Shrouding his evil purpose under the cloak of a friendly or business visit, he called at the house of one Claes Cornelisz Smits, the 'raad-maker,' an aged settler resident on the west side of the river, under pretence of making some purchases. The old man suspecting no harm, (for the Indian had been in the habit of working for his son,) set some food before him, and proceeded to get from a chest, in which it lay, the cloth which the other wished to purchase. The moment he stooped, the savage seized an axe, struck him dead, and then withdrew, having rifled the house of all its contents.
" This aggression on an old and helpless man excited, when it became known, considerable feeling at Fort Amsterdam."6 " Director Kieft promptly demanded satisfaction from the chief"" of the Weckquaskecks. " But the sachem," who was doubtless Mongockonone, " refused to make any atonement. He was sorry that twenty Christians had not been immolated; the Indian had but avenged, after the manner of his race, the murder of a relative whom the Dutch had slain nearly twenty years before. On the receipt of this answer, armed parties were sent out to retaliate ; but they returned, having effected nothing."**
Aug. 29, 1641, it was proposed to wait " until the hunting season( when it was suggested that two expeditions should be got up; one to land in the neighborhood of the ' Archipelago,' or Norwalk Island -- the other, at Weckquaskeck."