It appeared that the young lady was the daughter of a rich merchant, and had been compelled to marry a man who was disagreeable to her; and that, after robbing her husband, she had eloped with a previous lover who held a social position inferior to her own.  All the vindictiveness of the husband had been aroused; and when the trial took place, the lady, her lover, and the servant, were condemned to death for the robbery.  James Annesley contrived to prove that he was not connected with the party, and escaped their fate; but he was remanded to prison, with orders that he should be exposed to public view every day in the market-place; and that if it could be proved by any of the frequenters that he had ever been seen in Chester before, he should be deemed accessory to the robbery and should suffer death.

He remained in suspense for five weeks, until Drummond chanced to come to Chester on business, and, recognising the runaway, claimed him as his property.  The consequence was that the two years which remained of his period of servitude were doubled; and when he arrived at Newcastle, Drummond’s severity and violence greatly increased.  A complaint of his master’s ill-usage was made to the justices, and that worthy was at last obliged to sell him to another; but Annesley gained little by the change.  For three years he continued with his new owner in quiet toleration of his lot; but having fallen into conversation with some sailors bound for Europe, the old desire to see Ireland once more came upon him, and he ventured a second escape.  He was recaptured before he could gain the ship; and under the order of the court, the solitary year of his bondage which remained was increased into five.  Under this new blow he sank into a settled state of melancholy, and seemed so likely to die that his new master had pity upon his condition, began to treat him with less austerity, and recommended him to the care of his wife, who often took him into the house, and recommended her daughter Maria to use him with all kindness.  The damsel exceeded her mother’s instructions, and straightway fell in love with the good-looking young slave, often showing her affection in a manner which could not be mistaken.  Nor was she the only one on whom his appearance made an impression.  A young Iroquis Indian girl, who shared his servitude, made no secret of her attachment to him, exhibited her love by assisting him in his work, while she assured him that if he would marry her when his time of bondage was past, she would work so hard as to save him the expense of two slaves.  In vain Annesley rejected her advances, and tried to explain to her the hopelessness of her desires.  She persistently dogged his footsteps, and was never happy but in his sight.  Her rival Maria, no less eager to secure his affection, used to stray to the remote fields in which she knew he worked, and on one occasion encountered the Indian girl, who was also bent upon visiting him.  The hot-blooded Indian then lost her self-control, and, having violently assaulted her young mistress, sprang into the river close by, and thus ended her love and her life together.