I have said that this is the only case of petit treason to be found in our records. There was, indeed, an earlier case in which the penalty of death by burning was inflicted; but in regard to that case there is no suggestion anywhere to my knowledge that the crime of petit treason had been committed, nor any allegation to that effect in the charge or indictment, nor even a hint that any life was lost by the misconduct of the condemned.[15] This was the case of Maria, a negress, who was executed at Roxbury in 1681. Perhaps it will be well to give the story of this case as it appears on the records of the Court of Assistants.[16] [Footnote 15: Although the record contains no allegation of loss of life, Increase Mather states in his diary, under date of Sept. 22, 1681, that a child was burnt to death in one of the houses set on fire by this negress. Even if this were true, it is not probable that the relation of master and servant subsisted between the deceased and Maria, and neither this relation, nor the fact of treason, is averred in the indictment. See Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc., vol. iii. p. 320.] [Footnote 16: Boston, Sept. 6, 1681.] "Marja[17] Negro Servant to Joshua Lambe of Roxbury in the County of Suffolk in New England being presented by the Grand Jury was Indicted by the name of Marja Negro for not hauing the feare of God before hir eyes & being Instigated by the divil at or upon the eleventh Day of July last in the night did wittingly willingly & felloniously set on fier the dwelling house of Thomas Swann of sd Roxbury by taking a coale from vnder a still & carrjed it into another Roome and layd it on floore neere the doore & presently went & crept into a hole at a back doore of thy master Lambs house & set it on fier also taking a liue coale betweene two chips & carried it into the chimber by which also it was Consumed as by yr Confession will appeare Contrary to the peace of our Soueraigne Lord the king his croune & dignity the lawes of this Jurisdiction in that Case made & prouided title firing of houses--The prisoner at the barr pleaded & acknowledged hirselfe to be Guilty of ye fact. And accordingly the next day being Again brought to the Barr had sentenc of death pronnonc't agt hir by the Honnoble Gounor. that she should Goe from the barr to the prison whenc she came & thence to the place of execution & there be burnt.--Ye lord be mercifull to thy Soule sd ye Gov." [Footnote 17: I have followed Secretary Rawson in his peculiar use of the letter j. See many similar instances in the Mass. Colony Records.] The case was capital under the act referred to in the record. The act reads as follows:-- [Sidenote: Burning Houses.] [Sidenote: Capital.]