Sunday, January 1, 2012

THE OLD YELLOWING MANUSCRIPT IN THE CARDBOARD BOX TRICK


One day, while mauling my way through huge piles of old cardboard boxes at the annex of the State Archives, I found a large pack of very old yellowing parchment.  This turned out to be the record of a trial--Fry versus Jenkes--that had taken place in Rhode Island in 1774.

We weren't yet a nation then, but the problem of slavery that would haunt the country for the next hundred years (and some say longer) was set out in fine detail in the lawsuit.  This was a case of murder that was being tried, though it could not be called murder.  Destruction of property was the designation when a sea captain ended the life of a slave under his command.

All the men who had gone on that long voyage to Surinam gave their testimony, and almost all condemned the behavior of their shipmaster.  But he was acquitted in a court of law, and again triumphed when he won the appeal.

A lot of things had worked in his favor, including the fact that a sea captain was allowed almost any latitude when dealing with his men. It was not for nothing that the crew in those days was rarely called the crew. They were almost always known as “the ship's people.” And the shipmaster was the “king” of his people.

After reading through the documents of the trial, and memorizing them, I decided that there would have to be another court where this crime would be tried.  I took all the facts (and the title) from the depositions given by the men who made that voyage.  I freighted them into a fictional package called THE WINTER'S COAST and brought them screaming into a new court of public opinion.

THE WINTER'S COAST is available only as an ebook at Amazon.com (if you click on the name) and BarnesandNoble.com (ditto).

Hope y'all enjoy it.

David

P.S. THE WINTER'S COAST tells the story of a slave as the American Revolution is about to begin.  I've also written a three part story--two novels and a nonfiction book--that deals with the same period in a wider ranging narrative.  GONE OVER, THE BRIMSTONE PAPERS and BEGGARMAN, SPY are the names to know if you're interested in how this nation was really formed and the lives really led by people at that time. Their lives were harder, but much wilder and more interesting than any history will ever tell you.

The books can be found online at amazon, b&n, apple, etc.