CAPE COAST ASAFO COMPANIES
This is a transcript of a typescript kindly given to me by
Miss Sallie Buchanan, English Advisor to the Ghana Government.
Pages 1 and 2 are missing and no author or date is given.
Numbers such as -3- at the top of the pages refer to the original page
numbers.
M.E.J.Crew
Ofinso Training College
Ofinso, Ashanti.
April, 1990.
For more information on the Asafo Companies
and many illustrations of their characteristic
flags and emblems see "Asafo!" by Peter Adler
and Nicholas Barnard, published by Thames and Hudson,1992
at GB Pounds 12.95.
-3-
established his court when he transferred his capital from Efutu town,
ten miles up country, to Cape Coast by the sea. This was a result of
the war of 1693 when Efutu was attacked and all but destroyed by the
combined armies of Asebu and Twifu, aided by other Akans, and numbering
about 20,000. Note. Efutu was the original name of the Cape Coast ( or
Oguaa ) State. The name Nkum is a contraction of the phrase " Nkotum
ekum ", literally in English, " You cannot destroy me. " The king gave
this name to his residential quarter in the new capital to mark the
State's emergence from the last wars fought against overwhelming odds.
Hence the Nkum Asafu was regarded as the king's own regiment.
Bentsir ( No.1 Company ) gets its name from the two Fanti-Akan words,"
Ban ", meaning " Wall " or " Post ", and " Itsir ", " Head ". Among
those who first settled in the Bentsir quarter on the change of the
State's capital were the King's drummers and those who formed the Efutu
advance guard in battle.
Anarfu (No 2 Company) was carved out of Bentsir (No 1 Company). The
name Anarfu means "The lower part" or "The southern part", and the
Company was formed by the younger and bolder spirits of the community
who dwelt on the lower or southern part of the Bentsir slope.
Brofu-nkuwa - sometimes called Brofu-mba - (No 5 Company) are the
patrilineal descendants of the artisans or artificers and other workmen
and servants imported from the Slave Coast by the Swedes, who built the
largest portion of Cape Coast Castle, then known as Fort Carolusburg.
The name Brofu-nkuwa or Brofu-mba means, in English, "Whitemen's
Servants" or "Whitemen's Boys". The men of this Company were, for all
military purposes, regarded as strangers and were thus attached to the
Nkum (No 4 Company) as camp followers, messengers etc..The formation of
their own unit at a subsequent period therefore gained for them that
status in the State which they had previously lacked.
Intsin (No 3 Company) was formed at the instance of King Aggrey I
himself to mark the straightening-out of an affair involving his step-
son Kojo (later known as Birempon Kojo or Cudjoe Caboceer) with the
Governor's (or President's) African wife. The first members of this
-4-
Company were Kojo's friends and associates, with his servants and
bondsmen, of whom he had a large number, being then the wealthiest man
in Cape Coast. The name Ntsin (or Intsin) is derived from "Tsin", a
Fanti i-Akan word meaning "to straighten out", and has reference to the
unfortunate entanglement already referred to and which had caused Kojo
to disappear from the town and remain in hiding in the Abura traditional
area (mainly at Abakuja (?) ) for years. This Company, with its rural
sections, is the largest asafu unit and its membership includes the
majority of the Chiefs of the State; hence it is sometimes referred to
as "Abirompon Asafu", i.e "The Company of the Notables."
Amanfur - i.e "New Settlement", from Man or Oman, meaning "Settlement",
"Community", or "State", and "Fur", "New", - was the last quarter to
have an asafu unit of its own. Amanfur (No 7 Company) had a beginning
similar to the of the Brofunkuwa (No 5 Company), being originally
composed of the workmen and other employees imported from the Eastern
regions of Guinea, then known as "The Bights", by the Danes who built
Fort Fredricksborg on the hill at Amanfur. The settlement itself was
only recognised as a part of Cape Coast town in 1850, after the Danes
had sold Fort Fredricksborg, among their other possessions on the Coast,
to the British and departed for good.
Akrampa is said to be derived from a Portuguese word meaning
"Intermediary". The name was obviously attached to this corps of Cape
Coast Eurafricans, not merely because of the middle position the members
occupied as between the two races or colours in Cape Coast, but actually
for the offices its leaders afforded in matters involving civil disputes
in the town. Having its headquarters at Nkum, this unit was also styled
the Cape Coast Volunteers. Its founder was Thomas Edward Barter (alias
Tom Ewusi), a mulatto who, according to Bosman (a Dutch factor and
author residing at Elmina in the early part of the 18th century), had a
"greater power on the coast than all the three English Agents together",
and whose house was "not unlike a small Fort, with a Flag on it and some
cannon.".
Before the formation of the Akrampa "Volunteers", the mulattos of Cape
Coast (born of European fathers), while exercising all the other rights
and privileges enjoyed by the full-bloodied native residents, could yet
hold no position as of right in the various asafu units, since,
according to native
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custom, a man may only be a member of his father's asafu atsiku This
notwithstanding, the Nkum Asafu included hundreds of mulattoes and
descendants of mulattoes among its effectives; and it was these persons
who, when withdrawn by Barter, formed the nucleus of the new unit. Hence
the name "Nkum Akrampa" by which this unit was sometimes called.
In those early days it was the rule rather than the exception for
Europeans in this country, from the Governor downwards, to take unto
themselves native women as wives in accordance with native law and
custom, and to live with them as such throughout the long period of
their residence on the Gold Coast (now Ghana). Unlike these days, there
were no regular periods, if any at all, granted for leave in England.
The issues of these mixed racial unions were, in the case of the senior
officers, usually sent to England or Europe to be educated; the rest
received a measure of education locally in the Castle, where the first
school in Cape Coast - and in the Gold Coast, for that matter, - was
started. Now, as succeeding members of the Administration and the
Garrison at the Castle all had native wives, it is realised how
considerable was the proportion of the Cape Coast population that was
then of European or Eurafrican descent.
It is here worth noting that, besides the European personnel in the
English forts, all the members of the garrisons were mulattoes, for none
but mulattoes were accepted for enlistment in the forces at the various
centres. Incidentally, this condition served as a set-off against the
disability which, under native customary law, precluded the mulattoes,
with their patrilineal descendants, from rendering military service to
the State through the Asafu organisations.
Soon after its establishment as a separate organised unit the Akrampa
Asafu or "Volunteers" became the Governor's or President's bodyguard in
time of war. Indeed, in such capacity, it served succeeding Governors
and Commanders-in-Chief of the Gold Coast, including the brave but ill-
fated Brigadier-General Sir Charles Macarthy. This earned for some of
its leaders the grant of Commissions in the British Army during the
reigns of King George IV and Queen Victoria of England. Of the several
engagements in which the Akrampas have taken a prominent part, the
following
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are among the most important, namely:-
(1) The Battle of Elmina, 1774. In this engagement the Akrampa having
fought right ahead of the rest of the attacking force, broke into the
line of the Elminas and their allies and, by an unexpected movement of
their enemy, would have been completely cut off and destroyed but for a
timely warning which saved the situation. The incident is commemorated
in the saying "Nkum Akrampa, aye wotu a wontwin san." (Anglice:"Nkum
Akrampa, sometimes when you fire you should retreat."). The Governor,
Mr James Morgue, was grievously wounded on the cheek on this occasion.
(2) The suppression of the activities of the Asebus and their allies
who had been carrying on a reign of terror by means of ambuscades and
other striking methods. This took place in 1792.
(3) The Battle of Nsamankow (or Bonsasu), 1824. This battle against
the Ashantis was actually fought on the banks of Adumansu, about 20
miles from Nsamankow. In the fray the Governor, Sir Charles Macarthy
lost his life. He had underrated the strength of the enemy who were
between 10,000 and 20,000 strong, whereas the total force under the
Governor's command numbered "170 men of the Royal Cape Coast Militia
officered by some of the traders of the town, and about 250 unorganised
Fantis under their own Chiefs." There were also "80 Fantis (according
to a record of the event) who were but recently enrolled in the Royal
African Colonial Corps under Ensign Erskine", who too lost his life. Of
this small force "only 22 of the Royal African Colonial Corps, 31 of the
Cape Coast Militia, and 8 of the Volunteer Company escaped unscathed."
It is also recorded that "the gallant conduct of the Cape Coast Militia,
the Volunteers and the Denkeras (among the Fanti) must always stand to
their credit."
(4) The Battle of Efutu, May 21st, 1824, in which the Ashantis were
-7-
driven back with heavy loss.
(5) The Battle of Domkodu (Sam's Hill), also known as the Battle of
Cape Coast, July 11th, 1824. In this battle the Ashantis had the Asins
as their allies, but they were forced to retire that day and eventually
left the town's outskirts on their big retreat to Kumasi. During this
battle the palanquin of the Ashanti king (who was in command of his
invading troops) was struck by a missile from Fort William, then known
as Smith's Tower, which was one of the defence positions. The King
refused to ride again after this, for fear of a likely second shot, and,
indeed, so thoroughly alarmed was he (for his presence with his army had
been kept a secret) that, according to the historian Claridge, he
"preferred to trudge along on foot mile after mile with his retreating
army."
(6) The Battle of Dodowa (or Katamansu), 1826, in which the Cape Coast
contingent was under the leadership of Chiefs Kweku Banyi and Manfway.
(7) The suppression of the mutiny of the Gold Coast Artillery Corps,
1862, when the Akrampas kept the situation well in hand till they were
relieved by a body of Royal Marines on the subsequent arrival of a
warship.
(8) The Battle of Tetsi, April 6, 1873.
(9) The Battle of Jukwa, May 20, 1873.
(10) Special reconnaissance work at Assin Fosu, December, 1873, as an
integral part of Colonel (afterwards Sir) Evelyn Wood's force, when the
Ashantis were forced to re-cross the Pra at Prahsu and the country were
thus cleared of the enemy for good.
In some of the wars under reference some of the other Asafu companies
also took the field, but more usually the Asafu were detailed for civil
defence operations and, incidentally, for keeping the town and its
environs clear of weeds and rubbish, especially, as frequently happened,
during epidemics, which were the unfailing attendants of war in those
days. It should be noted that before 1906 there was no municipal
council or other sanitation authority in Cape Coast.
-8-
That is one side of the picture of the Asafu in Cape Coast history.
There is another side which is painted in less attractive hues, and
which has led to revision of so-called enlightened opinion as to their
usefulness to the community in these days of municipal councils and
other statutory authorities whose business it is to conserve the public
health in the areas where they are established, thereby rendering the
quasi-voluntary services of the Asafu in this field unnecessary. It is
averred that the Asafu organisations of the present day have lost their
essential military nature and that, instead of holding drills and
cultivating habits of discipline, their rallies at their company posts
and elsewhere are characterised by drinking, drumming and dancing, and
by disadvantageous discussion and the ostentatious display of company
flags bearing provocative delineations which, together with the songs
they sing, usually stirs up trouble. As against the perpetuation in
Cape Coast of the system as it is, it is further urged that the Cape
Coast asafu have endowed the town with the reputation of being a place
where (according to an old official record) "rioting is the favourite
pastime of the people."
In considering the subject of the Cape Coast asafu organisations the
chief drawback noticeable is their outstanding characteristic of
unrestrained liberty and ostentatious independence. In fact, the asafu
cannot be controlled by any other authority than their own sweet will.
Here is an extract from a report contained in a letter from the Mayor of
Cape Coast to the Chief Justice, dated November 29, 1859, in this
connection:-
"The Companies are commanded by Saphohins, or chief captains. The
Chiefs have nothing to do with them, nor indeed has the king himself.
The Companies may be described as so many little republics, each
independent of the rest, and having its own officers, laws and customs.
Over every Company is a Saphohin, and he (called Supi) has under him
subordinate captains, who are elected by the Companies. These
captaincies may be said to be hereditary in some sort, more from custom
than by law; the Companies generally preferring to elect the
-9-
sons of deceased Captains to succeed their fathers.
When a Company makes any new law, it is done in a public assembly of
themselves, and communicated to the other Companies, who, if they have
any objections to raise, do so at once, when the matter is discussed."
Here is another extract from the same report:-
"7. When making their grand customs, each company, if it has no quarrel
with any others, passes through the various quarters of the town with
its original "company flag", but when there is a desire to convey
defiance or insult, a company, in passing through the quarter inhabited
by the company which it is desired to annoy, will there display a flag
having a device ostentatiously offensive.
"8. In the same way, whilest each company has its war songs, which,
without being offensive to the other companies, are, of course, self-
laudatory, each has also a habit of exciting rival companies by singing
insulting songs at the same time that the objectionable flags are
paraded. From time immemorial these flags and songs have been the cause
of ill-feeling, strife, and bloodshed, as has unfortunately been the
case in the present instance."
Here is part of the judgement delivered by the Chief Justice at the
trial of the rioters in the case referred to in the Mayor of Cape
Coast's report, as reproduced in Sabah's "Fanti Customary Laws.":-
" The Court also requires that all the companies of the town shall,
within one calendar month, send into the fort such flags as they wish to
use in future, for the approval of the Governor, who, if he disapproved,
will substitute some other in its place; and the patterns and colours of
all that may be approved will be registered in the Secretary's office in
the fort, and the exhibiting of any other flag by any company will be
rendered and proclaimed to be utterly unlawful, subjecting the persons
doing so to heavy penalties. In the meantime, the use of any new flag
or flags not now in use is strictly prohibited."
-10-
Sarbah commenting on the judgement about 50 years after, says:-
" The judgement clearly shows how often laws are enacted in these days
in absolute and entire ignorance of what has been done in times past.
And viewing events since then, one is drawn to the conclusion that, had
this judgement been enforced, many a civil fight would have been
averted, many lives saved, and the new ordinance about flags and tribal
emblems, which has not yet made civil fights impossible, better drafted
in every respect."
It took almost 50 years for Government to move (probably driven by Mr
Sabah's comments) on the lines directed by the learned Chief Justice in
his judgement. It was on January 23rd 1909, that an official enquiry
was held on the subject, the result of which was the issuing of a
brochure entitled "A Guide to Company Emblems and Notes as to Customs
etc." Its opening paragraphs read thus:-
"In 1859 serious riots occurred between certain of the Cape Coast
Companies, and for the past 50 years the internal peace of the Cape
Coast community has been constantly threatened, owing mainly to the
outcome of these riots which have led to innumerable company disputes.
Cape Coast is divided into seven companies, and of late years party
feeling has run high. Number Six Company (Akrampa) may perhaps be said
to be the only one which has kept aloof from Company friction. It is
unnecessary to enumerate the various riots which have occurred during
the period under reference. At no time has there been a total absence
of ill-feeling and there has, in consequence, been an ever-present
danger of a breach of the peace."
The many riots in Cape Coast history have, however, not all been staged
as between one asafu company and another; they have sometimes occurred
as between some or all of the asafu companies, on the one side, and the
Government or other authority, on the other. Since 1932 when the last
serious outbreak took place, there has been an absence of the usual
civic interruptions that are so characteristic of the Cape Coast asafu.
But, judging
-11-
by the records of history, the apparent lull does not necessarily
indicate a change of heart among the seven companies, neither does it
preclude the possibility of an outbreak occurring at any time.
The first recorded riot in Cape Coast occurred in 1681. This was when
the Cape Coast area was known as the Kingdom of Efutu, and the capital
town was Efutu, a place 10 miles up-country on the Cape Coast-Jukwa
road. The riot originated in the escape of some of the Castle slaves
into the town. The asafu refused to give them up to the authorities
when requested to do so. The guns of the Castle were trained on the
town to compel obedience. This rather had the effect of stirring up the
Bentsirs and the Nkums to arms and 700 of their number boldly attacked
the garrison in the Castle, killing several of the defenders and
sustaining a loss themselves of sixty men killed and several more
wounded.
Claridge, referring to this outbreak, which, in his monumental
History of the Gold Coast and Ashanti, he describes as a great riot,
states that "The King (of Efutu), as soon as he heard of this outbreak,
hurried in from Efutu with only twelve attendants to assure the English
Agent (or Governor) of his own loyalty. He remained for eight days
beneath a fetish tree which then stood near the Castle, and it was
principally due to his mediation and persistant reasoning with the
people that the dispute was finally settled and the allegiance between
them and the English renewed."
Another major riot took place in 1803 involving the Government. On
this occasion the Government garrison from the Castle succeeded in
driving the whole of the adult native population along the present Jukwa
Road to Parson's Krome and left them there to have it out among
themselves without detriment to the lives and interests of others.
On August 16, 1826, Bentsir (No.1 Company) and Anarfu (No.2 Company)
held a fight using stones as missiles. An extraordinarily large number
of combatants and others were wounded but there were no deaths. This
fight took place while the Akrampas ("Volunteers") and men from the
other 6 companies who took part in the Battle of Dodowa as the Cape
Coast Contingent had barely returned home from their participation in
the victorious campaign.
-12-
A riot which left the deepest scar on the body politic of Cape Coast
was the fight which began when Brofunkwa (No.5 Company) attacked Nkum
(No.4 Company) on January 24, 1856, while the latter were conducting a
provocative march through the different quarters of the town, led by
King Kofi Amissah himself. The six other Companies joined in the fight
which, having started with stones as missiles soon developed into a
major combat with guns. The Governor, Stephen John Hill, with Major
Orde (a special Commissioner from London), having failed to dissuade the
King from the course he had chosen, took positive action by personally
marching out the garrison from the Castle to the scene of the incipient
trouble, restoring order for a time and escorting King Kofi Amissah back
to his residence in the Nkum quarter.
That was about noon. In the evening, after 4 o'clock, trouble again
flared up when Chief Kofi Amoah, an Nkum resident with Intsin asafu
affiliation, attempted to rescue an Intsin youth who was being
grievously manhandled by the Nkums. The Chief's attempt only succeeded
in drawing the concentrated attention of the Nkums on to himself and his
party and he stood in danger of his life until the arrival at Nkum of
men of the six other Companies to whom the Chiefs predicament had been
reported. Fighting now became general and some of the houses at Nkum,
Bentsir and Anarfu were set on fire. The conflagration, fanned by the
sea breeze, spread to the other quarters of the town and almost all Cape
Coast was burned down that night. This catastrophe occasioned the
institution of the Great Oath of Cape Coast, "Igwaa Wukuda" (or "Cape
Coast Wednesday"). The outbreak occurred on a Wednesday... It also
accounted for the deposition of Kofi Amissah, which took place four days
later (January 28, 1856).
Hardly four years after, (24th.November,1859), Bentsir
(No.1 Company) and Intsin (No.3 Company) fought a desperate battle
against each other. As a result of this fight there was continued
ill-feeling between the two companies which did not abate until the
time of the garrisoning of the Castle by the 4th. Battalion of the
West India Regiment.
On September 4, 1865, a major riot broke out involving the
men of the 4th. Battalion, West India Regiment then stationed in
Cape Coast. Some
-13-
of the soldiers had their quarters in the Castle as usual, while others
were quartered in hired houses in the Anarfu region and beyond. During
the fight a native, John Saniez, was killed, and the wounded among the
local people were sixty-three (58 men and 5 women). Several of the
soldiers were seriously wounded but none killed, although the fate of
one soldier, Private Wheeler, who was among the party that was attacked
at Anarfu (then also known as Low Town), and who disappeared at the
time, has never been known.
The cause of the riot was the way the local women-folk had
attached themselves to the soldiers, who were a great attraction,
because of their good and regular pay and the abundant army rations,
(including the celebrated army corned beef), with which they were
supplied. Jealousy was the motive, for the soldiers were able to
maintain the women better than the women's own husbands, sweethearts
and masters.
On the night of the fight the men of Bentsir (No.1 Company)
were the first to turn out and beat their war drums. This incited
the rest of the Companies who were already excited by the amount of
liquor they had been cosuming that day. It was the day of the Yam
Custom. For the murder of John Saniez a soldier, Private King, was
charged, tried and found guilty and sentenced to death, but on the
intervention of the Secretary of State for the Colonies, to whom
the record of the case was referred, the sentence was reduced to one
of two years, as for manslaughter.
Stones were again used as missiles on December 27, 1870, in
a fight between Anarfu Company and Arshell; and less than two years
later a two days riot broke out between the companies at Abura Kukuada
(Cape Coast) and Siwudu (Cape Coast).
One of the most serious of the asafu riots was between Bentsir
(No.1) and Anarfu (No.2). As frequently happened, both sides began
by using stones as missiles and later changed over to firearms when
goaded by their women-folk and tempers had become sufficiently heated.
The fight went on for three successive days - September 9, 10 and 11,
1879. Casualties on both sides were very heavy and a large number
of arrests were made in consequence. The two principal opposed
leaders - namely Captain Kwa Ackon and Captain Kwamina Awotwi, of
Nos.1
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and 2 Companies, respectively, were charged for taking part in a riot
and on conviction were sentenced to three months imprisonment. Hundreds
were similarly charged, but the trial of those charged with murder had
to await the arrival from England of a British High Court judge, Mr
Justice W.B.Collings, who landed in Cape Coast and assumed his duties on
February 2, 1880. Many of the rioters, on being found guilty, were
hanged on the 18th and 19th of February. Captains Kwa Ackon and Kwamina
Awotwi were discharged from prison on December 31, 1879.
It was hoped that the hanging of the asafu rioters would put
a check on asafu disturbances for a prolonged period at least, if not
stop the practice altogether. This, however, was not realised.
Hardly ten years after the hangings - February 7, 1889 - the Bentsir
and Nkum asafu companies of Mouree, just next door to Cape Coast
and virtually associated with their Cape Coast opposite numbers,
staged a terrible fight which was the talk of the country for decades.
Several civil disturbances due to asafu jealousy and rivalry,
both in and near Cape Coast, have occurred since that of 1889, but by
far the most notable in recent years was that of September, 1932, when
the Bentsirs fought against the Intsins who were supported by the rest
of the Cape Coast asafu companies (except No.6) and their rural sections.
The true casus belli was the Governor's ruling on the inquiry
into the Tufuhene succession dispute. There had been an alleged
deposition of the Tufuhene, Chief Coker I, by the Companies, and an
"election" of a successor in the person of George Edward Moore by
six of the seven Cape Coast asafu companies, the Bentsirs (No.1)
remaining loyal to Chief Coker whose bodyguard they were.
An inquiry under the Ordinance into the dispute was held by a
Special Commissioner, Mr Hugh Whitelegge Thomas Deputy Secretary for
Native Affairs. Commissioner Thomas found that Chief Coker had been
unanimously deposed by the Companies but that George Moore was not the
rightful person to succeed to the office, he not being of Coker's
family, to whose Stool the office of Tufuhene was attached. The
Governor
-15-
Sir Alexander Ransford Slater overruled the Commissioner's finding in
respect of Coker. He pointed out, in effect, that according to the
relevant terms of reference the Commissioner was to find out whether
Coker was constitutionally deposed and not whether he was unanimously
deposed by the Companies. He agreed with the Commissioner, however,
that George Moore in any event was not the rightful person to succeed.
Government therefore continued to recognise Coker as the Tufuhene of
Cape Coast, while the six asafu companies maintained their attachment to
Moore.
Such was the situation when the Intsin (No.3 Company) elected to hold
their annual ceremonial turn-out which, according to custom, should be
headed by the Tufuhene. The Intsins recognised no other person as
Tufuhene but George Moore, and so the application which they to the
District Commissioner for the usual permit to enable them to hold a
procession was vigorously opposed by Coker's stool family, supported
actively by the Bentsirs (No.1). Each side made representations to
Government in Accra. Eventually, the Intsins secured a permit - albeit
qualified - to hold their procession but to use only a certain
prescribed route through the town. The Bentsirs were chagrined.
On the night of September 30, 1932, - the eve of the turn-out - the
Bentsirs held a council of war. Their objection in the circumstances,
they counselled, was not in respect of the turn-out as such, nor the
route to be followed by the procession; their protests were directed
against the procession being headed by George Moore as Tufuhene anywhere
in the town. A decision was there and then taken to oppose the Intsins
by force of arms, if and when Moore appeared leading the procession.
Gunpowder was accordingly distributed among the men of the Company.
That same night the Intsins, equally determined, bivouacked, according
to custom, on the Aboom grounds preparatory to their march into Cape
Coast next morning with Moore leading the procession as Tufuhene. A
curious situation had now arisen in which the Bentsirs, believing the
stand they were taking to be in upholdment of the Governor's ruling,
Which was in favour of Coker and against Moore, exercised not the least
-16-
restraint on themselves; while the Intsins, for their part, felt secure
in their possession of a permit from the S.N.A's office and were
prepared to brave any eventuality. The unconcealed deployment of the
Bentsirs they regarded as sheer intimidation.
Next day, October 1, 1932, in the morning, the grand turn-out of the
Intsins (No.3) took place. The procession took a route leading up
Dawson Hill. Descending the slope on the southern side with Moore at
its head it came into full view of a portion of the Bentsirs deployed
along the drains and side approaches to Jackson Street, hard by the
office of the Political Department. Almost instantaneously, a volley
was fired which missed Moore but killed his bodyguard, a young saxophone
player of the Sugar Babies Orchestra. Thereafter the procession broke
up in disorder, but fighting of a desultory nature occupied the greater
part of the day, more so when other companies in association with Intsin
also turned up with their own allies from the neighbouring towns and
villages, including Mouree.
The fight took place while the Acting Commissioner of the Province, the
Police Commissioner and other senior white officials were standing by
and looking on, some of them exchanging greetings with the rioters as
they passed by. Other ranks of the Cape Coast Police were also present,
but only as spectators and did not interfere. But in the night when all
the rioters were expected to be asleep, the Police swooped down upon
their quarters and herded them off to the Station. This continued all
the next day, and when accommodation could not be had in Cape Coast for
the hundreds that were arrested, recourse was had to the Castle at
Elmina, which also soon became packed full of prisoners.
Sentences ranging from fines of a few pounds to imprisonment with hard
labour for various terms up to two years were passed on those who were
arrested and tried, very few indeed escaping conviction. One person
only - Kabinku by name - was charged with murder, but he was acquitted
and discharged after trial. George Moore, the principal figure in the
riot, received a sentence of one year and six months for having provoked
it. This sentence was, on appeal, was reduced to one of twelve months
imprisonment with hard labour.
*******
INDEX
Abakuja 3
Abirompon 3
Aboom 14
Abura 3
Abura Kukuada 12
Ackon, Captain Kwa 12
Ackon, Kwa 13
Aggrey I, King 2
Akrampa 3-5
Amanfur 3
Amissah, King Kofi 11
Amoah, Chief Kofi 11
Anarfu 1, 11-12
Anarfu (No.2 Company) 10
Arshell 12
Asafu 4
Ashanti 6
Assin Fosu 6
Atsiku 4
Awotwi, Captain Kwamina 12
Awotwi, Kwamina 13
Banyi, Kweku 6
Barter 4
Barter, Thomas Edward 3
Battle of Elmina, 1774, 5
Bentsir 2, 11, 13
Bentsir (No.1 Company) 10
Bights, The 3
Birempon Kojo 2
Bonsasu 5
Bosman 3
Brofu-mba 2
Brofu-nkuwa 2
Brofunkuwa 3
Brofunkwa 11
Cape Coast 4
Cape Coast, Battle of 6
Cape Coast, Great Oath of 11
Claridge 6
Coker 14
Coker, Chief 13
Collings, Mr Justice W.B. 13
Cudjoe Caboceer 2
Danes 3
Dodowa, Battle of 6, 10
Domkodu, Battle of 6
Efutu 2
Efutu,, Kingdom of 10
Erskine, Ensign 5
Ewusi, Tom 3
Fort Carolusburg 2
Fort Fredricksborg 3
Fort William 6
Ghana 4
Gold Coast 4
Gold Coast Artillery Corps 6
Guinea 3
Hill, Stephen John 11
Igwaa Wukuda 11
Intsin 2, 11, 13
Jukwa 10
Jukwa, Battle of 6
Katamansu 6
King Aggrey I 2
King, Private 12
Kumasi 6
Macarthy, Brigadier-General Sir Charles 4
Macarthy, Sir Charles 5
Manfway 6
Moore, George 14
Moore, George Edward 13
Morgue, James 5
Mouree 13
mulattoes 4
Nkotum 2
Nkum 2-4, 11, 13
Nkum Akrampa 4
Nsamankow, Battle of 5
Oguaa 2
Orde, Major 11
Pra 6
Prahsu 6
Royal African Colonial Corps 5
Royal Cape Coast Militia 5
Royal Marines 6 Sam's Hill 6
Saniez, John 12
Saphohins 7
Siwudu 12
Slater, Sir Alexander Ransford 14
Smith's Tower 6
Supi 7
Tetsi, Battle of 6
The Bights 3
Thomas, Hugh Whitelegge 13
Tsin 3
Tufuhene 13-14
Volunteer Company 5
Volunteers 4
Wheeler, Private 12
Wood, Colonel Evelyn 6
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