the
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sharpened and oiled them. Becond and third prisoners took charge of the ship
· and ran her bafora ibe wind for four days; steering east for four days they came to the Island of Palawan, and anchored, there. These two prisoners then ordered the carpenter and boatswain to scuttle the ship, which was done, these men being told that if they did not they would be killed. The barque sank about 6 p.m. They then landed; on shore the prisoners killed the Į three Chinese; the cook was asked to pick up something from the ground, and while he was stooping to do this his head was nearly severed from his body, John dealing i the fatal blow with an axe. The boatswain hid himself, and after the prisoners and the others had gone, he was taken off by a passing vessel and carried to Bang- koka where all the men ware.
He was protected there by the anthorities, who put him in a cage for 28 days. Another witness Brahim, saw the dead bodies of the Captain and officers, lying
deck and in the saloon, and being threatened by John and the two others assisted in throwing them overboad, He corroborated the pre- vious witness as to the ranaacking of the Captain's drawers and wardrobe &c. The last witness (Brahim) was told that as he had nothlug to do with the killing of the Captain he would have to despatch the Chinese boy. On hesitating he was told by John: "If you do not kill that boy I will kill you." He then took up the axe, and the boy seeing this jumped overboard. He swam for a short time, but witness saw him sink soon after. This was about 15 miles from land, the island where the other murders were committed. This witness narrated their being appre- hended and kept in custody by the Sheriff for about a month at Bang. koka, being sent thence to Labuan, and the Governor of that island sent them i to Singapore and so on to Hongkong. He had had no conversation with Peter about this matter either on board the ship com- ing up or since he arrived in Hongkong. He positively swore to John going into the Captain's cabin, and about the same time Alfe and Aasan passed the Captain's door. He had hid himself in consequence of cer- tain threats from John. He heard John say, “It is finished" to the others when he came out.
At 6.30 Mr Ng Choy asked to be allowed to take the examination of Brahim to- morrow morning; he felt that at this late | hour he was not able to do justice to the? interest of his olient.
His Honor: Do you say you are quite exhausted, and unable to go on ?
Mr Ng Choy I do not say, my Lord, that I am "quite exhausted;" but I feel that I am not able to do full justice to my clients.
His Honor: 1 think you should finish the cross-examination to-night. I do not wish to run into a third day.
Mr Ede, one of the jurors, asked whether he was at liberty to send a note to his house.
His Honor said he had permission to do! so. Addressing the jury he said it was a very painful duty to him to decide as he had done, but he felt it to be his duty to rule sa be had done. He had not decided as he had done without grave consider- ation. He had been occupied very many hours before this trial came on with this very point and he had come to the epinion that their dealsion in this case, should not, by their being allowed to se parate, be exposed to any technical diffi. culty or objection,
Mr Ede said they had been taken rather by surprise.
His Honor said jurors in these circum- stances were always taken by surprise; if not there would probably be more difficulty in getting a jury. He was anxious that everything should be done for their convenience, but he could not allow them to go. If he exercised his discretion con- trary to the practice of England it might be said he had exercised a wild discretion, and their verdiet would be exposed to animadversions or at least to comments which he was desirous it should not be subjected to, He believed that were be to allow them to go to-night, a very reasonable objection might be taken to the validity of their verdict
Mr Ede thought his Lordship could trust them on their oath that they wore not to speak of the case outside.
His Honor said he could trust every one of them; but that was not the question. He had to observe the practice of England in the matter,
Mr Forbes suggested that if they bad something to eat they could sit all night.
His Honor did not think he woold get them to unanimously agree to that. Mr Forbes believed he could.
Eventually it was agreed that the jury adjourn to the Judge's Chamber, and take what refreshments they choose to send for; and should then ait for two hours or so from 8 80.
On the Court resuming at 8.30, Mr Machado, of the Harbour Master's Office, proved the register of the ship,
Mr Gutierres, clerk at the Mercantile Marine Office, produced a copy of the articles showing the names of the crew of the Kate Waters.
p, who had been a seaman on board the barque in question, was then called and in cross-examination said that it was in consequence of the blow that the boy received from Brahim that he jumped overboard. This was the only new pointi arising in his testimony. Generally, he corroborated the evidence of Peter and Brahim, whose statements we published yes terday in a condensed narrative form.
Sudeen, another seaman, a native of Java, who was board the vessel at the time, related what occurred, and corroborated the evidence given by the other witnesses. He said he saw John strike the cook on the head with an axe, and he afterwards saw the dead body on the beach. John asked him to bury it, which he did. Be further stated that he saw Brahim strike the boy on the head with an are, which caused him to jump overboard.
His Lordship presumed the Attorney General did not intend to examine this witness at great length, but had merely called him so that the Counsel for the defence might cross-examin› him. That was the usual course, once the facts had been proved.
The Attorney General said that was so.
Mr Ng Choy then proceeded to cross- examine, but neither elicited any new facts nor shook the general stability of the man's story.
The Attorney General asked that he might be allowed to amend the wording of the 5th, 6th and 7th ocunts, by adding the words "having been recantly employed se seamen, to wit, within three months before the commission of the offence charg. ed," and to substitute the words "whilst aflost on the high seas within the Juria. diction of the Admiralty" for "on an ininhabited Island" do. These technical amendments were allowed.
This was the case for the prosecution. No witnesses were called for the defence.! Mr Ng Choy asked leave to direct his Lordship's attention to the rule laid down in the books as to the unsafety of convict- ing for murder when no dead body was found.
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