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Defendants   
Name Charge Outcome Punishment Appeal
Polibus Poisoning Acquitted None View details
Case details   
Date:
1755
Date accuracy:
Accurate to year
Trial Type:
Criminal
Court or location:
Court of Assizes
Court type:
Higher Court
Territory:
Bermuda
Dataset:
Not in dataset
Sources   
Title/Headline/Description Publication/Reference Date
Bermuda Archives, Book of Assizes, AZ 102-9, 1755-64, pp. 13-17, cited in Clarence V. H. Maxwell, '"The Horrid Villainy": Sarah Bassett and the Poisoning Conspiracies in Bermuda, 1727-1730', Slavery and Abolition 21, 3 (2000): 48-74. 1755

Polibus, slave of mariner Charles Fielding for poisoning, who in 1752 'did hide, put and conceal in the Ground under a Certain Stone or step in the yard adjoining and belong to the Mansion ... of Cornelius Hinson a certain Poisonous Matter or Mixture of sundry ingredients wrapt up in some Raggs As also a certain Poisonous Liquor or composition of a blue Colour in a certain Glass Phiol..' Witness said it was 'like blue stone water, and that the Mixture appeared like Grindstone mud, and the pairings of Nails and hair etc smelt of Rum.' He was acquitted.

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Categories   
  • Ritual description