Star.
London, England, 1825-02-10 00:00:00


... . . .
Maie to keep the boy on the chest daring the watch,
froni twelve to four. The. Second Date told the pii
sonert that the boy had stolen i:ome of the 'men's cc)-
bAco. The prisoner then went below. At sii o'clock
in the morning the boy was standing against the
weather rail; he trembled, and appeared so weak as to
be unable to stand. The prisoner came on deck at
eight o'clock, and beat the boy with some of the run-
ning rigging, and then ordered,him to go forward. 'file
deceased scrambled on deck, and took hold of the boom

brace. The man at the helm said to the boy, Come
away, or you will go overboard," but the boy paid no
attention to what he said. The witness, seeing his dan-
ger, with some difficulty pulled him away, and then
went below. The deceased was afterwards sitting by
the galley fire ; ,the witness went to bed, and the boy
I was handed tinwn the scuttle; the helmsman got hi eak.
fast, and offered the boy some, but he either would not
or could not swallow ; the cook afterwards made some
tea, but the boy could not drink it. In about half an
hour the boy was sent fur by the prisoner, and handed
out of the forecastle ; he was unable to walk at that time

without assistance. The .. itriesr afterwards saw the

boy in the Captain's gangway ; when the Captain camel
up he struck him on the right side of the head with his
hand, and ordered him to go instantly t* the cabin.
About half-past two o'clock the same day the witness

was sent below to look at the boy, and he found him
dead. He saw no more of him till eleven o's:Vck the
following day, when he was directed to go down, vei h
others of the clew, .to sew up the deceased in a sheet.
On pulling off the boy's trowsers, witness observed a
black mark on his thigh, and two others on the belly ;
the body was then sewn up in, a sheet, a id carried on
deck; prayers being read, the corpse was thrown over-
board ; the night the boy was exposed on the chest alb
very cold and sleety.
Cross-examined by Mr. ALLEY—Witness had been
accused on the 10th November last of stealing rum ; he
did not to his knowledge beat the boy with a rope'send
on the day he died ; he slapped him with his open hand
to make him let go; he did not throw the boy down
upon the spars, and say, " go there ; I have no pity for
you;" the boy was very filthy with vermin ; he had no
hammock, and none of the crew would suffer him to
sleep with them, or come near their clothes.
John Davies, a seaman on board the vessel during
the voyage, corroborated the leading points of she evi-
dence of the above witness. He also stated that the
boy had some burgoo for his breakfast the morning of
the day he died, and ate a pint of it. About. one o'clock
on the same day the boy crawled on deck on his hands
and knees, and appeared to be speechless. When the
boy was dead, the Captain said " the galley fire had suf-
focated him."
In cross-examination, the witness said that he had had
no dispute with the Captain; he never challenged him
to fight. The deceased slept amongst wet timber; he
was driven thereby the crew.
Nicholas Foote, another seaman, said, that on the
night of the 15th November, there was neither snow
nor sleet. It was a foggy night, and not severely cold.
Prisoner was a humane man.
T. Oliver, the chief mate of the vessel, said the boy
was very indolent, and extremely filthy ; he saw the
prisoner flog him; the punishment was not severe, or
likely to occasion his death. The prisoner always treated
the boy well; the witness Diggins accused of steal-
ing rum during the voyage; he saw Diggins beat the
boy on the morning of the day on which be expired,
with a rope, and he also threw him amongst some spars.
Mr. Heslop, a passenger on board the vessel, saw the
boy on the chest as stated by the first witness ; but he
slept part of the time. The boy commonly slept on the
deck. The Captain did not beat him severely, nor was
he kept on the chest the whole of the night. It was not
a severely cold night ; there was no snow or sleet.
The prisoner put in a written defence, in which he denied the
offence imputed to ram.
Several merchants, and a number of other respect-
able persons, were called on behalf of the prisoner's
character. Some of them had known him for thirty
years, and they gave him the highest character for
mildness and humanity.
The Loan CHIEF BARON said, that had the case been'
left solely upon the evidence of the two first witnesses,
he should have thought the situation of the prisoner was
a very critical one; but the subsequent evidence had
completely contradicted the most material parts of their
testimony, and had negatived the imputation of malice
on the part of the prisoner towards the deceased.
The Jury, without permitting the Learned Judge to sum up the
evidence, returned a Verdict of—Nog Guilty.
• The prisoner was a good-looking man, about fifty years of age.
The Session then terminated.

WEST INDIES.

KINGSTOWN, ST. VINCF:NrS, NOV. 6.

Tuesday, the Court of Grand Sessions, specially sum-
moned for the trial of James RaHasty, a pi ivate of the
21st Fuzileers, charged with the wilful murder of Ma-
jor Johrf C. Champion, of the• same Regiment, assem-
bled at the Court House, upon which occasion the
bench was occupied by the three Assistant Justices of
the Court of Common Pleas, in consequence of the un-
fortunate indisposition of his Honour the Chief Judge,
who, we regret to say, has been confined for the last
fortnight from the effects of an apoplectic attack.
On the Court *being formed, and the Grand Jury
sworn, they were addressed by the senior Justice, who
'presided; after which the Grand Jury retired, and were
absent but a short time, when they returned a true bill
upon the indictment whiZh they had received.—The
prisoner had been previously placed at the bar, and,
being now called on to plead, said—Not Guilty.
The Petty Jury was then sworn; and the trial pro-
ceeded, which occupied little more than two hours, the
evidence being clear and decisive against the prisoner,
and fully establishing his guilty perpetration of the
crime with which he stood charged. We deem it un-
necessary in this case to detail the evidence verbatim,
but the following will be found a correct summary of
it:—" On the 13th of October, the prisoner (with a
corporal and two other privates) was placed on duty for
the day at the Barrier-bridge, leading into Fort Char-
lotte ; between five and six o'clock in the evening,
Major Champion, as he passed this post on his way to
town, found fault that the prisoner, with the corporal
and another private, who were all in the guard-nom,
had been dilatory in turning our, and lie accordingly
ordered the two privates to perform extra duty for an
hour, under arms, and placed the corporal in arrest, as
he appeared inebriated. The comrade of the pi isoncr,
who performed the hour's extra duty with him this
occasion, was quesiioned paitictilarly at. to any expres-
sion of resentment that he might have made use of
M, xis or 'period ; but be de

\

..

*nen he returned,' to Which the witness said he attiched
no importance, having no reason to iuspect.thO result.
The hour being expired, and another, Corpnral placed
in charge of the guard; it became the prisoner's regular
turn of tiuty to remain nut until eight eitpck—the cor-
poral and the two other sentinels being in the guard-
room, at about twelve or fifteen paces distant: at a little
after seven o'clock, a reoort e.f- a musket being heart!,
the men i.e the room ran out, and questioned the pri-
soner as to the cause of alarm—one of them at the
same time taking.his firelock from him, whiCh was still
warm from the discharge, and the prisoner declaring,
without hesitation, that he had shot the Major. This
declaration he subsequently repeated to the Serjeant-
Major and others, who came to the spot, adding. that it
was not his intention to injure any person but the Majar
—that they need give themselves no trouble on his ac-
count—an.i that in what he had done, he considered
he had per formed good service for the regiment.'
‘i This, m ith the evidence of the Medical Gentleman
who attended the Major and described the cause of his
death, and the testimony of those who found him
wounded and bleeding on the drawbridge, formed the
purport of the case against the prisoner. He attended
to it throughout with the utmost composure, and occa-
sionally addressed a few questions to the witnesses
through the Attorney-General, but not bearing mate-
rially on the case. He was then called upon for his
defence, when he produced a paper, which every one
ss ho heard it 'Must regret he should have read; as it
141Rected not only on the character of the late Major
Champion, but also on the other Officers of the Regi-
ment, and spoke of abuses and privations existing in the
Corp.-, which lie must have been aware are open to
redress if they had anriust foundation. The paper
appeared to be badly connected, and it is probable was
hot all real by the prisoner; it spoke of his unhappy
situation, and indirectly admitted that he was the per-
petrator of the crime with which he stood charged ; but
the only useful or satisfactory sentiment it contained
was that wherein the prisoner, in allusion to the reports
that were in circulation, declared, that no other person
had any previous knowledge of what had taken place,
nor had he himself until shortly before it occurred;
meaning, as we inferred, that he committed the murder
under a sudden impulse of resentment; but no part of
his subsequent conduct tends to justify this conclusion.
The unfortunate man having finished his address,
the Jury retired for about five minutes, and returned a
verdict of Guilty, when sentence of death was passed
on him in a solemn and impressive manner, but which
he received with the same seeming unconcern that he
had evinced throughout the trial.
" A warrant being issued by his Excellency the Go-
vernor for the execution, it took place a little before
twelve o'clock on Thursday, ne irly on the spot where
the murder was committed. The culprit proceeded co
foot irom the jail through the town, at the end of which
he was placed in a cart bearing his coffin, and escorted
by a posse of fifteen constables. He was neatly dressed
in white, trimmed with black, and maintained a firm-
ness of conduct throughout that would have shed
honour on a better fate, although he was very attentive
to his prayers, and to the admonitions of the Catholic
Priest and Wesleyan Missionaries who were with him.
He made no confession in his last moments, and after
hanging for an hour, his body was interred under the
bridge where he was executed."

SPURTING INTELLIGENCE.

TROTTING SIXTEEN MILES AN 1106 R.

The match for 300 sovereigns for Makir Bouverie's celebratest
mare Bantam to trot (saddle) 16 miles in one hour, and to cs,ry 10
stow", took place yesterday morning over four miles of e u-s:n
ground, from Ashford Common, and thence ovi r part of the
Staines road towards Betlfons. Betting was 6t04 on time, a; d
much sporting took place. Screece (Major Wombwell's fate grtx•m)
rode the mare as follows :—The first mile was performed in three
minutes and 40 seconds, and the four miles occupied 14 mimic.,
and 22 seconds. The mare broke her pace in the seventh mile anti
was turned ; but she tlid the second four miles in 15 minutes ai d
26 seconds, making half the distance in 29 minutes and 48 seconds.
The third four miles was done in 14 minutes and SO seconds; and
the fourth in 14 minutes and 58 seconds, which was winning the
match by 24 seconds, and that cleverly too.