A Merciless Place by Christopher Emma

Author:Christopher, Emma
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Published: 2010-09-14T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

TRYING AMERICA AGAIN

When Thomas Limpus escaped from Africa after his ghastly journey in the Den Keyser’s hold, it was not long before he was back in London. Having sailed away from Gorée aboard a British ship, eventually its route took him back to the capital, where Limpus could not resist a visit to family and friends. It was a foolish mistake. William Collins, who had known Limpus before his Den Keyser voyage, saw him in King Street, Seven Dials, and knowing him to be a transported convict tried to arrest him. Limpus, who had never committed a worse crime than stealing a handkerchief, was now a desperate man, fearing that illegally returning from transportation would earn him a death sentence. In dread of what would happen if he was recaptured, he took out two knives he was carrying and tried to stab his foe. Sidestepping smartly, Collins managed to dodge the blades and called out, ‘Stop thief!’ to alert the neighbourhood’s honest citizens. A nearby butcher and grocer came to Collins’s assistance, the butcher divesting Limpus of his weapons in no time. The escapee who had made it all the way back from Africa was once again in custody and delivered to Newgate.

In September 1783 he stood in the dock of the Old Bailey, scene of his original trial, this time charged with returning from transportation. For the crown it was really just a case of proving his identity. John Townsend, servant to Akerman, Newgate’s jailer, testified that Limpus was definitely one of the convicts who had been delivered to the Den Keyser to be transported to Africa. Henry Wright, who had been the turnkey of Tothill Bridewell for sixteen years, also swore that Limpus was the man who had been exiled to Africa for seven years for being a pickpocket. Things looked bleak.

In his defence, Limpus recounted the sorry tale of woe that had been the Den Keyser experiment, at least for those deposited unceremoniously at Gorée. Lieutenant Lacy, he told the courtroom, had refused any responsibility for him or any other of the felons left there. What choice did he have but to find any means of supporting himself? With no work available in the area he had signed on a passing ship, arguing that he had only returned to Britain because the voyage had brought him back and that it was his intention to sail out again on the same vessel in the coming days. His mother had gone to ask the ship’s captain to come and speak for him, Limpus told judge and jury, and the man had promised that he would come when the lading was complete. They were all ready to put out to sea again, Limpus pleaded, evidently hoping that he would be released if he could guarantee not to linger in Britain. It was not to be. The judge sentenced him to death.1

The judge may have shown little compassion for Limpus’s plight due to the fact that a whole host of

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