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gentle.
Ske
acting as Chief Officer
The Chief Officer was on duty in the Folkestone. The prisoner entered the witness-box.
He did not sign articles, because it was not then the custom to do so.
Prisoner was dressed in a black flannel shirt, white trousers, and slouch cap. I saw one of the lascars of the Harlequin struck, on one occasion, by the Chief Officer in the same manner in which the prisoner was struck. It is usual for an officer, when he has fault to find with a seacunny or lascar, to strike him.
I never heard the Chief Officer threaten Brust. The Harlequin is manned with lascars.
The prisoner shipped in, I think, the month of August last, at Hongkong as a deck-scrubber, under an agreement that he was to be discharged if it was found that he could not do the work. A day or two after he was shipped, he was discharged for the above cause. I was present at the agreement and also at the discharge. It is not usual for seacunnies to grumble at gratings.
The Coroner adjourned until Monday morning.
Prisoner is remanded to prison.
The usage of the crew on board the Harlequin was much better than that of the crew of other ships.
DEX