The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1905-11-07
THE MANGA REVA
AS A HELL-SHIP
SAILORS TESTIFY TO BEATINGS
BUT THE MATES DENY THAT
THERE WAS ANY.

The charge of assault on a seaman |
of the ship Manga Reva, against Sec
ond Mate Joseph Boyd, was on trial !
in Judge Dole's court this morning and |
is going to the jury this afternoon. The |
Manga Reva was a bad ship to be on, |
according to the testimony of sailors, |
and according to her two mates she |
had very bad or incompetent crew, !
of Hawaiians and Porto Ricans. one !
man who shipped had a wooden leg and !
he worked aboard for four days, the !
second mate said, without the fact |
that one leg was wooden being dis |
covered.
The assaults are alleged to have |
taken place at Kaanapali, last June |
Nineteen new men were shipped here |
and it was found, according to the
mates, that they didn't know anything
about the business at all Two sailors
testified that the second mate had hit
Johnson and knocked him down, bang
ed his head against the bulwarks and
jumped on him. Johnson, at the pre-
| liminary hearing testified that the first
mate told the second mate to make him
dance and if he didn't dance to kick
him till he did. The wooden legged
man claimed to have been kicked down
| the ladder from the poop deck in ac-
! cordance with these benevolent instruc-
! lions.
The first mate, II. r. Jones, who is
\ also under indictment, was called by
Attorney Rawlins for the defense. He
testified that there had been no beating
at all. The crew had quarrelled a
good deal among themselves, using Ha-
waiian and Porto Rican languages, and
he didn't know what it was all about.
He had ordered Boyd to separate them
into groups and Johnson had been told
to go on the poop deck He had re-
fused to go there. Then Boyd took
him gently by the arm and led him
towards the ladder. Johnson refused
to go, and the mate ordered other men
to carry him. There was not even bad
Language used, said Jones. The crew
of nineteen new men all refused duty
on the morning of June II.
4 On cross examination District At
tornely Breckons got along very pleas
antly with the witness for few ques-
tions. The mate cheerfully admitted
that all was very harmonious aboard.
The crew didn't know anything about
the ship. but the mates were teaching
them. They had three good meals a
day and very kind treatment. All
had shipped to go round the Horn.
After getting this pleasant picture,
which he likened to a Sunday school
picnic before the jury, Breckons
suddenly sprung a new kind of query.
The men all quit and refused duty
on the morning of the 17th?' he asked.
Yes" was the answer.
"Why?"
The little question ended the pleas
ant relations between attorney and wit
ness. Jones said he didn't know why
Breckons wanted to know if he entered
the fact in the log, and the mate said
he didn't, though he admitted that he
was aware that it was his duty to do so.
Jones continued to deny that there had
been any violence used, and Breckons
asked him if he had not testified at the
commissioners hearing that the stories
of beating by Boyd were true and that
beating them was the only way to get
along with such men as those shipped.
; Jones denied having so testified.
, Boyd took the stand in his own be-
half and denied the beating of Johnson
OI any OllGI lllelllDtE u the crew ne
agreed with Jones that he had simply
laid his hand on JOhnson's arm to lead
the latter to the poop, and that not
even bad language had been used. All
was going along all right on the ship,
except for some wrangling among the
crew, and he didn't know why they had
suddenly refused duty.
, Breckons called United States Com
, missioner Mailing i'm rebuttal. Mailing
testified that First Mate Jones had TAX
en- the stand before him as commits
, sioner and had testified that the stories
5 of beating We're true, though eXagger-
; ated and that he had ordered some OF
, the beatings.
Before beginning the defense Rawlins
moved to discharge, on the ground that
} the testimony showed the alleged as
! sault to have taken place within 5OO
feet of Kaanapali wharf, where the
Territorial court had jurisdiction rather
than the Federal Judge Dole ruled
that he had jurisdiction.