A SAILOR TORTURED TO DEATH.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9082, 16 June 1888, Page 3 (Supplement)

A SAILOR TORTURED TO DEATH.

CRUELTIES ON BOARD A SHIP. Before Mr. Rattles, a few days ago, at the Liverpool Police Court, Dale-street, Edward Burns, master, and Gavin Coghill, mate, of tho sailing ship Baron Blantyre, had been summoned for having, between 12th June and 13th August of last year, caused grievously bodily harm to Charles Barnes, seaman, and for having between these dates feloniously killed and slain the said Charles Barnes. Mr. Paxton concluded the prosecution on behalf of the Treasury. The Baron Blantyre he described as a vessel about 1558 tons register. It was a British sailing ship, and left Liverpool on the loth May last for Cardiff. Having loaded a cargo of coal at that port, she set out on the 20th of June last year for Singapore, with a crew of-7 or "JS hands all told, the defendant Burns being the master, and the other defendant the mate of the vessel. Besides the ordinary hands there -were three or four apprentices, and lie believed the master's wito was also on board. Charles Barnes, the deceased, had joined the ship at Liverpool on tho l'2th May, and when he joined he appeared to have been in excellent health. According to the evidence of his widow, who would be called, the deceased had been married to her about eleven years, and he had never had any illness. Other witnesses would state that when deceased came on board he appeared to be in good health, and a muscular man. Nothing particular occurred until after the vessel left Cardiff. Undoubtedly, though Barnes appeared to have been a healthy man, he appeared olso to have been somewhat weak in intellect, and he had some habit which were objectionable ; he was not very cleanly in his person, and he had also the habit of appropriating any small things he could find about—thieving apparently without any definite object. Naturally some of the men complained of his habits, and he was taker out of the forecastle altogether about the "3rd June, and for some time was kept on deck sleeping under a boat. At that time, however, the weather was fine, and there was no particular hardship. At this time he appeared to have shown some signs of insanity, and threw his bag, containing his clothes, overboard, and threatened to jump over himself. To some extent, that justified restraint being placet! upon his movements. But after being kept on deck some time he was taken down to the after hatch, which was tilled with sails, and not with coal, and he was kept there for some time. Whether it was the darkness or the rats which infested the place, or for some other reason, the man used to shout out and created a disturbance, and he was brought to the forward part of the hatch, there being chained to a stanchion and sleeping on the coals. He appeared to have been brought on deck during the day, and chained to the pump and to a stanchion. He was a somewhat dirty man in his habits, and under such treatment he became worse. A suit of clothes were made specially for him, and this suit he could not unfasten or take oIF, the result being very loathsome. Tho master seemed to have begun to amuse himself at this stage by throwing potatoes at Barnes, and this statement would be borne out by several witnesses. The master used to make Barnes stand up at a short distance while he " shied" potatoes at him, and encouraged the mate and apprentices to do the same. On one occasion they placed a cap on his head, and, bringing up a basketful of potatoes, they threw them at him. Besides that, when they were rounding the Cape, and had got to the cold weather, the captain frequently caused buckets of cold water to be poured over him, and had him left standing, all cold and wet, exposed to the severity of the weather. This must undoubtedly have had a serious effect upon him. Beyond all this, the mate upon almost every occasion in bringing him from below, used to thrash him, and on some occasions he kicked him and thrashed him with a rope's end or a stick. The master on one or two occasions seems to have assisted in this treatment. Barnes soon began to have a very emaciated appearance, and appeared to be in rags, his body being covered with bruise?, and altogether he was a very miserable object. He was always crying for food, and begging it from the men, but whether this was because of his disease, or because he did not get enough to eat, he (Mr. Paxton) was nob in a position to prove clearly. The treatment, however, appeared to have got worse, and early in August, as one of the witnesses said, he lay on the deck quite naked, and his body was seen to be covered with bruises. The mate jumped upon him two or three times. On the Saturday before he died—the 26th August —he was tied to a boom, lying on his stomach, but after he had been there some time, the mate, while the master wan present, took him from the boom and ran him up and down the deck, and when he fell (the man was so weak that he was scarcely able to crawl) he dragged him to the scuppers and left him lying there in the wet for a quarter of an hour, until the apprentices picked him up and took him away. On the Monday, the day before he died, the man was run up and down the deck, thrown on one of the hatches, and jumped upon by the mate. At four o'clock on the morning of the 30th August Barnes died. He was found in the boatswain's locker. The men who saw his dead body testified to the facb that it was covered with bruises, his head was swollen to an extraordinary size with cuts and bruisos, and his body was very much emaciated. The entry of his death in the logbook stated that he died of diabetes and heart disease. The man was apparently aboub forty-two years of age. If the men were telling the truth, neither diabetes nor heart disease would account for the condition of his body, the head being bruised and swollen, and in a condition which suggested erysipelas and every mark cruelby. ic was also alleged that about three weeks before his death, the boatswain, who had left the ship at Singapore, and the mate were seen to go down into the hatch where Barnes was, with a belaying pin. Barnes was heard to cry loudly and to make a great noise. The men did nob see him for two days, and when he again came on deck there was every evidence of his having been severely thrashed. After lengthy evidence the case was adjourned. The two defendants were bound over in their own recognisance of £100 each.