Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-11-30 00:00:00

THE N ORTIiERN TIMES. LIVERPOOL, MON DAT', NOVEMBER 30 1587

are you, and you are going to have me tried for the
Russian's murder when we get to Liverpool ?'' I made
no reply, when he said " I v.ill take good care you don't
reach Liverpool no more than the Russian." Rod erigo had
told me that Captain would kill him before going to
Liverpool.
Mr. Tyndall : For what ?
Mr. Snowball objected, as that would not be evidence.
Mr. Mansfield : You may go into evidence of motive,
Mr. Tyndall.
Witness : I asked him what the captain would kill him
for? He said, "me saw him break Joe's head with the
spy-glass (that was a man named Mitchell, who died previ-
ously)." I knew what he alluded to very well that time.
Deceased said, " The captain afraid me speak to magistrate
'bout it when Igo to Liverpool." Mitchell died previously,
and he declared to me on his death-bed-
Mr. Snowball objected, and stopped the witness.
Witness : Ido of know what the doctors would call the
disease he died of, but he k welled all over awfully, and he
declared to me -
Mr. Snowball again objected.
Mr. Tyndall: Had he any marks on him ?
Mr. Bluck objected to this, as it was not evidence.
Mr. Tyndall wanted to show a motive on the part of the
captain.

The witness then was cross-examined by Mr. Snowball :
—Before deceased told me the motive, I told him the idea
of the captain killing him was nonsense. I can't tell if
there was any one present at that conversation, but
probably there were some men in the forecastle . There
were men named Frank Atkins and David Gileepie there
at the time the remark was made to me. I think they
were turned into hammocks smoking, but I can't swear
positively they were in bed. They were watehmates of
mine. I have not seen any of them here since I came to
Liverpool. The night the mate kicked deceased was
starlight but no moon. Began counting the kicks from
the beginning. Did not count the captain's kicking de-
ceased.
Cross-examined by Mr. Bluck :—I can't see very well,
as I am near sight d for small objects. I can see you
ve y well from this. I came here on a Monday, and went
first to the Spanish Consul and lost a day finding him
out. He told me I must go to the magistrate, and 1 went
to look for Mr. Clough. Went to the Consul on the
Tuesday, and to the police on the Wednesday. I met
the captain in the street the evening of the day I arrived
here. To the best of my belief I only met him onse. Did
you say if he did not give you £5 you would make disclo-
sures about him. I asked him had he the address of the two
men to send the money to their friends, and he answered
that the money was paid into the Sailor's Home, and that
some of the authorities must send it. I said to him,
" now, Captain Christie, you gave me a black eye and
broke one of my ribs, but I have no witness that you did
so, as nobody saw you, but there are plenty of witnesses
who saw you beat the Russian' to death ; " that is the
substance if not the'words. I promised the man in his last
moments to see justice done, and he said, I never killed
the • Russian.' I said, you kicked him to death, when he
said, I never struck him nor you either. I said, "I have
no proof that you struck me, so I will let that rest, but if
you will give me £5 for the assault you cenatnitteel on
me, I leave to other hand to pursue the track of blood ; "
those were the words, on my oath.
Mr Bluck You mean to say, if he gave you £5, you
would not be here to-day ? I did not mean that. I would
perhaps not be the first to inform on him. The appren-
tice informed Mr. Tobin all about it first. I had a
conversation with inspector Kehoe, and probably, had I
got the £5, I might not have seen him. The captain said
he would not give me £5 nor fivepeaco, or words to that
effect.
Had you got the £5, would you now be here? I might
have chipped I suppose. I was a mete of a ship, and aas
born in the County Limerick. lam at sea since 1839.
I was in Australis, and came from Melbourne in the
Lightning. I was out there two or three years working
at printing. I aid a printer and earned money at it.
Were you sent out to Austra!ia at the expense of the
country? Witness: Of the country.
Were you sent out at the expense of the country?
tell me that sir? (Laughter.)
Mr. Tyndall : He need cot answer that.
Mr. Mansfield : Not if it criminates him, ho need not.
Mr. Bluck : Well then I will put it broadly—were you
ever transported, sir? Witness : I never was.
Mr. Bluek : Were you over in jail? Yes.
For what ? For being drunk.
Mr. Muck : For anything else ? Yes.
For what? Find it out if you can.
Mr. Muck : I will find it out—what was it for, sir ? Am
I bound to answer this?
Mr. Mansfield : Yes you are bound to answer that.
Witness : Then it was for being in a bed room.
Mr. Bluck: What sort of bed room ? Why a girl's
bed room.
Was there any one in the bed room? Find it out if
you can.
Mr. Bluck : I tell you, sir, I can and will—who was in
the bed room, on your oath ? I was in it myself.
Mr. Bluck : Any one else? Yes.
Who ?''The girl to be sure.
Where was that? In Australia.
Mr. Black : How did you go to Australia ? In an
American ship —I am an American Citizen by adoption,
and I am also American educated.
Kr. Bluck : Was it in Melbourne the trifling affair of
the bed roam took place ? No, two hundred miles from it,
at Port Sherry.
Mr. Black : What did you get for that ? Two months .
Mr Bluck was it a criminal case ? No, persons don't
get off for two months for such an offence as that.
Mr. Bluck : What was it for, then ? Why, simply for
being in a bedroom.
Mr. Bluck : What, sir ? Witness: Yes, indeed, sir,
simply for being there when I ought not to have been ; but
only 1 was discovered, thera would have been nothing more
about it.
Mr. Black : Have you ever been in gaol ? Yee, for
being drunk, but never in Liverpool. I came home in the
Lightning last November.
Mr. Bluck : You have been mate of a ship ? I have.
Mr Black : Then I ask you, on your oath, sir, had not
Captain Christie ono of the worst crews coming home that
could possibly be laid hold of? I don't know that ; but I
certainly do !;now this, that I have been in ships whore he
would not have been allowed to commit murder, the same
as he did in this ship.
Mr. Bluck : I did not ask you that, air.
Witness: I merely told you so for your information.

111 r. Bluck : Were not the on the outcasts of gaols and
every other sink? I know nothing of that, that was the
captain's affair; but this I know, that the crew wera very
quiet.

Mr. Bluck: Did you ever beat Roderigo yourself ? I
might have tapped him with a knife lanyard, but nothing to
hurt him. I never saw any of the other mon hurt or beat
him. I never pulled deceased out of bed. That is false,
before my God.
Mr. Black : But if you had got the £5, you would not
be here ? Wi ness : Well, now that lam here, I will tell
the truth. I will not swear the captain wore boots, shoes,
or slippers when he kicked deceased ; I don't know that
he had so .e toes or feet ; I know he had the desire for
blood, for he killed the man. The captain ordered that
soft bread should not be given to the "Russian." I don't
know who was present when the captain kicked him, but
some of the men would be [named them], but I do not
swear they were The steward was at the cabin door, and
saw the transaction. I did not see the deceased beaten
by any of the crew; never saw George Pollock strike de-
ceased ; he did not tell me he had ulcers from the time he
was a boy ; never saw his feet, or heard him complain of
them After he was beaten, and not able to help himself;
ho got dirty in his habits, but not before. He was then
lifted out of his berth. I heard that deceased, by some
accident, broke the binicle lamp, and that was what caused
the first kicking; he never went aloft after that. The man

was beaten to death, that is true, putting my evi-
dence out of the question altogether. The captain had
a sextant in his hand, but he laid it down
before he caught the deceased by the neck
the last time. I think the second mate was present at
the heaving of the lead transaction To the best of my
belief deceased never did any work after ; can't tell the
day or data, but he died from six to ten days after. The
captain mistook Ballycotton light for the TuskArp, and ran
the ship whore. I understood that the captain orderod
the deceased's head to be shaved and to have him washed,
bat I did not sea it. He was buried, I suppose, as sailors
are I saw the caps ;in drank coming up with a prayer
book in his hand, but I was in my hammock. I don't
know if the burial service was read.

Mr. Bluek: Why did you not go and see your dear
friend buried ?

Witness : Why did I not go and see a drunken brute
making a mockery of the word of God ?

But you promised to see justice done ? Yes.
Mr. Bluvk : But if you got the five pounds you would
not be here ? Well, I told you all about that.
In reply to Mr. Tyndall : We were all paid off in Cork,
and it was to see this captain brought to justice that I
came here.

Mr. Bluck requested that this witness should not be
allowed to communicate with any of the others who were

to be examined,

James Knaggs, an apprentice to Messrs. Tobin and
Sor, on board the ship, was the next witness. He
was examined by Mr. Tyndall at great length, and his
evidence was a full corroboration of that given by the last

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