The National Register.
London, England, 1808-01-17 00:00:00

A I'TER TERM.

Saturday Feb. 141 Monday Feb. 15.

ADMIRALTY SESSIONS.
MURDIin.

William Chapman, the Captain of a Liverpool Slave ship,
was indicted for the wilful murder of Robert Dunn, by e posing
him naked to the weather, by starving and by repeated
acts of cruelty and ill-treatment.
The Solicitor-General opened the caw, in the absence of the
King's Advocate, when George Scott, the Doctor on board the
ship, and principal evidence, together with several of the skip's
crew, were called to corroborate the case made out. The sub-
startee of their evidence was as follows:
The deceased was sent out by one of the owners of the ship.
and it appeared that the Captain had taken an early dislike to
him, from a suspicion that he was placed on board as a spy on
the conduct of the ship's officers. The skip had not left Liver-
pool more than a mouth, when the deceased having spilt some
molasses, received five dozes' lashes by the Captain's orders.
From that lime, Sept. 1805 till the 31st of March 180 i, the de-
ceased experienced an uninterrupted series of ill-treatment and
privation. Every fault, though of the most trivial sort, was
visited with the severest chastisement :—lie was suspended hours
together with a chain round his middle, and left swinging in an.
horizootal position—he was tied up by the neck, Isis toes just
touching the deck, till he was nearly strangled ; he was again
suspended by the legs, with his head downwards, his fingers'
eads racing upon the hatchways, till the blood, having over-

JAN. 17.

charged the vessels of the head and brain, :le became
Again he was exposed naked to the weather. end cosapelkd, in
the midst of a cold rain, to wring out the sw.bs, anti was em-
ployed to empty the tubs in which the slaves deposits:3 their
'nth. On one occasion, when he had upset one of these ttias
upon the deck, the Captain beat him with a handspike, and
bruised and lacerated his body in a most pitiahk way ; the
blood flowed from his head and covered Isis shoulders. Ile
w ise had Isis bead half shaved and painted. his body niar\ed with
ei,latsc, and suspended by his wrists, tied at the eAtresue end of
a betenit,tick. In this way he left the slaves upon deck to
lati4it at hint. liis daily allowance was .und of yam or
it; ead, and three half pint. of water, Sind, of course. his boil,
eeame emaciated, and his flesh and siren oh dwittciled away.
Ile was also brat over the face and eyes situ the haedle of a
cat, and these various acts of cruelty and chastiseincut repeated
almost daily.—The last act of cruelty, however, was when the
poor wretch was discovered Iv in g in the place where the pigs
o ere kept. Ile again used the handspike. and beat him with
it from head to foot. The deceased crass led to the forecastle,
where he lay with a mat to cover hitn, incapable of moving.
Pfe continued in that situation till he expired about three or
four dass after. The Captain was told of his death, and ex-
claimed—" I)—n his eves, throw bins overboard.- rite Doc-
tor's description of the dead body was as follows :—" The face
was so swelled that his eyes could not be seen, his head
was also swelled, and his hair clotted st ith blood—his breast
bone stuck out like a wedge—his back appeared to be humped
—his belly was shrunk in—his. whole frame emaciated, and his
body covered w WI bruises."
The Prisoner, when called on for Isis def.'nee, gave in a
written paper, stating, that lie had the miscorttee. to have a
turbulent and mutinous crew, and that he NV :1,; Cala : hate
recourse to severities in order to maintain hi- coin raztud. jib,
the gunner, after disobeying his orders. said, he had the key of
the magazine, and would blow up the ship ; and on :another
occasion eleven out of twenty-live of his crew went on shore.
In short, that the whole was a conspiracy to take away his
life, and the charge had been made up by the Duette out of re-
venge. he (the Prisoner) haviug punished him for his mis-
conduct.
Mr. Justice T.e Blanc summed up the evidence, and after
commenting at great length, said it was a question purely with
; respect to the credibility of witnesses. if they believed the
facts deposed on the part of the prosecution, they certainly
amounted to murder ; but if they thought the facts had been
overcharged, and the ease had been made out front motives of
pique, rather than of public justice, then they would take thee
improbability of the case into consideration, and say whether,
under all the circamstances, the Prisoner was not. Intl lied to
their avgaittal.
The .1 ury withdrew at five minutes after nine at night, nod
did not return with their Verdict until ten mioutes after three
in the morning, %%ilea they pronounced the Defendant—Not
The Pri.•nner appeared quite cool and indifferent during the
Av hole trial ; nor did he seem to feel the least emotion when the
sentence of acquittal was pronounced.