The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1905-11-07
TWO Of THE BERW|ND MUT|NEERs
PLACED ON TRIAL FOR THEIR LIVES

"a
! King end put ir irons. / placed them
in the ,azarette. At this time we were
S. w. 90 miles from Cape Fear bar.
Il did not 60 aboard the Berwild
until October 18th; after the vesse.
had been brought into Southport. At
ter the m~ut:neers had been taken
aboard the Kirg I sent the mate and
two men aboard the Berwind and told
them to follow the King. The King
came into Southport harbor on Weu-
nesday, October 18th, but the BerwInd
did not come in:o port until the follow
ing day. The negroes were delivered
! to The federal authorities at Southport
on the 18th.
Il went into the engine room and
galley of the Berwind but found no
blood. | also weut into the cabin where
things were badly torn up and papers
destroyed. Papers were scattered
around on the floor. The official log
and two account books were lying on
the focr in the cabin near the captains
desk. | went int the negroes quarters
and in Scotts DUNK found a black jack
(the same was exhibited in court and
was a small leather club loaded with
lead). Can ivory handled pistol was
here eXhibited.) That is the pistol Civ
en- me by one Of The negroes and at the
time had two blank cartridges. "A
large pistol was then %exhibited.) That
was also given nc.
81 kenw John i. Hall the mate on
the Berwind and about six months ago
he male a trip with me. I paid him
off on June 9th.
THE. BerwinG had two yawl boats,
a large one, to be used in case Of bav.
ing to desert the vessel. and a Snail
one for handy use. It is impossible
for one man to launch the large boa.
When ! went on The Berwind the Of the
yawl boat was lowered and in the boat
was a water key and oars. 1t is Gus
tOmarv to carry a water key in he
yawl boat. When examined the deck
of the Berwind | found blood about
amidships and on the port side and ON
the ca5in was n negro dead and he
had bled freely
This concluded Captain TayIor's tes-
timony. He was not examined by Mr.
George L.Peschau, Adams and sawyer S
attorney.
Star Witness Testifes.
Henry Scott, the negro sailer from
the Berwind who is regarded as The
arch conspirator although, according
to his own evidence. he is guiltless,
with the exception of killing a mar
who, he claims, made an attack upon
him SCOTS demeanor on the stand
was remarkable for a negro sailor and
he showed himself to be a negro with
education and to be very sharp. He
was perfectly cool and told a most
plausible story. Being such a bright
negro goes against, for he is regarded
as being a person who is capable OF
connecting any kind of story and then
has the will power to stick to what
he originally said. His confidence III
himself was demonstrated ON One oc-
casion when MI. Peschau asked Elm
concerning testimony made before tile
commissioner at Southport. Scott hal
made answer and it was different from
what the attorney remembered the ev-
idence to have Leen. He said to Scott:
"You don't remember just what you
said on that point?' SCOTS reply was"
"There is no don't remember about
it. | did not make the statement"
The testimony of SCOTS, which vas
listened to by every n present with
the Closest attention, was as follow:
con the 9Th day of July, 1905, VS.
left Philadelphia, bound for C%ardenas,
Cuba, and at the time had the follow
ing crew: E. 5. Rumill, captain; John
Hall, mate; Smith, the engineer; Fol
by, the steward or cook; John S. Coax
ley, Robert Sawyer and Arthur Adams.
1.-THE four colored seamen lived in
the forecastle. In the starboard watch
was Sawyer and Adams. and in the
port watch, l, Henry Scott, and J. S.
Coakley. We left Philadelphia for
Cardenas with a cargo of soft coal.
about the 2Stn of July we had
trouble about the food, which was not
suitable. Coakley went to the cabin to
see the captain, who said the food was
all right. One Sunday morning after
this Sawyer had trouble with the
steward. He went after water and was
told that he had five or six bottles. The
steward said he was a liar and cursed
him. At the time the officers were sit
ting on the port side of the vessel.
Sawyer went forward and came back
again in a few minutes and told the
captain if they could not get enough
water to wash with he wanted the cap
tain TO give them their wack and it
they did not get their allowance he
would make him pay for it. (Scott
here explained what is meant by
"wack." 1t is where a sailor is diSsaI-
isfied with what he is receiving, the
way it is cooked, etc., and has it COOK
ed himself.)
with the exception Of this trouble
nothing else was said to the officers be-
fore We reached C%ardenas, but there
was qnarreling among the men all the
time.
w reached Cardenas on Sunday, At
this time we were given an allowance
of four quarts of water per day and
all the men were dissatisfied. The
provisions were bad; sometimes only
a little soup. We mad much work TO
do at this time as the cargo was being
discharged.
I'VE remained at Cardenas for ten
days. Here the district attorney ASK
ed Scott a question before the stcnos-
rapher had finished taking down the
former question, and Scott said, Wait