An act for making free and rewarding a mulatto man slave named Will, belonging to the estate of William Jones, deceased, and paying to the honourable Archibald Sinclair and Richard Welch, esquires, the representatives of the said William Jones, the value of the said mulatto man.

WHEREAS a horrid and barbarous murder was, on the thirty-first day of March, in the present year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and seventy-two, committed by a mulatto man slave named Sam, on the body of Andrew Ross, then the overseer on a pen called Jones's Pan, in the parish of St. Catherine: And whereas a mulatto man slave named Will, belonging to the estate of William Jones, deceased, was, as soon as the said Andrew Ross was missing, very active and diligent in making strict search and inquiry after the said Andrew Ross, and by his means it was discovered that the said Andrew Ross was cruelly murdered by the said mulatto named Same, for which offence the said mulatto man slave named Sam was tried and thereof convicted, and sentenced to be burnt: In order, therefore, to encourage slaves to make the most early and ample discovery of any murders or other crimes that may hereafter be committed, and to reward the said mulatto man slave named Will for his diligence and activity in bringing to light the aforesaid murder, May it therefore please your most excellent majesty that it may be enacted; Be it therefore enacted by the lieutenant-governor, council, and assembly, of this your majesty's island of Jamaica, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That the said mulatto man slave named Will be, immediately from and after the passing of this act, manumised and set free from all manner of servitude and slavery whatsoever; and that George Scott, esquire, the receiver-general, or the receiver-general for the time being, do annually, on the first day of January, pay to the said mulatto man named Will, the sum of ten pounds during his life; and that the said George Scott, or the receiver-general for the time being, do also pay to the honourable Archibald Sinclair and Richard Welch, esquires, the legal representatives of the said William Jones, deceased, the sum of one hundred pounds, in full satisfaction for the said mulatto man named Will, out of any monies in the hands of the said receiver-general, or the receiver-general for the time being, unappropriated.