The Sun.
London, England, 1857-12-29 00:00:00

Ssitsrslay the siae;culare of ve'y s• t - •i;
mut:tie- on board ship in the Mersey .occepied- t 3
attention of the magistrates. The case wae, in 'A
first instance, brought before the borouge neej- •
stra,tes, td the Polic.e-court, but the quetion. of
jurisdiction was raised.
Mr. Wybargh.antl- Air. Garnett, clerks to the. • .
magistrates, having consulted the act of parliano nt,
decided that the borough magistrates had no jurise -
diction in the case; the mutiny having taken place -
on board ship in the river, and that the investiga-
tion must take place before the county magistrates. .
icCnoo The
Cobb,
vte,
solicitor,
nlii
andse
Boi
tnaoes:r,eseo,:rnt2hv!soety
Barnett-street.
tests.
defended
amt. e
rhbee
County
,eoGnui Were 'then
thete h,
Magistrates'
pe s
prisoners,
teeorersd
who appeared on behalf of the prosecubteieonn.,praouedu.:lerds.
Scahsoor trley:uptrpeedaret
wo, it co court,uidwnh
not
tn thereproce
proceed
s lot
nntl
tyl one
magistrate on the bench, and as the nature of the
at endance of another magistrate had
A. first a' tempt to obtain second magistrate
failed,• and the case was about to be adjourned,
when the captain of the ship, being anxious to sail
that night, a further effot was m tcle; and Mr. W.
Rathbone and Mr. W. Erle hawing taken their •
seats, the prisoners were again see t f r. about half-
past two o clock, and placed in the dock.
The shoat facts of the case are as follows :
Os Thursday evening the American passenger-
ship J. J. Boyd, was lying in the river, and just
about to leave the port for New York, when, as if
by a previously arrang d plan, the crew broke out
in mutiny,
.and the passengers, amounting to
several hundreds, were frightfully alarmed by the
crew, who were running about the deck with halid-
spikes and drawn knives. So terrified were the
passengers of the ship, that two of them came
ashore in. a st!am-tender,- and gave information to
the police. An inspector and about a dozen officers
proceeded ito the vessel, and found the crew all
armed, and stoutly refusing to proceed to sea. The
decks were crowded with passengers, who were • -
'al dtteasctkaeldarm:
some.irh e
sreuenonnidrigmabaotentha:ind absetea:enoirfiotluieslwy
of the crew, who had struck him with a handspike,
anti—Aeverely lacerated his me .Ss Ce.sstai tt
•
-Tlioness,estllrs master of the vessel, orde?snd the **?'
police to take all the seamen into custody on the
charge of mutiny, and twenty-seven were at once •
put in irons, and brought on shore.
On the casebeing called on, the charge of Mutiny
was abandoned, in consequence of the captain's
desire to get to sea, and a charge of assault only
preferred, a!thoughjit was quite clear that the evi-
dence was sufficiently strong to have supported the
graver charge.
William Ellis, the second mite of the ship, said
that the twenty-seven men in the dock formed l art •
of the crow. The ship was in the river, on the
Liverpool side. At 7 o'clock on Wednesday night
last John Chapman, ono of the prisoners, struck
Min 'with - a belaying pin. He had at the
time a knife in his hand. One of the crew was
then in irons, and David Can and Joseph S. Burice,
two of the crew, said, " If you do not let him out
of irons, we will take him out." Witness was
knocked. down insensible, and he could not say
whether lie was struck or not by any of the other
prisoners besides Chapman.
Joseph Teom.a,s, the chief mate, said—l saw the
prisoner Entice draw his knife and threaten to stab
me. . -
John Smith, the boatswain, deposed -to seeing
the prisoner Chapman striking the second mate.
W. Hood-Can and Arthur Wainwright Friend,
two of the passengers, also deposed to hearing se-
veral of the crew threaten to stab the two mates,
but they oould ,not distinctly swear to any of the
prisoners, With 'the 'exception of Bunco; and the
witness Friend stated that on Sunday night last he
saw Bullets, take' out his knife and threaten to stab
the second mate. _
Mr. Cobb then addressed the bench on behalf of
the two last named, after which,
Mr. Rathbone stated that, after the course taken
on the pot of the captain, the bench could not go
into the charge of mutiny, but it was perfectlyclear
that a very serious assault had been proved againet
the prisi)ners Chapman and Bence, and as regarded
them, the bench had decided to inflict a fine of 51.
each, or in default two months' imprisonment:
With regard to the rest of the prisoners, it was at
least also quite clear that they had behaved very
ill, and if the magistrates had had the duty im-
posed upon them of sending the case before- an-
other court, he had no doub' but what they would
all have been severely punished, for it was evident
that there had been a mutiny on beard the vessel
on the part of the prisoners, and they would all
leave that court with a black character. They had
a very narrow escape, in consequence of the course
which had been taken.—Liverpool Albion.

AN " ABSENT " BANKRUPT,-THE DOHERTY

CASE

At another adjourned certificate meeting in the
case of John Doherty, late acorn merchant of Li-
verpool, yesterday, before Mr. Commissioner Ste-
venson, at the Liverpool Bankruptcy Court—Mr.
Deighton, barrister, who appeared for the bank-
rupt, applied for an adjournment, sine die, on the
ground that the comments which had been made
upon the conduct of the bankrupt, the state of
public feeling with regard to his affairs, and the
recent harass of a crinn nalprosecutionlad produced
such an • effect upon the bankrupt's mind that .it
would be impossible for him to meet the charges
made against him in a manner which would do
justice to himself. Mr. Deighton was instructed to
say, that if these charges were fairly gone into, and
at a proper time, Mr. Doherty would be able to
meet them and answer them satisfactorily.
Mr. Aspinall (who appeared. for the assignees)
said that in a case where it was impossible that the
bankrupt could obtain a certificate the plan which
had been adopted was the best to get Mr. Doherty
out of the case and avoid further publicity ; but
he (Mr. Aspinall), though giving full credit for sin'-
cerity to Mr. Deighton—who doubtlessrhad acted
according to his instructions—could not allow such
a statement and application to go without answer
and opposition. When the bankrupt was before
the court the other day he appeared in good health,
and the ingenuity with which he answered some
questions, and avoided answering others,showed the •
greatest amount of mental acumen. . thisuPported
by medical te3timony, Mr. Aspinall contended that
the court could not grant the present application,
and applied for an immediate refusal of the certi-
r ficate, observing that there were precedents for
such a course.
His Honour was not aware of such precedents,
bat thought it was quite competent for the court to
go into the question of certificate in th© absence of
the bankrupt, or even to issue a surinvions or war-
rant, if necessary, to secure his presence.
• Mr. Aspinall denied that the bankrupt had boon
harassed beyond what was necessary for the pur-
poses of justice. His conduct had been matter of
newspaper report and criticism, but not more Si
than the character of the case was likely to call for.
He had not in any way been made the victim of
persecution, as had been insinuated by his counsel.
After some further conversation it was decided
that a., adjournment should be madefor afortnight,
medical evidence as to the exact condition of the
bankrupt to be obtained in the meantime, and pro-
duced on that occasion.