Date:    15191.  Santo Domingo, La Española. 

Theme:  According to a settler called to testify, some enslaved blacks owned by a politically 

              powerful master were able to literally get away with murder 

Source:  Archivo General de Indias, Justicia 43, Ramo 4, fos. 42v. (xlii)—44r. (xliiii), CUNY  

              Dominican Studies Institute Dominican Colonial Documents Collection 

In late 1519, during a residencia against some of the government officials, a resident named Francisco de San Miguel reported that, about a year before, a black slave owned by Audiencia judge Lucas Vázquez de Ayllón, had been convicted of killing a man by stabbing him in the stomach with a knife and the slave had not been adequately punished. Francisco explained that the slave had not received further punishment beyond having one of his hands nailed publicly to the pillory. 

According to San Miguel’s testimony, the accused slave had also benefited from having his nailed hand removed from the pillory before the time established by the sentence had elapsed. Francisco explains that some enslaved blacks in early colonial La Española managed to enjoy certain rare privileges as a result of being the slaves of powerful members of the social elite whose clout arguably extended to their associates and their property. In other words, slaves benefited according to which owner they belonged to.