The Express.
London, England, 1866-04-13 00:00:00

TM DISTIJRBANCES IN JAMAICA.

(nom OUR Bram!, cosaurosmorr.)
SPANISH TOWN, Kowa 24.
The inquiries conducted by Mr. Hanle in St.
Thomas-in-the-East, lasted five days, two of
which were occupied at Monklands, one at Little
Kill, one at Golden Grove, and the fifth at Morant
Bay. A great deal of the evidence which was
taken was confined to the identification of per-
sona whose deaths had already been proved ; but,
in addition to this, it was shown that, in the dis-
trict traversed by the learned Commissioners,
thirty negroes had been hung or shot, beyond
the number previously ascertained. Some of the
cases were as bad as any of those which I have
already recorded. A sexton, named Joshua
Francis, who was going home with the keys of the
church in kis hand, was met by the soldiers, and was
immediately shot down in the road. A black man
named Shannon, who had for some time been too un-
well to do anything more than occasionally work in his
provision ground, 'was shot by two soldiers at the
I door of his hut. It is said that the perpetrators of
this act of violence, when they were informed that
their victim had for a long time been an invalid,
had the grace to express their regret for the murder
which they had committed. No such tardy repent-
'Nate Is, howeviapwoorded the part of those
[ who shot a blind man, and then set fire to his
[ dwelling, and allowed his body to be half-consumed
by the flames. All these disgraceful acts were at-
trilmited by the witnesses to soldiers of the 6th Regi-
ment. An old man named Cherington, who lived at
Fonthill, was shot while shaving himself. After the
departure of Lieutenant Adcock from Leith Hall,
it was occupied by a party of Maroons, and no less
than eight or nine persons appear to have been shot
lin the district by the authority of the officers com-
manding the detachment, who, I need scarcely
observe, were not qualified, either by education or
experience, to act the part of scrupulous or im-
partial judges. They went through the form of
holding courts-martial, but as no record has been
preferred of their proceedings, the only means we
have of knowing what were the charges upon which
the unfortunates whom they executed suffered
death is derived from the evidence given by one of
their number yesterday in Spanish Town. Accord-
inj to his account, theft, Obeshism, and
I the reception of stolen goods, were alike
deemed worthy of the punishment of death ;
but we have no information as to the nature of the
testimony by which these offenoes were brought
home to the persons who suffered for them. Re-
peated complaints have been made as to the con-
duct of special constables, many of whom had, there
is little doubt, been concerned in the disturbances,
and were anxious to avert suspicion from them-
selves by the betrayal of their companions. At
Monklands, two of their number, named Miller
and Lee, were guilty of more than ordinary baseness
in order to obtain prisoners to take in to the troops.
Knowing that a number of negroes were hiding in
the bush, they displayed a white cloth upon a stick,
and having thus lured the too trustful blacks from
their concealment, assured them that there
was to be no more war, but that they
must present themselves to the authorities. Mis-
led by these assurances, twenty-seven per-
sons accompanied the constables to Monk-
binds ; and there is little doubt that several of
them were among the thirteen who were shot there
at the edge of the trench. At the Post-offioe, at
Ironbridge, between Amity-hall and Golden-grove,
those men who had been brought in by constables
were shot by the party under the command of
Ensign Cullen. The evidence of the witnesses
who were examined before Mr. Menlo was that
Mr. Cullen had ordered these men to be flogged,
but that, while the soldiers were making a " eat,"
Dr. Morris whispered something to him, and he
then altered the sentence to one of death.
The men were taken to the other side of the road,
and at once shot. Several cases of severe and brutal
flogging were brought under the notice of the
learned commissioners at Golden-grove. The back
of one man who had received 100 lashes from the
wire cat used at Bath was still dreadfully scarred,
and it was proved that one young woman was
flogged at the same place by order of Mr. Kirkland
when within six weeks of her confinement. She
received 25 lashes. One man who was flogged
at Golden-grove died within ten days of his punish-
ment. There was some miggestion Abet his death
had been caused by the remedies employed to heal
the wounds inflicted by the cat, but his wife and
daughter deposed that all they did was to apply
cold poultices made of sage leaves to his back.
A man named Philippe had stated that Major
Prenderville sentenced him to have thirty-six
lashes, and that after he had received that
number he said that he was innocent, whereupon
the major ordered him a dozen more, which were
immediately inflicted. Major Prenderville now
admitted that this statement wastrue, but defended
his conduct by saying that when the man was
taken down, and before the other prisoners, he
turned round and " in a most impertinent manner
declared he was innocent." In one instance, in
which a man was charged with some slight offence,
it appeared to the major that the accuser was more
guilty than the accused, and he therefore at once
reversed their positions. He had the handcuffs
removed from the wrists of the prisoner to those of
the complainant, whom he ordered to get 48 lashes
" by way of caution."
In addition to one thousand residences burned
I or pulled down there have also been destroyed
28 small mill houses and boiling places, the
property of settlers, and used by them for the
manufacture of sugar from the canes grown in their
ittle fields, six petty shops, and 304 kitchens,
small buildings frequently placed at a short dis-
tance from the better elms of cottages, but built
of the same materials, in which the cooking of the
family is performed. In the majority of instances
these houses were the ordinary cottages of the
negro peasantry, having wattled walls and thatched
roof, and some importance seemed to be attached
by the representative of the local government
before the commissioners that the total estimate
of their value did not amount (including the out-
buildings and some two or three small chapels) to
more than 4,4261., or not quite 41. 10s. each.
This appears a small value, and doubtless in a
pecuniary some the mischief done to the peasantry
by the deatiuction of their little homesteads, in
many instances their own property, is not irrepar-
able ; but viewing the matter from another point of
view, it is impossible to contemplate without a
shudder the misery which must have been caused
by the destreetion, at one of the most inclement
seasons of the year, of the houses which sheltered
a population of probably at least 5,000 persons.

Many of those whose cottages were burned amid
obtain no other shelter, and men, women, and
children alike were compelled io tab refuge in the
bush.