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

MURDER ON THE HIGH SEA.

At the Liverpool Anizes, Edward Cooper, 33, a sailor, a
dark-complexioned man, with black hair and moustache,
was indicted for having, on the high seas, on the 24th April,
on board a British ship called the Cold-beck, murdered
Edward Jones.

Mr. M`Connell appeared for the proseoution, and at the
request of his lordship Mr. Potter undertook thedefence.
The prisoner was an able-bodied seaman onboard the
Coldbeck, and deceased was boatswain on board the
same ship. The vessel was on a voyage from Liver-
pool to Valparaiso, having left this port some
the spring of this year. On the 20th April she was op
this side of Cape Horn, but before that date it mci-
peered there had arisen some ill-feeling between the
prisoner and the deceased. During the voyage
former was seen to have in his possession a revolver,
which was not his own, but he had taken from the box
of another seaman' named Gibson. The weapon
was six-chambered, and each chamber was
loaded, and the prisoner was cautioned as to the danger
of having such a weapon in his possession. Nothing
occurred between the 20th and the 24th; but on that
day, towards the evening, the deceased and others of
the sailors were in the forecastle having tea, when
the boatswain sung out, "Loosen the middle mizen
staysail." He also shouted, "Hoist the sail," and
called out, "Cooper, where are you ? " The prisoner
called out he was having his tea, and the deceased
replied that it would be time enough to have his tea
when he (the boatswain) bad his. The prisoner and de-
ceased then went aft, and some words were heard to
pass between them, indicating that they were
quarrelling. Ultimately the deceased said to the
I prisoner, you have been playing long enough
about the deck. Come here now and fight it out."
It does not Seem, however, that there were any blows
or fighting, but immediately after these words the
prisoner was seen to go forward and come back aft
with something in his hand. He went up to the
deceased and was seen to hold out his hand towards
him, and an explosion of a pistol was beard. The
deceased fell, and when taken up he was found to
have a shot wound in the breast, from the effects of
--which he died in a very short time. When this had
taken place the prisoner went to another part of the
ship, and was seen sitting over a fire holding his
thumb, and when asked about it he said that the
deceased had cut him before he drew the pistol. It was
found that his thumb was cut, but no knife was seen
in the hand of the deceased. Afterwards the revolver
was found on a shelf in the forecastle, one of the
barrels being empty and evidently recently discharged.
Mr. Potter, on behalf of the prisoner, recognised the
fact. that the deceased stood in the relation of a
superior officer to Cooper, and said that the deceased
would have been entitled to respect and obedience had
he kept his place, and behaved towards the prisoner
as he ought to have done; but this he did not do by
challenging the prisoner to come out and fight with
- him. That was not the way in which the relationship
which ought to exist between a superior officer and an
able seamen was to be maintained. Mr. Potter then
proceeded to urge that it was almost conceded that
the deceased had used a knife, and that if the prisoner
did use the pistol in self defence, the crime was no
more than manslaughter.
His lordship, in slimming up, said the main question
was whether the shot had been fired by the prisoner
under circumstances which would reduce the offence to
one of manslaughter. Having explained the bearing
of the law upon such cases, he said the jury would have
to say whether the act was committed in hot blood and
after sufficient provocation, or was an act of revenge.
His lordship then reviewed the history of the case as
given in evidence. In conclusion his lordship said that
if the boatswain had no knife and inflicted no wound
upon the prisoner, there was no pretence whatever for
reducing the crime to manslaughter. If, however' the
jury were of opinion that the boatswain made a deadly
attack upon the prisoner, and put him in danger of life
or limb, and if under the apprehension of danger and
I in the heat of anger the prisoner fired the pistol, the
I crime would be manslaughter.

some time in-1 ex,

The jury retired at half-past three o'clock, and after
an absence of an hour and five minutes returned into
court, when the foreman announced a verdict of wilful
murder, with a recommendation to mercy.

His lordship then assumed the black cap, and passed
sentence of death in the ordinary manner—ignoring
the recommendation of the jury, to which it was re-
mazked he made no allusion whatever —in some few
remarks which he addressed to the prisoner on the
enormity of the offence, to the commission of which
he had been led by giving wag to a spirit of insubor-
dination and revenge.

, voyage. the-I