& was the property of his father, Russel Harden, as he thinks, he had whipped & paddled on the but end, after which he was put to picking peas, & when he came into the house his father led[?] him to go into the Kitchen, he refused to do so; his father then put a chain around his neck and locked it, the Other end of which was fastened to a pole, in the yard, where they cleaned hogs, (the hog gallows) ... the negro man Stepney hung himself, for as the last breath was leaving him, he assisted his father to loose the body from the said chain and Pole. THey then said Russel Harden, Witness & his brother Miles Harden assisting, put the dead body into a little wagon and hauled it to the Savannah River, distant some ive miles or more, & there made fast to a chain one large Sledge hammer, & one plow hoe & fastened the same around the body of the decd negro, and then we put him into thte river at their own landing. This was done ... that the people would otherwise say that he had Killed him

which was put around his neck, by his father, to keep him from running away ... It was about 2 or 3 hours in the night when we found him dead ... his father had told it to persons that he[?] the servant Stepney had ran away