Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-08-20 00:00:00

While he was there he begged for water, and expressed
grew. cries o distress. One of the men went to him, and
gave him a little pea-soup, by pouring it into his mouth.
The captain was very angry, and demanded who had done
it, and turned the man away. Another of the men give
him a little water ; and he complained of having suffered
much from excessive heat and suffocation. That was the
last occasion on which he so suffere 1, for it seems to have
been the act which terminated the cruelties. I believe that
word is not too strong to describe the treatment he received
from the prisoners, and probably you will find it terminated
also the sufferings of the deceased. The deceased was told by
the captain, " Rose, I wish you would either drown or hang
your-elf." Rose answered, " I wish you would do it for
me," upon which the captain and the two mates took him
to the mainmast. They got a rope and they made what was
called a timber-hitch" They put it over his neck, and
hoisted him up, so that his feet were from one to three
feet from the deck. He remained suspended by the feet
for about two miuutes, hit face became black, his eyes
protruded fe<im the sockets, froth came from his mouth,
and they let him down. The moment his feet touched the
deck he fell flat as if he were dead, and the captain was
heard to say by one of the crew, " Tnat if they had kept
him there half a minute linger he would have been
dead." This seems to have been the last act of their out-
rages, and the last aci; he bad to suffer. Rapidly after
this his health sunk. Tha crew got him down to the
forecastle, but he was so crazy that they were obliged .to
tie his hands. He remained in the forecastle a day or two,
and on the morning of the 5.h of June, they got him from
the forecastle on to the deck to wash him. Tne deceased
could scarcely crawl. He lay down on the deck with his
head towards the hatchway, and his feet to the scuppers.
The vessel was pitching, the water came over his legs, and
Fe died. They do not know the exact moment of his
death, but an hour or two after they brought him up they
found him dead. The state he was in at that time was
thus : —He had wounds all over his body from the beat-
ings and cruelties he had suffered. His wounds had festered,
and he was in such a state that the crew was loath to touch
hire. They dragged him aft with a rope, and in about an
hour afterwards by order of the captain he was thrown
overboard. The ship made land next morning, and arrived
at Liverpsol on the 9th of June. Information was given
of this affair, and the captain and mates were arrested. The
captain when he was arrested said that "he long expected it,
for that fellow Groves had said he would do something of the
kind." Groves was a seaman, and the captain afterwer
imputed to him violence to the deceased, and said that he
had done no harm but to whip him for being dirty. The
prisoner Seymour said that " the less said about it was the
better;" and Miles said nothing. These, gentlemen, are
the facts of the case, and these facts being brought before
the public department, her Majesty's government have
undertaken this prosecuton. Ido not think that that
circumstance will in any respect weigh with you, bat yon
are entitled to know who the prosecutors are, and we do
not live in an age when either any advantage or disadvan-
tage to justice is to be apprehended front the prosecution
being conducted by such a party. It is necessary that this
inquiry should be mode in order that all British seamen
may know that, however far they are from this
country, they are never beyond the reach of
British laws to punish crime and protect innocence.
No doubt the principal question which you will
have to inquire into on this occasion, will be whether those
acts of violence a e proved. We shall call before you some
of the crew. We have here all who ware examined before
the magistrates, but I do not think it necessary on the part
of the prosecution to call the whole of them We shall
call four or lice, and the rest are near if the prisoners
desire they shall be called. You will Lear their statement,
and you wit' judge how far you will credit what they say
as to the conduct of the prisoners. Another question will
be, we ezher what they did was proper correction for the
deceased. With regard t 3 that wit shall also put before
you the official log, which was kept by the captain, and in
which by law captains are required to record the punish-
ment they inflict on any of their crews. You will find in
that log several entries made of floggings of Andrew
Rose, the deceased. You will find besides evidence that
these entries could not all have been made at the
time they bear date, bat you will also
find this remarkable fact in all cf the log, that not one of
the entries alludes to the biting of the dog —not one to
the putting into the cask -not one to the hanging —not
one even to the whipping—bat the utmost that is stated,
in the many charges that the log contains against the
&ceased, is that the captain was obliged to stand over
him with a whip, in order to compel him to wash himself;
and that log imputes his death to his being rotten inside.
Thus, gentlemen, it will appear from that, that the captain
and the mates could not have thought that these, their
acts, were acts of lunishment to the deceased; and it will
be for you to say whether they were so, or whether, if they
were, they were not excessive and improper. Another
question will be whether those acts so done by the
prisoners ware the cause of the death of the deceased ?
That is a question which you will have to judge of. You
will say whether the deceased, coming on board a per-
fectly healthy man, and sinking and dying after those acts
o? vi&ence and outrage to him--whether you have any
reasonable doubt that they hastened his death. It is not
necessary for you to believe that they alone caused his
death ; for if even the deceased had any disease upon
him, and though that disease might have been
fatal, and though he might sooner or later have died of it,
still, if you believe that in consequence of the acts done
by the prisoners, or any of them, his death was hastened
then, eendemen, they are responsible for homicide. But
on this you will be assisted by some medical men, who
will be called before you, and who, I understand, are of
opinion that under no state of health or disease could it
be that death wool I not be caused or accelerated by the
acts which are detailed as the acts of the prisoners. Then
will arise another question, which is a question of law—
waat is the character of this homicide, if you believe that
it is so ? Is it murder, or is it manslaughter ? To make
it murder, you must believe that it was done with malice
aforethought ; but this does not mean any long pre-
conceived design against the deceased, but if the prisoners
intended to do him some grievious injury, though they
might not have intended to de what would cause his
death, yet they would be responSible for his death,
and would be respon,ible to the extent of murder.
That is the case which I have to lay before you.
You will take the law in reference to it from the
learned Judge, and the statement of the facts from me.
Thomas Hays examined by Mr. James, Q C.: Remembers
the 31a-tha Jane being at Birbadoes ; shipped on board
her there as able seaman, about ten or eleven days before
she Palled. Bemembe,s the deceased, Andrew Rose; he
shipped on loosed as able seaman the same day as witness
When Rose came on board he appeared in a good state of
health ; his hair was Frepped quite close. The prisoner
Rogers was the captain Of the vessel, and Miles was the
first mate ; Seymour euehsequently joined. On the Friday
preceding the sailingo.the vessel, the deceased was beaten
with a rope's end. The following day saw Seymour and
Miles beat him with a ropsl's end ; they laid it on as hard
as ever they could. Witneel did not know what was the