THE PLUTO MASSACRE.

Grey River Argus, Volume XIV, Issue 1751, 16 March 1874, Page 4

THE PLUTO MASSACRE.

At the central criminal court, Sydney, on the 27th ultimo, Waina and Swatoa, two South Sea Islands, were indicted for having, on the 20th May, 1873, murdered Thomas Hart, master of the Pluto. John Collins, a seaman on board the vessel, gave evidence respecting the wreck of the Pluto on Ewen Island, to the south-west of Caledonia, and the arrival of the crew in a boat at the Mary Island. The surf washed the boat ashore, and several natives then waded out to it. The two prisoners were among them, and they all set about plundering the boat. The mate had previously been shot in the heart by au arrow, and had fallen overboard. One of the natives— not either of the prisoners — stripped the captain and Collins ; and another native, who died while being brought up in the Dido, struck the captain on the hend with his tomahawk. The captain fell upon the deck, and died in about three-quarters of an hour afterwards. He had two tomahawk wounds in his back, besides the one «on his head, and had several arrows in his body. His left eye also knocked out. The other seaman, whose name was Stripe, killed himself to avoid falling into the hands of the natives. Collins was taken on shore and lived there for three months and a half, until the Dido arrived at the island. The two prisoners were on board the long boat when the captain was killed. The prisoners cut the body of the captain up after he was dead. They had previously struck him with arrows from the shore. Mr Windeyer submitted that the court had no jurisdiction in the case, inasmuch as the alleged offence had been committed by foreigners in a foreign country, and they were therefore not amenable to the law of another country. It was not committed on* board of a British ship on the high seas, as the boat was not a British ship in the proper acceptation of the term, and it was on shore, and not on the high seas. His Honor said he was of opinion that the prosecution must fail. There was no authority which had decided that a boat was a ship, and he was of opinion that a judge should not extend the law beyond the point to which it had hitherto been carried. Had the boat been duly registered, and had it sailed from any port on a voyage, it might then be held to be a ship ; but such was not the case. He held that the prosecution must fail, because the boat at the time of the killing of the captain was on shore on the island, and was in a foreign country, and the offence was not therefore within the jurisdiction of any other country. The jury then, by his Honor's direction, found a verdict of not guilty, and the prisoners were ordered to be discharged.