16. The Commissioners of the Almshouse v. Alexander Whistelo, (A Black Man) (Burlington, VT: Burlington Book Co., 1897). (42 p.)


Transcript of a trial in which an African American is charged with fathering a bastard child (female) by a mulatto woman. The state laws make it mandatory for the father to support his children, and he is arrested if he fails to do so. The child’s light complexion in this case, however, made it uncertain whether Whistelo was the father. Furthermore, the mother claimed that she also “had connection with a white man.” With the parentage of the child in question, the defendant was released.