The Sun.
London, England, 1854-10-05 00:00:00

THE ALLEGED ILL-TREATMENT OF A
FEMALE ON BOARD THE DAUNTLESS. I

CONCLUSION OF THE CASE AND ACQUITTAL
OF THE PRISONERS.
PORTSMOUTH, Oct. 4.—The borough bench of magi-
strates met again this morning to resume the hearing in
the case of the charge of manslaughter against Lieut.
Knight, Royal Marines, and Lieut. Seymour, Royal
Marines, for the death of Matilda Jane Lodge. The
excitement of the public mind was in no ways abated, it
being indeed dangerous for the accused to appear un-
protected in the public streets. As a most remarkable
instance of the intensity of the popular feeling against
them, it may be stated that the floor of the court at that
part where the accused take their places was found this
morning to have a large gallows chalked out upon it.
It is impossible to ascertain who was the perpetrator of
this abominable insult. Even one of the witnesses,
Emma White, the friend of the deceased, and who
accompanied her on board the ship, had to fly to the
police last night for protection, from the circumstance,
we suppose, of some of the other witnesses having
accused her of having kept back a portion of the con-
fession made by the deceased as to the treatment she
received on board the ship.
The proceedings commenced to-day by an address to
the bench from Mr. Parry, in which, in a powerful speech
of two hours' duration, he reviewed the whole facts that
had been adduced in evidence, and their bearing on the
guilt or innocence of his client (Lieutenant Knight).
Mr. Parry referred at length to the powerful and extra-
ordinary prejudice that had sprung up in the public mind
on this subject, and which, based on such slender
grounds, was perhaps unparalleled in its character. This
prejudice and the calumny that had accompanied it was
fearful in its intensity, and rendered it almost a matter
of impossibility for the acccused to bear up against-it, or
for any professional man to attempt to establish their
innocence. The powerful voice of the public press had
also increased to a boundless extent this excitement and
prejudice ; but, difficult as was his duty, he (Mr. Parry)
pledged himself to prove to demonstration that there was
not an iota of legitimate evidence on which the accused
could be found guilty of this grave and serious charge.
Mr. Parry then, in a masterly and eloquent speech, went
through the evidence, and in conclusion he gave it as his
firm opinion that rupture of the bladder was the cause of
death, whilst there could be no doubt this rupture was
caused by deceased's falls from the bed.
Mr. Hoskins then addressed the bench for the accused
Lieutenant Seymour, who be showed was only on board
the Victorious hulk as a guest of Dr. Heath, the sur-
geon of the ship, who left the gun-room at about half-
past 12 o'clock, before deceased had become ill, and
who passed half an hour on deck with the chaplain of
the ship (who . was compelled to walk the deck for
some hours in consequence of the women being below),
and who then immediately went to his own ship, the
Colossus.
The bench then retired for the consideration of their
decision, and on their return, after an absence of about
half an hour,
The Mayor said—We have now arrived at the close of
this very important and sad inquiry, and the bench has
endeavoured to give their best attention to it, and to
facilitate in every way the objects had in view by both
sides, in order that all facts that could should be brought
nut, not only for our own satisfaction, but also for that
of the public mind, which has been greatly aroused, and
not improperly aroused, in reference to this case. The
first investigation into this case was made by a coroner's
inquest, and the verdict returnedat that inquest, instead
of satisfying, only still more excited the public mind, for
instead of disposing of the matter the verdict called on
the authorities to give their attention to the facts that
had been elicited at that inquest. The magistrates of
this borough thought it their duty to pay attention to
this recommendation, and they engaged the able assist-
ance of the local police in the inquiry. The bench had
done all they could to arrive at the facts, and had given
those that had been adduced before them their fullest
attention ; whilst they had also with patience listened
to the advocates on both sides, in crier that
everything that could be done in furtherance of
the ends of justice should be done. Having done
so the bench had to arrive at its decision, and
in doing so would first take the case of Lieutenant John
Busteed Seymour. From the facts deposed to before
the bench, it appeared that the unfortunate girl, Matilda
Jane Lodge, with another girl, Emma White, met the
defendant, Lieutenant Frederick Knight, in High-street,
at about half that
nine on Sunday night, the 17th of
September ; that they were entertained by him at two
separate places with spirits and water ; and that they
then got into a boat, with the avowed intention of cross-
ing over to Gosport, but they were induced by Mr. Knight
to go on board the Victorious, the hulk to the Dauntless,
to which Mr. Knight belonged. The females there met
with Mr. Seymour, and they were entertained with wines
and spirits in Mr. Knight's cabin, where they had been
taken by Mr. Knight himself. They afterwards left the
cabin, and went into the gun-room to -the officers,
and up to this time it does not appear that deceased
had received any injuries whatever. Shortly afterwards
Emma White left the ship by the advice of Mr. Sey-
mour, to whom she appears to have been previously
known. After her leaving, Mr. Seymour by the evi-
dence walked on deck with the chaplain of the Daunt-
less, who had very properly retired from the gun-room
when he found women were coming there. Mr. Sey-
mour appeared to have walked the deck with the chap-
lain for at least half an hour after Emma White left,
and he only returned to the gun-room to bid the officers
good night. We, therefore, think that there is no evi-
dence against him to show that he used any violence
towards deceased, or that he was even chargeable
with forcing drink upon her. He left the ship at
half-past one o'clock, and up to that time no vio-
lence certainly seems to have been done to deceased.
Up to the time of his leaving the ship to go to his
own ship his conduct and time seems accounted for
and the bench can do no other but dismiss him from this
charge, and say that so far as they can see, he left the
court without any proof of his being accessory to any
ill-treatment this unfortunate girl might have received.
The bench has to recollect that Mr. Seymour did not
belong to the Dauntless but to the Colossus, that he was
only a guest on board the hulk of the first named, and
that he could exercise no authority whatever on the occa-
sion, either in reference to the admission of the women
or the giving them an undue amount of drink. We there-
fore dismiss the charge against him. We then come to
the case against Mr. Knight. After the women had
been taken on board by Lieutenant Knight, the girl
Emma White as she was entering the gun-room saw
Mr. Seymour, and apparently wishing not to be seen by
him ran back on deck, and deceased followed her,
and most fortunate would it have been for her had they
both then left the ship together. But unhappily they
returned to the gun-room, and went through into Mr.
Knight's cabin, where ho unfortunately and unwisely
supplied them with drink. They then, after some short
time had elapsed, left the cabin and went into the gun-
room to the officers, who were sitting round the table,
and here the deceased sang songs and recited pieces from
Shakspere, and otherwise displayed great excitement of
manner, being, as the learned counsel had well de-
scribed, in a state of incipient intoxication. This ap-
apears to have occurred after the hour of 12 o'clock,
and up to the hour of half-past one no violence seems to
have been inflicted on deceased. The evidence of Dr.
Heath, the doctor of the ship, appears conclusive that
the rupture of the bladder had not taken place up to
this time. Deceased, however, about this time fainted
and was carried into Mr. Knight's cabin, where she was
visited by Dr. Roche, the assistant-surgeon, and several
officers. Dr. Roche, at this time, said that whilst she
was lying down her breathing was free and regular.
Up to this time there is no evidence of any injury be-
ing done to her, with the exception of the giving her an
undue amount of drink. Deceased appears to have laid
on Mr. Knight's bed till half-past two, but by that time
Mr. Seymour had left. The chaplain, Dr. Roche, and
the other officers bad left and retired to their cabins.
Lieut. Jervis had gone to bed early, from illness, and no
one was in the gun room but Mr. Kinght. At this time
Lieut. Jervis heard a knocking at the bulkheads that di-
vide his cabin from Mr. Knight's, and in which deceased
was ; it aroused him from his sleep, and be got up and
went into the cabin, and found the deceased apparently
very ill. He gave her some relief by moistening her lips
with a little brandy and water, but he afterwards found
that he was wrong, and that she was suffering from in-
toxication. He returned to his cabin, but was again
aroused by hearing some one falling from the bed to
the floor. He went back to the cabin, and having got
her on the bed again he sat down in the cabin fur half
an hour reading a book. His evidence, which shows
she had two falls, brings us to half-past three o'clock
in the morning, up to which time it seems clear that no
violence had been perpetrated. Deceased certainly
stated that some injuries had been inflicted on her, but
she also said that there was a quarrel between some of
the officers, in which she was concerned. But all the
evidence went to show that no quarrel whatever, or
even misunderstanding, occurred between any of the
officers, and we can only therefore believe that she
thought, in her half-dreamy half-conscious state, that
something had occurred, but of which the bench had
received no proof whatever. Up to half-past three we
have therefore the testimony of several officers and others
that she had received no injuries other than those re-
sulting from her two falls from the bed. From half-past
three we have only the evidence of the steward of the
vessel (Carr), and Mr. Knight was then still sleeping
on the table, certainly taking little heed and little pcarge
of deceased, and he only further interested himself about
her, by giving an order for her to be taken out of the
ship. There was the evidence of the men as to how she
as lifted from Mr, Knight's bed at a quarter past tour
in the morning, and of the watermen who brought her
on shore, and who seems to have treated her very kindly,
and there was, lastly, the testimony of the police con-
stables from the dockyard. Now, the charge against
Mr. Knight is one of manslaughter, and that charge
must have a certain amount of evidence for a jury to
convict a person guilty of it, and it should have a cer-
tain amount of evidence to warrant a bench of magis-
trates in committing upon it. But the only violence
that has been proved to have been inflicted on deceased
was that arising from her falling from the bed, and this,
according to the testimony of the medical men, might
produce rupture of the bladder. Therefore, however
wrongly Mr. Knight has acted in taking this unfortu-
nate girl on board, in plying her with intoxicating
drinks, paying her so little attention whilst in a state
of suffering, and merely directing her to be put in a
boat, and sending her on shore without saying where
she was to be taken to—he being the man who
had taken her on board, and got her into her danger and
difficulty—and, indeed, there being the display of none
of those feelings which are always expected from a roan
towards a helpless woman—notwithstanding all this, the
bench still feels—and I am glad to
moue—that, however much we say we are unani-
may rebrobate his con-
duct, we cannot find sufficient evidence to send him for
j trial by a ury. We, therefore, difuniaa the ease as re-