The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1884-10-17
ADREADFUL ALTERNATIVE.
SAILORS RESORT TO cANNIBALrsM
TO AVOID STARVATION.
A Sharp kDi7c i'm HOy's JuguInr
Vein, n SiteOus Appeal and All il

mas Deen tOlu by tnrec sailors VINO formed
part of the crew of the yacht Migno-
nette, and were landed at Falmouth on
Saturday. The three men-Thomas
Dudley, Edward Brooks and Edwin
ephens-together with a lad named
Richard Parker, aged nineteen, were en-
gagged to take out the yacht Mignonette
to Sydney for a Mr.. Henry j. Want. A
storm arose, and the captain, seeing that
the yacht was rapidly laundering, ordered
the boat to be got out. This was done,
but with the exception of two small
tins of preserved turnips they were with
out either food or water. The turnips
lasted but four or five days, and their
sufferings from thirst during that time
were frightful. They killed turtle and
drank its blood, and then for more than
a fortnight they were absolutely without
food. So terrible did their position be-
come that at the end of the eighteenth
day they deliberated as to the advisable
ity of casting lots as to who should be
killed to supply food for the others.
This plan was proposed by the cap
tain, but one of the men OBJ
jected, saying it was better they should
all die together, and the proposal was
of horrible suffering both the captain and
the mate suggested that the boy Parker
should be killed, especially as his suffer
ings were so intense that he had become
delirous. They also reasoned that he
was only lad, with no responsibilities,
while they were married men, with wives
and families depending on them.
Brooks declined to be party in the
matter. Eventually the captain and the
mate decided jointly to kill Parker, who
was lying In the bottom of the boat in
state of exhaustion. Dudley having Of
fered up prayer for forgiveness for the
act, went to the boy and said: "Now,
Dick, your time has comet" Parker
family cried: WHAT me, sir" Dudley
replied YES my boy;" and thereupon
ran small penknife into Parker's jugu-
lar vein. The lad offered no resistance,
dying almost instantly. The survivors
caught the gushing blood in their tins and
drank it between them, then stripped the
body of its clothes, cut out the liver
and heart while yet hot from the body,
and devourcd them voraciously. For the
next four days they continued to live
on the flesh which they tore from Par
ker's dead body, and they were still eat
ing their horrible food when, on the
twenty fourth day from the time they
left their yacht, they were sighted and
rescued by the German bark, Montezuma.
On arriving at Falmouth the men were
taken to the Sailors home, and later in
the day they were apprehended under a
warrant. At the Falmouth police court
the three men were charged with the
murder of the lad Richard Parker. The
only witness called was Police Constable
Laverty, Harbor police, who stated that
he heard the prisoners relate the above
story. The prisoners were released on
bail.
THE CAPTAINS CONFESSION.
Captain Dudley, in an interview, con
versed freely about the terrible occur
renee. After detailing the earlier part
of the voyage of the Mignonette from
Southampton to Madeira, and their
afterward signaling an Italian bark
and speaking the Bride of Lorne, he
said
Day after day passed, and on the
eleventh day we had finished the turtle
and had nothing left except the two
fins; but we ate every portion, even the
bones. The foot of the turtle proved very
nutritious, and we got water few
times when there were showers by catch
ing the rain in our oilskins, though
sometimes when we had little drop a
sea broke into it and spoiled it, so that
we had to throw it away.
We went on from the fifteenth to the
twentieth day without any food at all or
drink, and by that time we had begun
to look each other in the face very
black. The boy, who had drank some
sea water at night, had said: "We
shall all die" and 1 remarked: "We
shall have to draw lots, boys"
This was ignored by all, and they
said, awe had better die together" to
which l replied: :" So let it be, but it
is hard for four to die when perhaps one
might save the rest"
a day or two before 1 suggested we
should try and make some kind of SAIL
which we did with our shirts rugged on
an oar for a mast and a strand of the
painter for scuds and stays. Things now
looked as bad as they could.
On either the nineteenth or twentieth
day the boy was lying in the bottom
, of the boat, where he had been for two
days gasping for breath and nearly dead.
At about 3 O'clock in the morning ] said
to the mate "What is to be donel /
believe that boy is dying. You have a
wife and five children and have wife
and three children" | said that human
flesh had been eaten before.
Stephens replied: "See what daylight
brings forth"
Brooks took his watch at o'clock
and we made motions to each other.
Brooks said he could not do it and
Stephens said he could not do it.
l told Brooks to go forward, which he
did. Then took hold of the shrouds and
had last look around to see if anyt hing
was in sight, but there was nothing. | of
fered up prayer most fervently that
God above might forgive us for such an
act, and then knelt down by the boy
and said "Now, Dick, my boy, your
time has come"
He murmured: "What, me, sir2"
put the penknife in his throat and he
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