The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1876-05-27 00:00:00

THE " CASWELL."

On Monday the examination of the Greek sailor Christi)
Bombos' charged with the murder of the master and officers
of the bark Caswell, wee commenced before the magistrates
at Q ieerattown. Mr. G:ffman, Crown Solicitor, appeared hr
the prosecuiion. The prisoner was defended by Mr.
O'Connell, vilicitor, instructed by the Greek Consul, Mr.
Jourdi. Mr. Joseph C artwright, of London, who appeared as
interpreter on the trial of the Lennie mutineers, was sworn
as intepreter in this case. The evidence of Peter Macgregor,
carpenter of the Caswell, occupied the entire day, and is thus
reported in The Times of Tuesday :

- He shipped in the veseel when she went from Glas-
gow on the 29th of June, and remained in her through-
ou!-. In reference to the murder be states that on the
morning of the 4th of January be saw the captain
on the poop. He was going forward with a puce of
marlin in his hand in the direction where George Peno
was working in the rigging on the starboard side. The
captain began to show him with his fingers how to
work the piece of marlin, and B jumped
down George
down fe orn the main rail to where the captain was
standing. He threw his left hand acrati the captain's
breast and with his risht hand cut the captain
across the stomach. The captain cried out, "My
God, my God !" three times. Then Jceeph Pas-
torie ran from the wheel with a revolver in his
hand, and the boy Macdonald went to the wheel.
The captain was bleeding, and his stomach was hang-
ing out. All the Greeks and Maltese then rushed for-
ward. Witness saw a knife in the prisoner's hand.
The brothers Pastorie had each a revolver, and Big
George and Nicholas knives. Joseph Pastorie shot the
captain in the head. The witness saw Joseph, Big
George, Ni .holas, and Bombos running on the poop,
Bombos with a knife in his hand, ran to the port side
of the hatch. He heard Joseph call the steward, who
was below, and the steward, in answer to the call came
up, and Joseph shot him through the head as he came
on the deck. The steward ran round the companion,
followed by George, who caught him by the hair of
the head and stabbed him several times while Gaspar
Pastorie shot him at the same time in the side
from his revolver, and Big George stabbed him
in the body with the knife. Then witness saw the
second mate, M'Lean, run off the poop. Bombos
was standing at the booby hatch, and as the second
mate passed him he struck him twice with the knife in
the back. The second mate ran forward to the
main hatch, where John Dunne was standing, and
then saw Bombos go across to where the captain
was lying, and make two drives with his knife at his
body. The captain seemed to be alive at the time. Wit-
ness saw blood flowing from the wounds of the second
mate. Dunne took off his scarf and tied the second mate's
arm; while he lwas doing so, Big George, Nicholas,
Jasper, Joseph, and Bonshos, the prisoner, ran forward
towards the second mate. The latter drew his arm away
from Danne, and he closed his door. They ran forward
past m.y window, and witness heard cries of "Oh, dear,
oh, dear," three or four times. The mate was followed by
the foreigners, who were armed with revolvers and
knives. The cries ceased, and in a short time after-
wards Big George and Bombos came to the door of
witness's house, crying out, "Carpenter, carpenter,"
They tried to force in the door, but they did not suc-
ceed. Bombos looked in through the port and en-
deavoured to push it in. The two Maltese afterwards
joined Big George and Bombos, and a consultation
followed in their own language. _They then went
away. After some time elapsed witness opened the
door and went across the main hatch in order to give
himself up to die with the rest. The four bodies were
then ranged across the main hatch, and the Greeks
were standing by. The bodies were tied about a
fathom apart, with a rope, and at the end of the
rope a stream anchor was atttached. Joseph told
witness to go down on his knees in the blood of the
victims, and he had to swear that he would hel,p
them to the beet of his ability. Joseph struck him
three times on the head with his heel, making use
at the same time of the words, "You- black son
of a—." The bodies were then thrown overboard.
The second mate and the captain appeared to be stilt
alive. After they were thre-wn. overboard the anchor
broke away, and the dead bodies floated on the surface
past the stern of the ship. Joseph gave us 'orders to
wash down the decks. Big George, Jasper, and
Borobos painted out the name of the Caswell from the
stern and fore part of the vessel, and also out of the
small boats. There was no name substituted. Witness
was ordered after that to go into the galley by Joseph,
who was the only foreigner who could speak English
well. Jasper threw overboard all the ware which
bore the name of the Caswell. Nicholas, Big George,
Jasper, and Joseph slept in the cabin afterwards, and
Bornbos, the prisoner, slept in the forecastle. Everyone
gave orders, but Joseph was the spokesman. Joseph
said they were going to Valparaiso, and in a few
days afterwards he said they were going to Buenos
Ayres, as Jasper's wife was living there. Jasper one
day came to the galley and advised him not to fall
asleep as Big George wanted to kill him and thee English
and to go ashore as shipwrecked seamen. In about a
fortnight after that, when they were at Cape Town,
Joseph came to the galley and asked if he had an axe.
He said he had not. Dunne was in the galley at the
time. Witness was frightened Joseph was going to
kill him. When the ship got off the River Plate the
two Maltese left. They carried away in the long boat
six bags of ship's property, a compass, and a musket,
and offered to take a letter to the authorities of Rio in
order to send out assistance. The Maltese left the ship
about the 19111 of February. It was the appren-
tice M'Donald who wrote out the statement. The
witness went on to say that Jasper had stated
the Greeks would land at the other side of the River
Plate. Nicholas was navigating the vessel at this time
with the assistance of Carrick, but after the Maltese
left the ship Carrick was not consulted except when
the Greeks found themselves in a difficulty. The wit-
ness then related the incidents that occurred imme-
diately preceding the second occurrence, which he fixed
on the 12th of March. On the 9thßig George threatened
him with a knife which be drew across his throat in a
menacing way. On the same evening Big George threw
hot rice over the witness's face, and on the next day
the Greeks threw pea soup at them. This was done,
witness believed, for the purpose of aggravating them.
On the night of the 10th of March, while wit-
ness was keeping the look-out, Big George came
to him and said he would "romper" him with his knife
if he did not keep a better look-out. He drew the
the knife across his breast. Witness went forward,
and told Carrick and the boy M'Donald, who were in
the forecastle, that he believed the Greeks were going
to murder them. It was Carrick'a watch below.
Dump was at the wheel at this time. Witness told
Camels to arm, and he went to a box and got the adze.
Witness went to the galley and got the axe. They
went aft to the poop, and as they did so saw Big
George coming towards them with a knife in his hand.
They met at the mizzen rigging. He was making at
witness when the latter struck him with the axe in
the head, and he fell. A noise was heard below, and
Carrick, followed by the witness, ran down into the
cabin. Carrick attacked Bombes and witness
attacked Nicholas in the state-room. Nicholas fired
at witness. A struggle ensued. Carrick gave
Nicholas a "lick." 'Nicholas staggered, and as he
was falling witness gave him another. blow. It was
dark when witness got on deck. Big George was
rising with the knife in his hand, and Dunne struck
him on the back of the head. • Bambos was on deck
bleeding. He VIM taken into the carpenter's house,
and everything that could be done was done for him.
Big George and Nicholas died of their wounds two
hours afterwards. Christo afterwards stated that the
intention of the Greeks was to take the ship to Samos,
and try and sell her and the cargo quietly to a Greek
merchant. If they did not succeed in that they in-
tended to return, kill the English and sink the ship.
After the Greeks were killed Carrick took charge and
navigated her to this port.
The prisoner, who said nothing, was remanded.

The inquiry into the charge of murder preferred again at
the Greek sailor, Chrbstos Bamboo, in c,onnex'on with the
mutiny on board the British ship Castvell, was resumed at
Queenstown on Tuesday.—The following account of the pro-
ceedings Ls taken from The Time of Wednesday :

Peter Macgregor, the carpenter, was cross:examined by
Mr O'Connell —Of the foreigners chipped at Buenos Ai res,
onr
gboo aro
alb,
ea nodn tbhoeanr d ttho.e
Nicholas Maltese. WTash e tphrel sflornsetr wahnod cßairng "G
eo
gether. Witness believed there was some difference between
the Captain and the Engl'sh crew at Buenos Ayre..
There were some words between them, and Carrick,
Dunne, and Rooke were put in iron.. On thatcaoptc:ian.
slot] Dunne received a wound in the head' that was before
be was put in irons. The wound was caused by the
with his iCiton. Rooks was kept in irons for seven days,
Carrick four days, and Dunne abut Fix days. Witness be-
lieved the captain was afraid to release the men all at once.
lie did not know that the reason for their being But in
irons was that they wanted to go ashore to see the Consul.
To witness's knowledge the foreigners did not, shortly after
they came on board, make complaints of the treatment
they received and the food they got. The food they
signed articles for was served out, and even mote than
the allowance. We did not hear until the previous day that

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