Taylor knew how a woman who had been raped should act, and she comported herself accordingly: she screamed for help in order to demonstrate that she had resisted her attacker; she quickly reported the attack; and she had bruises to show from her ordeal.
In Rhode Island (but not elsewhere in New England) courts could rely on circumstantial evidence if there were no eyewitnesses. A second example concerns Rhode Island's laws about rape. Colonies did not have laws about attempted rape, so Taylor's accusation of Cuff fell into a grey area. But in the midst of her legal struggles to get redress in any forum, the Rhode Island General Assembly passed a law in August 1743 that pertained to attempted rape by a black man. The law made attempted rape by a black man punishable by branding, whipping, and transportation. This law, and others like it in colonial America, racialized laws about attempted rape by assuming that any advance by a black man toward a white woman would be unwanted, and thus the man was automatically guilty of rape
December 22, 1742- A son, Barthrum, is born to James Round & Susannah Seamans in Scituate, Providence, Rhode Island.
Joseph Brownell marries Rebecca Tripp, daughter of Abiel Tripp & Elinor Waite, and George Sisson, son of James Sisson & Deborah Cook, marries Abigail Cook in Portsmouth, Newport County, Rhode Island.
(George Sisson is my first cousin 9 times removed. Our common ancestors are George Sisson & Sarah F. Lawton.
Barthrum Round is my second cousin 7 times removed. Our common ancestors are Thomas Seamans & Susannah Salisbury and William Wood & Susannah Beckwith.
Rebecca Tripp is my second cousin 9 times removed. Our common ancestors are William Hall & Mary Thomas.)
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