The Express.
London, England, 1864-01-15 00:00:00

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TEM Emma% DONNA DIANA.—And HARLEQUIN
LITTLE TOY TUCKER. Messrs. Berton, Cathcart, A. sad C.
Leclerc% Halloo and Sou, Who% Naylor. and Chapin°
Mecham Rama. Adams. and Howard.

LYCII7X.

Dna Zeman. THZ 1,014 T CHILD. Mr. Hiddlcornb and
Min P. Leelereq.—llll, DIZONIO. • Love Mom Moan.
Feeble?, Stough's'. Charles, and Jordan ; Mimes
Terry, Lemon, end r P , 'sad Kra Lee.

BRITAMR.A.

TaD Earitsa. the New Pantomime HICKORY. DICKORY,
DOCK. lira S. Lane and ant.rate Pantom Marvels
of Peru.—THE GREAT GHOST gerecr.—Arthur and Bertrand.
—The Fairy Fountain. And THE GORILLA HUNT.

NIGH WATER AT LONDON BILDON.
TEI DAY Nandi& ea. Ifte AO•Twee,
To:NOLIDO Noma& Th. Cm AfAuseem. 7h. ~uoa.

LONDON, FRIDAY, JANUARY 15.

The daring case of piracy on board the Flowery
Land brought out in evidence before Mr. HENRY,
at the Bow-street Police-court, reads more like a
page from the history of the savage bravadoes that
were the terror of the Mediterranean in the
Middle Ages, or the marine bandits which still
infest the China seas, than the story of an
English vessel that cleared with her crew from
the Port of London scarce six months ago. It is
difficult to imagine the mental state of darkness
and brutality which this atrocious and complicated
crime reveals. It seems almost impossible at this
time of day for any man, much less any company
of men, to believe, as these men evidently did be-
lieve, that such desperate acts of robbery and
murder could be committed on the high seas with
impunity ; that they could kill in cold blood
the captain and as many of the crew as refused to
share their enterprise, seize the valuables on board,
scuttle the vessel within sight of land, and after
landing with their plunder on the adjacent shore,
permanently escape all inquiry or pursuit by
means of a few incoherent and palpable falsehoods.
In this point of view the story is an instructive one,
as helping to throw some light on the unsuspected
depths of savage barbarism and almost incredible
brutality among the lower sea-faring and refusu
population close to our ows dnors.

Tha Vessel Flowery Laud 'ailed from London,
with 19 seamen on board, on the 28th of last
July, bound for Singapore. The crew was sin-
gularly polyglot, there being, besides Englishmen
and Scotchrueu, a Malay, two Chinese, two
(;reeks, seven Spaniards, one Austrian, and a
Frenchman. The scenes of violence and blood
afterwards enacted on board were no doubt in part
due to this composite character of the crew, the
Greeks and two of the Spanish sailors having
apparently originated the piratical attempt, and
become ringleaders of the gang who carried it into
execution. After the sailing of the vessel all
went well for upwards of a month, but about the
Ist of September one of the Greeks, CARLOS,
showed signs of a mutinous disposition, and re-
fused his turn at the watch under pretence of
being sick. Eventually he was forced on deck by
the mate and boatswain, and temporarily lashed to
the rigging by the mate's orders. He was soon,
however, liberated by the captain and sent below
again, so that in this instance he wee cer-
tainly not treated with any special hardship.
It seems, indeed, from his subsequent
conduct, that this man purposely behaved
in a sullen and disorderly manner in
order to provoke the officers of the ship, and thus
have some pretext for the bloody plot he and some
of his associates wore maturing. Soon after
this, accordingly, this same man, having picked a
quarrel with one of the Spanish sailors, was fight-
ing on deck, when the mate again interfered, and
struck him. A few days later the plot was carried
into execution, the mate being struck down on
deck at midnight, the captain murdered in his
berth, and his brother, who was a passenger on
board, covered with wounds and cruel blows as he
attempted to ascend the companion. On that
night, the 10th of September, WILLIAM TAPYIR, the
boatswain, whose evidence in court yesterday re-
vealed the whole story, was on deck from eight till
twelve, taking the first watch. All was quiet
when he went below, but about three o'clock he
was awakened by a noise on deck, as if people
were beating heavily on the companion. He at
once tried to get on deck, but found the way
blocked by the body of a man whom a number of
persons were beating with handspikes. The ter-
rible sequel may be told in his own language
" I trio: all I could to draw the man down from
" the ladder, but could not move him. I called
"to the captain for help, but got no answer. I
" went to his berth ;he was not there. I came
" back to the main cabin and found him lying dead
"in a pool of blood on the floor. I trimmed the
" lamp, as the light was dim, and saw that his
" shirt was cut with knives. He was in his night-
" dress. I went to his brother's berth, and found
" him gone too. I then went to the companion,
" and found that the man lying there was the
" captain's brother. I went to my berth and shut
" myself in." He remained shut in three-quarters
of an hour, and the horror of his situation,
expecting every moment to share the captain's
fate, may be easily imagined. At length one of
the gang who spoke English called him to come on
deck, promising be should not be murdered. They
wanted him iu fact to navigate the vessel to some
place where they might be put on shore. This be
undertook to do in order to save his life, diesem-
bliug, it may be supposed, as well as he could, his'
horror of the bloody deed of the gang around him.