The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1875-08-21 00:00:00

A SINGULAR AFFAIR.
At

the Liverpool assizes, John Armstrong was placed at
the liar charged with the wilful murder of Lawrence
Harrington on board a British ship, in the river Bonny, in
Africa, on the 4th of May last. Mr. Foard conducted the
prosecution ; Mr. Cottingham defended the prisoner. The
case is thus reported in The Times :—.

It appeared that the deceased man and the prisoner
were the captain and mate of the ship, or hulk, the
Kent, a depot ship of the African Steamship Corn- 1
pany, stationed in the river Bonny, on the Gold
Coast. On the evening of the 4th of May the Kent
was moored in the river with her head up stream,
about seven miles from the month of the river, and five"'
miles from its bank on the port side, and I mile on
the starboard. side. At a quarter past six that even-
ing a ship called the Bonny, was moored close alongside
the Kent, on her port side, with her stem within 20ft.
of the stem of the Kent, and her stern projecting some
401 t.. beyond her stern. Before that evening the priv
saner and deceased had not quarelled, as far as was
known; but, on the contrary, were friendly, and had
their photographs taken together that afternoon, and
they had been together on board the Kent in com-
pany with the captain and some others from the
Boniiy very shortly before the occurrence consti-
tuting the charge of murder against the prisoner.
The deceased saw the people back again on board
the Bonny, and returned to his own ship, the Kent,
and the prisoner then went on board the Bonny, and
saw-her captain, Captain Sullvian, and then returning
to the Kent, apparently in a very bad humour, he was
beard to say, if I don't do the -, he'll do me,"
and that he had "seen Sullivan and Moore and the
other chaps, and he would put an end to it." The
deceased tried to quiet him by saying that he (the
deceased) was the only person he need mind in the
river Bonny, and then, taking his concertina, went to
the stern cf the vessel, where he stood talking with
Captain Sullivan on the Bonny, leaning on
the taffrail, the ships being only a short distance
apart. Captain Sullivan left the side of his ship
to make some inquiries about the time of her leaving,
and the prisoner, who had come up and was stand-
ing about a foot behind the deceased, took him by
the neck and the seat of his trousers and threw, him
head foremost overboard into the river, exclaiming
as he was falling, that "it served him - well right."
The Kent was about 22ft. out of the water, and
the deceased fell first with his shoulder against the
quarter-gallery of the ship, and then, rebounding, struck
with his head against the gunwale of the boat, and
sank, and was never seen again, and the witnesses who
saw the occurrence said that if he had ever risen he
must have been seen by them. Two boats were imme-
diately put out to look for him, but in vain, and as a
quantity of blood marked the gunwale of the boat
where the man's head had struck, and the river was run-
ning at a speed of four or five knots an hour, and was
moreover, ku o wn to be f ul 1 of sharks,it was concluded that
he must have perished. There was considerable evidence
that the prisoner was drunk upon that evening, although
it was a little contradictory as to the extent to
which the drunkenness went, and all the witnesses
spoke to his being excited and strange in his manner.
Although it was suggested in cro,s-examination that
the deceased, Captain Harrington, was addicted to
drink, the witnesses proved that he was sober upon
that occasion. The prisoner was put into irons, and very
shortly fell asleep, and he slept for five or six hours.
When he awoke he appeared to have forgotten what
had happened and wanted to be told what he had done
that he should be put in irons.

This was the case for the prosecution, and upon it
it was submitted for the prisoner that the Kent being
a hulk only had ceased to be a British ship and be-
come, in fact, a floating warehouse; and further that
the offence was not completed on board ship, Captain
Harrington having met with his death by drown-
ing, even assuming that there was sufficient proof
oi the corpus delicti, and of death having resulted
at all. His Lordship overruled these points, how-
ever, and stated that the rule with regard to the
proof of the corpus delicti necessitated caution only,
and he should tell the jury to act with caution in say-
ing whether they were satisfied that Captain Harring-
ton had really perished. The learned counsel then
contended to the jury that there was a possibility that
he had not perished, but had been picked up in some
craft in the river; but principally, that the prisoner's
mind had never contemplated the death of the
deceased, but that it was in such a condition re-
sulting from drink as to be incapable of distinguish-
ing right from wrong. He commented upon the
prisoner's good character, as to which be called
witnesses, and upon the impossibility of his meditating
the death of one who was in reality one of his best
friends and he also threw out to the jury the possi-
bility Of Captain Harrington's death having been the
result of pure accident, in the shape of the prisoner in
a drunken state having reeled against him when leaning
over: the taffrail.

His Lordship then summed up very fully, and the
jury found the prisoner Guilty of manslaughter, and he
was accordingly sentenced to twenty years' penal
servitude.