Page:Abstract of the evidence for the abolition of the slave-trade 1791.djvu/118

( 84 ) what power the masters and overseers, and what protection the slaves have had by the law, from the following accounts.

There are no less then seven specifick instances mentioned in the evidence, in which slaves died in consequence of the whipping they received, and yet in no one of them was the murderer brought to an account. One of the perpetrators is mentioned by Mr. Dalrymple as having boasted of what he had done; and Dr. Jackson speaks of the other in these words. "No attempts, says he, were made to bring him to justice: people said it was an unfortunate thing, and were surprized [sic] he was not more cautious, as it was not the first thing of the kind that had happened to him, but they dwelt chiefly on the proprietor's loss."

In such of the extraordinary punishments, as terminated in death, there are no less than seven specifick instances also in the evidence. In one of them viz. that of throwing the slave into the boiling cane-juice, we find from Mr. J. Terry, the overseer punished, but his punishment consisted only of replacing the slave and leaving his owner's service. In that of killing the slave by lighting a fire round him and putting a hot soldering iron into his mouth, the overseer's conduct, says Mr. Giles, was not even condemned by his master, nor in any of the rest were any means whatsoever used to punish the offenders. In the three mentioned by Mr. Woolrich he particularly says, ''all the white people in the island were acquainted with these facts. Neither of the offenders, however, were called to an account, nor were they shunned in society for it, or considered as in disgrace''.

In going over the evidence we find three or four other instances, not yet cited in this chapter. The first is that of an [sic] huckster in Antigua, who murdered his woman slave with circumstances of the most atrocious barbarity. This man however was tried, convicted, and fined. He is represented by Mr. Forster, as having been universally blamed, but he was dealt with as usual in the course of trade.

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