The Sun.
London, England, 1827-05-29 00:00:00

street.

ADMIRALTY SESSIONS.

(ROBERT HARRIS'S CROSS-EXAMINATION CONTINUED FROM
OUR SECOND PAGE.)

The deceased was cook and steward. The crew com-
plained that the deceased did not cook their victuals well.
On one occasion, when the crew were ordered down, they
found the flour that had been provided spoiled, and Grove
proposed that the next time they found the cook on deck,
that they should punish him themselves. A cat was then
provided, and several of the crew struck the deceased with
the cat. The captain came on deck whilst the crew were
heating the deceased, and seizing the cat, which was in
witness's hand, he complained that witness did not beat
the deceased hard enough, and commenced striking him-
self. The crew gave the deceased another flogging on the
11th or 12th September, but that flogging could not have
hurt the deceased. The deceased was dismissed from be-
ing cook some days before his death, and was ordered by
the master to pick oakum. He was a clean man, and
would have done his duty if the master had given him
time. The witness never read the paper he signed. Said
nothing on the 16th September to prevent the prisoner
from ill-treating the deceased. It was often said before,
tf Captain, don't ill-treat the poor fellow," but tbii did

not induce the captain to desist. Witness signed the paper
through fear, but did not make any charge Itgainst the
master when the King's Officers came aboard.
Re•examined by Mr. MinaEws.—There certainly was
cause of complaint against the cook, for the manner in
which he dressed the victuals.

Examined by the CHIEF JUSTIC4.—It is usual, when
any offence is committed by the captain of a merchaat-
man, to complain when the crew came nest a king's ship.
The crew of the Valiant did not adopt this course, be-
cause they determined to mention the murder when they
went ashore. Witness was several times ashore at the
Mauritius, and met English soldiers, and English sailors,
but never complained to them of the cruel murder
of the black man. The person who administered the
oath to witness never read over the paper which witness
signed. It was sever read to witness that he and the
crew were to swear " that the deceased died by the visita-
tion of God, and not from any accident or abuse which
occurred in the ship." Witness did not know that he had
sworn to those words, or to any thing else but that the
black died in his hammock.

By a Juror.—Witness himself had never experienced
any ill-treatment from the master.
John Holmes, aged 16 years, deposed that he joined
the Valiant before her voyage to the Mauritius. The
cook's name was Francis Williams. Ile was a young
man, and appeared in good health. About a fortnight
after the ship sailed from the river, the captain began to
quarrel with the cook for being lazy and dirty. The cap-
tain used to beat him with a stick, which he called Tam
Thumb. The cook was afterwards beat by the crew,
every man taking the cat and giving a blow. Witness
and William Norman were the only persons who did not
strike the cook. The captain stood by whilst the punish-
ment was inflicted, and when the crew were dyne flc7ging,
the captain took up a stave, and began striking the cook.
Witness remembered the day before the took was found
dead. It was a Saturday. Witness first saw the cook
bitting on the boom, and the captain flogging him. Wit-
ness was employed in the cabin, and only saw what was
going on occasionally. The cook asked for a drink of
water, and the master ordered him a pannakiu of brine,
which he made the cook drink. Witness afterwards saw the
cook lying under the ballast, which consisted of mud, sand,
and small stones. He was afterwards hauled up on deck
by a rope round his thigh, and appeared almost dead. The
Captain lifted the cook by the gallows, and then let him
fall on deck. He called to Wm. Cassan to heat an iron
hoop, which Cassan refused to do, and the Captain then
put the iron himself ur the fire, and applied it to the cook's
head until he singed the hair. Witness then went below,
and on coming up again he saw the master and a man
named Nutter, lowering the cook into the sea; after a little
while he was hauled up again, and being allowed about two
minutes to recover his breath, was again lowered into the
sea, and was taken up almost dead. Whilst coming up
the side of the vessel, his throat caught in the chain-bolt
and was hint. The cook then lay almost insensible on the
deck, and some of the men asked whether they should not
take him below, but the Captain said " (1— the rascal, let
him lay there, and I'll take the sulks out of him." Sub-
sequently the cook was carried below, and his jacket taken
off, and he was put into his hammock stark naked. In
the course of the night the Captain said to witness. " Boy,
Jack, go and see whether the cook is (lead or alive !" Wit-
ness went and heard the cook groan, but when witness al-
dressed him, he could not answer. Witness felt his body
and know he was naked. In the morning witness went
into the Captain and said to the Captain that the cook was
dead, and the Captain changed colour, jumped out of bed
and went on deck. By order of the Captain the body was
then hauled upon deck in the hammock. The Captain
said " do you think he died of ill usage !" and Grove made
answer, "he did not die of good usage." The Captain
then read prayers over the body, and it was thrown into
the sea. The crew got grog on that day. Witness heard
the Captain and men talking about the paper, but never
heard it read nor was asked to sign it. The Captain be-
haved very well to the crew for the rest of the voyage.
He first found fault with the cook because he did not clean
the knives and forks, and afterwards because there were com-
plaints of his bad cooking. On one occasion the cook
was tied up with a rope in a most indecent manner, and
another time the tormentors were thrust into his breeches,
and the soup-ladles and scrubbing-brushes hung round his
neck. This was only for a laugh.

Cross-examined by Mr. BRODERICK-Witness saw the
the crew beat the cook in the absence of the master, and
also in his presence. They " cobbed him " with a stave ;
the black man did not upset the pannakin of brine in wit-
ness's presence; witness never heard the Captain tell the crew
that they must not punish the cook, but if necessary that he
would punish him. Upon the arrival of the vessel in the
Mauritius, the Captain went ashore ; there were two King's
ships in the harbour ; the crew were all ashore at different
times ; witness was a cabin boy on board the ship ; if any
one of the crew had been desirous to speak to the officers of
the King's ships, they hat; the opportunity; after the de-
ceased was drawn up from the hold, and before he was
lowered into the sea, there was no offensive smell; this was
after the cook had drunk the brine.

In answer to Chief Justice BEST-The deceased was
pulled up from the hold by one leg, his head banging down.
The Cook could not have been much hurt by the punish-
ment the crew gave him. When the crew were beating
the Cook, the Captain took the stave out of some one's hand
and began to strike himself.
-

William Capan was a seaman on hoard the Valiant.--.
Joined the vessel in August last. Williams (a man of
colour) was the cook. Witness did not observe that the
master ill-treated him until about a week before William's
death. The day before the black man's death the master
flogged him with a cat. When the cook asked for a drink
of water, the Captain gave him a pannakin of brine. The
cook said he had rather not have any, and the Captain said
he must, for that it was as good as London porter....
The Captain then began flogging with the cat until the
cook drank the brine. The next time witness saw
the cook was in the hold, with his head in a bucket, ap-
parently very ill. Witness let down a rope by order of
the Captain, and it was tied round the cook's thigh, and
the Captain and another man hauld him up. Soon after,
the Captain desired witness to put the poker in the fire,
and witness refused, upon which the Captain thrust the
poker into the fire himself, and laid across the cook's back
when it was red-hot. The cook did not cry out. The
Captain ordered brine to be brought a second time, and
witness brought it, and some was poured down the cook's
throat as he lay on his back. After this, the Captain
ordered the cook to be put overboard, and he was kept in
the sea for some minutes. He was then handed up and laid
on deck for some minutes, and then immersed in the sea
again. When he was brought up the second time, he
had a cut under his chin from one of the chain-bolts.
After lying on the deck some minutes, the cook was then
bound into the hold and put into his hammock. He
was laid on his hack and had nothing on his per-
son but the Guernsey frock. Witness was the first that
went to look about the cook, and, upon descending into
else hold, he found bins dead, in the same position in which
he was left the preceding evening. When the Captain came
on deck, witness to'.d him the cook was dead, and the
Captain said, " Ali ! is he? he is the first black I ever
knew to die in the sulks." When the corpse was brought on
deck, the Captain asked if there were any marks, and one of •
the men said there could be no marks on a black man's
hods. After the cook was buried, the Captain eked wit-
ness to sign a paper to the effect that the deceased died by
the visitation of God. Grove said they could not sign
such a paper ; but to make all comfortable, they had better
sin accidental death. Witness went to the cabin end signed
the paper, but did not know exactly what it contained.
Does not belive it was ever read to him.
Cross-examined,—Witness was two voyages with the
prisoner before, and had no complaint to make against him.
Witness never saw the whole crew strike the deceased with
staves. Saw one man strike deceased with a stave, and
the Captain took the stave from the man's hand, and be-
gan to use it himself.
When the crew went ashore the paper they signed and
swore to was read over to them by a gentleman.
This was before they went to the Police-office.
Harris, the first witness was present. Witness had a
quarrel with the Captain in the vessel, when she
was in the river. He swore on that occasion that
lie would have satisfaction, and would not swear that
he did not say lie would be revenged. Witness re-
membered drinking gin with a man named Andrews, at
the sign of the Admiral Blaleney, but never said
that he expected to make a good thing by this trial, nor
that he did not care a if be could see the prisoner
hanged.
Other witnesses were examined, who gave the same ge-
neral description of the circumstances of the case, but va-
ried in some minor details. .

The prisoner, who is a man of gentlemanly appearance,
conducted himself with great firmness and composure during
the trial. •
He was humanely accommodated with a seat in the
dock by the orders of the Court.
The trial had not concluded at the hour of Povr. •

LIFE OF NAPOLFON.—When Sir Walter
Scott went to Paris some months ago, all the
world thought he had
.gone to collect informa-
tion for his work..—to give his portrait of Napo-
leon flitting. All the world wa4 wrong

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