The History of the Rise, Progress and Accomplishment of the Abolition of the African Slave-Trade, by the British Parliament (1839)Clarkson, Thomas
History
The History of the Rise, Progress and Accomplishment of the Abolition of the African Slave-Trade, by the British Parliament (1839)
Clarkson, Thomas
Slave trade -- Africa
When he came to me next day, he came in high spirits. He said he had
found out the man whom I had seen. The man, however, when he talked to
him about the murder of Peter Green, acknowledged every thing concerning
it. Ormond intimated that this man was to sail again in the same ship
under the promise of being an officer, and that he had been kept on
board, and had been enticed to a second voyage, for no other purpose
than that he might be prevented from divulging the matter. I then asked
Ormond, whether he thought the man would acknowledge the murder in my
hearing. He replied, "that, if I were present, he thought he would not
say much about it, as he was soon to be under the same captain, but that
he would not deny it. If, however, I were out of sight, though I might
be in hearing, he believed he would acknowledge the facts."
By the assistance of Mr. Falconbridge, I found a public-house, which had
two rooms in it: nearly at the top of the partition between them was a
small window, which a person might look through by standing upon a
chair. I desired Ormond, one evening, to invite the man into the larger
room, in which he was to have a candle, and, to talk with him on the
subject. I proposed to station myself in the smallest in the dark, so
that by looking through the window I could both see and hear him, and
yet be unperceived myself. The room, in which I was to be, was one where
the dead were frequently carried to be owned. We were all in our places
at the time appointed. I directly discovered that it was the same man
with whom I had conversed on board the ship in the wet docks. I heard
him distinctly relate many of the particulars of the murder, and
acknowledge them all. Ormond, after having talked with him some time,
said, "Well, then, you believe Peter Green was actually murdered?" He
replied, "If Peter Green was not murdered, no man ever was." What
followed I do not know. I had heard quite enough; and the room was so
disagreeable in smell, that I did not choose to stay in it longer than
was absolutely necessary.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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