The circumstances, he said, belonging to this murder, were, if report were true, of a most atrocious nature, and deserved to be made the subject of inquiry.

As to the murder itself, he observed, it had passed as a notorious and uncontradicted fact.
This account was given me just as I had made an acquaintance with Mr.
Falconbridge, and I informed him of it; he said he had no doubt of its truth; for in his last voyage he went to Bonny himself, where the ship was then lying, in which the transaction happened: the king and several of the black traders told him of it.

The report then current was simply this, that the steward had been barbarously beaten one evening; that after this he was let down with chains upon him into a boat, which was alongside of the ship, and that the next morning he was found dead.
On my arrival at Liverpool, I resolved to inquire into the truth of this report.

On looking into one of the wet docks, I saw the name of the vessel alluded to; I walked over the decks of several others, and got on board her.

Two people were walking up and down her, and one was leaning upon a rail by the side.