This act of more than savage barbarity was
committed at the brickfields, in the house of one Jones, a soldier. His
brains were beaten out at the back of his head, with an axe, and his
throat so cut as nearly to sever the head from the body, which was then
dragged to a sawpit, at that time full of water, and, being thrown in,
was covered over with bushes. Here it remained only until the following
morning, when it was discovered by a labouring man, who went to get his
hoe; which, to prevent its being stolen, he had been in the habit of
concealing in the sawpit. Such are the directions of Providence!
Suspicion falling upon four persons, they were taken up; and, the
criminal court being immediately convened, three of the number, Thomas
Jones (a soldier), a woman (his wife), and John Albury (a free man),
were, on the clearest evidence, convicted of the murder, and adjudged to
suffer death.
It appeared upon the trial, that the trifling sum of ten pounds, which
Jones had been indebted to Mr.
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