His Worsnip—The men made no complaint about being deceived in any way?
Witness—No, they made no complaint.
necessary to go any further into the ease.
His Worsnrpr said he did not bree it was Mr. Brown said he did not_press for a severe penalty, as it was the first case of the kind that he had brought here.
Hie Worsnir to defendant:—It is clearly irregular, Defendant—It is, your Worship; but there is hardly a ship leaving New York that does not do the same. Mr. Williams does all the work for the Consul in New York, and ships men for all the British vessela there.
His Woxsuir remarked that Mr. Williams was not in any way connected with the British Consulate in New York. As the case had been called to his attention, he of course whould impose sume penalty, The Defendant said that if he had known he Section would be enforced he would have paid more attention to it.
But no one thought that there would be any difficulty.
His Wonrsaré—If you can give me any good excuse I will listen to it.
The defendant said that when he went on board, the ship was lying out in the stream, and the Consulate was not open early in the morning. He would have to take the men back in the, course of the day, in a tugboat, and detain the vessel snather fis Worsnie said he would have to it pose a fine of $10 in each case, by which the attention of other ship masters would be called to the Section. If was no excuse to say that the rule had been repeatedly broken by others, in fact if it had been frequently broken, there was all the more Necessity for enforcing it now, unless it was allowed to become a dead letter, as. it was alleged assault, and was then in-charge of the tug boat for some time afterwards. He asked the Court if it were likely that the Captain would commence the voyage by amumulting the crew, and then leave the alone during the rest of the voyage of five months. ere was the evidence of the Captain and chief officer that the latter was on deck all the time and that he must have seen any assault if there was one committed. Then there was the significant fact that one of the men who had charged the Captain with assault had signed a document withdrawing the charge. He (Mr. Wainewright) did not produce any evidence as to this document, but it could be proved by the Superintendent of the Sailors Home, who hal seer it. He submitted that it was very clearly a trumped up charge, and he did not think he was unjust in saying that those kind of ships when they come here are immediately boarded by the sailor's fung this kind of charge in order that shop crimps who induce the men to
they might have a good time ashore, and thereby enrich the grog shops.
His Worsnir said he was disposed to think that there was an assault committed, but that it was not of a serious nature, as {the prosecutor had not taken the trouble to come to Court. He would therefore dismiss the charge.
Mr. Waixewnicwt-—Will your Worship give costs?
His Worsurp refused and repeated that he believed a slight assault had been committed. He would therefore simply dismiss the charge.
The Chief Officer of the Chungking who boasts of the classic name of Hector, was charged with assaulting Ching-tai-yuen. The prosecutor who is quarter-master on the same vessel apy in the witness box with a beautiful ly d eloped black-eye, Very desirable that it should not be, and and a fai of the nose Was of also that men should be regularly shipped.
The fine was peaks ey shipped missing. The defendant admitted a slight assault, but pleaded great provocation. The evidence of the complainant was that 29th January, he was ordered by the Captain to unscrew a brass cover in the wheel house, and A Truck or THe Groo Snop Cries, not being able to do so he reported the Captain J. W. McLoventx, Master of, matter to him. The Captain went into the the Minister of Marine, appeared to answer wheelhouse, and when he left the defendant charge of assaulting two members of came up and struck complainant on the left his crew named Warren and Hopper, the eye with his fist, asking him at the same hearing of which ease had been adjourned time why he had reported the matter to from Wednesday last. {the Captain and not to him (defendant).
Mr. Warnewhint who appeared for the The blow caused his eye to swell and cut Aefence stated that the charge by Warren his nose as well. The disfigurement of the had been withdrawn, optic which the Court saw for itself was Hopper was then called but failed to! caused by the blow. Complainant had to go appear, Phe Defendant, produced his log to show that the vessel did not leave the dock at New York till at noon on the day of the alleged assault, Mr. Warsewnront drew his Worship's attention to the fact that the plaintiff had stated: that the assault occurred in the forenoon, His Wonsttr—And one of the witnesses said it occurred in the afternoon.
Mr. WarxewnicutT—And one stated it was in the right eye and another in the left. He thought his Worship would see from the numerous discrepancies in the evidence that the charge was a trumped up one altogether. One of the witnesses stated that the Captain at the tine was standing three feet above the plaintiff, a statement which involved the defendant, stooping down and first hitting him in the right eye, and then stepping down and kicking him two or three times. Now this was a process which would have taken a little time, so that the chief officer would certainly have seen The witness had said nothing about kicking, from which he presumed that the plaintiff had failed to prime him on the point. It was impossible that the plaintiff could have been assaulted as described when working at the ropes, when the ship did not leave the dock for considerable time after the hour of the the injuries,—but judging from the present to a Chinese doctor and pay him $8 to cure discoloured' condition of his countenance, Chinese surgical skill in cases of this kind does not amount to much.
The defendant said that his story and complainant's as to the provocation' were different. The ship was going into dock, and at the time defendant was the only officer on board beside the Captain. As there was not a second officer to do the work, the complainant being a quarter-master, and more responsible than an ordinary seaman, was sent to look after one end of the ship.
Tt was his duty to put down fenders as she was going round the corner of the dock, to protect her sides. Defendant ran aft to see how he was working, and found him instead of doing his business, talking and paying no attention to his duty. The ship's side was Eitely to be daniaged. Defendant was very essing against the side of the dock and tvaol annoyed, Inet his temper and. gare Ching a slap on the nose. But he did not think the "slap" was sufficiently hard to Dlacken his eye.
said the ship went into dock at 12 o'clock The Complainant, in reply tchis Worship, and the defendant struck him at one, when he was at tiffin.
Defendant to the Court—She was moving at the time.
The plainant said he had no witnesses: but several of the crew saw the occurrence. He went to the Captain who ordered him to lie down in his bunk and afterwards told him: to go to the Shipping Office and report the matter there, adding that he might stay on shore for a few days to attend a doctor.
His Worsnre—I am disposed to think the complainant's story is pretty correct. You struck him a very severe blow and gave him this black eye.
The Defendant—No, I don't think I dic His Worsnrrp—Well I think you dic shall fine you $15 and you will also pay him $5 for his expenses.
2nd February.
The charge against Win. B. Tyler, second officer of the Sin Nanzing, for assaulting a Chinese boy on board that vessel w resumed. Captain Waddilove was sworn and deposed to seeing the complainant with slight black eye on the morning in question. Witness questioned him as to how he got it, and the complainant stated that he had been beaten by the defendant. Upon witness speaking to the latter upon the subject, he said that the boy had been ches His Worship ordered Tyler to pay a fine of $3 with costs.
Wo. Porter, seaman, was brought charged with committing an unprovoke assault upon another sailor named Ericson in the Sailor Home. The evidence of the complainant was to the effect that while he was sitting quietly at a table, Porter rushed at him and struck him repeatedly in the face. Mr. Eveleigh, Superintendent of the Home gave corroborative evidence, and added that Porter appeared to be' the worse for liquor at the time. The prisoner was sentenced two months' imprisonment, ce
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.