Antigua and the Antiguans. Volume 2

Page 111

AN INSTANCE OF IT.

89

man of the name of John, who gave her a liquid which was to be administered to her mistress in some of her nourishment, and which he said would kill her in one minute. This obtained by Betsey, who, like most of her tribe, was the slave of her passions, she resolved to lose no time in carrying her plan of revenge into execution ; accordingly, she handed it to the butler, with whom, it appears, she had formed a liaison, and who was concerned with her in her plot, with injunctions to put it into whatever liquid her mistress might order. By some means or the other, a suspicion that all was not right was raised ; certain circumstances were inquired into, and the result was that Betsey and her accomplices were tried and executed. Old Jenny, the messenger employed in their dealings with the Obeah man, was sentenced to work in the street-gang for a certain period. From her statement at her trial, that the Obeah man, John, told her the draught would kill her mistress in “ one minute," she ever after obtained that cognomen- from the negroes about the streets. ■ . ■ In the year 1820-30, another murder was committed, the details of which are as follows :—A person of the name of Brown was living as overseer upon an estate called Big Deurs, now in possession of Messrs. Manning and Anderdon. The negroes upon this property had been for a long time in the habit of pilfering, and in many instances Mr. Brown had discovered the offenders, which caused him to be disliked, and determined one among them, more heartless, perhaps, than the rest, to undertake his destruction. On Christmas day, Mr. Brown rode to La Roche's, a neighbouring estate, and upon his return in the evening, between the hours of six and seven, he met with his untimely death. The slave to whom Mr. Brown had rendered himself particularly obnoxious was named Cambridge, and this man had long lain in wait for an opportunity of completing his crime, and for the purpose had sharpened an old copper skimmer, (used in boiling sugar,) which he thought would prove an effective weapon.


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