AN AMERICAN CITIZEN MURDERED. 33 



On the afternoon of the 20th we sailed for the neighbor- 

 ing island, Upolu. A few days after the " Peacock's" arrival 

 here, an American, named Terry, gave information against a 

 native, who had murdered an American seaman that was living 

 on the island some twenty months before. Mr. Baldwin and 

 the master-at-arms, with several marines, were immediately 

 sent to secure him. After looking for him for some time, he 

 was pointed out to Mr. B., who arrested him and brought 

 him on board the ship, where he was confined and ironed. 

 Some days afterward Captain Hudson demanded an investi- 

 gation of the matter. On the 26th the chiefs assembled from 

 the different parts of the island in the Council-House. The 

 missionaries, Messrs. Williams and Mills, and Mr. Cunning- 

 ham, H. B. M. Vice- Consul for the Samoan Islands, were 

 present, and offered to act as interpreters during the investiga- 

 tion between Captain Hudson and the chiefs. The prisoner 

 was sent for on board the ship, and brought before the assem- 

 bly in charge of an officer, and a file of marines. He owned 

 that he committed the murder, and assigned his reason for 

 doing it. He wanted, he said, to get possession of the white 

 man's property. This admission established the guilt of the 

 prisoner, and Captain Hudson decided that he must die ; but 

 the chiefs expressed great repugnance to this punishment, and 

 proposed buying him off with mats, tappa, &c, according to 

 the Samoan custom. Captain H. told them the Christian 

 custom was to take life for life ; therefore they must punish 

 him with death. After much deliberation the chiefs approved 

 of the sentence, but objected to its being carried into execu- 

 tion on shore. They again asserted that they knew no such 

 laws, and strenuously urged that the criminal should be car- 

 ried on board the ship and executed there. To this it was 

 replied that the execution must take place on shore, in order 



