Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, W.T. [i.e. Wis.]) 1843-1844, 1843-04-29
Offence or coM'R MACKENZIE.
From the New York Express.
rCan,inu.a Gon, Lx,t meek.l

a corrupting purpose, brings down on
the offender the death-bearing sentence
of the laws. Not only mutiny, but
. the ':attempt" to create one in the ma.
val service is, by the words ofthe statute
punishable with loss OF life.
+. But it doesnotfollow, nor is it preten.
ded, that because Mr.. Spencer, Crom:
well and Small had forfeited their lives
the commander of the Somers might
therefore direct them to be executed
It, admitted that under ordinary cir
cumstances, it would have been his du!
ty to detain them in safe custody, and
bring them home to be tried. But the
mutiny was OF an unusual and UMPIRE
cedented character. 1t created case
which the statute law did not contem-
plate, and could not reach. II was be-
ieved; and for reasons of overwhelm-
ing force, that neither Mr.: Spencer,
nor Cromwell, nor Small, could have
been brought into port, without the
most imminent jeopardy to the brig
and the lives Of the faithful officers and
crew. 1t was on this ground-the I'M
yielding ground of imperative necessi-
ty-tbat the commander Of the Somers
found himself placed, when he reluc-
family directed the execution Of Mr..
Spencer, Cromwell, and Small. And
it is on this ground that he now appeals
for his justification, to this court, to his
country, to the civilized world, and
hu,nbly and reverently to his God.
The size and construction, and equip
ment of the Somers must be taken in
to consideration, in judging of the ne
cessity of the execution. She had no
marines, body of men distinct from
tho crew in organization and feeling,
on whom in ordinary ships of war the
police and discipline greatly depend,
and who form counterpoise and check
TO the turbulent spirits Of the common
seamen. She is of the smallest class
OF vessels Of war. She had no place
where prisoners could be safely secu-
red or even separated from intercourse
with the crew. Her hold was filled to
its utmost capacity by ballast, water
tanks, ammunition, stores, and other
necessaries of a vessel Of war in actual
service. There was not foot Of room
for combining prisoners in the hold; and
had there been room there, no means
existed for eHectually separating it from
the berth-deck, where all the crew
slept and ate, the berth-deck being di-
vided from thehold only by loose move
able matches, which could have been
either lifted up from above, or knocked
up from below by the smallest boy on
board. The berth-deck, the steerage,
the ward-room, and the cabin, formed
the four apartments below deck.
The three last were very small rooms;
and all the apartments below were Sc
parated from each other by only thin
and frail partitions, through which a
strong man could force his way from
the briggs stem to her stern, by the
shove Of the shoulder, or the push OF
tho foot. Nor is there sufficient sub
stance in the thin and irail partitions
below deck to prevent communication
in the ordinary tone Of voice, or even
by a whisper, The safest place OF con-
finemcnt on board the Somers is, there
fore, the open deck; in the. after part
Of which the mutineers were in fact
confined, but the deck is flush fore and
aft; and there the prisoners necessarily
remained within few feet Of each 9TH
err and in full sight Of the crew. To
prevent the prisoners communicating
with each other, and with the rest of
the crew with words, was difficult; to
prevent such communication by signs
was impossible. The officers perceived
that the art ofsecret and silent commu-
nication was not only understood, but
practsed on board the Somers; and they
were not surprised to learn on reaching
home, that Mr.. Spencer had taken les
sons and become an expert in that art,
which no doubt he had taught his asso-
ciates in the conspiracy. II would
have been only the work Of a minute
for the unconfned malcontents, had
they made a rush on the afterpart of
the deck, to have struck off the irons
of the prisoners, aud placed them
at their head. And had the rush.
overcome the officers on deck, the off,
GERS below could scarcely have come
20 the rescue, as they must have aseen-
ded by narrow steps, and through the