Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-06-13 00:00:00

HORRIBLE DETAILS OF THE DEATH OF A

SAILOR

Yesterday, at the morning sittings before - Mr. Mans-
field at the police-court, a case, unparalleled (according to
the solemn evidence of witnesses, whose testimoiy there
is no reason to doubt) for atrocity, was partly investigated,
but as the details speak for themselves, comment is un-
necessary. Henry Rogers, the Captain of the Ship Martha
Jane, of Sunderland, Charles E. Seymour, his chief mate,
and William Mills, his second mate, were charged under
the following circumstances, with having taken the life of a
sailor, named Andrew Rose, on the voyage from Demerara
to Liverpool. Mr.-Snowball appeared for the prisoners,
who were in custody of detective officers Horn, Eaton, and
others. Mr. Inspector Kehoe opened the case, and the
lucid way in which he managed the proceedings, the
manner in which he had arranged the narrative according
to the evidence, and the ability with which he carried the
whole case on, was remarkable, and gained the approba-
tion of all who heard him. The court was densely
crowded, and the utmost attention was given to the
entire proceedings. It may be observed that frequent
demonstrations of horror were manifest at certain proceed..
ings attributed to the prisoners, and altogether a more
fearful tale, in its present aspect, has never come before a
police-court Mr. Kehoe, in opening the case, said, the
prisoners belonged to the ship Martha Jane, of Sunder-
land. Henry Rogers was her captain, Charles E. Seymour
was her chief, and William Miles, the second mate. The
charge against them was for causing the death of one
Andrew Rose, who was shipped as an able seaman on board
that vessel at Demerara. The vessel sailed from that port
on the 11th of May, and the crew consisted of eleven able
seamen, of which Rose, now dead, was one, and besides
she had a cook, carpenter, and steward. t would seem,
from the evidence which he would be enabled to lay
before the court, that the man was rather of light intellect,
and that at the time he went on board he was suffering
from diarrbm. It seemed that he lid_ not, on some oc-
ea-lions, go Co the proper water closet and for this the
captain beat him most severely with ,a Whip, and the mates
also beat him with ropes' ends, until his body became black
and blue,-and lacerated in several parts. It 'would be
proved that the prisoners continued to beat him every
day, from the day the vessel sailed, until he died.
Before he died, however, his arms, legs, feet,
and other portions of his body, broke out into frightful
holes and running ulcers. His body was swollen, and
bruised from head b foot, by the terrible beatings inflicted
on him by the three prisoners. There was a ferocious dog
named Watch, kept on board, and the captain frequently
set this dog at the deceased, both when in and out of
irons, and the animal used to tear mouthfuls of flesh from
the man, and inflicted desperate wounds on him, which bled
profusely. When the dog observed the prisoners beating
the man, which was at least once a day, it would fly at
him and tear away flesh, leaving streams of blood issuing
from the wounds. On one occasion when he was in irons,
and could not stir more than a yard, he was treated in the
most abominable manner by the capntiu. The details of
this portion of the ease .was so pre-eminently disgusting
that we cannot publish them ; suffice, however, to
say that the most horrible filth was forced into
his mouth with a stick by the c iptain, whilst the other two
prisoners hell his arms. His nose was stopped, and other
terrible treatment practised towards him. After this he
was taken out of irons, and, by direction of the captain, the
other prisoners unheeded a water cask, into which he was
put by the three prisoaers. The cask was than headed in
the usual way, and lashed dowa in its place. This was at
twelve o'ctlek in the day, and he was left in that way until
twelve at night, with the bunghole upwards. He begged,
whilst in this prison, for a small quantity of water, but the
men-were afraid to give-him anye as the captain told them
not to do so. One of the men ventured to ask the
mate to give him a little water, when he replied,
" Yes, the I will give him some," and he
took a tin pot and poured some water into the
bung hole. At twelve at night he was taken from this
cask, and he got into the long brat, and pulled an old sail
over him, .which the mate ordered to be taken from over
him. It would be proved that all this time, from the
beginning to the end, the man had neither shoes,
stockings, trowsers, coat, or hat—nothing in the shape of
clothin" all the time, except a flannel shirt. On a Sunday,
whilst in irons, he commenced praying, and after that he
commenced singing a hymn—" Oh ! let us be joyful"—
when the captain called for an iron pin to gag him, and he,
along with the other prisoners, put a large iron pin across
his month, fastened some rope yarn to each end of it, and
then tied the rope yarn behind his head, and left him thus
for an hour. The man called for mercy, and cried, " my
Go', what have I done, or what will I do ?" but
no mercy was shown to him. About two days
before the vessel arrived off Cape Clear, the man was
taken by one of his cona,a4l,,a to the forecastle, where be
got some of his tea, and next day he was called before
the captain, who gale him what appeared to be some
castor oil and brandy, This did not seem to have any
effect on him, and the next day he got a like dose. tome
time after, in the morning of the same day, the man died,
and at twelve o'el ,ck was thrown overboard, just as he
was, a most frightful spectacle. This (said the Inspector)
was the charge against the prisoner, every word of which
would be proved to the satisfaction of the court by trust-
worthy witnesses, • who were quite independent of any
influence in the matter. He would call as much evidence
as would justify a remand, which, he would ask, in
order to h ,ve the evidence perfect. He then taped
William Groves, a seaman, on beard the shin, who said—
I sailed from Barbadoes, on the 11th May in the ship. An-
drew Rose was on board. He was, from what I heard him
talk rather weak-minded. He never disobeyed orders, On the
11th, I saw Seymour (the prisoner) ropes end him, before
I was on board ten minutes. He was beaten the next day
round the ship by the three prisoners—the daptain with
the whip and the other prisoners with" ropes' ends. Mr.
Mansfield : Do you know what it' was done for ? I do
not, nor did I hear. The captain sometimes commenced
beating him first, and then the others would ropes' end
him, saying—" You brute, we will teach you not to go on
board a ship again as an able seaman. I saw the captain
set the dog at him several times, when he was in and out of
irons. The captain would be bating him with the whip.
I saw the deg fly at him several times, and tear pieces of
flesh off deceased. I made this memorandum—(a slip of
paper of the transactions)—as well as I could. On
the 15th May he had irons on his feet, and could
move about a yard only. He had nothing in
the world on him but a fl innel shirt. He obeyed a
call of nature, when the captain called two of the
men, and ordered them to hold the arms of the deceased.
(He then described the act of the captain, which was most
abominable and revolting to human nature.) The captain
ordered the chief mate to throw water over him, which he
did. He was there till next day, and no covering but-his
shirt. For seventeen or eighteen days he was allowed
nothing but his shirt. To Mr. Mansfield : The weather
was warm. He had the same shirt on when the water was
thrown on him. It was on him all the time till he died.
He never got any thing but bread and water, except two
days that he got rice, and a little soup and tea that I once
gave him. On the 16th of May he was in irons. (The
witness here again described the abominable coeduct of
the captain and first mate towards the deceased, and went
on to say)—There were one or two buckets of water
thrown over him by the mate. His hands and arms were
all full of holes at that time, and his body bruised
all over by the whip ; there was a cut in the head With a
blow of the whip. his feet and legs were full of holee
Ou the 17th the deceased was in irons. he prayed first,
and then began to sing a hymn, "Oh, be joyful,"_ when
the captain came and said " Stop that noise," and he did
SO, and then the mate Seymour brought an iron bolt, and
the captain put it in his mouth end tied rote yarn to it
and gagged him. He was kept in that state, with his
mouth on a strain. for an hour. Next.day the mates, by
order of the captain, knocked the bead from a water cask,
and he was put into it by the three, and they then headed
it up again as a cask of water; they rolled it backwards
and forwards three or fonc times, and then put it in its
place. The bunghole was up, That was about twelve,
and he was kept there twelve hours. He got no water then.
I put my mouth to the bunghole and said, "Andrew, how
are you ?" He said, "I am nearly sni ,thered: get me
some water." I said, " It is not in my power,' but. I
" will speak to the chief mate," and I did so. He came and
poured some water into the bunghole there was a great steam
out of the bung hole, and I could not bear it. When he was
let cut of the cask, he was in a great haat, and his body
smoked. He got into the loiag boat, and pulled a piece of
an old sail over him, but Seymour took it off him. Be got
worse and was beaten round the deck as usual. I took him
inn) the forecastle against the Captain's orders, and kept
him there three days and gave him some bread and tea.
The third day:the Captain sent the Steward for him, and
when he came back he told me the Captain gave him some
castor oil with something like brandy with it. He got
another dose next day, and got worse' and he lay on the
deck and the sea washed over him and about eleven in the
morning he turned on his belly and died. He bail nothing
but the shirt on him, vt hen ha was flung over board about
half-past twelve. There was -no prayew said over him. One
man suggested to the Captain to have the bOdy opened, and
to hold an inquest,but he said it was not worththe trouble.
We were about 200 miles from Cape Clear then. We
arrived here on Tuesday evening, and on Wednesday I gave
information to the police. To Mr. Mansfield I had no
difference with the captain or mates whatever. I am a
native of Portsmouth, and,deeeased told me he was a native
of Gosport. The witness was cross-examined by Mrn
Snowball in reference to the memorandum made by him.
He said when deceased was crazy he had to lash him
~own with the other men. The captain crderc4 hita out

-of-the forecastle. The deceased was nearly mad. He was
filthy, but not beastly no. c•I never used a brush to him.
I had to tie him down when he was crazy after taking the
medicine. Ido not' know what it was. He died next
day, To Mr, Mansfield : The mate struck him with the
captaiu's orders. Mr. Kehoe : Did he strike him without
his orders ? He did., William Davidson, an able seaman
on board the ship was examined, 'and fully corroborated
the above, and bore out 'h opening statement.
The witness told the same story as the other witness, nearly
word for word, when Mr. Kehoe said these were the
leading facts, and he would ask for a remand until the
whole of the evidence could be perfected. He, however,
called Francis Doyle, a sailor, who was on board, and this
witness said the deceased was as harmless as a child, but
he`thought him a little out of his mind. The witness gave
the same evidence- as the other, twn.men, and added that
there was a rope put round deceased's neck to hang him,
and the captain pulled him about three feet off the deck,
and let him fall again, and he did not recover for more
than five minutes. The deceased's body was in a frightful
state of corruption before he died—all in holes and moving
sores, and swollen and bruised all over. Isaac Braithwaite,
a coloured person, who was steward of the vessel, was
examined also, and he bore out the evidence of the others,
including the horrible pertion of the story they
told. The deceased had only bread and water,
but on some days he had as much rice as he
could eat. He was only allowed a pound of bread
and a pint of water a day. The witness was afraid
to give deceased a drink of water whilst he was in the
water cask. The day before the deceased died the captain
sent witness for him, and asked where he had hurt him,
and he replied in the head. He gave him some brandy
and other medicine. Mr. Snowball contended that there
was nothing but an assault proved, and as he had not time
to meet the charge, he would ask for a remand on bail.
Inspector Kehoe opposed the bail. Mr. Mansfield refused
the bail, observing that perhaps there mightabe posaibly a
conspiracy against the prisoners, for he believed all who
heard the case would admit that it was one of the most
frightful that ever came before a court. He would order
the prisoners to be kept in bridewell, so that Mr. Snow-
ball would be near them to take their instructions. They
were then remanded sine die.

Commerrtai int etttgence.

LONDON PRODUCE M ARKET.—Jurrn 12.

&MAR.—The market continues firm, and Fall prices are paid.
Refined also firm, but not much at present doing; brown lumps to
good grocery, 70s to 72s 6d.
COF RE continues in steady request at firm rates; good ordinary
native Ceylon, at 655.
TE.t.—The trade are occupied with the large public sales. No
business of importance reported privately.
S ILTPETRE is in limited request.
Rica.-1,500 bags white Bengal, in public sale, were bought in at
13s 6d to 14s.
GINGE A.-200 barrels Jamaica found buyers at 81s to 112 s.
Bisse.—Sound clean Russian sold at 341.

Rum in moderate request.
CoTrox.-400 bales sold ; good Surat, Sid to sicl.
ERNDIGO.—The next quarterly s iles of East India are fixed. for
,the
14. h July, for which there are 8,600 chests already declared.
HIDES —There was an improved demand for East India hides at the
public sales, but prices are id to id per lb lower.

Wheat
Barley
Oats
Malt

Flour. barrels.

LONDON AVERAGES—Wheat, 61s 9d
63; Rye, 04 Od; Beans, 41s 1W ; Pease,