The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-05-02 00:00:00

KIRKDALE.

1 4 Paving ....
2 0
O 4 Sewerage.. 0 4
0 1 Water 0 1
O 3 General

THE ALLEGED MURDERS ON THE HIGH SEAS.—
During the week the magistrates have been engaged in
investigating the charges of alleged murder on board the
ship Mangosteen, preferred against the captain and the
two mates. At the resumption of the inquiry on Tuesday,
Robert Gonsalvis, who had been in the Infirmary, was
brought down to the court in a car. He gave similar
evidence to that already published relative to the death of
the first man, Emanuel Gonsalis, and his statements rela-
tive to the treatment by the captain to the deceased were
horrifying. The witness, after deposing to the treatment
extended to the man Foster, entered into the particulars
relative to the death of Pedro. He deposed to the captain
kicking the deceased on the face as he was ascending to
the quarter-deck, the blood flowing copiously, and to the
first mate, by order of the captain, rubbing the man's raw
wounds with a piece of sailcloth. At this stage of the
proceedings Mr. Mansfield said the evidence did not appear
to implicate the second mate, Barthe, and ordered him to
be discharged. John Rey, a coloured man, deposed rela-
tive to the death of Pedro. On the day or a day before
the death of Pedro, the deceased was sent to black the
rigging, and in doing so, some drops of varnish fell on the
deck. The captain, relative to this, got into a passion
with the mate, and the mate beat Pedro with a stick as
though he would kill him. The stick broke in the beat-
ing. The mate again beat him with a rope, and the cap-
tain beat him severely whilst at the wheel. The mate beat
him several times afterwards. He died on the following
morning. The case was adjourned until Thursday. The
inquiry was continued on Thursday and Friday, before
Mr. Mansfield. Francisco Emanuel, one of the crew, gave
evidence corroborative of the statements of the previous
witnesses. On being cross-examined by Mr. Aspinall,
counsel for the prisoners, witness admitted that on the
day before his death Pedro drew a knife upon Antonio,
another of the crew, because the latter wanted to take his
clothes off by order of the mate. The official log-book,
which had been found in the mate's box, was produced.
The entries mentioned the repeated acts of ill-treatment
performed towards the crew by the captain, who threatened
to murder some one of the crew before the voyage was
over. The last entry read thus : " From the 9th to the
26th February nothing but continued noise on board the
ship. Told me in the evening of the 20th January, that
if I told one of them to do anything, and he did not do it,
to knock his brains out—that they ought to know, as they
had been in the ship three months ; and if I did not do it,
I should hear about it at the end of the voyage. Emanuel
Olarve, one of the seamen, deposed to the cruel conduct of
the captain, and to the pitiable condition to which Valpa-
raiso, Foster, and Pedro were reduced by the.captain's
ill-treatment. About a week before Pedro's death, by the
order of the captain, witness scrubbed him (Pedro) and
Foster with a hard brush and cold water. The scrubbing
opened the old lacerations, drawing blood, and causing
the men to writhe. During the operation the captain and
mate stood by laughing. After that the captain beat
Foster severely. At the' conclusion of the evidence both
the prisoners were committed for trial at the assizes,
charged with the wilful murder of Valparaiso, Pedro, and
Foster,