The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-11-17 00:00:00

ROBBERY AND HORRIBLE BRUTALITY ON
BOARD AN AMERICAN SHIP

On Saturday Mr. Mansfield was engaged nearly the
whole of the day in investigating a charge preferred agaieSt'
the three principal officers of the Ocean Alonarc The
which
recently arrived in this port from New York. case
had been partially heard on a previous day, but as
question arose as to the power of the magistrate to interfere:
the ship being an American vessel, and the crew entered
as American citizens, it was adjourned until the above daft
when it was decided to proceed with the bearing. 111,1;
parties accused are William Da Courcy, the chief mao
the
who had the sole management of the ship durin ate,
Charles
voyage, and who calls himself an Englishman ;
Woodward, the second mate, supposed to be an American ;
and William Miller, the fourth mate, stated to be a SoPteb;
man. The parties were charged with plundering the ore f
of all their money and clothes, end with various-ear acts f
cruelty to them on the voyage. Mr. Snowball apped.te
conduct the prosecution, while Mr. Aspinall, instructed Did
Mr. Bremner, appeared for the prisoner De Cour* ts
Mr. Cross for 'Woodward and Miller. After the 'fr.;
argument had been settled, and Mr. Mansfield had decide;
upon going into the charges preferred, the first. Witlioeo
called was one of the crew, William M'Gill, who sad it
the first day that we got to sea the two mates,
Woodward, knocked me down on the deck, and, aft
kicking him in various parts of the body, robbed hi°, 4.,
seventeen dollars, some pieces of gold coin, and some eilv`;o
They took him out of the forecastle into the ola_a
hatch, Where he was thrown down. Miller gave Woodwroa'i
alnife, with which he cut the pocket containing al° in?: he
out of his pants, and then threatened to cut his throat. to,
said a word about it. During the remainder of the *°Yrugi
he, as well as all the others of the crew, were dread sear
treated, but were afraid of making any, complaints for „'OOl
of being thrown overboard. When they came to Livery
Miller it
they had to lay nine days in the river, After the ship was
moored, Miller and Woodward came into the fotre„c3toolt
De Courey stood at the door, and, by his orders, tueJThey•
away all his clothes of any value, and took them hale
robbed the whole of the crew of everything they dered,
were all afraid to complain, for fear of being ir:V,r,,, but
From the time we left New York there was et"' and
rows on board ; the prisoners were always be did vot.,
kicking the sailors till they were insensible of
know what they were about. A great number ot u•-, king
were called to corroborate the above facts, as to the to
of the clothes while the.ship was in the river, but, eti"Wer
to stay, although they all agreed as to the maid faeAt9' jae,
disagreed as to the time the robbery was cocareitte'.of the
tectivo officers Cousins and Scat, who had ebare -,, spa
case, next produced a very large quantity of wearicb yea
parel, which had been found is the possession of the ,ti to
prisoners when they went and searched the ship. Lived
property so found was identified by the sailors, each 0 y:, to
stated that it had been taken from them by farce, by etal
three risoners, but, in cross-examination, three Via,Sutelslll6
discrepancies in their statements—not two givirg behalf"'l
version. Mr. Aspinall briefly addressed the bench on so
of his client, and contended that it was the cnston on 6.‘:),.srs
American ships for the officers to take away the sa`'`
clothing when they entered a port, for the purpose of PI;
'venting them from leaving the ship ; and argued that t'ai
evidence of the witnesses was so contradictory, that it lf,et,
impossible to be relied on, and that no jury could corto
on such evidence ; therefore, he called upon the ben°. are
discharge them. Mr. Mansfield said : Certainly, theo,ifit.
so many discrepancies in the statements made by the he
nesses, that no jury could possibly convict; therefigy,,,,
felt bound to discharge them on the charge of roD,DtTat
But he could not help expressing it as his opiniovA thiS
there had been some most disgraceful scen6s on board,•eria
ship. There seems to have been nothing blf,„„Pitihney Fr;
from the time they left New York until 00 "/„„—s-tthiS lira'
into the river. Such was most disgraceful; ,""Amssica*
not a single case, for there was scarcely a alrgle,—gid trie
ship that came, but there was a similar complaintl:t sitert
surgeon of the hospital, had informed binif "^-- OW
establishment
et least, one case every week brought to
_,,,e.
from cruel treatment and brutal us!`e,ao
It was very disgracsful, and he did hope that the Araeltib
authorities would direct their serious attention to the sub'
jest, with a view of remedying the evil. The tobeli
charge had failed, therefore, on that account, the Prred to,
must be discharged. Mr. Snowball said he was Prer:o6oo
go on with the assault cases, of which the.re c:iat the
distinct charges, in all of which he should pro" ,"1,13001
prisoners had taken a part. (Some of the itsl4l.oBo
with which the poor fellows had been tortured asu.,‘ 00
were produced in court, and more formidable weal:l%ok
scarcely be imagined.) The pilot, who was on c:".. PO
having stated as his opinion that the vessel w—Jeld
moored within thejurisdiction of the borough, afr• gen- PP
• ;gra ~
decided upo.n sending the case before the County Aft'g.„l thw
day,
the prisoners were consequently remanded uw"befot4
when the charges of assault will be gone jot° 004
thaey'County Magistrates. From what transpired at the
sif
hearing, evidence will be given of such brutal corld,"' wito
perhaps wal never before heard f ' deed, one of tue„isee
nesses will state that he was ega—girld as the foorthi:6o
but was
witha_alsrsaltiendg
l becauseot ast] he refusedwen teo. knock
,iireuraillgjfin:gtesi:
being an essential qualification fora outgammagatuepof _ii.ti Ansert
Wessel. _

MYSTERIOUS

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