Star.
London, England, 1818-06-13 00:00:00

ADMIRALTY SESSIONS

Yesterday these Sessions commenced in Justice-
Hall, Old Bailey, before Sir W. &Orr, Mr. Justice
PARK, Mr. Baron GA RROW, and several Civilians.
Henry Newton stood indicted capitally
for feloniously administering to Henry Ryder a
deadly poison, called white arsenic, whereof he died.
John Carter, a black man, deposed—" I am an
American, and about two years ago I joined a brig,
called the William, at Halifax, as cook, at the time
that Ryder, the deceased, did. In July' last she sailed
from Barbadoes to South America; the prisoner
joined her the day we sailed, I understood, as pilot.
We afterwards sailed for Liverpool in the month of
September, with cotton on board. About four days
before Captain Ryder died a quarrel took place be-
tween the prisoner and the deceased ; I heard the de-
ceased say to the prisoner, If you give me the lie,
I will knock you down.' The prisoner said, Don't-
strike me, Captain Ryder ;' and the deceased said,
I will strike you or any other man who shall give
me the lie ; I defy any man to catch me in a lie, and
I will not take the lie from any man: They did not
appear friendly for two days, but afterwards they ap-
peared on friendly terms. On the evening ofthe sth.
of November, -before his death, I got the supper
ready at about six o'clock ; it was my duty to do so ;
it was lily-pea (flour and water), which I prepared
in a saucepan myself ; I got the flour out of the cask
from which I usually took it, and I got the water out
of a cask—the water had been taken from the cask.
before and after. Having made the lily-pea, 1 put
it on the table in the cabin ; I put beef, biscuit, tea,,
and lily-pea on the table ; I got the tea out of a ca-
nister, which had been used before and afterwards:
I usually put sugar on the table, it was a pot of my.
duty ; it was usually brought down in a saucer, but
upon that evening I did not take it, I found it on the
table. An accident happened to the main-boom that
night, and the crew were employed until supper-time
in repairing it. They were three quarters of an hour
at supper, and when they came out of the cabin,
Ryder said he was sick ; he appeared to be in perfect
good health before ; he began to vomit, and com-
plained of being very thirsty; he asked me for wine
and water, and said there was something either in
the tea or the sugar which must have been the cause
of his sickness. He asked me what kind of water I
had made the tea of? I told him I made it of clean
water ; he said he was poisoned, and should not live
to get home. The substance he vomited was the co-
lour of lily-pea; he vomited and purged while ou
the deck, and appeared in a great rack- of plin. I
assisted him to his bed-cabin, and the vomiting and
purging continued, and he still complained of being
to greater pain than he was on deck. I gave him
wine and water, and I remained with him nearly the
whole of the night, and until he died, which was
about three o'clock in the morning. The different
seamen came down to see him, and the prisoner was
asked to come down to see him, out he did not until
after he was dead. Prisoner was in the Captain's cot
on deck, all night ; he never used that before. After
the deceased died, his body turned quite blue ; before
he died, his legs and arms drew up ; they were con-
vulsed ; after he died, his belly and neck were swol-
len ; his mouth was blue. After his death, James
Johnson and George Wood went up for the prisoner,
and he came down. Johnson said, Look at that,
there is a speck for you,' (pointing to the deceased),
and the prisoner lifted up his hand, and said, Oh,
Jesus!' and sat down by Bowden, who was in bed ;
and Bowden said, That old rascal has poisoned Ry-
der—he is dead, and I shall follow him,' adding,.
6 when you write to Liverpool, state it, and have him
hung ; but if I get over it, I will do it myself." The
prisoner got up and went on deck, and said he was
sick. On the morning of the death the corpse was
taken on deck and dressed. Its neck and under the
ears was very blue. There was no surgeon on board,.
and we kept the body two days and a night in hopes
of meeting with a man-of-war which had a surgeon
on board, but we did not. I took the saucer into my
possession, and there was a little sugar in it, and
something with it, which was white, and was like a
powder, as if mixed with the sugar—it was soft sugar,
very light coloured, but that which appeared on the
saucer was much lighter. When I first took the
saucer I put it over the Captain's bed. I shewed it
to some of the crew, and afterwards put it into zny
own chest, which was locked, and it remained there
four days, Suring which the prisoner asked me where
the saucer *as ? I told him I did not know. He
said it was strange, as nobody else had any business
with it. I told him somebody had broken it, or
thrown it overboard. Tie said I must find it, or abide
by the consequences. I had some conversation with
the crew, and in consequence of that I took it down
to the prisoner, who gave me the key of the deceased's
trunk, and told me to put it on the top of Captain
Ryder's clothes. I did so, locked the trunk, and gave
the prisoner the key. Bowden was present, and said,
It had best be taken care of.' When he asked for
the saucer, he said, We will see if we can catch
some of these mice that are knocking about the ca-
bin.' I never saw the saucer afterwards. After the
death of the deceased, the prisoner took the com-
mand, and had it when he asked me for the raucer.
We arrived at Liverpool about 15 days afterwards,
and were there three months, and during that time I
made no complaiht before a Magistrate, but sailed
with the prisoner in the same ship fur Pernambuco.
Johnson, Claghorn, Davis, and Wood, also embarked.
We were obliged to put into Milford, and while
there, Johnson, Davis, and Claghorn, left us. After
they had left I was sent fora re by the prisoner,
who said—" Those rascals that I discharged have
put forth a report respecting Captain Ryder's death,

of d perhaps I shall want yon at the Custotn-house
to clear up my character ; if I send for you, you
*must come." I told him I should tell the truth. Ile
said, " You Can say it was very hot at the time Cap-
tain Ryder was taken ill, and he died suddenly. We
are not doctors enough to know what was the matter
with him when he was taken sick and died suddenly."
I made no reply, and he said, " I don't want you to
tell a lie ; you can say what I have mentioned to
you." On the same day he sent for me, and I went
before the Commissioner, Mr. Stokes, the Magistrate.
Captain Ryder had a watch, a trunk, a medicine-
chest, and an umbrella, and the prisoner took them
into his possession. In point of fact, the weather was
hot where they were, when the Captain died.
This witness underwent a long and severe cross-
examination, but it did not materially shake his tes-
timony. He said that he could not read, but while
they were at Milford, Wood wrote a letter and read
it to him, in the name of himself and Wood, which
was sent to the Captain (prisoner) ; he complained
that the crew did not do their duty. Witness and
Wood told the prisoner that they should leave the
ship, and in consequence of what he said the letter
was sent.

George'Wood was the next witness.—He combo-
rated in most part the deposition of the last witness,
and added, that he saw the prisoner take the saucer
down into the cabin, and as he was going down the
hatchway, he tasted the sugar ; witness eat of the
lily-pea, and he was not ill ; the Steward brought
them the sugar with which this was sweetened.—
Witness farther stated, that the day after the Captain
I died, the whole crew went in a body to the prisoner,
and Johnson addressed him, and said, " How does it
happen that this man is poisoned ?" Newton replied,
" I know nothing about it." Johnson then observed,
" How came you to take" the saucer down? it was
the Steward's business." Newton replied, he had
taken no saucer down. Witness then protested to
GOD that he saw him take the saucer down • when
the prisoner replied, " It must be the handkerchief
which I had in my hand."
In his cross-examination, he said, le saw the pri-
soner go to windward. Bowden was skilled in navi-
gation, but was not able to take the command of the
vessel, being unable to speak, and his mouth being
turned w.try. He was in the hospital at Liverpool.'
William Bowden fully corroborated the foregoing
facts, and stated in addition, that he had a contrac-
tion
in his nerves to this day, and felt the effects of
whatever poisonous ingredient was served in the lily-
pea. He had nearly lost the use of his left hand. He
did not communicate what had happened on his
arrival at Liverpool, because the prisoner promised
him thecommand of the ship.
Mr. Robert Nairn, a Surgeon, at Liverpool, was
a"plied to, to attend Bowden, about the 22d of No-
vember last, but he could not say that his appear-
ances were such as they would be in,a person who
had taken arsenic, as he had but little appearance in
that way ; but Bowden told him he had taken arse-
nic, left in a saucer by accident, to kill rats.
Dr. Roberts, of Bloomsbury-square, had had op-
portunities of seeing. the effects produced on the hu-
man frame by arsenic, and the symptoms which had
been described were such as would be produced
upon a person swallowing arsenic, and from the evi-
dence he had heard, he should think the deceased
met his death by having taken some mineral poison.
Dr. Powell, a physician, confirmed Dr. Roberts in
his opinion. The symptoms could not be the effect
of cholera morbus.
This closed the case fOr the prosecution, acrd the
letter written by George Wood, and signed by him
and John Carter, were read to the Court ; it was
addressed to Captain Newton, at Milford, and stated
that the people both on board Dnd on shore reported
that he took the life of Captain Ryder, and that die
best way to stop the report would be to give them
their discharge.
The prisoner being called on for his defence, said
he was perfectly innocent ; that his heart would re-
volt at a crime so horrible—and that, although they
met two vessels shortly after the unfortunate death
of Captain Ryder, not a word was said about his
death, nor for three months after his arrival at Liver-
pool. Under these circumstances, he should hap ust
his case with the Learned Judge and the ALMICIITY.
Several respectable persons gave the prisoner
good character.
The Jury retired for a quarter of an hour, and on
their return found the prisoner—Not Guilty.