réel pour amand[e] quil a Esté condamné
 par Ledt. arrest Sans prejudice de cell[e] de soixante Sept
 Livres dix sols sols [sic] de frais comme appar[t] par Larresté
 d[e] Compte de monsieur Le Conseiller Commissaire criminel En cette
 partie que nous Luy avons Exibé En original, aussy
 quatre piastre gourde Et demie qu’il a reçeu d[e] La nomé Babet
 Negritte Impuber Pour Les marchandises quil Luy a vendu Les
 quels ont resté au profit des peauvres, ainsy qu’il En a
 plû au Conseil En ordonner. Luy declarant que faute
 par Luy de ce faire yl Sera poursuit par toutes Les voÿe
 Et Requiere de Justice, fais Et delaissé copie des presentes
 au domicill[e] dudt. sieur nicolet parlant Comme dt. Es a
 Sa personne dont acte
 J. Maison

Source: Records of the Superior Council of Louisiana (1717–1769), Louisiana History Center, Louisiana State Museum, New Orleans 1765/10/12/10 (day/month/sequence).

Il y a des déchirures causées par les marques de plumes recto et verso. De plus, la version numérisée par la Louisiana State Museum de ce document a par erreur placé la page une à la fin. J’ai réarrangé les pages afin qu’elles soit en ordre dans les images du manuscrit, de cette transcription, et de la traduction.

Translation

Extract of Registers of
 Audiences of the Superior
 Council of the Province of Louisiana
 the 12th October 1765

Between the named Charles Pivoteau, jailer of the royal
 prisons of this town, petitioner and accuser,
 joined by the attorney general of the king.
 Seen by the Superior Council the joint request
 of the petitioner and the attorney general.
 The said request lays out that a negritte belonging
 to Sr. Fleuriau, that he [Pivoteau] had leased [from Fleuriau], had taken from him,
 from a chest where the key had been left, sixteen
 piaster coins that she had used for purchases
 of various goods from different merchants,
 with the exception of three piasters that she had returned.
 Given this theft, and particularly the disorder that
 results from the sales that several merchants make
 to the negres of this colony without a pass from their master,
 the attorney general requires that the negritte
 named Babet be bodily seized,
 conducted to the civil prisons of this city to be there heard
 and interrogated on the facts resulting from the charges, on
 the names of the sellers, and the kinds of merchandise
 purchased, and in what money they were paid.
 The decree rendered on this request by Mr.
 Foucault, first judge, holding and issuing a decree
 of bodily seizure against the negritte Babet, to be
 led to the prisons of this city to be heard and
 interrogated on the facts contained therein, the circumstances, and
 related matters, and any others on which the attorney general

[page 2]

wishes to hear from her, the whole before Mr. Delaunaÿ,
 councilor commissioner in this part, in order to then
 communicate and report the said interrogatory, to be ordered
 that which appertains by right. The said ordinance dated
 ten October last, The registration of the said Babete and her
 imprisonment of the same day. The interrogatory given to her
 at the request of the attorney general of the king by
 Mr. Mr. [sic] Delaunaÿ, councilor, on the same day. The preparatory
 conclusions of the attorney general of the king [strikeout]
 [of the] same day. The other sentence rendered on the 11th following
 by Mr. Foucault, first judge, conveying and ordering
 that the named Nicolet, Cassalle, La Rochelle, the Sr. St. Martin,
 the Dames Seignet and Delaurier be assigned to be heard
 on the facts resulting from the said interrogatory, and respond
 to the conclusions that the attorney general of the king wants
 to find against them. The writ of summons given
 to the abovenamed by Maison, bailiff, dated
 11th of the present month. The interrogatory made at the
 request of the said attorney general of the king by Mr.
 Delaunay, commissioner, and separately to Sr. St. Martin,
 to Margueri[t]te Lapierre, spouse of the said Delaurier,
 to Michel Jerome Cretel, called La Rochelle, to Sr. Jean
 Baptiste Nicolet, and to Louis Cassal, dated
 The said 11th of the present month. The definitive
 conclusions of the attorney general of the king, the
 report of the said Sr. Delaunaÿ, the whole seen and
 duly examined. . The council has released
 the said negritte Babet from court as being prepubescent,
 orders however that she be whipped on the square
 and that she be given twenty lashes of the whip. Has condemned
 and condemns the Sieurs Nicolet and St. Martin, for having
 sold goods to the said negritte without a pass from
 her master, to a fine of three hundred livres each

[page 3]

for the benefit of the alms house of this city,
 and to reimburse the price that they have received for the said
 goods sold by them, which remain
 confiscated for the benefit of the said alms house.
 Condemns them furthermore, jointly, to [pay] the costs and expenses of the trial,
 and forbids them from recidivism
 under penalty of even greater sentence.
 We summon our first bailiff or sergeant so
 requisitioned for this purpose to do all that is required and necessary for the execution of the present act and give him authority to do this.
 Given in the council chamber the twelfth
 October seventeen hundred and sixty-five
 By the council
 Garic clerk

The year seventeen hundred and sixty-five and the fifteenth October after1
 noon, in accordance with the judgement of our lords of the Superior Council
 of the province of Louisiana dated the 12th of this
 month signed Garic, clerk, and at the request of the named
 Pivoteau, jailer of the civil prisons of New Orleans,
 the attorney general, Jean Joseph Maison,
 bailiff for the said the said [sic] council, residing in New Orleans, undersigned,
 has duly given notice and served copy of the said judgment
 as above and other parts to Sr. Nicolet m[erchan]t at New
 Orleans, there residing in his house of residence on Bourbon
 Street where he elects domicile, speaking to his
 person of the contents so that he cannot pretend ignorance.
 Giving him by virtue of this order
 of the king, sire and just, to give bail and pay immediately
 and without delay into the hands of the clerk of the council or

[page 4]

to me the said bailiff, bearer [of the judgment], to seize the sum of three hundred
 livres in real money for the fine that he has been condemned [to pay]
 by the said judgment without prejudice, that of sixty-seven
 livres ten sols sols [sic] of costs, as appears on the judgement
 of account of the councilor commissioner for criminal justice in this
 part, that we have shown him in the original, as well as
 four and a half piaster coins that he has received from the named Babet,
 prepubescent negritte, for the goods that he had sold her,
 which have remained [ill.] of the poor as has
 pleased the council to order. Declaring [to Nicolet] that if he fails
 to do so he will be pursued by all means
 and recourses of the law. Done and [left?] a copy
 at the domicille of the said Sieur Nicolet, speaking as said
 to his person per the act.
 J. Maison

Source: Records of the Superior Council of Louisiana (1717–1769), Louisiana History Center, Louisiana State Museum, New Orleans 1765/10/12/10 (day/month/sequence).

There are tears in the document from the mark of the pen on front and back. In addition, the document scanned and digitized by Louisiana State Museum has erroneously placed page 1 at the end as page 4. I have reorganized correctly in the manuscript images, transcription, and translation.

Court costs for Babette (Frais pour le procès de Babette)

Transcription

Court Costs for Babettefrais pr. Babet a tenir Compte par moÿ aux
 Denommés

a Mr. Delaunaÿ 35 [livres]
 a Mr. Le procureur General 20 [livres] 20# [livres]

[page 2, brouillon]

[ill.] Bien avec Les

Source: Records of the Superior Council of Louisiana (1717–1769), Louisiana History Center, Louisiana State Museum, New Orleans 1765/10/12/11 (day/month/sequence).

Translation

Costs for Babet, to be accounted for by me to the
 following:

To Mr. Delaunaÿ 35 [livres]
 To the Mr. the attorney general 20 [livres] 20# [livres]

[page 2, scrap paper]

[ill.] good with the

Source: Records of the Superior Council of Louisiana (1717–1769), Louisiana History Center, Louisiana State Museum, New Orleans 1765/10/12/11 (day/month/sequence).

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