The Sun.
London, England, 1853-03-28 00:00:00

SHOCKING MURDER ON BOARD SHIP.

LIVERPOOL, SATURDAY.
Intelligence has just reached this port of a murder
committed on board an outward-bound vessel a few hours
after her sailing from this port. On Tuesday morning
the brig William Thrift, of North Shields, L. Buchanan,
master, left the Mersey, bound to Alexandria, and pro-
ceeded down channel. Nothing occurred worthy of
notice until about four o'clock on Wednesday morning,
when the captain was roused from his berth by the mate,
who, in a state of great horror, informed him that a
murder had been committed on board. Captain
Buchanan immediately gave orders that the murderer
should be seized and ironed ; but on the mate returning
on deck it was found that after the culprit had completed
his crime, by spliting the skull of another of the crew with
an axe belonging to the cook, he had cut adrift a boat which
was stowed bottom up in the long boat, and attempted
to roll it over the side, with a view no doubt to escape
by it in the darkness. In this he failed, owing to the
boat being jammed against some spars ; and seizing a
scudding sail boom he jumped overboard with it and was
seen no more. The crew of the William Thrift was
shipped from the Sailors' Home, and were remarked to
be perfectly sober and efficient when the vessel left the
port. It is believed that the murderer and his victim
had come from the same boarding-house in Liverpool,
but the circumstances which led to the crime will pro-
bably never be revealed. No quarrelling between them
was observed by the mate, who was the only person on
deck at the time. The spectacle presented on the cap-
tain hurrying up from his cabin is described as very
horrible, the head of the murdered man being completely
smashed by the blows he had received. The brig, with
the corpse on board, has put into Waterford, where it
will remain until an inquest is held.

A SLAVE AUCTION IN VIRGINIA.

(From the New York. Tribune.)

A young New-Yorker now on his first southern tour,
and not yet cottonised by the new influences surround-
ing him, has written to one of the publishers of the
Tribune an account of a slave auction he attended in
Richmond. Believing that its publication will do good,
and in its ultimate consequences tend strongly to perpe-
tuate and humanise that union which patriots so rever-
ence, we give it place in our columns, as follows :
Richmond, Va., Thursday, March 3, 1853.
Since I left New York I have seen the original Decla-
ration of Independence, and I have seen it " illustrated"
here in this place. Oh, my God ! Oh, my country 1
I have been an eye-witness this morning to scenes such
as never have been described, and never can. You and
I have been told by some of the dough faces of the north
that the evils of slavery are exaggerated. But they
have not been half told, and I have neither the ability
nor the heart to describe the scenes I have this moment
come from witnessing.

I have spent two hours at the public sales of slaves.
There are four of them, and all in the same street, not
more than two blocks from tlie Exchange Hotel, where
we are staying. These slave depots are in one of the
most frequented streets of the place, and the sales are
conducted in the building on the first floor, and within
view of the passers by. There are small screens behind
which the women of mature years taken for inspection ;
but the men and the boys are publicly examined in the
open store, before an audience of full one hundred.
These examinations are carried on by various persons in-
terested, and are enough to shock the feelings of the
most hardened. You really cannot conceive that men
in human form could conduct themselves so brutally ;
each scar or mark is dwelt upon with great minuteness
—its cause, its age, its general effect upon the health,
&c., are questions asked and readily answered. I
saw full 20 men stripped this morning, and not more
than three or four of them had what they termed " clean
backs," and some of them—l should think full one quar-
ter of them—were scarred with the whip to such an ex-
tent as to present a frightful appearance ; one in parti-
cular was so cut that I am sure you could not lay your
finger on any part of his back without coming in contact
with a scar. These scars were from the whip, and were
from two inches to one foot in length. These marks
damaged his sale ; although only about 45 to 50 years
old he only brought $460; but for these marks he would
have brought $750 to $BOO,

I saw several children sold ; the girls brought the
highest price. Girls from 22 to 18 years old brought
from 500 dols. to 800 dols.

I must say that the slaves did not display as much
feeling as I had expected, as a general thing—but there
was one noble exception—God bless her ! and save her
too as I hope he will in some way, for if he does not
interpose there were no men there that would.
She was a fine looking woman about twenty-five years
old, with three beautiful children. Her children as
well as herself were neatly dressed. She attracted my
attention at once on entering the room, and I took my
stand near her to learn her answers to the various ques-
tions put to her by the traders. One of these traders
asked her what was the matter with her eyes ? Wiping
away the tears, she replied, " I s'pose I have been cry-
ing." "Why do you cry ?" " Because I have left my
man behind, and his master won't let him come along."
" Oh, if I buy you, I will furnish you with a better
husband, or man as you call him, than your old one."
" I don't want any better, and won't have any other as
long as he lives." " Oh, but you will though, if I buy
you." " No, massa, God helping me, I never will."
Did Mrs. Stowe exaggerate the spirit in the slave
No, no. I saw " Cassie's" character in this woman
fully and fairly sticking out. Her answers to other in-
quiries put by another man were quite as " liberty-
loving" as these indicated. The most indecent ques-
tions were put to her, all of which, after a little hesita-
tion, she answered.

But when asked if she thought she could turn out a
child a year, she replied, " No, massa, I never have any
more, and sorry I got these."
Just before she was put up I left the room, for I am
sure I could not have stood the scone, and I should have
betrayed myself.

A scene Occurred in this last room which "may yet
be heard from." Just before the sale commenced, a
young well-dressed gentleman entered the room ; plac-
ing himself in one corner of the room, he began to take
a sketch, and had not proceeded far before he was no-
ticed by any one but myself. At last he attracted the
attention of some of the bystanders, until full 20 or
more were looking over his shoulder. They all seemed
pleased with what he was doing, so long as the sketch
was a mere outline, but as he began to finish up the
picture and form his groups of figures they began to
see what he was about, and then some went up pri-
vately to the auctioneer (who had by this time got
one or two sold), and informed him what the man was
doing. He came down from the stand, went and over-
looked what was doing for a moment, and saw himself
" written down for perhaps the first time in his life." He
inquired of the man what he was doing. The reply was,
"I do not knowthatl am bound to answer your inquiry."
Mr. Auctioneer took his stand again, but was evidently
so enraged that he could not go on, for by this time the
whole company was aware of what was being done; and
while some proclaimed with a loud oath that the likeness
was " d—d fine," " most splendid," others were fir
"footing him." The artist took the hint, however, with-
out the kick, and left the room. But now we had a
specimen of southern bravery. They were all sure that
he was an abolitionist, and they all wanted to lend " a
foot" to kick him, while one small gentleman said he
would pay 25 dollars to hire a negro to do it. The ex-
citement soon passed over; not, however, without leav-
,"thatdabye.w”ho
nimathyolifvtehetomaximfig
fight another
But I cannot go further. This subject grows on my
hands, and if I should only say half what I think and
fightsleav-
ing
on
and m Y
runs mind
away,the t
feel just at this time, I should tire your patience. lam
chuck full, and shall reserve the overflow until I see you.
But think me not untruthfnl from this unavoidable ex-
citement. I don't tell half the truth. I have said no-
thing of the brutality of the audiences I saw at four of
these auctions. I tell you for a truth that I saw full
one hundred Legrees, and even worse than he.
These auctions are held daily, and they pay each other
the courtesy to wait for each other ; so that the second
does not begin until the first has concluded, and so on
to the last. The auctioneer of the second is on hand at
the first auction to announce—" Gentlemen, the sale of
a few fine field hands, including the usual assortment of
boys, girls, &c., &c., will now take place on the corner
above, to which your attention is directed," suiting the
action to the word, he leaves, followed by the whole
audience, myself included, to his own store, and so on
until four sales have been held. The usual " Wall-street
honesty" is observed in the sales ; if not sold, the auc-
tioneer
th
w l.fßt.h asAnsnt
morningoo ur n cle s
should
I"hwa thbdLeavnwe npl
a, ge
si
de
ens
ote lune
dtt a
nes
oif
ee
mwoeanletyh
ionf
hmfaoyvre fora
reasoneapsreod:aianyydecronyinymscaconscience,
e e
conscienceFrifomi,t
had not paid a good interest. Let this be m conclu-
osnt:ev:cekif'w' GilloTdhvaosptteawreaosgusimldne
I
this time forth I promise and declare that I am bound
for the fight. " Freedom or death," shall be the
"watchword and the cry." (Of course I only adopt the
spirit of the quotation, and don't mean to do any such
on.
foolish thing as to kill myself or allow slavery to do it,
but to make all reasonable
sacrifices in the cause of
"truth, right, and humanity ") Keep this declaration
—preserve it—and when
to reminding me of the
vows I now take upon myself. see me violate its spirit,
like a guardian angel appear

of
TM& CONDEMNED CRIMINAL AT YORIC.—In conse-
quencethe
murder
this city so soon as was anticipated, the execution
of
the judges of the late assize not having left
Henry Debson, for the
uofnhacpaptyh
Catherine criminal,iin
e Sheridan, which was an-
nounced to take place on Saturday last, will not
be carried into effect until Saturday, the 9th of
April, in order that the usual time may intervene between
the departure of the judges and the carrying out of the
capital sentence. It is satisfactory to state that the de-
meanour of the murderer has become entirely changed,
and he now evinces great penitence. He has written
letters to some of his friends at Wakefield confessing his
guilt, and making anxious inquiries as to the manner of
the interment of his victim. It may be added that
Dobson denies the accuracy of some of the minor details
of the evidence adduced against him, and that he declares
he had no idea that he was going to kill his victim until,
as he says, he "went into the house and spoke to her,
she spoke to him, and then he did it." The only reason
he assigns for the horrid crime is, that " Kitty would
not live with him, and had not got him bound over to
keep the peace." He blames Ann Clough and Patty
towards hi
Nursey for persuading Sheridan to act • m as
she had done. Dobson bas bad an interview with some
of his relations, who, though in humble circumstances,
are very respectable and industrious people, and, we
need scarcely say, the scene was of
character. The wretchedw
man is t a very
distressing
age, and, we understand, had beentwenty-seen
died some time ago. Catherine married, but his wife
time of her death, in her twenty-second year.