The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1838-03-30 00:00:00

right eye, which was swollen as large as a hen's egg. He was
afterwards carried into the cabin, and witness left the packet
with the mail bags,by the,Horo steau.rer, to fetch nsergeon,
Mr. Statham. wished to put some questions to Lieut.' Tudor.
The CORONER said if the Jury wished tocall Lieut. Tudor
again he wished to ask him"soine questions himself ! Huw the
packet got on the Cheshire side, and why the position of the
packet was such as would make it perhaps more easy for the
ship to strike it.
A juryman thought the words "culpable negligence" an un-
guarded expression.
After a lengthened and most irregular discussion, in which
the Coroner never exerted his authority of presiding in his own
court and directing the inquiries to be made, and in which the
jury seemed to be the masters, and determined not to admit
any further evidence as to the collision, or thocauseof the acci-
dent, and in which they frequently expressed, that "they thought
seme defference should be paid to the wishes of the jury,"
Mr. STATRA eir submitted, that supposing the depositions went
before a judge, with the words " culpable, negligence" in
them, the judge would say, " The jury is bound to find a ver-
dict of manslaughter"
A Juryman.—The jury are not bound to' believe Captain
Tudor!
Captain CitarPzes..-1 suppose that is not meant as it is
said ?
The Jury.—(Perhaps with the'fear of pistols for two before
their eyes)—No, no, no.kOn *hat Captain Tudor said we have
not founded any opinion at all
Another Juryman.—ln that he was accessory to- his own
death himself.
Captain CHAPPELL said there was no wish on the part of the
officers to impute wilfulness to the Captain of the West Ches-
ter, but that there was negligence and mismanagement which
they should feel bound' to allege in a court of justice.
A Juryman.— Therefore. we do not wish it to come under our
obses vation !
This extraordinary scene continued for some time longer,
the jury determining only to receive the evidence of the sur-
geon, " to complete, ' as they said, " the evidence," the coro-
ner yielding- up all authority, saying " they were irregular
altogether."
Mr. James Frederick Vale, surgeon, of Birkenhead, was
then examined.—His evidence went to prove, that on the Wed-
nesday morning he proceeded down the river to, the steam-
packet Lucifer, along with Mr. Stephenson, surgeon, where lie
saw Mr. Brooke lying on the cabin decks, covered with
blankets. lie had a compound comminated fracture of the
left leg. He had received an injury on the right leg, but that
was not then examined. Finding him in an exhausted state
he thought it'better not to disturb him till he was removed on
shore. He was lauded at the Sloyne, at Birkenhead, and
Meantime Mr. Bickersteth, surgeon, of Liverpool, was
sent for, and arrived' by the lime the deceased was
' removed to Poole's Hotel. They then examined his left
limb, and found the fracture, as above described, with an
extensive laceration of the inustes: They consulted on the pro-
priety of amputating the limb, blit on examining the right leg
there was discovered a compound dislocation of the two bones
of the right foot, and displacement Of two others, which induced
them to change their opinion as to the propriety of amputation.
They did not perform any operation, but simply removed the
'ends of the hones and put the leg in its natural position. His
pulse gradually sunk, and he hourly became weakeras symptoms
of mortification manifested themselves, when he died on k riday
about eleven o'clock at night, of the injuries he had received.
Captain Chappel was then examined, and deposed that he re-
ceived an official letter from Lieut. Tudor, between nine and
ten o'clock ou Tuesday night, by the hand of George Richard-
son, the steward, stating the circumstances of the accident, and
requesting immediate medical assistance to be sent to the
Lucifer He immediately sent to Mr. Smith, surgeon, Birken-
head, who called upon him immediately,, but said he was liable
to sickness on the slightest motion of a vessel, and so far from
being of any use to the sufferer he should require attendance
himself if he went. He then proceeded to the house of Mr.
Vale, surgeon, who consented to go, but said tie should want an
assistant, and, while Mr. Vale went to look for Mr. Stephenson,
surgeon, witness went to Mr. Willoughby's, ferry, at Birken-
head, to engage a steam-boat, but as Mr."Wiloughby bad just
had one run down he could not spare the other. He then went
to the Woodside Ferry-house, but found the gates closed, and
he proceeded to the house of the manager and ascertained that
the steam was'blown off, the boats moored in the river, and the
engineers and crew dispersed and gone home. After using
every exertion he found it impossible to get a steamer that night,
so made arrangements to start next morning, and did so at six
o'clock, working the engine with the fireman and steering the
vessel himself, the crew not having all arrived. On arriving at
the Lucifer he could not bring his steamer near her, owing to
the heavy sea, and got on board with the surgeons by means of
a boat. They found it impossible to remove Captain Brooke
in his disabled state and with the sea running as it was, so he
determined to tow the Lucifer up the river, which he did by
means of three steamers, one of which, on getting near Liver-
pool, was sent for Mr. Bickersteth, and the deceased was
landed at the Sloyne, at Birkenhead. In answer to his ques-
tions, the surgeons informed him that however desiriable it
might have been to have got Mr. Brooke off earlier, yet as the
hmitiorrage.had not been excessive, they did not conceive that
the delay had been of material injury to him. He asked Lieut.
Tudor why the deceased had not been sent with the hero the
night before along with the mail bags ? and he sated, that the
swell was so great, that he found it impossible without the risk
of great injury to him to transfer the deceased from the Lucifer
to the Hem. Pis leg was outs hanging by the integuments,
and he was afraid of its being torn off by the removal. The
cause of the Lucifer starting.su late on the night in question
from Liverpool, was the heavy gale, which caused delay in
getting the mail bags on board. '
Mr. John Poole, of the Woodside Hotel, disposed, that the
deceased died at four minutes past eleven, on Friday night. On
the coffin plate he was described as " Captain Thomas Brooke,
of the First. Royals, of Coldbrook, of the county of Fermanagh,
aged 34."
The jury then said, they wished to retire to consider their
verdict.
The CORONER said he had no objections.
The jury then retired, and after a short interval returned
with the following verdict. " That the deceased, Thomas
Brooke, Esq., came by his death in consequence of wounds
and fractures, received in attempting to escape front the steam
packet Lucifer, in which he was a passenger, into the ship
Westchester, during a gale of wind, and whilst the vessels were
in violent collision; but as to the cause of such collison, or by
whom occasioned, we do not. feel qualified to offer an opinion.
And the jury beg torecord their perfect satisfaction, that after
the unfortunate accident, every possible exertion was used' by
the parties concerned with the government steam packet Lu-
cifer , for the relief of the deceased."
The CORONER said, he could not go into many of the sub-
jects included in the verdict. He could only go into the cause
of death.
Ultimately, after much further irregular conversation, and in
which the• whole question of hearing or not further evidence,
was again gone into, a juryman saying, the reason why they did
not wish to hear the whole of the evidence was, because, they
sat there entirely with reference to the accident, and not to
inquire into the merits of individuals!
The Foreman—(Mr. Russell).---And were we compelled to
go through the evidence you have, we should just be where we
are—give the same verdict!
The CORONER.-1 don't like your proceedings at all gentle-
men; it is irregular altogether. The question is, is any one
criminal for this gentleman's death ? aye •or no; that is the
question.
A juryman (Mr. Richard Bryan's, jun.) "We avoid that
question ! We have delivered in our verdict."
The foreman—The coroner has expressed himself dissatis-

fled.
Captain Chappell—your verdict is accidental death.
Mr. STATHAM.—It may be all very well to go before the pub
lie, but it goes for nothing. We are perfectly satisfied when we
hear the jury say that " we don't mean any blame on Captain
'Ferris."
A juryman.—Certainly we don't; if we did we should notice
that in our verdict, but we don't do any thing of the sort.
The CORONER.—I shall go into another room, gentlemen, and
draw out a verdict to be submitted to your approval.
To this the jury assented, and the coroner retired.
On his return he read over the following verbose verdict
which was agreed to and signed by the jury—" That the said
Thomas Brooke, on the 20th day of March aforesaid, in the
year aforesaid, being a passenger on board of one of her Ma-
jesty's steam packets called the Lucifer, steaming down the
river Mersey in a severe gale of wind in her course from Liver-
pool, in the county of Lancaster, to Kingstown, near Dublin,
In that part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ire-
land, called Ireland, and_ a certain American ship called the
Westchester, then and there sailing up the said river to Liver-
pool aforesaid, the said ship called the Westchester, on coming
up to the said steam packet, then and there struck the said
steam packet with ber bow on the starboard paddle box and
stove it in, and did there damage to the said steam packet.
And the jury aforesaid, on their oath aforesaid, do further say
that the said Thomas Brooke, while the said steam-packet and
ship called the Westchester, were lying close together, and
heaving up and down on the waves of the said river, having
seized bold of the cat head of the said ship called the West-
chester. to escape on board her, it happened accidentally casu-
ally and by misfortune, that the legs of the said Thomas Brooke
were there and then jammed between the said steam-packet
and the said ship, by reason and means whereof, he, the
said Thomas Brooke, did then and there receive a mortal
compound fracture of the bones of the left leg of him, the
said Thomas Brooke, and great laceration of the muscles
of the said leg, and also a fracture and dislocation of the ancle
bones of the right foot of him the said Thomas Brooke, of which
said mortal fracture, laceration, and dislocation, he, the said
Thomas Brooke, on the said 20th day of March aforesaid, in
the year aforesaid, on board the said steam-packet, and also at
Birkenhead aforesaid, in the aforesaid county,Until the 23d day
of the same month of March aforesaid, in the year aforesaid,
did languish, and languishing did live. On the said 2.3 d day of
March aforesaid, in the year aforesaid, he, the said Thomas
Brooke, at Birkenhead aforesaid, in the aforesaid county, of the
mortal fracture, laceration, and dislocation aforesaid, did die."
Tne court then broke up.
Our readers will see, from the above report, which we have
given very fully, that the jury were met to inquire whether the
accident which caused the death of Captain Brooke was the
result of carelessness, negligence, ignorance, or fault, or was
purely a mischance; but they thought fit to calt overboard this,
the only question into which they were to inquire (and the
caroner.permitted it) and find that the collision caused the
death, and that the death was accidental. They refused all
evidence, and were determined to impute blame to no one,
though their office was to inquire whether blame was imputable
or not. And on the evidence which they did receive; they found a
verdict directly-contrary to it. If there was "culpable negli-
gence," as was stated, on board the Westchester, they ought to
have inquired into that negligence, and whether there was any
ground in the charge or not. As it is, deipite the verdict;
which is absuid, the charge rests ou the captain of the West 7
chester,,and there is no evidence to disprove it. Here the
'natter may rest, but such an inquiry on the part of the crown,
into the cause of the death of an individual, is a perfect farce,
if it is no worse.

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THE QUEEN AND THE DUCHESS OF KENT.—We understand
that Mr. Lacey, the printseller in Bold-street, will have on
view during Monday, and Tuesday next, the two Original
portraits of the Queen and her illustrious parent, painted by
Chalon. Lithographs from them are now in progress by R. S.
Lane, A. R. A. They will be worth seeing.
BAZAAR IN AID OF -Scuaots.—The ladies of the Established
Church, and the ladies of the Wesleyan Methodist Society, of
Newcastle, having each designed to hold 'a bataar in August
next, one in aid of the schools connected with tlie establishment,
and the other in aid of the funds for the chapel and school rooms
now erecting in
,Blenheim-street, the two designs
.having been
formed about the same time, and without the ladies of one corn-
munion knowing the intentions of the other until recently; a
meeting of the ladies who had purposed holding a bazaar for the
latter object, was held in the vestry of Brunswick-place Chapel;
on Monday the sth instant, whenthe design of the ladies con-
nected with the establishment_ was stated to the meeting, and
when it Was unanimously agi eed, .." that altht,ugh it might be at
the risk of losing a Considerable part of-the contemplatedathren-
I tage of holding their bazaar at the time first agreed upon, et
for the purpise of avoiding anything that thigheby possibility
interrupt the maintenance of a -friendly understandingamongst
christian communities, the bazaar for the Wesleyan Methodist
chapel and school rooms should be deferred, and not held until
• the Month of May, in 1839. -Newcastle harnal.
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