The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1843-06-02 00:00:00

her of pupils if they had them—a fact which be thought most
singular in a town situated as Liverpool is ; for there must
be, he should think, some mutes who bad never been in any
asylum, who had not been benefitted by the aid to be afforded,
both in this town and in the adjoining counties; yet it was a
fact, that whilst the institution for the Deaf and Dumb in
London was an object of extensive canvas whenever a vacancy
occurred, the Liverpool Institution was able to accommodate
twice the present number, if they could be obtained. The
Institution, then, would be benefitted, and the objects of it
also, by this fact being made known. The Rev. Gentleman
then referred to the specimens of sewing and knetting, ob-
serving that the sale of such articles was another mode of
benefitting the charity ; and he concluded by again request-
ing the auditory to make its utility and capabilities better
known.

The proceedings then terminated, having occupied about
tw•o hours.

CLAIM FOR WAGES-SHOCKING MA LTREAT
MENT OF A STEWARD AT SEA.

Yesterday, a coloured man named John McDovval, ap-
peared at the 'police-court to prefer a claim for a balance of
wages due to him for services on board the ship Ann, of this
port, Captain Salkeld, on a trading voyage hence to Bomba)
and other parts, and back. The vessel is owned by a Mr.
Johnson, who, it will appear, had employed the applicant for
many years, had a high opinion of him, and to whom, of
course, no blame can ,be attached for the treatment he re-
ceived on board.—Mr. Wardle 'appeared for the applicant,
and Mr. Bateson for the defence.
John McDowel being sworn, said—l shipped on board ofthe
Ann on the 26th of May, 1841,as steward only, to go to Bom-
bay and back, at £3 10s. a month. After she had sailed a
short time some words' took place between the captain and
me as to the cooking of a duck, and a quarrel ensuing he put
mein irons; and I was so kept for .33 days, on bread and
water alone. I was put on the half-deck, and a man came
down twice to see me when I lay very ill. The captain as-
signed no reason for putting me in irons. On the 6th of
September we arrived at Bombay. The captain there wished
me to take my discharge. 1 refused, stating that I had a
wife and family, arid that I had shipped for the voyage out
and home. I had been in the employ of Mr. Johnson for
upwards of 1-1 years. The captain on my refusing to take
my discharge, took me ashore to a magistrate. Ile told the
magistrate I was of a very bad disposition, and said every
thing he could against me. He gave him (the, magistrate)
no reason whatever for putting me in irons. The magistrate
said, " You must take him on board again." The captain
then went down and took away the boat to prevent me from
getting on board ; but I took another boat, and got on board.
Ile then made me stand on the open middle of the deck for
five days, and did not allow me to go below at all. He al-
lowed me no food for 19 days, and I had nothing but•what I
got from the men who gave me a bit. I sat and stood as
well as I could on the middle of the deck. I was taken again
before the magistrate, and the captain wanted him to give me
my discharge. The magistrate sent me to the " Sailor's
Home," from which I have brought a certificate of character.
I came home in the Ann 'Morton. to Port Glasgow, at
£1 10s. a month. I was on board of that vessel five months
and a half, and my wages were £8 ss. I have sailed in Mr.
Johnson's employ a great length of time. (Several letters
were produced. The letters, he said, were in the handwriting
of the owner and the captain. They were handed in.)
Cross-examined by Mr. Bateson.—There was an awning
on the deck at Bombay for the men to work under. I had
no food but what the men gave me, and that was not by the
captain's orders. He wanted the magistrate to imprison me,
but he would not. The irons were not taken off, except to
let me wash, and they were then put on again. I was once
told I might have them taken off. When they were off I
said to the captain, " You put them on to please yourself,
and now you have taken them off to please yourself," and he
had them immediately put on again.
Mr. Bateson said that the articles were endorsed, showing
that the man was discharged at Bombay.
Mr. Rushton said he had the articles before him ; they
merely stated that several of the crew had been discharged,
arid had joined the Indian navy, and that the complainant
was sent from the ship with the clitain's permission ; but no
cause was assigned. What was the defence ? There were
two cases to be considered—first, the wages, and secondly,
the treatment of the man.
Mr. Wardle said he had intended to bring;on the case
for the wages in the first instance; and afterwards to bring
stronger evidence on the other case.
Mr. Rushton said, that as the case now stood he would
rather hear all the evidence at once : he thought this course,
too, would be the most just to the captain himself. Mr.
Wardle assented, and called
• John M'Kelvan.—l sailed• with the Ann from Liverpool,
as cook. The last witness was on board. He is a sober
man ; he never drinks anything but a glass of ale. When we
got close to the line we were becalmed, and the ship rolled
much from the swell. The last witness (the steward) fetched
me a pie to bake, and I said I did not know whether it could
be kept in to do, as the ve,,,sel rolled so much. It rolled out
two or three times, and the gravy was shaken out. After
that I heard nothing of the steward for three days, when I
went into the hold for water, and the mate abused me for
going near bins, (using coarse language.) I did not see the
steward for 14 days. I was then told he wanted me to g(
and see him, as he was badly, and wished it. I asked the
captain to let me go, but he said he would no; let an Irish.
man go to see the d—d black b—. After dinner I was sent
down to see him in the presence of the second mate. 1 found
him laying on his back with his hands transfixed. He had
handcuffs on—no other irons

Here, Mr. Wardle and Mr. Bateson having consulted to-
gether, the former, addressing 'the bench, said" Will you
allow us to consult together, sir ; we think some arrange.
went—

Mr. Rushton.—No; certainly not. If this which we have
heard be true, or even anything like it, public justice requires
that the case should go on. Sailors must be protected as well
as others.

The witness continued.--4 asked the captain to give me a
physic (dose) of salts for the steward. He said he would
not. The steward would not touch anything from the cap-,
tain, unless it were out of my hand. I was not allowed to
see him again. I saw him in Bombay.
Cross-examined.—He would take nothing from the cap-
tain, but through me, for fear there was poison in it. I
heard he was in irons the third day after they were put on.
I saw him in fourteen days. A message was sent to me, that
if I went to him I would be put in irons. I saw six holes
bored in a piece of board to let him have some air, and to
keep him from getting anything from the men. •
Robert Evans was next swiorn.—l was a seaman on board.
I saw Mcllowal on the second day after he was put in irons. I
went down to get up some sails. He was down on the half-
deck. Ile was confined with handcuff's;' no other irons that
I saw. He was there for thirty days, as near as I can guess.
At Bombay he was kept in irons forty-eight hours longer.
He was not allowed to go above to do the offices of nature.
A bucket was sent down to him. After he was let out of
irons at Bombay he was sent forward to live with the crew ;
but no meat was allowed to him by the captain. None ever
came forward for him, and we shared with him. The captain
once came forward and found us giving him something, and
said, "If I know you give him any, I will put you on allow-
ance, and a d—d short allowance too." 1 was not taken
before a magistrate at Bombay, and don't know that any of
the crew was. I was only once ashore. None of us were
taken on shore, so far as I know, at Bombay. I remember
the plaintiff being taken out of the ship there. He got on
board again. He said he could not do our dirty work, which
he was sent to. He slept on the top of a round-house. The
mate and another found him one day not amidships, and the
mate and the carpenter ordered him aft, to the place he was
at before, and struck and kicked him. There, was an old
lower studding sail on the top of the round-house, with holes
in it.

Cross-examined,--I never saw him in a small place in the
cabin. The half-deck is as broad as the vessel, and about
20 feet long. Mr. Rushton put some questions as to the
irons, and the plaintiff himself said that he was only hand-
cuffed.

Mr. Beeson said he had not been sufficiently instructed
as to the alleged assault to proceed with it then.
Mr. Rushton said he would on that account adjourn that
part of the inquiry. _

Mr. Bateson said he was instructed to say that the defend-
ant had been, insolent to the first mate, hut he offered no evi-
dence on that point. He again referred to the endorsement
on the articles.

Mr. Rushton read it at length, and said it did not affect
the case. The magistrate bad cautiously worded it; no
cause was assigned for taking the man from the ship, and he
himself had not consented to be discharged. He (Mr. R.)
then read the certificate from the Sailor's Home at Bombay.
It certified that John M`Dowal, (the plaintiff,) of the ship
Ann, of Liverpool, was admitted on the 13th October, and
remained till the 13th November, 1841, during which time
he conducted himself much to the satisfaction of the master,
(whose certificate it was,) and was a sober, steady, and re-
F pee t a ble man. A certificate from the owner, Mr. John
Johnston. was also read, dated May, 1812, to the effect that
lie had served live years in the brig Berkley, as cook and
steward, and had given every satisfaction, and recommending
him " a sober man, steady, and honest." A letter of the
same gentleman to the plaintiff's wife in this town, dated
Workington, 1811, in which the plaintiff is spoken of as " his"
very old and respected servant, John M'Dowal, was also put
in_

Mr. Rushton said the wages must be paid. The two at-
torneys
.then settled the amount, leaving to be received by
the plaintiff .£8 16s. 6rl. and 3s. 6d. costs. The defendant
had previously paid £lO. on account.
The case for the assault with which the captain stands
charged will be heard this day.

The Overland Mail, via Marseilles is detained. Letter&
will be in time, if posted in London on Tuesday next.
DREADFUL RAILWAY ACCIDENT.—A fatal accident oc-
curred on Thursday evening on the Arbroath and Forfar
Railway, near Forfar. A carter from Glammis. named
Bunch, had, it appears, delivered a load of wood at the depot
adjourning to the Red-road, within•& short distance of the
railway terminus, and was about to return, when the up-
train whistle sounded ; but in,place of stopping, he urged
and hurried on his horse, putting it into a trot, with the
view, it is supposed, of getting across the railway before the
train. He was called to repeatedly by a person who saw the
danger he was running into, but the warning was unheeded.
The engine came up just as the horse was in the middle of
the railway, or nearly so, with the man at the horse's head,
when, dreadful to relate, both were killed on the spot. The
cart was dashed to pieces, but no damage was done to the
train.—Dundee Warder.

DISTURBANCES NEAR BIRMINGHAM.—OII Tuesday night
the western iicighhourhood of Birmingham was considerably
excited and alarmed by rumours of disturbances amongst the
turn-out nailors of Bromsgrove and the adjoining mining
districts of Cradley, Stourbridge, &c. • About 7 o'clock a
detachment of the Ist Royal Dragoons, under Captain Peel
(the nephew of the Premier) left Birmingham at a band
gallop, and arrived in Bromsgrove about half-past 8. The
mobs had been addressed by several gentlemen; they con-
sented to retire, but expressed their unalterable determination
not to return to work without an advance of wages. The
following correct statistics will show the wretched state of
Bronasgrove and its neighbourhood :—The population of the
parish is 9,671 ; the number of houses assessed to the poor,
2,016; of these 1.763 are under 101. per annum, and 1,391
under 51. About 180 occupations are void, and the tenants
of 619 are from poverty excused paying rates. The number
of permanent paupers receiving regular relief is about 1,000;
and on Friday last, in addition, 360 heads of families, coin-
prising about 1,500 people, received temporary assistance at
the union workhouse. Such is the state of the nail districts
in Worcestershire.

DARING IMPOSITION.—On Friday a pretended ship's
crew of lubberly-looking landsmen were placed at the bar of
the police court, accused with having feloniously attempted
to impose on Mr. G. Crawford, treasurer to the Merchants'
Seaman's Fund of the port of Clyde, by presenting a false
certificate, alleged to have been granted by two of Iler Ma-
jesty's justices of the peace, acting for the port of Cork ;
and also by falsely representing themselves as being part of
the crew of a vessel named Mary Anne, wrecked on the 3d
current, while houeward btfund from Demerara. -It having
been brought out in the evidence that the certificate was
forged, and that no such vessel had been wrecked, the magis-
trate, after a suitable address, rewarded each of them accord-
ing to his merit, by sending the captain for 60, the mate 40,
and each of the crew 30 days to prison, regretting at the
same time that he had not the power of sending them to a
higher court, where they would net have been 86 leniently
dealt with. It would serve as a sufficient warning to all
such impostors, could they only have seen how -blde• the
seven looked when removed from the bar to the,Place of
confinement, where•their manners,,it is to be hoped# will be
reformed, and their hearts improved, under the aututary
treatment of Mr, Drebnil6-..Olatgetv (Arattielai