 Abt 1720 - 1767 (47 years)
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| Name |
Klaes (Nicholas) Thomasen TOERS [1] |
| Born |
Abt 1720 |
at Akkwegnonk IAW marriage record  |
| Gender |
Male |
| Died |
1767 |
| Person ID |
I406 |
The Turses |
| Last Modified |
6 Nov 2015 |
| Family |
Margrietie BANTA, b. 21 Oct 1722, Hackensack, Bergen, NJ |
| Married |
24 Jul 1748 |
Schraalenburgh, Bergen, NJ [3, 4] |
| Children |
| | 1. Cornelis TOERS, b. 23 Jul 1749 |
| | 2. Lena TOERS, b. 12 Jul 1752, Bergen County, NJ |
| | 3. Thomas TOERS, b. 26 Jan 1755 |
| | 4. Lena TOERS, b. 13 Mar 1757, Bergen County, NJ |
| | 5. Thomas TOERS, b. 13 May 1760 |
| | 6. Margaret TOERS, b. 21 Nov 1762 |
|
| Last Modified |
8 Mar 2012 |
| Family ID |
F283 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
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| Notes |
- Murdered in 1767 The following is the newspaper account at the time:
Nicholas Tuers 1767 Murder
On the occasion of the 300th anniversary of Bergen County the following report of the murder of Nicholas Tuers was published in the March 8th 1983 Sunday Record, Hackensack, NJ.
Submitted by Walter A. Tuers-
Undoubtedly one of the most bizarre murder cases in Bergen County history occurred September 11, 1767, in a Hackensack rooming house. Accounts of the story made the London Times.
A reward of 10 pounds was offered for Harry, a 40-year -old former mulatto slave, who is suspected of murdering Nicholas Tuers, a laborer. The reward appears in the Sept.28, 1767, edition of the Pennsylvania Chronicle, according to material found in the NJ Archives, First Series, Volume XXV.
The five-foot six inch, well set Harry, a miller and carpenter, had a wife named Peg and two children. Peg skipped bail in Sussex County, and authorities felt that they would be able to capture Harry when the couple tried to get together. Harry was later apprehended and stood trial for the murder.
Johannes Demarest, Bergen County coroner, said he was summoned to inspect Tuers's body. The coroner explains that Harry was suspected of having murdered Tuers, but authorities didn't have any proof.
Harry vehemently denied his guilt. Demarest then asked Harry if he was afraid to touch Tuers'' body. He said he wasn't and immediately approached the dead corpse then lying in a coffin.
One of the jurors at the inquest, Staats Storm, said, "I am not afraid of him ."
Storm then stroked the dead man's face with his hand. Nothing happened.
The jury then ordered Harry to touch Tuers' face with his hand. When he complied, blood immediately ran out of both nostrils of the dead man and there were cries in the room, "He is the man."
Demarest said he then ordered Harry to rub his hand again on Tuers"s face and he did so. Quickly the blood again gushed out of both nostrils.
When they saw this, the jurors felt it was better than eyewitness testimony. The people in the room all charged Harry with being the murderer. He denied it for a few minutes but then confessed to the crime.
Later, he admitted that he murdered Tuers, first striking him with an axe and then, for good measure, driving a wooden peg in the dead man's ear. Afterward, he said he struck Tuers a second time with his axe, and then held him fast until he was done struggling.
Harry who lived in the same rooming house, said the reason he killed Tuers was that if he was out of the way, he would get his berth .
..... and this account from another earlier newspaper of the time
Harry, a slave accused of murder.
From "The Virginia Gazette"; Oct. 29, 1797, number 858.
"New York, October 1.
The following extraordinary attestation of the Coroner of Bergen county was communicated by a Gentleman of such credit as leaves not the least doubt of its being genuine.
On the 22nd day of September, in the year of our Lord 1767, I Johannes Demarest, Coroner of the county of Bergen, and province of NJ, was present at a view of the body of one Nicholas Tuers, then lying dead, together with the jury, which I summoned to inquire of the death of the said Nicholas Teurs. At that time a Negro named Harry, belonging to Hendrick Christians Zabriskie, was suspected of having murdered the said Tuers; but there was no proof of it, and the Negro denied it. I asked him if he was not afraid to touch Tuers: He said no, he had not hurt him, and immediately came up to the corpse then lying in the coffin; and then Staats Storm, one of the jurors, said I am not afraid of him, and stroked the dead man's face with his hand, and then I heard a cry in the room of the people saying, He is the man, and was desired to come to the dead body, and was told that the said Negro Harry had put his hand on Tuer's face, and that the blood immediately ran out at the nose of the dead man Tuers, I saw the blood on his face, and ordered the Negro to rub his hand again on Tuers's face. He did so, and immediately the blood again ran out of the said Tuers's nose at both nostrils, near a common table spoonful at each nostril, as well as I could judge. Whereupon the people all charged him with being the murderer, but he denied it for a few minutes, and then confessed that he had murdered the said Nicholas Tuers, by first striking him on the head with an axe, and then driving a wooden peg in his hear, though afterwards he said he struck a second time with his axe, and then held him fast until he had done struggling; when that was done he awaked some of the family, and said Tuers was dying he believed.
JOHANNES DEMAREST, Coroner."
Source: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~reinaruss/mysteries.html#2
Footnote: According to Howard Randolph's history of the Toers/Tuers/Turse family, Harry was sentenced to be burned at the stake.
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| Sources |
- [S16] The Toers - Tuers Family, Howard S. F. Randolph.
- [S48] RDC Hackensack, Marriage Record.
- [S76] RDC Schraalburg.
- [S664] New Jersey Marriage Records, New Jersey Colonial Documents.
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