The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — 1854-05-02 (Liverpool, Merseyside, England)

THE ALLEGED MURDERS ON THE HIGH SEAS.— During the week the magistrates have been engaged in investigating the charges of alleged murder on board the ship Mangosteen, preferred against the captain and the two mates. At the resumption of the inquiry on Tuesday, Robert Gonsalvis, who had been in the Infirmary, was brought down to the court in a car. He gave similar evidence to that already published relative to the death of the first man, Emanuel Gonsalis, and his statements relative to the treatment by the captain to the deceased were horrifying. The witness, after deposing to the treatment extended to the man Foster, entered into the particulars relative to the death of Pedro. He deposed to the captain kicking the deceased on the face as he was ascending to the quarter-deck, the blood flowing copiously, and to the first mate, by order of the captain, rubbing the man's raw wounds with a piece of sailcloth. At this stage of the proceedings Mr. Mansfield said the evidence did not appear to implicate the second mate, Barthe, and ordered him to be discharged. John Rey, a coloured man, deposed relative to the death of Pedro. On the day or a day before the death of Pedro, the deceased was sent to black the rigging, and in doing so, some drops of varnish fell on the deck. The captain, relative to this, got into a passion with the mate, and the mate beat Pedro with a stick as though he would kill him. The stick broke in the beating. The mate again beat him with a rope, and the captain beat him severely whilst at the wheel. The mate beat him several times afterwards. He died on the following morning. The case was adjourned until Thursday. The inquiry was continued on Thursday and Friday, before Mr. Mansfield. Francisco Emanuel, one of the crew, gave evidence corroborative of the statements of the previous witnesses. On being cross-examined by Mr. Aspinall, counsel for the prisoners, witness admitted that on the day before his death Pedro drew a knife upon Antonio, another of the crew, because the latter wanted to take his clothes off by order of the mate. The official log-book, which had been found in the mate's box, was produced. The entries mentioned the repeated acts of ill-treatment performed towards the crew by the captain, who threatened to murder some one of the crew before the voyage was over. The last entry read thus : " From the 9th to the 26th February nothing but continued noise on board the ship. Told me in the evening of the 20th January, that if I told one of them to do anything, and he did not do it, to knock his brains out—that they ought to know, as they had been in the ship three months ; and if I did not do it, I should hear about it at the end of the voyage. Emanuel Olarve, one of the seamen, deposed to the cruel conduct of the captain, and to the pitiable condition to which Valparaiso, Foster, and Pedro were reduced by the.captain's ill-treatment. About a week before Pedro's death, by the order of the captain, witness scrubbed him (Pedro) and Foster with a hard brush and cold water. The scrubbing opened the old lacerations, drawing blood, and causing the men to writhe. During the operation the captain and mate stood by laughing. After that the captain beat Foster severely. At the' conclusion of the evidence both the prisoners were committed for trial at the assizes, charged with the wilful murder of Valparaiso, Pedro, and Foster,