I had no occasion to do, having
already perceived it, for the wound was apparently almost fresh.

I asked Dixon if there was any person in Bristol beside himself, who
could confirm to me this his own treatment, as well as that of the other
unfortunate man who was now dead. He referred me to a seaman of the name
of Matthew Pyke. This person, when brought to me, not only related
readily the particulars of the usage in both cases, as I have now stated
them, but that which he received himself. He said that his own arm had
been broken by the chief mate in Black River, Jamaica, and that he had
also by the captain's orders, though contrary to the practice in
merchant-vessels, been severely flogged. His arm appeared to be then in
pain; and I had a proof of the punishment by an inspection of his back.

I asked Matthew Pyke if the crew in general had been treated in a cruel
manner. He replied they had, except James Bulpin. I then asked where
James Bulpin was to be found. He told me where he had lodged; but feared
he had gone home to his friends in Somersetshire, I think, somewhere in
the neighbourhood of Bridgewater.

I thought it prudent to institute an inquiry into the characters of
Thomas, Dixon, and Matthew Pyke, before I went further. The two former I
found were strangers in Bristol, and I could collect nothing about them.
The latter was a native of the place, had served his time as a seaman
from the port, and was reputed of fair character.

My next business was to see James Bulpin. I found him just setting off
for the country. He stopped, however, to converse with me. He was a
young man of very respectable appearance, and of mild manners. His
appearance, indeed, gave me reason to hope that I might depend upon his
statements; but I was most of all influenced by the consideration that,
never having been ill-used himself, he could have no inducement to go
beyond the bounds of truth on this occasion. He gave me a melancholy
confirmation of all the three cases. He told me, also, that one Joseph
Cunningham had been a severe sufferer, and that there was reason to fear
that Charles Horseler, another of the crew, had been so severely beaten
over the breast with a knotted end of a rope, (which end was of the size
of a large ball, and had been made on purpose,) that he died of it. To
this he added, that it was now a notorious fact, that the captain of the
Alfred, when mate of a slave-ship, had been tried at Barbados for the
murder