The Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1860-11-13 00:00:00

THE INQUEST

on the body of the decedgecl, which was held at two o'clock,
in the Coronet's Court, before the
.Borough Coroner and a
respectable jury, when the following evidende given :

—Hamilton Parry, the chief male of the jei:einiah
Thompson, said—the deceased, whose name I did not
know, was a sailor on board, and was apparently in good
health. A man named John Keegan was acting as boat-
swain. He came from New York with the ship ; there
was no ill-feeling between deceased and Keegan. About
half-past two o'clock on Sunday I saw the deceased
standing by the water-closet, on the port side, and
he appeared to be trying to vomit. I asked him
what was the matter, but he made no reply,
and
.I thought he was ill from the effects of liquor, and
he fell on the deck. Told one of the men to pick him
up, and I went below. Went in twenty minutes after
to see what the men were doing, when John Keegan
informed me that there was a'retan dead In the forecastle,
and I saw the deceased lying there apparently dead.
Went to look at the medical book, to try if I could do
anything for him, but fOund he was dead. I made
inquiry as to the cause of death, and was informed that
he had fallen down in a fit. I did not hear that there
was any disturbance on board. Some hours after, I was
informed that Keegan had struck deceased. I had pre-
viously ordered the carpenter to make a box tope deceased
in, and I sent the body on shore in a boat that brought some
seamen to the ship. I did not tell the boatmen what
was in the box. I sent this note ashore to Capt. Blake.
I did not mirth the man who had charge of the box to
say it contained dry goods. About seven I heard an
alarm that a man was overboard, and I heard some one
cry out in the water, but did not know who it was. I
hate since missed Keegan, and missed him a quarter of
an hour after the alarm. The deceased was a Malay.
Keegan was a middling-died man, about twenty-five
years of age.
Charles Stephen Martin, second mate of the ship, said
the deceased was a seaman ; he came on board on Satur-
day morning' as a seaman in good health, and continued
his work up to three o'clock, and appeared to be a very
good seaman too. I went aft, and was away about a
quarter of an hour. On my return I found him lying
on the main deck. He was still, and I poured some
water on him, as I thought he was sick from the effects
of liquor, though I had not seen any effects of it about
him. I deft him there for a short time, and then assisted
him into the forecastle. I went to the cook, and got
hot water to bathe his face and breast, and when I
came back I discovered he was dead, and observed
his lips were swelled. I can't say, of my own know-,
ledge, that the man Keegan struck him, but heard
one or two of the men say he did in the first part of the
morning. I did not see a wound behind his ear. I did
not see the body put in the box by the mate, but I gave
it to the boatman and supposed the body was there. I
told the boatman to be very careful of it, and deliver it
safe onshore, as it was a box of dry goods.—Why did
you tell him it was dry goods ?—Because I was afraid
he might refuse to take it on shore. I did not make
any inquiry whether Keegan struck him ornot. Between
seven and eight o'clock the chief mate told me that he
thought Keegan was overboard, but I did not take any
steps to save him. I had no occasion to miss him, and
did not. I did not see or hear a steamer pass at tbat
time.

Michael Mulligan, an able seaman on board the ship,
said—I was acquainted with the deceased for three days,
but did not know his name. I saw the deceased on
Sunday at dinner, and saw him at work before that.
Dined about two o'clock. I saw Keegan strike him with
his fist on the face at the capstan, but he did not falk
from that blow; but he did before. Never saw an
officer of the ship or sailor raise a hand to the deceased
only on that occasion.
John Young, an able seaman, said—l did not know
deceased till yesterday. I did not know Keegan, but
such a man was acting as boatswain. Keegan com-
plained that deceased was rather long at his work, and
called him to the top-gallant forecastle, and set him on
to the capstan, where he took a bar to work, and then
Keegan came behind him and hit him in the face with
his fist and swelled his lip. The capstan bar came out,
deceased fell, but got up again and continued the work.
He went to the forecastle and got a drink, and Keegan
followed him and struck him with his head (butted him
with his head in the forehead), but deceased did not then
fall. Keegan kicked him after that on the thighs, and
struck at him. To the Jury : The witness said the
deceased showed me his lips swelled, but I did not see a
belaying pin used.
Thomas Jones, an able seaman, said,—l saw Keegan
strike deceased once, when he was heaving on the cap-
stan, and called hint -- for being so long over his job.
He fell, as I thought, at the time from the blow. He
fell on his face. Some time after that I saw him kick
deceased in the forecastle. He kicked him about the
thighs. To the jury, he said he was not of opinion the
blows or kicks would cause death. He did not see any
one else strike him.
Joseph Westmoreland gave similar evidence to the
above ; and said,—At night I heard Keegan had gone
overboard, but I did not see him, nor do I know any
who did see him go over board.
Peter Lun. from Mr. John De Costa's shipping office,
Proved that the deceased signed articles in the name of
Henry Hatchway, and the boatswain goes by the name
of John Keegan.
Surgeon M'Caul said—l was called last night, about
ten o'clock, to deceased, and found him dead. There
was a cut and swelling on the upper lip, and there was
a contused wound on the upper part of the head. I
found no marks of violence on the ribs or other parts
of the body. The contusion arose from an extro.vasation
of blood inside the scalp; it extended through the soft
texture to the external surface of the bone. Took off
the skull cap, and found a fracture that penetrated right
through the bone ; the membranes of the brain, in
Contact with it, were congested, but no extravasation of
blood. The cause of death was the fracture of the
skull, the result of external violence. A fall from going
round with the capstan could not produce it, nor could
a blow on the mouth cause it. It must be a heavy blow
from a heavy, blunt instrument that caused it.
To the jury—l think a heavy blow from the fist
would not do it.
William Tenpennay, master of the ferry steamer
James Atherton, said, at twenty minutes to seven last
night I was passing from Liverpool to Egremont, and
on passing the ship I heard a cry for help, but it was
too dark and could not see anything from the water.
Heard cries a second time, and got ready a boat ; and
heard a man cry as if taking in water in his mouth.
Pulled about in the direction of the sound, but was not
able to discover any one in the water.
The Coroner then addressed the jury, recapitulating
the whole of the evidence, and said there was no doubt
the man died from external violence of some sort, and it
Was for them to say by whom and how he got that
violence which caused his death.
The jury at once returned a verdict of
.died from
injuries, but by whom inflicted, or how received, there
was no evidence to show.
It is supposed that the man who was "overboard"
was Keegan, but up to a late hour last night there was
no account of him.