It must also be kept in mind that the pardoning power of the commandant did not extend to cases of treason or murder--a witchcraft trial being generally one for murder,--and that he was expressly forbidden to interfere with the customs and laws, or go counter to the prejudices, of the inhabitants.
At this time the Creoles were smitten by a sudden epidemic of fear that their negro slaves were trying to bewitch and poison them.

Several of the negroes were seized and tried, and in June two were condemned to death.

One, named Moreau, was sentenced to be hung outside Cahokia.

The other, a Kaskaskian slave named Manuel, suffered a worse fate.

He was sentenced "to be chained to a post at the water-side, and there to be burnt alive and his ashes scattered." [Footnote: The entries merely record the sentences, with directions that they be immediately executed.
But there seems very little doubt that they were for witchcraft, or voudouism, probably with poisoning at the bottom--and that they were actually carried out.