British Miner and General Newsman : — 1862-12-27 (London, England)

ALLEGED BARBAROT.TS MURDER.  A YOUNG man named William Curtis, steward on board the ship Martha Pope, vhich recently arrived in the West India Docks with a cargo of logwood, from Belize, Honduras, is reported to have been murdered, under circumstances of extraordinary brutality. Upon the arrival of the ship in the dock, application was made to an undertaker to bury the body of Curtis, who was stated to have died coming up the river. Ultimately, however, Dr. Giles was called in to give the necessary certificate, and that gentleman insisted upon a coroner's inquest being held, as not only did the condition of the body convince him that the deceased had met his death by foul means; but it was stated to him that the deceased, while dying from starvation and exhaustion from repeated floggings, "had been jumped upon." Mr. H. Raffles Walthew, deputy coroner, opened an investigation into the case on Monday at the Lord Hood Tavern, Limehouse. The first witness was  Captain Randall Stone, who was cautioned that a most serious charge was about to be made, and that if he felt himself likely to be implicated he need not give evidence. He said that as no charge had been preferred as yet he would prefer being examined. He said that he was captain of the ship Martha Pope, that while at Belize one of his men ran away, and that as deceased had begged a passage to England he shipped him as steward. Witness had on several occasions during the voyage home to punish deceased. He had also to punish others of the crew. The first occasion on which he struck deceased was a week after leaving Honduras. Witness, while lying half asleep in his cabin saw deceased enter the state cabin and endeavour to force the locks of the drawers. Witness gave him a blow on the side of the head with his hand. On subsequent occasions he had corrected deceased with a piece of whipcord no thicker than a pin. By the jury: He was bound to enter in the log-book eyery time he flogged the deceased. He had not done so. By the Coroner: He did not offer any person .27 to withhold or alter evidence in this case. He would swear he did not.  Dr. William Giles said: I was sent for by an undertaker to go on board the ship to see the deceased. From the marks of violence I saw I prohibited the burial of the body without an inquest. The whole anterior surface of the body was covered with bruises and wounds. On the left leg there was a gaping wound an inch long and half an inch wide, evidently recently inflicted. There was a wound on the forehead, and another on the right leg. The forefinger of the left hand had been all but cut off by a blow, and it appeared to him to have been inflicted with a rope an inch thick. Such dreadful wounds could not have been inflicted through clothing. In my opinion the deceased must have been laid on the deck naked and lashed while exhausted from want of food and from illtreatment. While extending his hands and legs in his agony to protect his body the wounds in the legs were received, and his finger nearly broken off. If I could state in evidence the facts which I have heard, but which, of course, are inadmissible, I could more than substantiate the accuracy of inT inference as to the manner in which the injuries were inflicted. I have made a post-mortem examination, and find that there is not a particle of fat in the body. There was most unusually extensive adhesign of the pleura. The lungs were in the first stage of pneumonia. The stomach lay flat in a way I had not seen before, and showed, by appearances that deceased had been for a fortnight without food. The eyes were red and the lips parched. The ship was out 49 days. The pleurisy had existed a month, and, in my opinion, resulted from exposure. I believe the deceased died from a shock to the system, received whilst in a state of prostration from ill-usage and ill-treatment.  By the CO-roner : I was offered 47 by the captain not to give any evidence that would criminate him or any other party, "but to blush over the thing." I refused the bribe. -- _  The Coroner said he should adjourn the court, for the examination of other witnesses,  The jury asked the Coroner that Captain Stone should be held to bail.  The Coroner said that, as no verdict had been returned, he had no power to interfere in the matter.