EVEN IN the colonial Jamaica of 1921 the blatant action of Magistrate Burke in convicting and sentencing the followers of Bedward's followers was not allowed to stand. It was considered too much of a blot on British justice. The Governor issued a pardon, the people were released from jail after a few days and later the Supreme Court quashed the convictions thus cleansing the system. The offending magistrate had been soundly rebuked, if not in words then certainly in action.
But Bedward himself as we saw earlier was declared a mad man and confined accordingly. The grounds on which he was so certified appeared to be no less shaky than those on which his followers had been convicted earlier.
Public sentiment, especially in the Corporate Area, was apparently substantially against Bedward and this made it easier for the authorities to conveniently put him away. But was he mad in the clinical sense? We get some insight from the report of a member of the Board of Visitors of the asylum, T.M. Martin, published in The Gleaner of July 6, 1921. Mr. Martin explained that he had visited the institution on June 28.
Taken by a warder to see Bedward this is how the encounter was reported:
Warder: "This is Mr. Martin, one of our Government visitors. Don't you know him?"
Bedward: "I can't say I do". When reminded that the visitor was Martin of Martin and Spicer in Harbour Street Bedward said: "Oh yes, now I know, now I remember the name quite well." In other words he knew of the visitor.
Asked how he was, Bedward replied: "Very well sir!"
In response to questions about his origin and life Bedward, then 71 years old, stated that he was born at Hope. As a youth he cultivated a piece of ground in the area but later found employment on the Mona estate, the property of a Mr. Louis Verley. His first boss was a Mr. Pine. He worked his way up from a cart driver to a ploughman to Headman.
Bedward said he then went to Colon for two years during which he had a vision in which he was bidden to return to Jamaica and preach the gospel. "I did, and that's how I started my religion and it grew and grew and you must have heard what a large congregation I had."
Bedward went on to explain that after returning to Jamaica he lived in August Town on land belonging to his wife for 33 years "before they sent me here."
Martin then went on to question Bedward about his alleged claim to be the son of God and that he would be taken up to Heaven on the last day of 1920 and whether he did not agree that "this is nonsense."
Was most of this true or was it mostly slander and misreported facts? Let us hear Bedward's explanation: "I never told them that. I told them that I had the spirit of Jesus in me and it was that spirit that would ascend and not my body. If I had said my body that certainly would have been nonsense." People, he asserted, had misunderstood.
He said he had not invited anybody to give up their possessions and ascend with him. What he told them to give up were their sinful ways. Whatever money that was brought in was ordered distributed to the very poor.
Wealthy
Bedward firmly denied that he was wealthy; on the contrary he did not have a bank account and was a poor man. He claimed that he had attempted to get himself and two of his elders appointed Marriage Officers but the request had been denied and when two people had been sent to argue the matter with the Governor he was alleged to have told them that shouldn't bother him as their leader, Bedward, would soon be hanged.
Contrary to what might have been expected under the circumstances Bedward seemed to have held no hard feeling towards anyone, or if he did he carefully concealed it. This is according to the story, how the encounter ended: "Now that you are here, how do you feel?" Bedward: "I feel very fine. I eat well and I sleep well". As to whether he was concerned at his position, Bedward replied: "Not at all. I have been sent here and here I must remain and be content until the Lord shall see fit to gather me into his bosom."
Mr. Martin's conclusion was: "Now that I have seen Bedward I am not at all surprised at the power which he wielded over those ignorant and superstitious people!"
Perhaps a reasonable observation for Mr. Martin, but one which might be made of almost any religious movement!
By C. Roy Reynolds
Contributor
