Bet was a Native American who sought shelter with Tristam Warren in Berwick when she was 8 months pregnant. The responibility for the cost of her care was contested in court by the towns of Berwick and Arundel.
"From the mid-seventeenth century onward, Massachusetts, like most of New England, had so-called 'Warning Out' laws regarding newcomers and strangers entering a town. Those regulated how long (usually a few months) they could remain without connecting into the town through a job, a marriage or purchasing property. After such time, the 'unconnected' were warned to leave or face being escorted out of town by the constable or even suffer a public whipping to further encourage such leaving. Town authorities paid close attention, especially to strangers arriving without any visible means of support. Selectmen were required to care for their own town's poor and homeless, but most definitely not for those from another location. The only references to free out-of-town people of color arriving in this area in slavery's decline are found in Selectmen's minutes of Berwick in 1772 and 1783." Wall, pp. 102-103. In her footnotes for this passage, Wall cites: Robert Kelso, History of Public Poor Relief in Massachusetts (Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1923) pp. 57-59
"In the earlier case, a homeless 'Indian woman named Black Bet, alias Bet Harris,' arrived from Arundel on September 25, 1771, and sought shelter at the home of Tristram Warren. At the time, Bet was about seven or eight months pregnant. Warren took her in, but, following requirements of the law, he soon notified town selectmen of her presence. Almost immediately, the selectmen ordered the constable to escort Bet back to Arundel, some twenty-five miles away, a ten or eleven hour walk over rough paths and roundabout roadways. Once they reached Arundel, however, authorities refused to accept her and a few days later Bet was escorted back to Berwick. Barely waiting a week, Berwick's constable again took Bet back to Arundel, and once again that town refused responsibility. A week later the poor woman was escorted back to Berwick.
After that fifth arduous trek, authorities apparently abandoned Bet and she again sought shelter at Tristram Warren's house. As he later described the situation, 'she was then near the time of travail [giving birth] and in such poor circumstances that I tho't it dangerous to turn her out of doors.' Although he proceeded to pay for her medical care and delivery of the baby and for their continued support, he kept appealing to Berwick officials for reimbursement of expenses, but they steadfastly refused. By March of 1772 the selectmen had lost patience and voted to take Warren to court, but he managed to get there ahead of them. On Tuesday, April 14, he filed a petition in York County Court for a resolution. There followed a series of court delays in the case as requested by first one town and then the other. Finally, in January 1773, the court brought both towns' representatives together and the judge ruled that Arundel was Bet Harris' 'legal place of settlement.' That town was ordered 'to reimburse the Petitioner for his expenses and charges and take care of the said Black Bet alias Bet Harris for the future.' What occurred afterward regarding this woman and her child is still to be discovered." - Wall p. 103. In her footnotes for this passage, Wall cites: Berwick Town Records, 1755-88, 188, 190. General Sessions of the Peace, Maine State Archives, 11: 478, 485, 494.
Bibliography:
Lives of Consequence - Blacks in Early Kittery & Berwick in the Massachusetts Province of Maine - by Patricia Q. Wall (2017)