The Sun.
London, England, 1858-06-04 00:00:00

'

;NEWSPAPER

' exercised towards the crew of ,g 4 . - mr-, ,,-t ._.74,
vv,l
son by the defendant, who ha : 42,
it !? ;C.r. 7:,
Hong Kong, for assaulting et
.„,-,i:-...nr-,-,m,._ ..,..R.17,--
After trial the defendant-a-mul , . . • .: . ;:,,
at various times. He aced sci, ' _ ::_tkari&a,... -7*/
magistrate that the•mate of the a wt • ..I.ll',
... -
fled, under any circumstances, iritiNindifelion a
punishment near' the crew ;'-` and tliat the,c‘ptian
only was authorised, after a 40terAtivat1gation,
in awarding -corporal punislimeat, : I . -.
The firs% tompleinant,- APPlierFon; „ea-id be bad -
been rattling down th fora riggiege on &the star-
board Side, ,and_ went np6n -deck" to: sharpen the
point of his- inaiiing-spike.'
,•Tbel cWeclant coni-
plained that he was tcb long-about the: job he_was
upon, applied a vile epithet to 14im,:.and order. d
him .t o deliver the marling-spike to him .(the mate),:
but he refused to do se, fearing tliattho mate Would
strike him with it. A struggle took' place for the
possession of the marling-spike, and the second mate
seized him' by the hair of his -head -and 'threw 'him
upon the deck, and the • boatswain fell on the t:p
of him. • The chief, mate then let go.the,nyt. rling-
spike and took ' lip a bani4oO' beweer, 'a lieaig -and. --
formidable weapon, and aimed several blawirae_the
seaman's head, He raised 1,,: 7 f-e. *eave .10.liertd,
and the blows fell upon his arm. -The `Cornpraill;rnt
elle I, that he was severely bruised a,hd iejiiied, •
and did not recover from the effects 'ofibe blows
for several days, and that he ha-t been struCk and
kicked by the chief mate on former occasions.
In ansWer Ati question's by Mr. Stoddart, the • :
witness said tha' while Ale defendrant was beating
him he said to the boatseiain; "Stand on one side,
and let me kill thed--7--.:"."H' T
e h eh
abs ea4tirdv ati no-uhg-oh.ev,;
ever interfered,
,an_saio
The t.eatswain of the shi pin& eriother. wite 0.3 S
confirmed 11. e statement of McPherson, . - -, , ,
Mr. Charles Young, s.olicAor, in, :47-fence of the
mate—said. 'he could not deny there was a Lttle •
excess in the punishment; and conipensatiort had -
been offered and refused, but he was 'assured.that
the complainant was very inselent, Odin defiance
of orders to -the contrary, had made 41 marling-
spike too sharp and' cut"- the ' "ening. He then
called .
Captain Robert Kerr, the, mas'erl of the Mary
Ann Wilson, who said the defendant was a smart,
energetic officer, - who -required his orders ,to be
obeyed immediately,' but he was very- tender-
hearted, and would not hurt any nun unless he
was very grosslyprolvolred. He admitted in -Cross-
examination by Mr. Stoddart, that • the 'defendant
was fined sl.' iLI Hong Kong .for assail ing,aSeanan,
Mr. Selfe said he would.hear all the cases before
he gave his decision.. . ' - .:I ' ' ," i --.• ; e
The second complainant, Richard Fuebes, sail,
maw, said he received an order from the mate in
a sharp and ' peremptory manner, to strike-three
bells, and observed to a shipmate, "here' is ano-
ther sudden jerk," which was a bye-word in the
ship. The chief mate said, " I'll sudden jerk you,"
Soon afterwards while on the poop, he happened to
spill a little water by accident. over the defendant's
sea-boots. Tire defendant said it was done on pur-
pose. He begged his pardon, and said it was. not.
The defendant then threw him off the poop; . as ho
' was going down the ladder towards the deck, the
,defendant kicked him on the feat and threw him
upon the deck, and then followed him and struck
him, and kicked him again several times. He told
the defendant that although he boasted of being an
Englishman he had imlibecl American notions, and
was constantly booting . people, which remark
brought forth another kick. •He was struck and
kicked by the mate on the outward passage.
Witnesses were called in confirmation of the
statement hy the complainant.
Mr. Young again addressed the magistrate, and
said the mate received gross provocation.
Captain Kerr sa'd the defendant had never been
inthe American service.
Mr. Selfe—lt has not been as•iert•al that be was;
it is alleged that be had inabihed American notions,
which will not do for our service. Seamen are not
to be kicked or knocked about at the caprice of a
captain or mate iu the British merchant service.
The third complainant, Scott, was called, but
did not answer.

Mr. Selfe—The defendant is called a smart, ener-
getic man, and very tender-hearted. He may be
smart and energetic, but I do not b 'here he is
tender-hear`ed. On the contrary, he is proved to
have c unrnittecl several brutal assa.ul+s, and to have
been fined at Hong Kt.yng. I shall,firie the defen-
dant 505., with one guinea costs, for the first as-
sault ; and for the second I cannot impose a leis
fine thin 51., with ss. costs..' And Captain Kerr,
allow me to say a word to you. Chief mates or
second mates of ships are not allowed to strike sea-
men on any pretence whatever. The defendant
hat acted very badly to the men, and he had no
right to lay bands upon them. I will always set
my face against brutality and vulgar language on
the part of officers in the Mash merchant service.
The captain only is authorised to inflict corporal
punishment on h's crew, and not then until after
a proper investigation, and a consultation with his
officers.
The fines were immediately paid.

WESTMINSTER.—DISGRACEFUL PROCEEDING.
—John Barry and David Reading were charged
with the following disgraceful ccwlu.t
Mr. Smith, of Denbigh-street, sAicitor, attended
for the pr,secution, and stated the facts of the case
as proved by witnesses. He said the circumstances
were very peculiar, the prisoners were charged with
being in possession of property belonging to a gen-
tleman named Mare, residing at 79, Denbigh-street.
The charge against Barry was much stronger than
that against Reading, in fact he (Mr. Smith) did
nut think the charge was sufficiently strong against
the latter to warrant his detentiota. The prosecu-
'or had ozcasion to give a bill of sale to a man
named Isaacsforsome of hisproperty, and last even-
ing Isaacs sent, after sunset, for the property men-
tioned in the bill of sale to be removed. The men sent
wiJi the van, including the prisoners, proceeded
to take away the things, but not in the ordina,y
way, as they threw them out of the windows,
smashing many of them. The landlord triel to
prevent them, as some rent was owing to him, for
which he wished to distra;n, but ho was pushed
nut of the house, and. Mr. Mara was assaulted.
In addition t'.) removing the things stated in the
tdil, they had unceremoniously taken away upwards
of 1001. worth of other property, notwithstanding
the remonstrance of Mr. Mare, a crowd being pre-
sent all 11'5 time, completely b'oAine up the street,
and following the vans to Chancery lane. It might
be presumed that the prisoners had removed the
property because they thought it was included. m
the bill of sale, but Mr. Mare gave them mto
charge for stealing the things, and they weweretaken
to Bow-street and then remanded to this court.
searched,. among- other things found on
Otßh;nierlbrn;
and the
pipe-case belonging to Mr. Mare ou
the defendant State ,1 that he had it
given him by a friend two months ago. He (Mr.
Smith) urged that although the accused (Barry)
went along with others to remove the furniture in-
cluded in the bill of sale, still in taking away the
pipe-case he had committed a theft, because it was
quite clear that he did not mean to give it to his
employers, but to appropriate it himself, especially
as he had stated that it was given him two months
ago, therefore he could not have supposed that, in
taking it, ho was acting under the bill of sale, and
must have stolen it for the purpose of appropria-
tion. They only brought that charge against him
b cause, with reference to the other things re-
. moved, he might h five laboured under a misappre-

hensi.
Evidence having been given to pr,ve that the
pipe was the property of Mr. Mare,
The defendant Barry repeated his statement as
to the possession of it.
Inspector Humfreys said the landlord could not
stop the progress of the removal of the things, be-
cause it was past sunset.
Barry was committed for trial, and the other
defendant discharged.
A person, who represented that he was Barzy's
employer, hoped he might be admitted to,b'ail, as
he had removed nothing but what he 11.-g-Thini.
Mr. Paynter said the least he sal the better.
It was a most illegal and disguiretrtui act.