The Statesman. — 1824-02-02 (London, England)

SHOCKING CATASTROPHE.  The Lisbon Papers received on Friday contain an account of the destruction of 252 persons, chiefly blacks, in the 11014 of a vessel of Para, where they had been confined, in consequence of a very extensive mutiny, with a view to murder all the Europeans in the place. The following are the particulars:— On the 15th of October, a desperate insurrection burst forth among the military at Para (a city in the northern province of Brazil.) The Soldiers soddenly cried out " Long live the Emperor, and death to the Europeans," and began to plunder the inhabitants. They were however ultimately subdued by a party of English under Captain Orenfell, of the brig of war Maranhao', and five of the ringleaders were shot publicly, and 256 carried prisoners on board a ship, where the following horrible catastrophe took place : About nine on the night of the 19th, the sentinels on deck heard a great noise below, and repeatedly ordered ciletness, without effect. In a short time they found the prisoners were forcing the hatches, and they immediately fired one or two volleys among them, after which every thing was quiet. In the morning they took off the hatches, to remove the dead, if any, when they found only four out of the two hundred and fifty six alive ! The place presented a most appalling spectacle of lacerated and mangled bodies. Some had their eyes thrust out : the tongues of some, hung out of their mouths : others had their ribs stove in: mouths torn from ear to ear. Some were hanging by their hammock strings by the neck ; others by their middle, with their heads down ; and some had undergone mutilation too horrible to be described. The writer had this account, at which human nature shudders, from an eye-witness, the first Lieutenant of the brig, who was first on board in the morning. It appears the carnage commenced by a party of them wishing to mnrder all the Europeans oho were their fellow prisoners (about, perhaps, ten or twelve in number), but that being' in the dark, they despatched many who were not, which excited ill-hlood.• They dill not, moreover, all agree upon escaping by force, which increased the animosity amongst them, and a mutual massacre of the most savage nature cotnmenceil ; for they hail no edged weapons, nor any thing hit their hands and their hammock ropes. They were all naked, their clothes being torn front their backs. They had piled op the dead bodies under the hatches to form a kind of platform to enable them to reach the gratings, and most of these bodies were of Europeans. About twenty were killed by the discharges of musketry. The four who were ft and alive had hidden themselves under the water casks at the commencement of the fray, anti had not, it appeared, suffered in health. One man was found nearly strangled, but still alive; but he died on the way to the hospital from a slight fall. It is the writer's opinion that shocking as this catastrophe was, it was probably fortunate for the friends of order, as it appeared that these wretches had formed the most diabolical plans of massacre and plunder. (the other account to which we have alluded states that the English, too, were marked out amongst their victims.)  • The other account supposes .they had destroyed each other in a fit of insanity or desperation.