Rex v. charles hammond
Rex v. Charles Hammond
(1831)
Introduction
This case exposes both an enslaved woman’s power over her relationships, but also the fragility of that power as well as of the relationships themselves. In the absence of formal marriage, enslaved peoples’ relationships were more fluid. While in some cases new relationships might be coerced by a master or owners, here it seems to have been the woman’s choice, but one with tragic consequences. In 1828, Letiticia Sinclair, an enslaved woman, started a relationship with an enslaved man, Charles Hammond, with whom she lived for two years. According to her own evidence and that of many others, Sinclair chose to leave Hammond after two years and moved to a different house, called in the testimony “her own.” She moved out in late October of 1830, two months before Christmas. Sinclair then began a relationship with another enslaved man, Louis (sometimes written “Lewis”) Aikman. Hammond was unhappy about Sinclair’s departure from his house and continued trying to visit her and her parents. Still, he seemed initially to accept her departure.
However in late January, when he discovered that Sinclair was pregnant, Hammond thought that it might be his child. As a consequence, he tried to forcibly resume their relationship. On January 31, 1831, three months after she had left, Charles Hammond knocked on the door of Sinclair’s house. When Aikman answered the door, Hammond attacked Aikman with a cutlass, a machete, or modified sword. He had access to it because Aikman had earlier used it for cutting sugar cane and had left it unattended by the front door. Aikman was unarmed, with no ability to defend himself. Hammond, regardless, struck him through the stomach. Despite Aikman’s cries for help, which led to many rushing to the house, including an overseer as well as many enslaved people, the wound quickly killed him.
In the testimony presented here , enslaved witnesses and participants demonstrate different attitudes about the norms and cultural practices of relationships, absent the formal conventions of marriage and divorce, as well as the terms of determining paternity. While Sinclair’s testimony is clear about her prior intent to break things off with Hammond, her parents testified in Hammond’s favor, negating her own wishes and desires. Note, too, that witnesses for Hammond suggest he was acting under the influence of a powerful obeah practitioner who used spiritual powers to compel him to act against his best interests and internal morals.1 Obeah is a syncretic Afro-Caribbean spiritual practice that involves channeling powerful spiritual forces. These forces can be used for healing, protection, and good fortune, or can be turned towards hurting others. Diana Paton, The Cultural Politics of Obeah: Religion, Colonialism, and Modernity in the Caribbean World (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2015); Jerome Handler and Kenneth Bilby, Enacting Power: The Criminalization of Obeah in the Anglophone Caribbean, 1760-2011 (Kingston: University of the West Indies Press, 2012); Sasha Turner Bryson, “The Art of Power: Poison and Obeah Accusations and the Struggle for Dominance and Survival in Jamaica’s Slave Society,” Caribbean Studies 41, no. 2 (2013): 61-90 Even with Hammond accused of murder, Hammond’s enslaver and several of his agents appeared in court to testify in glowing terms about his character and conduct. An enslaved person represented a substantial investment, especially an enslaved man in good health. While the sentence of an enslaved person to death or transportation resulted in a compensation payment to the enslaver, these sums were capped at 100 pounds. Here Charles Hammond’s price was set at 74 pounds sterling, which was the amount his master was paid after his death.2On compensation payments for convicted enslaved people, see Diana Paton, “Punishment, Crime, and the Bodies of Slaves in Eighteenth Century Jamaica,” Journal of Social History 34, no 4 (2001): 923-954; Barry Gaspar, “ ‘To Bring Their Offending Slaves to Justice’: Compensation and Slave Resistance in Antigua 1669–1763,” Caribbean Quarterly 30, no. 3/4 (Sept.–Oct., 1984): 45–59
A theme which runs throughout this case is the level of control Letitica Sinclair was able to exercise over her own body and her relationships. She asserted agency by leaving Hammond. Her enslaver seemingly accepted her leaving in that she was provided with a separate house. But Hammond, her parents, and members of her community continued to contest and challenge her choice. As an enslaved woman, her enslaver already exercised substantial control over her physical and reproductive labor, and would assert ownership over her to-be-born child. In the context of 1831 Jamaica, nearly two decades after the abolition of the trans-Atlantic slave trade and with abolitionist campaigns gaining steam in metropolitan Britain, enslavers placed particular importance on growing their labor force through approaching pro-natalist policies and pressuring enslaved women to reproduce.3There is an extremely rich literature on this topic, including Barbara Bush, Slave Women in Caribbean Society, 1650-1838 (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1990); Jennifer Morgan, Laboring Women: Reproduction and Gender in New World Slavery (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004); Sasha Turner, Contested Bodies: Pregnancy, Childrearing, and Slavery in Jamaica. (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2017); Katherine Paugh, The Politics of Reproduction: Race, Medicine, and Fertility in the Age of Abolition (New York: Oxford University Press, 2017);
Slaveholding colonies throughout Britain’s empire established separate slave courts by the early eighteenth century, creating separate judicial systems to try offenses committed by enslaved persons. Enslaved people were tried for offenses ranging from theft and murder to running away and “imagining the death of a white person.” With judges and juries composed of property-owning white men, most of them enslavers, these courts placed great emphasis on upholding social order and maintaining white supremacy and plantocracy. Enslaved people knew such courts could not offer them true justice. Nonetheless, some did make strategic and calculated use of their limited toehold in the judicial system to assert complaints and lay claim to rights.4Paton, “Punishment, Crime, and the Bodies of Slaves”; Diana Paton. No Bond But the Law: Punishment, Race, and Gender in Jamaican State Formation, 1780-1870. (Durham: Duke University Press, 2004); Philip J. Schwarz. Twice Condemned: Slaves and the Criminal Laws of Virginia, 1705-1865. (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1988); Geneva Smith. “A Lost Institution in #VastEarlyAmerica.” Insurrect! Radical Thinking in Early American Studies (2021). http://insurrecthistory.org/2021/08/05/a-lost-institution-in-vastearlyamerica/
Court cases with their recorded testimony offer a window into a social and political landscape otherwise largely inaccessible because so few other sources survive that reveal anything about their intimate histories. Even here, enslaved people’s voices are heavily mediated – court recorders likely abbreviated narratives or focused on points they thought were germane, and sometimes did not recognize slang, idioms, or foreign languages. Enslaved people, too, likely shaped the narrative they told to meet the moment – to recount events in a way that avoided or mitigated punishment for themselves or their loved ones, or that would satisfy or meet the expectations of the court or their owner. Certainly, too, torture and coercion were possible incentives to speak or tell a particular story.5Natalie Zacek, “Voices and Silences: The Problem of Slave Testimony in the English West Indian Law Court.” Slavery & Abolition 24, no. 3 (2003): 24-39; Trevor Burnard. Hearing Slaves Speak. (Georgetown: The Caribbean Press, 2010)
The location of this trial record, as an enclosure in a letter from Lord Belmore, Governor of Jamaica, to Viscount Goderich, former Prime Minister and then Colonial Secretary, also tells an important story. While the trial of Charles Hammond happened in St. George’s Parish, Jamaica, colonial officials in Spanish Town and metropolitan bureaucrats in London alike were reading the testimony and reviewing the actions of the slave court. In a context where the increasingly powerful abolitionist movement frequently likened the colonial justice system to foxes guarding a henhouse, the government scrutinized capital cases like these with particular interest. A notation on the bottom left of Belmore’s letter, directing the case file to the attention of “Mr. Stephen” also merits attention. James Stephen was a solicitor, gradual abolitionist, and long-time Colonial Office bureaucrat, who played a key role in revising laws and policies for the imperial government in order to ameliorate and gradually abolish slavery. He frequently corresponded with colonial governors and similar officials to push for more reforms. His name on this record provides a clue about how he learned about the changing state of slavery in the Caribbean.6Russell Smandych, “ ‘To Soften the Extreme Rigor of their Bondage’: James Stephen’s Attempt to Reform the Criminal Slave Laws of the West Indies, 1813-1833.” Law and History Review 23 no. 3 (2005): 537-588
– Michael Becker
Questions for Consideration
- After reading the evidence, what new insights did you have into relationships among enslaved people? Were you sympathetic to Letiticia’s choice? To Charles’ actions? Why or why not? How did the setting, context, and likely coercion shape the accounts of the event given by the different enslaved people called as witnesses in this case?
- Explore the evidence that enslaved people and overseers gave to defend Charles Hammond. To what extent did they do so? Why, do you think? Do you think Charles was guilty?
- How do cases like this nuance our understanding of the meaning of law and legal institutions to enslaved people in the British empire? Why might colonial officials have been interested in this case?
Further Reading
- Jenny Jemmot. Ties That Bind: The Black Family in Post-Slavery Jamaica, 1834-1882. (Kingston: University of the West Indies Press, 2015).
- Melanie Newton. “The King v. Robert James, a Slave, for Rape: Inequality, Gender, and British Slave Amelioration, 1823-1834.” Comparative Studies in Society and History 47, no. 3 (2005): 583-610.
- Diana Paton. No Bond But the Law: Punishment, Race, and Gender in Jamaican State Formation, 1780-1870. (Durham: Duke University Press, 2004).
- Philip J. Schwarz. Twice Condemned: Slaves and the Criminal Laws of Virginia, 1705-1865. (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1988).
- Geneva Smith. “A Lost Institution in #VastEarlyAmerica.” Insurrect! Radical Thinking in Early American Studies (2021). http://insurrecthistory.org/2021/08/05/a-lost-institution-in-vastearlyamerica/
- Sasha Turner. Contested Bodies: Pregnancy, Childrearing, and Slavery in Jamaica. (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2017).
Sources
- Rex v. Charles Hammond. CO 137/178, f. 224 – 233. The National Archives, UK.
- Transcription by Michael Becker and Dylan Bails.
Cite this page
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No. 46
King’s House*The official governor’s mansion in Spanish Town, Jamaica. Jamaica
12th May 1831
My Lord
I have the honor to enclose
for Your Lordship’s information Copies of
the Indictment, Evidence produced, and
the presiding Judges Notes taken at the
Trial of a Slave in the Parish of Saint
George named Charles Hammond who
was capitally convicted of Murder and
has since been executed.
I have the honor to be
My Lord
Your Lordship’s
Most obedient
humble Servant
Belmore7Somerset Lowry-Corry, the 2nd Earl Belmore (1774-1841), served as governor of Jamaica from 1828-1832. Dictionary of Irish Biography.
Right Honorable
Viscount Goderich*Frederick John Robinson, first Viscount Goderich and first Earl of Ripon (1782-1859), at the time serving as Secretary of State for War and the Colonies (1827, 1831-33). He had previously served as prime minister (1827-28). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
&c &c &c
Mr Stephen*Sir James Stephen (1789-1859), at the time permanent counsel to the Colonial Office and Board of Trade, later Under-secretary of State for the Colonies (1836-1847). He took a strong interest in reforming slave codes and had an abolitionist bent. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
Referred to Mr.
Stephen
20 Jul.
Dispatch to Lord
Belmore July 1831
{Jamaica SS*Abbreviation for the Latin term scilicet, used to specify a more particular location.OED. Saint George*A parish on Jamaica’s northeast coast that existed from 1655-1866, when its terrtory was divided between St. Mary and Portland Parishes. At a slave Court holden at the Court
House at Buff Bay*Village on Jamaica’s northeast coast at the mouth of the Buff Bay River. Served as parish seat for St. George’s Parish. in the said parish
of Saint George on Wednesday the Sixth day of April
in the first Year of the Reign of our sovereign Lord
William the Fourth By the Grace of God of the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland King and of
Jamaica Lord Defender of the Faith and so forth
And in the Year of our Lord One Thousand Eight
Hundred and Thirty One Before the Honorable John
Bell Robert Gray Kirkland and William Francis
Espeut Esquires Three of His Majesty’s Justice assigned
to keep the peace in and Over the said parish also to
hear and determine divers felonies trespasses and
other misdemeanours in the said parish Committed
And William Neil, John Sutherland, Samuel Aslaine
Mann, John Hilton Maulsby, Thomas Leith, Alexander
Bell, Edward Cooper Burgess, John Taylor, Alexander
McPherson, Hugh Daly, Stepney Guthrie, and William
Pill Spencer Twelve good and lawful men of the
said parish as Jurors of the said Court being duly
Sworn to try the matter before them and a true
verdict give according to evidence pursuant to an
Act of the Governor Council and Assembly of the said
island entitled “An Act for the Subsistence Clothing
and the better regulation and Government of slaves
and for other purposes.”*This is a reference to the comprehensive slave code enacted in 1817. A negro man slave named
Charles Hammond belonging to Dover Estate*Dover Estate was a sizeable sugar plantation in the northeastern corner of St. George Parish. https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/estate/view/202 in the
possession of James Shenton*See a brief bio of Shenton here: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/person/view/2146633740 of said parish Esquire was
brought to trial.
For that he the said Charles Hammond not having
the Fear of God before his eyes but being moved and
seduced by the instigation of the devil on the thirty first
day of January in the first Year of the reign of our
sovereign Lord William the fourth with force and arms
at the parish aforesaid in and upon one Louis
Aikman a slave to same owner or possessor in the
peace of God and our said Lord the King then
and there being feloniously wilfully and of his
Malice aforethought did make an assault and
that the said Charles Hammond with a certain
Cutlass*“A short sword with a flat wide slightly curved blade” used for cutting sugarcane. OED. of the Value of six pence which he the said
Charles Hammond in his right hand then and
there held the said Lewis Aikman in and upon
the left side of the Belly and also on other parts
of the body then and there feloniously wilfully
and of his malice aforethought did strike and
thrust giving to the said Louis Ackman then
and there with the Cutlass aforesaid in and upon
the left side of the belly one mortal wound of
the length of Three Inches and depth of six
Inches and on divers other parts of the Body
Several Mortal Wounds of which said Mortal
Wounds or Wound the said Louis Aikman on
the said Thirty first day of January did die
And so the said Charles Hammond the said
Louis Aikman in Manner and form aforesaid
feloniously wilfully and of his Malice aforethought
did kill and Murder against the form of the act
aforesaid and against the peace of our said
Lord the King his Crown and Dignity.
J. G. Graham
D.C.S.
Plea
Not Guilty, J. Forsyth for prisoner*In capital crimes, defense counsel was generally provided for enslaved people in Jamaica in the last decade of slavery.
Evidence
Letitia Sinclair to Dover a Slave a Christian*Christian faith was seen as an important factor in enslaved people giving credible testimony. See Miles Ogborn, The Freedom of Speech: Talk and Slavery in the Anglo-Caribbean World. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2019), pgs. 35-68 especially.
strictly cautioned and sworn
eat my supper and then went to Bed, shortly after
heard someone knock at the door asked who was
there and is as answered by Louis Aikman, my
husband, opened the door and let him in, and both
went to bed. In my sleep heard Lewis Aikman
bawl Out ” Lord me done Charles Hammond kill
me” when I got up Out of Bed saw Charles
Hammond outside of the door and Louis Aikman
inside the House. Every time Lewis Aikman tried to
go out Charles Hammond as he was outside kept
making a lick at him and chopping at him with
the Cutlass he held in his hand after Charles saw
me come out he left of chopping him who dropped on
the Ground after this all Lewis Aikman said “[come]
“Good Lord” Charles Hammond said he wished he
had brought his own cutlass. I said to Charles is
it Louis Aikman own Cutlass You take and damage
him so he said “Yes I am sorry I did not bring up
mine” when we were talking Philip Tucker and
Sam Haughton Came up and asked me whether
Louis Aikman was I had bawled out for help before
this but did not think I had been heard. I saw
Louis Aikman drop down on his hand and coll
down in the Bush. Philip Tucker and Sam
Haughton went to Call driver*An overseer of enslaved laborers. OED., by the time they Came
back Charles Hammond went away I called John
Dyer, and Sammy Sinclair to Come and help me
put Louis Aikman good, Charles told them to stand
off or he would chop them the same. Charles
Hammond and me been live before but we parted
Three Weeks before Christmas. Louis Aikman died
about as soon after he was chopped as since I
have been here giving my evidence. I saw Charles
Hammond Chop Louis Aikman twice with the
Cutlass Louis Aikman had not any thing to
defend himself with, he fell and rolled over
into the Bush and never got up till he died
I Don’t Know if they had any quarrel before then
Louis Aikamn when he Came into me had left his
Cutlass near the door inside of the House. This
was the Cutlass Charles Hammond took to Chop
and kill Louis Aikman with never heard Charles
Hammond Threaten him I never knew Charles
Hammond to say he would watch for Louis
Aikman going to my House. Louis Aikman
never spoke after he fell I asked Charles
Hammond for the Cutlass he refused to give it up
Charles Hammond and me were not agreeing
to live together again. I am only sure of his
having slept in my fathers house once after we
parted same House I lived but my room door
turned outside. The Bed of my room was close
to the door where Louis Aikman left his Cutlass
It was known to every one I lived with Lewis
Aikman Charles Hammond take me to Massa*Master.
to complain of my leaving him. I have no
education to reckon how long it was after this till
Charles Hammond kill Louis Aikman. from before
Christmas I lived with Louis Aikman. When I
got up first before laying down I drew Louis
Aikman Cutlass more out of the way from where
he first put it. The whole room was scattered
over with Blood my Child is not Charles Hammond
I had two Months Belly*That is to say, was two months pregnant. and Charles mind me till
it come to name the man it was for do nothing for it
I know the Bloody frock produced. It was that
Louis Aikman had on when Charles Hammond
Chopped him there is a Chop and a stab on it
that is the Cutlass with which Charles Hammond
killed Louis Aikman. I called on Charles Hammond
once since we parted and he gave me my own Blanket
and a Crab. We had no Conversation together about
our coming together again I asked Charles Hammond
for the Cutlass to take it and put down he refused me
quite quietly.
Philip Tucker a Slave to Dover, a Christian
strictly cautioned and sworn.
Heard a person bawling in his sleep jumped up and
went to Letitia’s House and saw Charles Hammond
Marching in the pass with a Cutlass backwards and
forward near to Letitia’s House. I asked her what
was the matter she did not speak was going away
when I heard somebody Groaning turned back with
Sam Haughton whom I met and found Louis
Aikman laying down on the grass close to the [?]
side near to Letitia’s House. I told Sam to let we
go and Call head man*Could be a reference to an overseer or to a leader among the enslaved community, such as a driver. Since the text later mentions Hugh Crook as Dover Estate’s overseer, and later Sam refers to Tommy Sinclair, it’s more likely he’s referring to another enslaved man. . I was afraid to take
Charles Hammond as he had a Cutlass in his
hand I heard Charles say “his own Cutlass serve
“the fellow I wish I had my Cutlass here I would
“make him know boy from man” I was near enough
to him to see that this is the same Cutlass he had
in his hand Charles told us “take this fellow away”
he said “his own Cutlass serve himself” he was talking
to himself when I was going away Charles Hammond
was saying to Letitia “Hush hush my dear Letitia
told him must not bother her go away
Sam Haughton a slave to Dover a Christian
strictly cautioned and sworn
I heard a person bawling out in the night in
jumped up, met Philip Tucker going before me
he said he heard the bawling when we were
going along we heard a grunting and on examining
found Louis Aikman. Philip Tucker said he must
go and Call Tommy Sinclair Saw Charles Hammond
in the pass walking backwards and forwards
saying “see what Your own Cutlass has served [?]
“I wish I had my Cutlass I would show You man
from Boy this night I was telling You long time
now you have got what You want long time Lou
wouldn’t believe me. This bead on my neck I
was aim for You with this bead all night” He was
talking to Lewis Aikman the man he had killed
I went away and called head man T. Sinclair
when we Came back Charles was gone. I was
afraid to take him myself. I saw he had a Cutlass
in his hand did not see him standing nigh Louis
he stood in the middle between the two Houses
Letitia’s and our House I have often heard Charles
say he did not wish to have any chat with Louis
As Louis had shewn him different places where to
travel. I have heard Charles Hammond tell about
Lewis Aikman taking Letitia. I am quite sure I
heard Charles Hammond say all I have related he
did Charles Hammond make offer several times
to go back to the Girl but she would not let him,
Charles and Letitia parted two months before Christmas.
Philip Tucker called back.
Heard Charles Hammond say “he had been
working his beads for the fellow all night and caught
the fellow now”
Hugh Crook Overseer of Dover, Sworn.
I was called up and told up the driver
Charles Hammond had murdered Louis Aikman. I
ordered him to tell the head driver to take Charles
Hammond I went to Where Lewis Aikman lay and
found him laying on the Ground not quite dead
I proceeded to examine him and found him very
dreadfully wounded his right arm was nearly
cut off I shook him and ask him what was the
matter but he was speechless he had several other
Wounds on his body they were Cuts and Stabs one went
through under his left arm close under the armpit
one went through and through between his back
bone and the skin, There was three different Cuts
on his Knuckles his right leg and thigh cut in
several places dreadful gashes I asked Charles
Hammond after he was apprehended if it was he
had committed the murder of Louis Aikman he
Admitted he had done it but what it was made
him do it he said he was a little boy that couldn’t
think of doing a thing of the Kind without somebody
worked on him it appeared to me he had some
notions of Obeah*See introduction paragraph 3. compelling on to the deed he seemed
penitent for having done it. I never knew Lewis
Ackman and him to quarrel he said “every body
say Lewis Ackman had done too much” It was a
bad woman make him do it” Louis Aikman was
considered a peaceable and very confidential*Trustworthy, charged with secret service. OED. man
one of the most serviceable on the Estate and much
respected by the other negroes, it was a moonlight
night.
In defence
Grace Dyer a Slave to Dover a Christian
(mother of Letitia) strictly cautioned and sworn.
Letitia Sinclair lived with Charles Hammond
for two years she left him before last Christmas
he never Came to Letitia Charles wanted to make
up but Letitia would not agree. When Charles
Hammond Come where me da, me give him to
eat, Letitia never go to Charles Hammond he never
Call at my House when she at home.
Robert Waller a slave to Dover a Christian
strictly cautioned and sworn.
Father of Letitia lived in same House
with her Letitia told me she drive away Charles
I quarreled with her for doing it sometimes he
Came to my house to play with his Child
he never sleep there one night.
John James, Merchant Sworn.
Formerly had prisoner under his Charge
Considered him a most excellent peaceable
Negro did not even think he would tell a
falsehood.
John Clark planter, Sworn.
Formerly had prisoner under his Charge
and considered him a very peaceable good negro
James Shenton, proprietor of prisoner Sworn.
Has highly approved of the prisoners Conduct
on the Estate, he had not a higher opinion of any negro
on it knew him to be an excellent son to a decrepid*decrepit. mother.
N.B. Notice of trial in due time Sworn to before
Trial commenced.
Verdict – The Jurors find
the prisoner Guilty. Valued at £74.*When an enslaved person was sentenced to death, transportation, or lifelong imprisonment, the court generally compensated the enslaver for the loss of the laborer. See Geneva Smith, “A Lost Institution in #VastEarlyAmerica”, Insurrect! Radical Thinking in Early American Studies: https://www.insurrecthistory.com/archives/2021/08/05/a-lost-institution-in-vastearlyamerica
By William Neil Foreman.
Sentence.
{Jamaica SS. Saint George.} Whereas the Jurors within named by
their foreman have found the within
named Charles Hammond Guilty of the foregoing
indictment We the Justices within mentioned do
Order adjudge and determine that the said Charles
Hammond be taken from hence to the place from
whence he came and from thence at such time and
place as His Excellency the Governor may appoint to
be taken to the place of execution there to be hanged
by the neck until he be dead, dead, dead, Given
under our hands and Seals at Arms this 6 day of
April 1831. –
Signed John Bell L.S.*L.S. is an abbreviation for the Latin locus sigilli, meaning the place where a document is to have a seal affixed. See https://dictionary.archivists.org/entry/locus-sigilli.html. Since this is a contemporary copy of the original, L.S. is written to indicate that a seal was found here in the original.
R. G. Kirkland L.S.
W. F. Espeut L.S.
{Jamaica SS. Saint George} I do certify that the foregoing
eleven sides of writing and the above
part of a twelfth side of writing are a true copy
of the Indictment Evidence Verdict and Sentence
in the proceedings had on the Trial of Charles
Charles Hammond for the murder of Louis
Aikman before slaves to James Shenton Esquire
Given under my hand and seal this 8 day of
April 1831.
(Signed) John Bell L.S.
[folio 232]
Court House Buff Bay
6 April 1831
Letitia Sinclair a Slave to Dover Estate Sworn
I was in Bed with Lewis Aikman, was awoke
by hearing him call out “Lord me done Charles
Hammond kill me” I got up saw Lewis Aikman
inside and Charles Hammond at the door outside
and every time Lewis Aikman tried to get out Charles
kept Chopping him with a Cutlass till Lewis fell
down. I said to Charles You take the man’s
Cutlass and do him such damage Charles answered
he was sorry he did not bring his own at this time
Philip tucker and Sam Haughton came Up and
sent them to call the second driver. I called for
Sam Sinclair and John Dyce to assist me with
Lewis Aikman and Charles said if they put hand
on him, he would chop them the same. When
prisoner was chopping Lewis Aikman, Lewis had
nothing in his hand to defend himself when
Lewis came to me he had his cutlass with him and
put it down against the wall of my house and
prisoner took it to chop him. Before I awoke Lewis
was mortally wounded. I had lived with prisoner but
had parted from him three weeks before Christmas
and had no intention of living with him again. Cutlass
identified by Witness.
Philip Tucker a slave to Dover Estate Sworn.
I was awoke about the Middle of the Night by hearing
a person call out in the Negroe houses. Went to Letitia
Sinclair’s house saw Charles Hammond marching
before the House with Cutlass in his hand, heard him
him say “it was with the fellows own cutlass that he
had served him so and wished he had had his own
he would have shewn him the difference between
boy and man” Witness Identified the Cutlass.
Sam Haughton a Slave to Dover Estate Sworn.
I was awoke middle of the night by person
making a noise in negro houses, went to Letitia
Sinclair’s House. Met Philip Tucker there. Saw
Charles Hammond walking up and down the pass
before her door with Cutlass in his hand saying “so
Your own Cutlass sever You if I had got my own
Cutlass I would have shewn You the difference between
man and Boy, now You have got what You want long
time You would not believe me now this bead on my
neck was in for You all night” he was talking to Lewis
Aikman whom he had killed. I have heard Charles
talk of Lewis Aikman having taken Letitia to live with
and checked him and told him to look for another wife.
Philip Tucker Called Back.
I heard Charles say “I have been working for him
with my bead, all night now I have caught him”
Hugh Crook Overseer of Dover Estate Sworn.
By the time I got to the spot, where Lewis lay
he was speechless examined the Body there were several
Chops and several thrusts his right arm was nearly
Cut off there was one thrust through and through his
Chest. When prisoner was brought to me four days
after the murder he admitted having committed it but
said he could not think what drove him to it
I always considered the prisoner as quiet and as good a
slave as any on the property.
John James formerly a Bookkeeper*Bookkeepers were usually among the lowest ranked white staff on sugar plantations, and played an important role in supervising enslaved people under the direction of overseers. Despite the title, the position had little to do with accounting. See B. W. Higman, Plantation Jamaica, 1750-1850: Capital and Control in a Colonial Economy. (Kingston: University of the West Indies Press, 2005). on dover sworn.
I considered prisoner a very good peaceable Negro.
James Shenton proprietor of Dover Estate sworn
I had as high an opinion of prisoner as any Negro
I have. I know him to have been an excellent son to
a decrepit mother.
I certify that the above is copied from my
notes taken on the trial of Charles Hammond for
the murder of Lewis Aikman both slaves to Dover
Estate in this parish.
(Signed) John Bell
Custos*Officially custos rotulorum. The principal magistrate of a parish. OED.
Saint George 6 April 1831
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Footnotes
- 1Obeah is a syncretic Afro-Caribbean spiritual practice that involves channeling powerful spiritual forces. These forces can be used for healing, protection, and good fortune, or can be turned towards hurting others. Diana Paton, The Cultural Politics of Obeah: Religion, Colonialism, and Modernity in the Caribbean World (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2015); Jerome Handler and Kenneth Bilby, Enacting Power: The Criminalization of Obeah in the Anglophone Caribbean, 1760-2011 (Kingston: University of the West Indies Press, 2012); Sasha Turner Bryson, “The Art of Power: Poison and Obeah Accusations and the Struggle for Dominance and Survival in Jamaica’s Slave Society,” Caribbean Studies 41, no. 2 (2013): 61-90
- 2On compensation payments for convicted enslaved people, see Diana Paton, “Punishment, Crime, and the Bodies of Slaves in Eighteenth Century Jamaica,” Journal of Social History 34, no 4 (2001): 923-954; Barry Gaspar, “ ‘To Bring Their Offending Slaves to Justice’: Compensation and Slave Resistance in Antigua 1669–1763,” Caribbean Quarterly 30, no. 3/4 (Sept.–Oct., 1984): 45–59
- 3There is an extremely rich literature on this topic, including Barbara Bush, Slave Women in Caribbean Society, 1650-1838 (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1990); Jennifer Morgan, Laboring Women: Reproduction and Gender in New World Slavery (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004); Sasha Turner, Contested Bodies: Pregnancy, Childrearing, and Slavery in Jamaica. (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2017); Katherine Paugh, The Politics of Reproduction: Race, Medicine, and Fertility in the Age of Abolition (New York: Oxford University Press, 2017);
- 4Paton, “Punishment, Crime, and the Bodies of Slaves”; Diana Paton. No Bond But the Law: Punishment, Race, and Gender in Jamaican State Formation, 1780-1870. (Durham: Duke University Press, 2004); Philip J. Schwarz. Twice Condemned: Slaves and the Criminal Laws of Virginia, 1705-1865. (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1988); Geneva Smith. “A Lost Institution in #VastEarlyAmerica.” Insurrect! Radical Thinking in Early American Studies (2021). http://insurrecthistory.org/2021/08/05/a-lost-institution-in-vastearlyamerica/
- 5Natalie Zacek, “Voices and Silences: The Problem of Slave Testimony in the English West Indian Law Court.” Slavery & Abolition 24, no. 3 (2003): 24-39; Trevor Burnard. Hearing Slaves Speak. (Georgetown: The Caribbean Press, 2010)
- 6Russell Smandych, “ ‘To Soften the Extreme Rigor of their Bondage’: James Stephen’s Attempt to Reform the Criminal Slave Laws of the West Indies, 1813-1833.” Law and History Review 23 no. 3 (2005): 537-588
- *Officially custos rotulorum. The principal magistrate of a parish. OED.
- 7Somerset Lowry-Corry, the 2nd Earl Belmore (1774-1841), served as governor of Jamaica from 1828-1832. Dictionary of Irish Biography.