The Sun.
London, England, 1833-10-08 00:00:00

''S

(witness) said that he did not believe it, for there
was as much canvass on the beach as would cover
the whole deck. He observed that if the skylights
had been battened down, no lives would have been
lost. After the inquest he had a conversation with
the Captain relative to some circumstances which
occurred in the interval. Witness had heard that
a female, who was a steerage passenger, and who was
saved, had been detected in plundering the ship's
stores, and other property of the passengers,
which, on reference to the steward, was found to he
correct. He then sent for the woman,who was brought
by the steward, who charged her with plunder-
ing the ship and the passengers. She was searched,
some things were found upon her that could not
possibly be hers ; they were a child's cap, a velvet
cap, with a tassel. He wished that some one ar-
ticle might be identified, in order that she might be
taken into custody, having heard that she had stolen
a cat's collar; he therefore asked the steward did
he recollect having a cat on board ; he replied that
he did perfectly well ; the woman denied it. He
produced the man to whom she sold it ; she then
admitted it, and he gave her into the custody of
the steward, that she might be brought before Mr.
Hare, the magistrate, when the other things could
be identified ; he told the steward that he would
himself take her before Mr. Hare, when he had
dined, who resided four miles from Brancaster.
After he had dined he went to the steward and
told him that he was prepared to accompany him to
Mr. Hare. He then learned that the woman had
been sent out of the parish, and had received a
guinea or a sovereign from the steward, by the
orders of the Captain arid agent, as they did mot
wish to be troubled with her, as they had been
put to expense enough. He pursued her, but
could not trace her. He complained of this to the
Captain and agent, and said their conduct
was not reputable, and be thought as servants of the
company they should protect the property of the pas-
sengers. On Wednesday morning a passenger, of the
name of Stanley, complained that his bag had been
broken open ; it appeared to be so. The mate was
present, and he asked him the state of the sails; he
replied that they were summer sails, and as good as
other people's. He also said, if t hey had had good
sails all would have been well. He then asked the
mate why they neglected to cover down the sky-
lights ; he replied, that they had no means to do so.
He admitted that if the precaution had been adopted
the ladies would not have been drowned, but a sea
struck the vessel which would have filled fifty cabins.
On Thursday afternoon he went with Mr. Brunton
and Mr. Roach to inspect the baggage at Simmons's
stores; it appeared to be as if it had been ransacked.
Mr. Gooch, one of the passengers, had seen Mr.
M‘Naughten, the agent, and had a conversation with
him upon the subject of the loss of lives on board.
On Mr. Gooch observing, what a dreadful sacrifice
of life there had been, 51'Naughten replied, " You
seem to lay great stress upon that (meaning the loss
of lives), but it is nothing to be compared to the
loss which the owners have sustained." Mr. Ha-
milton, who was present, called Mr. l'al'Naughten
"An inanimate lump of iron." Witness then ob-
served that he had not mistaken the character of
those fellows. He subsequently saw M'Naughten,
and he repeated the conversation to him (31'Naugh-
ten) which Gooch reported ; and he asked M'Naugh-
ten if he recollected it ; when he said that he might
have said something of the sort. Witness then said,
" Is it possible a person could be found who could
calculate between the loss of life and property ?"
Mr. Paul, surgeon, was called to identify some ar-
ticles found upon the persons of the ladies.
George Ruthven, a Bow-street officer, stated, that
in consequence of some information he had received
from Mr. Holloway, he called on Mrs. Painter, one
of the women who was employed to lay out the bo-
dies, and asked her if she had found a watch belong-
ing to Miss Roach, and which watch was in his
possession, but he did not tell her so. The watch
he alluded to was the one she had given to Mr.
Holloway. He asked her how she came to retain
it in her possession 48 hours. She denied it. When
she did find it she asked Mrs. John Pike what she'
should do with it, and they agreed that it should be
given up to Mr. Holloway. All the property he
received was from the Rev. Mr. Holloway, of Bran-
caster, and that was on the 22d of September; and
what he received from that gentleman was nine
51. Bank of England notes, four Exchequer hills of
1001 each, a black velvet bag, a reticule containing
gloves, a purse, and other articles ; some days sub-
sequently he received from Mr. Holloway a 10/
Bank of England note. On Friday last he saw
Mr. Reeve, to whom he showed the notes and Es-
chequer His, and observed to him that they could
not have been in the salt water. He replied that
they had, and that he (Reeve) took them out of the
purse, which he then produced,which purse had been
in the reticule he got from Mr. Holloway. Reeve said
that it was like the reticule the purse was found in,
but he would not say that it was the same. He
admitted that the reticule from which he had taken
the purse was taken from the body of Mrs. Pyne.
He (Reeve) described the mode in which it was
fastened to her person, from the inside of her dress.
He stated that he put his hand into the reticule and
took hold of some papers, which he said that he
showed to Mr. Green, the chief boatman, but that
the papers were so wet that he could not undo
them, or tell what they were ; that he put them
into the reticule again, which he put into his
pocket. He informed Captain Nesbit of the cir-
cumstances; he took them home, and forgot them
until about four o'clock. He (Reeve) then thought
of the reticule; he took it out of his pocket ; the
things were so wet, he laid them on the hearth be-
fore the fire to dry. The notes were very wet, a
mere pap. He (witness Ruthven) said that the
notes which he then laid on the table were the same
to which Reeve had alluded, and which he (witness)
now produced. He observed to Reeve that it was
impossible that they could have been so wet. Reeve
desired him to observe the stains on the back of
them. He asked Reeve if they had remained in
the reticule all the time it had been in his pocket.
He said that they had. He pointed out to Reeve
the eorrrast there was between the gloves, the
purse, and the notes; the former, a more durable
material, seemed to be the most injured, and ob-
served that the stain he alluded to did not go
through all the notes. Reeve said that he could
not account for the circumstance, unless that they
were bound up very tight in the purse. He apprised
Mr. Pyne of it. The letter was reduced to a mere
pap. Reeve also told him that he had given up the
reticule, containing the notes and Exchequer-bills,
to Captain Nesbit.
David Holland, of Docking, shopkeeper, stated
that he went down on Brancaster beach on Sunday
morning, the Ist of September; he went on board
the Earl of Weinyss packet. He found the deck
crowded with people ; they had got 10 corpses and
put them into a waggon, and took them to the
church. Amongst others he saw Mr. Reeve on
board, and in his possession a reticule. He (Reeve)
said to the steward, " This reticule I have taken
from one of the ladies." The steward then said
that the lady to whom the reticule belonged had a
valuable trunk in the cabin. Reeve put his hand
into the reticule and pulled out a roll of paper, and
said that underneath were some notes, which were
signed " Lord Granby,or Granville." He then put
them into the reticule, closed the clasp, and put it
into his pocket, and said that he should take care
of it. Reeve also said that he had taken a mourn.
ing ring or earring, he could not say which, and a
gold ring, front one of the bodies. Mr. Brown's
body was not at this time
found. He (witness)
urged a search after it, and it was at length dis-
covered and brought upon deck. Immediately
Reeve went up to it, and laid hold of the watch.chain and pulled it, and it broke. He thenuvlthu t-
toned the trousers and took the watch out of the
fob. At the same time Mr. Henry Kitton took
• govettie the pocket, and handed it to
11140.
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