The Sun.
London, England, 1865-12-14 00:00:00

THE EXECUTIONS AT MEANT BAY.

We (Manchester Examiner) have been favoured
with the following letter from a youth serving as
an engineer on board one of her Majesty's ships on
the West India station

" Port Royal, Nov. 8, 1865.

" My dear parents,—The mail has just come in,
but brings me no news from you. I hear that two
bags of letters have been left behind at the island of
St. Thomas, so I expect that some of your letters
are there, andl shall have them by next mail. I had
not an opportunity of writing you last mail, for I
was sent to do duty in one of our gunboats against
the rebellion. I suppose you will hear before this
of the rising throughout the island of the negroes
against the white people. Our first trip was about 30
miles to Morant Bay, the place where they first broke
out, and burned down the court-house, and murdered
nearly all the inmates. We saw the blackened walls
looking sadly down upon the quiet but beautiful
landscapes. I went ashore, and found the prisoners
under tents, guarded by soldiers, and waiting to be
tried by the drumhead court-martial. Soldiers and
volunteers were scouring the country, and bringing
the prisoners by the dozen. Two courts were sit-
iting and trying the prisoners. Very few words were
required—such as, Do you know the prisoner ?
Yes. Where did you see him ?—Amongst the mob
with a stick and bayonet. Death. Others were
found with stolen property--death. Some foretel-
ling the outbreak and sharpening their cutlasses—
death ; others for entering houses and demanding
powder—death ; and so they went on sending them
off with a few minutes' trial, all pinioned and
strongly guarded till sunset, when they were marched
out and hanged in dozens together on the place of
the late murders. I went ashore on Oct. 20, and
saw 18 of them hanging together. I will try and
give you as near as I can what I saw. At the back
of the court-house there was a large space, such as
you would see at the front of a market house or
town hall. The soldiers were drawn up in two rows, '
with the supposed leader, George William Gordon, li
standing in the centre with his arms pinioned ; on
the left were the prisoners, all pinioned, and headed
by the provost-marshal, who held a bundle of papers
in his hand—the death-warrants. In the centre of
the ruins of the court-house a long tree was put
horizontally and resting on tressels. There were 12
ropes hung dangling ready for their victims. On
each side of this were two small archways, and over
each hung three more ropes. When all had been
arranged, the general gave the order to commence ;
the provost-marshal called over the names one by
one, followed by the dreadful, ominous word—
death. his assistants led each to the fatal rope a
prisoner, and pinioned their hands behind their backs.
They stood on a rough plank, supported on wooden
blocks. Two carts were run under each archway,
and three more victims were tied up there on
each side, one of them a fine young woman,
who had been found battering the head of a man
after he was dead. The fatal nooses were all
arranged, and silence was called for. About a
minute and all the blocks and carts were drawn
out, and 18 distorted corpses hung dangling on the
blackened walls of the building to which, only a
fortnight before, fire was set, and all who came out
murdered. After the execution they commenced
flogging others that had been taken, and not being

able to give a good account of themselves. They
have hung and killed several hundreds, and flogged
and transported any quantity. lam sick with the
indifference shown to life, and I am happy to say
that it is nearly over, and we have returned to Port
Royal again. I have had a good opportunity of
seeing the beautiful island, and I must say I never
saw anything like itbefore.—From your affectionate
son and brother, 6g N.,

The following extract from a letter received in
Birmingham, from a gentleman resident in Jamaica,
has been handed to us (Birmingham Post) for
publication :

St. Thomas-in-the-Vale, Nov. 13, 1865.

" To-day we are able to record the cessation of
martial law,' which, for a month, had allowed the
shooting and hanging and flogging of its victims.
" The evil spirit engendered by slavery is not got
rid of in less perhaps than a hundred years. In this
late outbreak they have revelled in blood, and
sported with life ; and when the truth dare be told
it will appear. _ .

" An overseer or attorney differed with a black
head man, of superior character ; but I dare not say
more until I gain correct information of the sad
affair.

" No ono attempts to do anything but condemn
the savage outbreak : yet none of us can believe
there was a wide-spread intention to murder the
white and coloured (people) at Christmas, form a
republic, burn Kingston, &c. These are the false and
foolish assertions of men who are alarmed, and con-
jure up to themselves the most dreadful things."

The Salisbury Poisoning Case.

SALISBURY, Wednesday.
The inquest on the body of William John Storer,
a surgeon's assistant, recently committed for trial
on a charge of having poisoned his sweetheart, Miss
Emily Sophia Blake, the daughter of a surgeon
practising at Salisbury, was held to-day at Fisherton
County Gaol, before Mr. R. M. Wilson, the coroner.
The deceased was found dead in a bath about half-
past 2 o'clock yesterday (Tuesday) afternoon. Mr.
Whatman, solicitor, of Salisbury, appeared to watch
the proceedings on behalf of the family of Miss
Blake.

The first witness called was Mr. Dowding, the
Governor of Fisherton Gaol, who deposed to the
custody of Storer since his committal on Sept. 21.
He saw the dead body of the prisoner in the bath-
room about half-past 2 o'clock on the previous after-
noon. He could not say that the deceased had
previously attempted to destroy himself, but he had
surreptitiously tried to get poison into the gaol
through the aid of one of the officers, but did not
succeed in doing so. The officer was immediately
suspended, and he absconded in the night time, pre-
vious to the investigation of his conduct by the
visiting justices. Witness, in the presence of the
magistrates, interrogated Storer about attempting to
get poison into the prison, when the latter said it
was not for himself, but for the warder's wife, who
was suffering from cancer. Witness had never
heard Storer say anything which would lead to the
supposition that he intended to destroy himself, but
he had repeatedly said that he was tired of the place.
There was no special superintendence over him, but
he was seen in common with the other prisoners 30
or 40 times a day by one of the warders. When the
magistrates expressed a hope to him that he had not
intended to take the morphia himself which he had
attempted to get into the prison, he spurned the
idea, saying, " Certainly not ; I know myself too well
for that." It was usual to allow the prisoners to have
a bath unattended, except in cases of infirmity on
the part of prisoners where the attendance of an
official was necessary. In reply to a juror, the wit-
ness said it had never occurred to him that it was
desirable the prisoners should be attended at the
bath. That was the first suicide in the prison since
it had been occupied. The bath in which the pri-
soner was drowned was an ordinary long bath, the
same as was used in Millbank and Pentonville, and
at the time the body was found there was 12 or 14
inches of water in it. The bath was 21 inches deep.
There were two taps to the bath, one for hot and
the other for cold water, and a prisoner, could turn
on any quantity he liked. There was no fixed limit
to the period during which a prisoner was allowed
to remain in the bath. It was about ten minutes or
so. Witness did not know how long the deceased
was in the bath. It was an established rule of the
prison that every prisoner should have a bath once
a month—oftener if he requested it. Witness never
had any reason to suppose that Storer's mind was
affected. The deceased had previously bathed in
accordance with the rules of the prison.
Charles Newlands, the second warder of Fisher-
ton Gaol, was next called. He deposed that Storer
asked for a bath on Tuesday, and the witness cut
his hair and took him to the bath-room. When he
was cutting the deceased's hair the latter said to
him, " Cut it very well," and the officer replied
that he would cut it as well as he could, and do
what he could to please him. When he went into
the bath-room witness let about 9in. of water into
the bath and left the prisoner alone in the room,
locking the door upon him. He did not afterwards
see the prisoner alive.

William Hamilton, the chief officer of the gaol,
deposed to finding the prisoner dead in the bath.
He was lying on his face in the bath, and his hands
were tied behind him with a strip which he had
torn from a cotton handkerehief. He was quite
dead, but every possible means was tried to restore
animation, under the direction of four medical men
who were called in.

The Coroner, during the progress of the case,
said, according to the practice of the gaol, there ap-
peared to be an opportunity for a prisoner to com-
mit suicide by applying for a bath. They were not
inquiring into the prison discipline, however, which
was rather a matter for the visiting justices. In
summing up, the coroner said there appeared no
evidence that the deceased was of unsound mind,
but the responsibility of the verdict rested with the
jury.

The jury returned a verdict of felo de se, adding
that they were of opinion the warders ought to have
an opportunity of superintending prisoners while in
the bath. The body was ordered to be interred at
midnight, without religious service.

MARKETS—This Day.

METROPOLITAN CATTLE.

Our market to-day was heavily supplied with beasts, in
for the most part prime condition. All breeds changed
hands slowly, at a decline in the quotations compared with
Monday of 2d per 81bs. A few very superior Scots and
crosses sold at 5s 4d, but the general top figure was 5s 2d
per 81bs. The show of sheep was tolerably extensive.
The demand was heavy, and inferior breeds were rather
lower in price. The best Downs realised Gs 8d per 81bs.
Calves were in moderate supply and fair request at our
quotations. The sale for pigs and mulch cogs was very
inactive at late rates.