The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1843-07-04 00:00:00

Witness : I dont know. He was rated as a seaman.

By Mr. Davenport : He went out as super-cargo. He
was rated as a seaman. I did not recommend it to him.
He signed in a private house. I was not present : I did
not see it, I don't know anything about it. He did not
go as super-cargo that I know of. I dont know whether
he was super-cargo or not, I don't know why he signed
articles. He made the articles out himself. k The articles
were here handed in.)
Mr. Rushton : Is he an insolvent debtor.
M. Owen : Yes, sir.
Examination continued : The firm was Mackenzie,
Rigg and Co. A new register was got at Halifax.

Several letters were handed in to Mr. Rushton.
Mr. Rushton : There is something here for another party
to inquire about. Who is the provisional assignee?

Exauaination continued : The vessel was transferred to
Frazer in 1842. 'We were in the cabin when I was cut.
He was in bed ; I was not ; when he said:" villain " I did
not rush at him, but he rushed at me. I did not knock
out his teeth. The carpenter was put in gaol for knock-
ing out his teeth ; but they were false teeth. He was in
custody in Savannah one night. The consignee said it
would be better to send him to be tried by the laws of his
own country. I was given to understand that he had es-
caped. The magistrate came to me at the doctor's. The
vessel was consigned to Mr. Lowe, and had been con-
signed to him two:voyages before.
Charles Rowan, the cook and Steward, deposed to going
into the cabin when he heard the cry of murder, and see-
ing the captain with a gash in his throat, and the prisoner
with his hands bloody.
Green, an able seaman, said, when he heard the cry of
murder, he ran to the cabin and met the captain coming
out with his hand to his throat. He found the prisoner
sitting on the side of his bed, and said " You've cut the
captain's throat." The prisoner said "Is he dead : He
locked the prisoner in the cabin.
Mr. Davenport said the witness whom he intended to
have called had not appeared. He was to prove that the
captain did not appear against the prisoner but allowed
him to be disharged.
Mr. Rushton said it had been shown that the captain
was unable to appear.
The prisoner was further remanded till the following
day, when he was again placed at the bar.
Mr. Rushton said he had been considering the case, and
he had some doubts as to his jurisdiction. According to
the ith section of the 9th of George IV., if any of her Ma-
jesty's subjects should be charged in England with any
murder or manslaughter, the same being committed in
land out of the United Kingdom, whether within or with-
out the King's dominions, then it should be lawful for any
justice to take cognizance of offences so charged, and to
proceed thereon, as if the same had been committed within
his ordinary jurisdiction. " Now," said Mr. Rushton,
" by this the right of justices to inquire is confined to the
charges of murder and manslaughter, and this charge is
neither the one nor the other. According to the thirty-
second section of the same act the jurisdiction of the
justices was limited to offences committed within the
jurisdiction of the Admiralty of England, and the port of
Savannah could not be said to be within the jurisdiction of
the Admiralty of England. Again by the 38th section of
the sth and 6th of Wm. IV., it was provided that the pro-
visions of the 9th Geo. IV. should be extended to offences
committed on board merchants' ships at sea, as far as re-
garded common assault, but the same act further pro-
vided that such jurisdiction should exist only in cases of
assault or battery committed without any intent to commit
a felony. He (Mr. R.) therefore considered that he had
no jurisdiction, as it certainly was not a common assault.
It was a great pity that the prisoner should escape in this
way, but he had no power. The prisoner was accordingly
discharged.