The Sun.
London, England, 1806-07-11 00:00:00

LAIP REPORT.

10'-'s BENCH, GUILL3HALL, juLY W.

SITTINGS AFTER TERM, BEFORE LORD ELLEN-
' BOROUoll:

JACKSON V. LIVESLY--E.XCESSIVE CRUELTY.

The Junior CoUrisel; who opened the :pleadings,
stated that thiS was an at-Alen for, assaniting, putting
in irons, falsely impriSoning,,and:flogging.the Pfiiin-
. tiff. The damages were laid at
.5.04 and the De- '
fendant had pleaded
.Not Guilty.' •
Mr. PARKE said, this was a case of most upporah:.
leled and shocking cruelty ; a case so horrid and atro.-
cious 'he never -remembezed having been brought
. hitt) a' Court. of. Justice. He should hardly have
thought such flagitious condua in a. lifitisit subject'
credible, had he-not received his. instructions, on •
behalf. of the unfortunate ,Plaintiff,,from a quarter
so respectable as to feave notoom:lor doubting their
veracity. .The Defendant was the Captain of a
Vessel called the Lord Stanley, engaged in- -.the
African Slave Trade," atO.bound lo the West Indies,
Upon her arrival at Jamaica the Defendant hired
the Plaintiff, 'a man -of Oolour, in the capacity of
CaPtain's Steward.
_Heals:o -hired a person , of the
name of Robinson, as :Second Mate. Ile sailed on
the hornex,c!ard voyage- for. Liverpool in the begin,-
ning of the mouth of Julie last year. Nothing p3r-'
ticUlar occured till the 4th of Juhe,. when it -hap-
pened thatlobinson, the Second Mate, was on deck
keeping Watch. The. First Mitte,was below., The
Plaintiffasked.the Second Mate, whether. he might ,
go clown:and make the First Mate's bed,' had
leave to do-50... He made the and aftetwards
gave t he. First. Mate,seme grog. ,When he returned
upon deck, the Defendant enquired where he had
been ? told him, and added' that -he had given
grog to the FirSt Mate. - The First- Mate,overheard
him, and instantly came upon deck in. a violent
-passion, swearing he would have him tied up and
flogged. The Plaintiff ran away-from him, fleclar-
ing that he- would dui)* liruSelf into :the sea sootier
thaw-he 'would be- flogged, Without having done any
thing to deserve it. • The Mate pursued him,• and
the Plaintiff sought refuge in the main Chains'. The
Mate followed- him, and threW him overboard, while
the Ship was going at the rate of five knots an hour.
He must inevitably- have been drowned., had not.Ro.
bin Son jumped into a boat at thesterri, and redeemed
him.- Upon- his-return to the Ship the Pefendant,
in the first place, degraded him, by ordering him to
be put 'beforefrie Mast; He then had hit; hands -tied
behind- his back; and• his feet- fastened to the- ring.
'bolts of the deck, In that situation he was kept
eight hours, and during the whole--time, the Cap-
tam' • , •
ordered. bucketS of water to be thrown over
him; observing, that as heiWas -so fond of throwing
himself into the Sea, he should have-water enough.
About four o'clock in the afternoon of the next day
he called the Plaintiff -en the 'quarter=deck,'
charged him-with hating taken some (Polley ; froth
one of the Passengers: , The Plaintiff denied the
• charge. The Defendarttasked him what money he
' had ? replied; Only 'four doubloons, except two
doubloons he had concealed in the bread-bag. -.The
larearclL.bag' was searched, but no :money was found
there.' The Plaintiff said somebody must have takqn.
it away: Upon this the Defendant made a . cat
o'nirie' tails Out of anew piece` of log -or- -
dering- the Plaintiff to the gangway, flogged hiril
him Self till he was so fatigued that he could not
continue : He then ordered the Chi; Mate -to flog:
him,' which- he' did till he was tired.' He after.:
wards nrade the SeCond Mate flog hirn till. healso.
was wearied, He then 'desired that some salt ple4lc
might he *ight to wash the, Plairitit 'g back. It
might be said, that this was done with a vied'i to
cure the- Wounds he had'receiVid ; but-he Wthild
shew that the Defendant Was.aetuated -by- no such
merciful motive. He rubbed in . the brine till the.
poor man was a state of the most' excruciating
agony.- Even, after this he Would iitiealloW him io
go to his hammock, but he put him in a turtle cask
, up to his chin .in water, and continually decked his
head under the water, repeating his former taunts:
• After this he took him out,- and ordered 'him to: be
put in double ironS; in- which he continued upWards'
of eighteen 'hours Without any
,Covering on any part
of his body. -' Op the Bth of June 'he was brought
on deck, and his irons taken off.' The Defendant
_again questioned him as to the money. ;. and said, if
he' did not tell him Where it was ht wonldhave.the
.value of it-out : him. He ordered him tb be tied
up again, and he and his (..'hief Mate laid on hith as
they had thine .hefore.; They took him down in a-
state of insensibility ; but as soon as he recovered
he Was put,in irons. On the t -121h,713th, and
14th of June, this Sort of N.vevk was repeated, till at
_ length with pain, anguiSh, and extrerne 'sUffering,
the blood burst from'tkeWretehed Plaintiff's breast.'
. Such were ,the fads stated to him on the credit:of
the SOcitor, Mr. Wiudle, a Gentleman of the
highest respeetability, who had, by previous inquiry
and 'examination, .ascertained the truth of them :•-•,
The Vessel arrived at Liverpool; and the Plaintiff,
after expending all his own. means of support, was
placed under the.care of Dr. Lindsay, who had the.
'srip6rintendance of the. Infirmary.— • That Gentle-
man would describe the miserable and shocking.
state of ..the Plaintiff: he had continued in the
InfirMary till
*this moment ;. and he was inform-
ed his body still exhibited the Most dreadful,
markS' of the excessive cruelty infliCted upon him.
Daniel Rotimcm, the Second Mate, was
and distindly proved all: the fats stated by, the .
Learned Counsel.

Mr. Lindsay,, the Surgeon of the Infiritary. at
Liverpool, sa►d, he had attended the Plaintiff more.
than four months at his own lodgings, but It was
found necessary to remove him to the infircuary. He
had been frequently present,at military punishments
during the last eight yearsi but suchiexcessive seve-
rity as had,been exercised upon the Plaintiff he had,
never seen or heird of. It was true, his wounds.
were in some measure cured, but there remained a'
contritelion of the muscles, and it iwas doubtful.
whether he would ever perfectly recover.
Mr TOPPING addressed the Jury for the Defend-
ant. He observed, that the case, as represented by
the Learned Counsel, and proved by the Witnesses,
seemed /o him -to be incredible. He could not
imagine that any human being could have survived,
a punishment so Severe, and so often repeated, as
that which the Witnesses.deseribed. Unfortunately,
the Defendanthad gone to sea upon another voyag,e,