(SLAVERY ABOLITION VIRGIN ISLANDS) A Report of the Trial o

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(SLAVERY & ABOLITION--VIRGIN ISLANDS.) A Report of the Trial of Arthur Hodge . . . for the Murder of his Negro Man Slave Named Prosper, Stenographically Taken by A.M. Belisario. [2], 186 pages. 8vo, original paper-backed boards, backstrip mostly perished, otherwise minor wear; minor foxing and dampstaining; uncut. Middletown, CT: Tertius Dunning, 1812

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First American edition, following an 1811 London edition, of a notorious case of abuse on the British island of Tortola, which contributed to the abolition of slavery in the British colonies. "Hodge, undoubtedly a sadist, had murdered about a hundred of his blacks in particularly brutal ways, as by flaying them alive, pouring boiling water down their throats, and working them to death during the course of a few years. At length charges were brought against him for the murder of a black, Prosper"--Ragatz, page 468. The prosecution relied on testimony from a free black woman, Perreen Georges. Hodge was found guilty and hung the same day. Afro-Americana Supplement 1080; Shaw & Shoemaker 24790.