The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1901-07-29
CAPTAIN TAPNYG|ESF FREE
PROSECUTION FINDS TESTIMONY
FALSE.
Sailors Swore He Witnessed Cruelty at
Sea Which He Could Not Have
Seen.

One Oh the alleBeQ sailors Union
captain batting cases came to an end
this morning in the United States Dis
trict Court, as a result of some investi-
cations by the District Attorney and
Marshal. 1t was found that the teSti-
mOny given duplicating Captain Tap
ley of the bark st. James in an assault
upon sailor Hadley, had been false. An
actual rehearsal of the scene of the
assault demonstrated that the captain
could not have seen the assault at all
The case is one of those said to have
been worked up by Union runners, to
make trouble for the vessel.
The case of the United States against
Captain Tapley, ended this morning in
withdrawal of the prosecution. Tapley
was dismissed by Judge Estee on mo-
tion of District Attorney Dunno.
Last Fruay Dunno, with Deputy
Marshal HendrY. Captain Tapley and
the complaining witness Hadley, visit
ed the vessel to investigate the matter,
with the result that all We're convinc-
ed that it was impossible for the cap
tain to have seen the alleged assault
on account of which he was arrested,
and the withdrawal of prosecution re-
suited. This morning Dunno moved
thai the case be dismissed, and made
the following statement under oath:
"The defendant in this case was eX-
amined before a committing magistrate,
the United States Commissioner for this
district and after the examination
came to me and insisted that there
must be some mistake. because from
the place in which he was said by the
prosecuting witness to have stood he
couldn't possibly see any of the blows
struck. This is not case in which the
captain is charged himself with having
administered blows, but the charge was
brought on the theory that he witnessed
them and took no measures to stop
them.
81 agreed to visit the ship to verify
his statements and last Friday went to
the water front for that purpose. There
were present four people, the captain,
the United States Marshal for this dis
tr1ct, the comp4..ning witness and my
self. When we reached the ship ask
ed complaining witness if everything
about the vessel was the same as when
the assault took place and he replied
yes
81 then ordered the complaining wit
ness to place himself and the captain
in exactly the positions they were in
when the assault took place. He did so
and 1 stood by the captain and saw
with my own eyes that it was physical
ly impossible for the captain to have
seen the assault at all. l put the COM
planning witness there and 1 will do
him the Justice to say that when he saw
for himself that the captain could not
nave witnessed the assault he frankly
said that he thought the chsrge against
the captain ought to be dismissed"
Hadley was called to the stand and
testified to the same facts as Dunno.
and then Dunno moved to dismiss the
charge.
II am very sorry, captain, that you
have been troubled" said Judge Estee
in dismissing the charge.
I'VE have to act on testimony as ii
is brought to u.s." said the District At
torney 1--WE should be derelict in our
duty if we did not"
Tom Fitch asked the court that his
name be withdrawn as attorney for
mate McCarty of the st. James He
said he had been employed by the cap
tain and while he had appeared for both
he didn't want to appear for the mate
alone. Estee told the LAWYER to give
due notice of withdrawal to his client
a--d the court will appoint an attorney
to defend McCarty.
There We're a lot of witnesses against
Tapley. They testified that he stood on
the poop, with one hand on one of the
ships boats. or was WALKING to and
fro. and saw the mate strike Hadley
making no effort to stop the assault
1t was demonstrated to be impossible
for man in such a position to see any
thing that took place on the spot where
the alleged assault occurred.