208.
"THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
E. Macdonald, another member of the crew, then ventilated his grievance, which' was against the action of the defendant in threaten- ng him with a revolver and using towards hime ilanguage calculated to lead to a breach of the peace.
[March 23, 1903. him. Witness told him to come off the stage | afterwards locked the doors and port-holes of if he was not going to work, and James the hospital, and as the ship was in the tropic!. left the stage and came on deck. He pulled at the time the compartment became stiflingly out his knife and tried to stab witness, hot and the complainant was almost suffocated. who caught his wrist and held him till the knife was taken away from him by an apprentice and thrown over the side by the captain. James then seized an iron bar and attempted to strike the witness, but-struck the chief officer instead. The bar was taken away, and James therenpon bit the witness in the thumb, and was given a good thrashing in return. Hughes was another who abused the witness. He called him everything he could lay his tongue to, and said he was not James- if he took out a knife he would use it. Witness caught him by the shoulder and shook him, but did not strike him. He never struck Hughes at any time, and had had no previous quarrel. with him.
The third complaint was by George Jennings, able seamau, on whose Lehalf evidencɔ was given by Macdonald,
French authorities there. They could do nothing beyond advising him to cable to the Govertor of Hongkong, which he did, and received a reply by cable advising him to apply to the British Consul at Saigon. Neither the Consul at Baigon nor the Consul at Pakhoi | could do anything, however. None of the defendants ever said anything about the ship not being seaworthy except McIntyre, who re- marked: “You know, captain, the ship touched bottom in Hainan Straits." With regard to lughes being sick, the man, was examined by two French army doctors, who said that although he was not a robust
Jonnings was then called to tell his story:
that man he was quite fit to perform ordinary
He said
on 27th December last he WAS work about the ship. Witness knew nothing
put his shoulder out of joint, and about Hughes having been ill-treated by the
anable to go aloft with the rest of the boatswain. On several occasions he asked the
wa'ch to shorten sail. "The mate came up defendants to resume their work, and said he
to me," he continued, "and said, 'Why don't would forgive them if they did so and took the
you go aloft?' I said, 'You know, sir, my arm ship to Kangoon. This offer, after balf-an- By Mr. Ferrers-The ship had “smelt the is bad, and I can't go up there.' He said, 'You hour's consideration, they reftised. Their ground," but she was in good, seaworthy con- Non of a →→, yon lie; you are only loafing,' · action had cost the ship and the witness a great dition, and witness would go with her anywhere.and with that be seis d me and struck me right deal of expense, the total up to the 17th inst. There were two lifeboats on bord sufficient to here ou the noise. He beat me for fully ten
miantes. amounting to £349 5s. 2d., increasing every day. carry all the crew. He koaw the defendants *There was a balance of wages due to each defeu-wanted to have him tried, but for what he did dant, amounting in the aggregate to over £150. not know. He had never heard them suggest His Worship--Is there any chance of a that the ship was unseaworthy, and if it was settlement between the parties?
dislike of himself that kept the defendants back he was quite willing to leave the ship. He was satisfied with his job, and did not see what there was to grumbl at. There was plenty to eat. (Laughter from the defendants.)
Mr. Ferrers-Well, I don't know, your worship; the ship does not seem to be in a seaworthy condition.
Several of the defendants--No, sir; we won't go back.
Cross-examined by Mr. Ferrers, witness said he heard that Hughes had served in South Africa, but was not aware that the rheumatics in the man's shoulder resulted from his cam- paigning. Witness never offered him $20 to leave the ship. When be offered to lock the boatswain up in his cabin, he, did so to facilitate, if possible, the getting away of the ship and did not mean to imply that the boatswain was in the wrong. He did not consider that the boatswain was in the wroug. Describing the weather during the yogage, witness said it was variable, but never really heavy. Off the Philippines a squall carried| away the fore topgallant mast and the main topgallant mast, and in clearing away the wreckage a small boat lying on the main hatch was stove in; this boat, Lowever, was not a ship's boat. The vessel touched bottom in the Hainan Straits, but sustained no damage and made no water. Mr. Ferrers asked if it was the case that the witness was habitually under the influence of liquor on board the ship, and received a denial. Mr. Ferrers pressed the point, and suggested that tho entries made by tho witness in the log-book were not those of a sober man. The handwriting was very bad in places, remarked conusel as he handed up the book for the magistrate's inspection.
His Worship (after an examination)-The handwriting strikes me as being very good indeed..
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Continning, witness said that when he arrived here he went to the Harbour Offics to make his complaint. The Harbour Master was out, but he saw the Assistant Harbour Master who told him to wait. After waiting for two hours Commander Rumsey appeared but absolutely refused to see him, "Isn't he supposed to assist me?" went on the witness. "I told the second Harbour Master to tell the Harbour Master that the master of the Kirkcudbrightshire wished to speak to him, but he refused absolutely to see me said he could not see me.' The witness then described his journey to Jardine Matheson's, from Jardine Matheson's to the Harbour Office, from the Harbour Office back again to Jardine Matheson's, and then to Mr. Hastings, bis solicitor-all this to have his complaint looked into.
Another effort was made to have the case settled out of Court, but the defendants reiterated that the ship was unseaworthy and that they would not go back in her.
In answer to Mr. Hastings, witness said the ship was marked A 1 at Lloyd's.
he
ho
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Griffith Griffiths, the chief officer, described the knife and iron bar incidents, and said he told the batswain to give Jamos "a thorough
thought good thrashing," which deserved. The boatswain took him at his word and thrashed James. Next day the defen- dants refused daty, and said they would not work until the boatswain had been tried in a court of law for ill-treating Hughes. That was the only reason they gave for their action; they said nothing about the condition of the ship, The boatswain had never ill-treatel linghes, bat Hughes had abused and thr. atened the boatswain, and warned him once-" Wait till it gets dark and I'll rip you." Hughes was drunk many a time, and witness carri d him to bis quarters twice.
Mr. Ferrers read a long list of damages done to the ship in the storm off the Philippines, and said it seemed to him that everyone on board was_in_imminent danger of being drowned. For four days the crow were engaged in clearing away wreckage from aloft, bu with it all, and in spite of her 1sbouring and the heary weather she experienced, the ship was quite seaworthy, witness said. Mr. Ferrers suggested that she sustained damage by being "nearly ashore" on the way up the river to Hongay, and got the reply that the river was so narrow that even when a ship was in the middle of the stream, in deep water, she wAS nearly ashore.
This concluded the evidence, and Mr. Ferrors and Mr. Hastings addressed tl:8 Co -rt on behalf of their respective clients.
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Macdonald was somewhere in the
lower rigging, and he was singing out, 'Stop that, don't kill the man.' The inite left off add went aft, and when the men came down from aloft he came back and said, ' Are you all here ?` We said, 'Yes, sir'; then he pulled out his revolver and went over to Macdonald and said, Now, you son of a ——, come out here and I'll let daylight through yon!' He put the revolver in the face of every one of us, and said, * You nos it? Now, rememb r. I've got it, and that I carry it all the time on board the ship.' I said, You ar no man sir, to strike a cripple,' and he said, 'You shut up'; I nsid, 'You have all the say liere, sir, but some people will have the say, when we get to Hongkong? We never had words on the passage before that, your Worship, and we never had a wrong word since,
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|_ His Worship-This was on the high seas? Yes, sir.
The ship is a British ship ?—Yes, sir.
Do you know anything of what happened on the 12th of January-Yes, sir, They put this mau Olsen in hospital and locked the doors and ports. It was very sultry day, and the man was stiffing.
Defe dant-Why did you not tell the captaia that I struck you ?-For the simple reas: that thers was oua man whom you abused and ill- treated all the way to Hongkong, and when the man complained to the ciptain the cap- tain ordered him off the poop and told him not to bring any tales to him. So there was no uso for me to bring any tales.
William Drummond, able saaman, was called as a witness for the prose ation, but all he could say was that he heard high words between Jennings and the mate and then. Jennings
scream.
Defendant-Did yon hear any words from Macdonald as he was going up the rigging ?- Yes, sir. I heard him say-out bis heart out."
You were closer to Jennings than any of the rest of the crew ?—Yes, sir.
7
And you could not see me strike Jennings ? -No, sir.
come off the fo'cale head and kick the head off the mate yourself?—I don't think so, I may have said it, but it's three months ago now,
His Worship said he found the charge With against the defendants fully proved. reference to the suggestion of the defence that the ship was unsaworthy, there was not a Jennings -Dida't you say to me next morn. tittle of evidence to support that suggestion.ing, Drummond, that you had a god mind to The evidence was all the other way, and he was quite satisfied that the ship was in a seaworthy stato. The case was one of the worst possible kind and be felt it his duty to inflict the maximum penalty of the law. Each defendant would be imprisoned and kept to hard labour for twelve weeks and forfeit 78 days' pay.
James (the coloured defendant) – Can we say something, sir?
His Worship-No, you may not say anything. Let the defendants be removed from Court.
HOWARD D. Troup.”
Before Mr. J. H. Kemp on the 19th inst., the chief mate of the sailing ship Howard D. Troup, McIntosh by name, was summoned by three able seamen on separate charges of Daniel Henderson, the boatswain, said that assault and using threatening, abusive, and on 4th March the defendant James (a coloured insultinglanguage towards them. man) was scraping the ship. Witness was The first charge beard was that instituted by standing on the rail, and saw him "skylarking" | Hans Olson, who said that on 19th Jannary with some women in a sampan. He told James last he was admitted to hospital on board to get on with his work, and James called him | the ship. The defendant, however, accused certain names and said he would not work for him of malingering, and struck him. He
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Jonuings and Macdonald in turn plied Drummond with questions as to his vowed witnessing of the assault and expressed disgust at the defendant's conduct, but the auswers were always in the negative. They then told his Worship that on Wednesday night Drum- mond had had a conversation with the mate in the latter's room, and that Drummond had been bought ove“.
His Worship (to witness)—Had you a con- versation with the mate last night ?—Yes sir. What were you talking about?-Cb, various things (besitatingly),
Was this case mentioned ?—No, sir. Mac- donald's case was mentioned, but not Jennings's.
Macdonald-This man is making a liar of himself, sir, for he told us last night that nobody's case was mentioned. He said he was talking to the mate about some oil cans..
The defendant_then made the following statement-Your Worship, in this Olsen case, he laid up in his berth for a couple of days before