Some years since, in the month of May, the remains of a human body,
partly devoured by wild animals, were found in a woody ravine, near a
solitary road passing between the mountains west of the village of
Stockbridge. It was supposed that the person came to his death by
violence, but no traces could be discovered of his murderers. It was
only recollected that one evening, in the course of the previous winter,
a traveller had stopped at an inn in the village of West Stockbridge:
that he had inquired the way to Stockbridge; and that, in paying the
innkeeper for something he had ordered, it appeared that he had a
considerable sum of money in his possession. Two ill-looking men were
present, and went out about the same time that the traveller proceeded
on his journey. During the winter, also, two men of shabby appearance,
but plentifully supplied with money, had lingered for a while about the
village of Stockbridge. Several years afterward, a criminal, about to be
executed for a capital offence in Canada, confessed that he had been
concerned in murdering a traveller in Stockbridge for the sake of his
money. Nothing was ever discovered respecting the name or residence of
the person murdered.
Page 101.
_Chained in the market-place he stood_, etc.
The story of the African chief, related in this ballad, may be found in
the _African Repository_ for April, 1825. The subject of it was a
warrior of majestic stature, the brother of Yarradee, king of the Solima
nation. He had been taken in battle, and was brought in chains for sale
to the Rio Pongas, where he was exhibited in the market-place, his
ankles still adorned with massy rings of gold which he wore when
captured. The refusal of his captors to listen to his offers of ransom
drove him mad, and he died a maniac.
Page 111.