John Ury (died 29 August 1741) was a Non-juring Anglican priest who was falsely accused of being a Catholic priest, a Spanish spy, and the mastermind of the New York Slave Insurrection of 1741. His ability to read Latin was cited as proof of this. Under legislation passed in 1700, merely being a Catholic priest was, in the Colony of New York, a crime punishable by death. Background and career He was the son of a former secretary of the South Sea Company. William Kearns, quoting Flynn's The Catholic Church in N.J. (1904), mentions him as "a Catholic priest, who had exercised unostentatiously his sacred ministry in New Jersey, and had been engaged for about twelve months in teaching at Burlington, New Jersey." Albert J. Menendez identifies Ury as a Non-juring High Church Anglican Vicar who supported the House of Stuart's claim to the British throne and opposed the Glorious Revolution of 1689. Martin I.J. Griffin says "Ury was not a Roman Catholic priest, but a non-juror of the Church of England and a graduate of Cambridge University". In the spring of 1740 a number of Spanish sailors arrived in New York as captured crew of prize ships taken by British captains. Those who were dark-skinned were assumed to be slaves and sold at auction with the ship and its cargo. On 13 June 1741 five of these sailors were arraigned and charged with being involved in the plot. As Britain was at war with Spain, this increased the appearance of guilt. A search was then made for any Catholic sympathizers that might be in the city. For at least ten days before his arrest Ury had been under suspicion of being a Catholic priest. In her initial statement of 22 April, Mary Burton, the prosecution's main witness, testified that the Hughsons and Margaret Kerry were the only whites involved. All three were hanged on 12 June. Burton then amended her statement and identified Ury as "the real power behind the slave conspiracy", he was taken into custody on 24 June 1741. He was arraigned on 15 and 22 July. Having no lawyer willing to defend him, he defended himself at the trial. Throughout, Ury expressed his innocence. He produced witnesses who testified he was just what he claimed to be, a teacher of ancient languages. He tried to show that he was a Non-juring Anglican priest, and denied being