(E.)
Examination of Witness No. 10, a Negro Man.
Peter Poyas was the first man who spoke to me, and asked me to join. I asked him what, the church? He said no, have you not heard, that the blacks were joining, to try and take the country. I asked him, if he thought he had men enough to do it? He said yes, a plenty of men, and the Society will contribute money, with which a white man would purchase guns and powder for them. He said he would call back, and I must consider if I would join them. He called back, and asked me, if I was willing now? Why Peter, said I, you have not got force enough. He said, if I did not join, he would turn all my country people against me. Said I, if so, I’ll join you, but you must not put my name down, when you come out, if I find you strong enough, I’ll join you. Well, said he, if you don’t join you’ll be killed. Peter and Harry Haig called on me afterwards, I was not at home; but the next morning I met Harry, who asked me for my name. I refused it. He said, I would be killed if I did not join. I said, I would join when they came out, if they were stronger than the whites. Harry called on me again, and asked me, if I was willing that the thing would break out soon. I asked him, where they would begin? He said, in Boundary street. At what hour? He said, at 12 o’clock at night, or early in the morning, as soon as the guard is discharged. Jack Pritchard called on me, he is sometimes called Gullah Jack, sometimes Couter Jack, he gave me some dry food, consisting of parched corn and ground nuts, and said, eat that, and nothing else, on the morning when it breaks out, and when you join us as we pass, put into your mouth this crab claw, and you can’t be wounded, and, said he, I give the same to the rest of my troops—if you drop the large crab claw out of your mouth, then put in the small one. Said I, when do you break out, and have you arms. He said, plenty, but they are over Boundary street, we can’t get at them now, but as soon as the patrol was slack, they could get them; this was previous to the 16th June, on which day, he said, they were to break out. On that day he came to me, and said, they could not break out that night, as the patrol was too strong; he said, he would let me know when they were ready. That Sunday fortnight, the 30th June, he came to me and said, I must lay by still, they would not break out then, that he had been round to all his company and found them cowards. I said, thank God, then! He said, give me back my corn and cullah, (that is crab claw). I said, I would not, and upbraided him for having deluded so many. He said, all his country born promised him to join, because he was a Doctor, (that is a Conjurer). He said, the white people was looking for him, and he was afraid of being taken, that two men came to his master’s wharf, and asked him, if he knew Gullah Jack, and that he told them, no. He said, his charms would not protect him from the treachery of his own colour. He went away, and I have not seen him since. Harry Haig has since seen me several times, and told me to hold myself ready. I said, I’m ready when called on. He said, all the draymen came to his master’s cooper yard, and said they were ready, but he told them, he was only waiting for Gullah Jack. He said, he would tell me when they were ready, that they were only waiting for the head man, who was a white man; but he, although asked, would neither tell me the white man’s name, nor where the powder and arms were; this was last Tuesday, the very day the six negroes were hanged, about six o’clock, A. M. this was the last time we spoke, though I have seen him since. I saw Charles Drayton before the 16th, at Monday Gell’s, I was going to market, and Charles called to me as I crossed the street; Joe, who has a wife at Mr. Remoussin’s, asked me, if I did know that Monday was at the head of the Ebo Company, who are going to fight the white people; Monday is an Ebo. I asked Joe, if he was one of that company. He said yes, he was. I asked him, what he could do, as he was an invalid.—He said, he would take Remoussin’s sword and gun, and tell him to lay down in his bed and be quiet. We parted. Previous to the 16th of June, Monday Gell called me into his shop; I went in, and said to him, I heard he was captain of his countrymen’s company, the Ebo’s. He said, he was a sort of a one. I bid him good morning, when he said, when you want to hear the news, come here. I never saw him afterwards.
I met Charles Drayton on the 1st of July in the streets, when he said, now get ready, we must break out at once, for we will not let six lives be taken. I asked him, where they would begin? He said, in Boundary street, directly as the patrol and light horse turned in. I said, had you not better wait till after the 4th of July. He said, no, because in the mean time the people would be hanged. Charles said, they had force enough, and we parted. I met him in Market, betwixt 8 and 9 o’clock, on the 2d of July, and said to him, now the people are hanged, I suppose you are sorry you joined in the business. He said yes, and we parted. Peter Poyas told me also, that they had force enough, that some would come from James’ and John’s islands, and some from Christ’s Church Parish, where he generally went over to a meeting to have a talk, and that he had some about and in town, the number of which he would show me from the Society books, if I would only come to the Society. He said, they were to fight the whites, and keep on fighting, till the English came to help them. Harry told me the same thing. Jack being the head man, I asked him about the plan, he told me the same thing; that the English were to come here to help them, that the Americans could do nothing against the English, and that the English would carry them off to St. Domingo. Monday and Charles were very great together. John, Mr. Horry’s coachman, came to me one day, and asked me what I thought? Every one is ready, said John, to fight the whites, are you ready? He said, I am ready. This took place sometime before the 16th June, and every day he asked me the same questions.—About this time George Vanderhorst came to me and said, they were going to take the country, and he had joined; that he was ready whenever the blacks broke out. He requested me to let him sleep at my wife’s house near Boundary street; I saw him almost every day after the 16th June, and he always said, he was ready whenever the troops were ready. On the 16th June, Jack requested me to let twelve men sleep at my wife’s, as they were to break out that night, and he wanted them to be near Boundary street. On being refused, he departed in anger, and reproached me. George called on me yesterday morning, and asked, if I knew that Charles Drayton was taken up, and said, he was afraid Charles would name him, not because he was on his list, for he had joined Jack’s company, but because Charles had met him at Gullah Jack’s, when they were consulting on the subject; that, if he could near that Charles had named him, he would run off. On Monday, 1st July, Charles Drayton told me, that there would be an insurrection on the morning of the 6th July, as soon as the Guard turned in; he said, he commanded the country born company. Jack told me on the 1st July the same thing, and in addition, that they were to rush in with their dirks, guns and swords, &c. they had got, kill the City Guard, and take all the arms in the arsenals; he also said, there were some arms in King street, beyond Boundary street, in possession of a white man, which they intended to take, (alluding to the arms of the Charleston Neck Company, deposited at Wharton’s, in King street). Charles Drayton said, he had prepared for himself a gun and a sword. John Horry came to me very often, and once said, he had a sword, and that, as soon as it broke out, he would go up stairs and kill his master and family. On the 17th of June, on his carriage box, he expressed himself to me in the same manner he had done previous to the 16th. The blacks would have risen on the night of the 16th, had the Guards not been so strong; this I know from Gullah Jack and Harry Haig, who said, that if the Guards were not too strong, they would get the arms near the Lines, but if the Guards were out, they could not get them to break out with.