The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — 1853-09-27 (Liverpool, Merseyside, England)

SCAN CAPTAIN. Aspleall, on behalf of Mr. Chilton, appeared on Tuesday, at the Police-court, to prefer several charges of cruelty and manslaughter against Capt.tGeo. Alexander Lewis, alleged-to have been committed 'by kdrn, on board of the ship Abeana, at Old Calabar, on the toast of Africa. At the request.of Mr. Owen, who appeared for the accused, the ease,was remanded till. Wednesday, Captain Lewis finding bal. himself in £5OO and 'two sureties of £250 each. On?,Wednesday, several witnesses were examined, and it appeared that Capt. Lewis ,was the captain of the ship Pytho (lately blown up with gunpowder), and on the 14th of June, he was stationed •about -salty miles up a river on the coast of Africa, near Old Calsbar' with the Abeona, commanded by Captain Davis. On the evening of the day question, both captains a-ere on board of the Pytho, sehen word was brought that a disiturbance had arisen ~-on board of the Ahenoa. tin con= sequence of this they Beth went on board of that-vessel, -Alen Capt. Davis ordered a seaman named White, .whose ,deoth formed the subjeeLor the present charge, to ego on toithe poop. Capt, Lewis went to put him thew, but iJopt. Davis afterwards ordered him to come away. This White refused to do, and Capt. Lewis then attempted to farce him off. A struggle took place, and White ,was forced against the poop railings. At last he fell overboard:; the witnesses said $e was thrown overboard tiny Captain Lewis, who, however, averred that he did not,tie so, but mat in his struggles White lost his balance and fell into the river accidentally, By order of Capt. Davis, the boats were lowered to save him, but he was never found, though his cap was picked up. Mr. Mansfieldsaid that be did not consider the oloarge of manslaughter proved, and dismissed the case. The second charge was gone into *II Thursday, when the following facts were detailed by several seamen, who had formed a portion of the crew of the Pytho. While lying in the Calabar river three men, named M'Elere, John Jones, and John Hall, went on shore 'without leave from Capt. Lewis, of the Pytho. The cant 'n'm found it out, and left the ship in a very great passion, and saying some of them would never come on board alive, As soon as the captain got on shore, the men were there, and two of them instantly came forward, and the third in a short time after, on being called for by the captain.. Some angry expressions were used, the men were frightened, and the three of them jumped into the water. Whilst two of the men were up to their knees in the water, and the third was swimming, the captain gave orders to a bodyof natives to fire,onthem. They did so, and the man Jones was shot upon the spot. So far from thinking this enough, after the captain knew the man Jones was dead, he and a Captain Davis proceeded to beat the other two men about the head with sticks in an exceedingly brutal manner. The transaction took place about midnight, and the captain subsequently sold the clothes of Jones, on the ground that he was a deserter. M'Elere and Hall were tried by a court-martial, when WElere was discharged and Hall put iu irons for some time. On behalf of Captain Lewis, Mr, Simon submitted this was a case in which the bench could not commit. In the first place, the alleged offence was not committed within the jurisdiction of the court. It was not on the high seas. Secondly, there was no attempt to prove that the guns had been fired at the man, there was no evidence to show that the guns were loaded, nor that they were the means of causing death. No body had been found, there was no proof by any one that the dead body of a man had been seen, and yet the magistrate was asked to commit the captain for the death of a man whose death was not proved by a single witness. A witness named Jackson, the first mate of the Pytho, at Old Calabar, said that he never heard of the captain shooting Jones till Wednesday night when the alleged murder took place, Theraheaghiesatridatenao eognuantils tedfiredtogaentdher7 ancrideseaomfemtourtdheer. resolution of committing the prisoner for trial on the charge of " wilful murder." The prisoner was admitted to bail, entering into his own recognisauces for £l,OOO, and two sureties for 0500 each.