THE MIGONETTE CANNIBALISM CASE.

Inangahua Times, Volume IX, Issue 1471, 17 November 1884, Page 2

THE MIGONETTE CANNIBALISM CASE.

At Falmouth Police-court on -'Sept. L lB, Thomas Dudley, -captain ;'- Ed win Stephens, mate ; and Edmund Stephen Brooks, seaman, the- OTiwitors of the yacht Mignonette; . were charged on remand -fllrith the wilful murder of Richard. .-P^^ker-'-en-tfae-high-Hsefus, on! on pfjiJffl'y last. The utmost v Itfierest was shown in the proceedings, , A great crowd assembled round the entrance of th« Town Hall nearly an hour beforethe time appointed for the bearing. The j*.riß9nefs *pp»***4 tp

I be in fairly good health, having con- ' aiderably improved in condition since their arrest. Captain Dudley seemed to have recovered his old robust avid .'- --and vigorous form, and Stephens was i the only one who showed marked j traces of his recent sufferings. Mr Danckwertz, who prosecuted on behalf of the Crown, said that, . aftei mature consideration af the evidence of aU ofthe prisoners, he had come to the couclussion that Brooks in no wayparticipated in the crime, aud he there fore proposed to offer no evidence against him but to call him as a. witness against the other men The magistrates said as no evidence was offered against Biook3 he would be discharged. Brooks was then released from custody amidst loud applause. Edmund Brooks deposed — I am 39 years. of age, and have been at sea for 30 years. Oh the fourth or fifth day after the. wreck we caught a turtle, ou whichvwe lived until the eleventh or twelfth" day. After that we had no thing-to ; eat for a week or eight day*. Soon -after wt ate the turtle the captain mentioned . about casting lota as to which should he. killed. He mentioned this several times. Th" boy was pretty well at that time, bnt did not join in th ■ r*dvisabiliy of drawing lots. It was either the sixteenth day or night that the boy got sick from drinking salt water. The subject of drawing lots had been mentioned before this. Drawing lots was not agreed to. I -?aid, •• Let us all die together." That was after the boy was ill. The subject of casting lots was mentioned on several" occasions. On the 19th day they were i speaking about lots. The captain said '• There will have to be something done," I did not make any. answer or did I hear Stephens. I think 1 was steering the boat. Stephens was lying down close by me. The boy was in the middle of theh-at, and the captain forward. I could not tell much of the conversation that took place that day. We were looking at each other. There was not much said. I recollect next morning* the day the boy was killed. I was Steering till six o'clock, when Mr Stephens relieved me. Ido not know what time the boy was killed. It was early in the morning. It was the 20 Lh day after the casualty. The captain, mate, and myself were talking about having to do something. I said, "We shall. see a 3ail to-day." The boy was lying at the bottom of the boat. Neither of us said what that something was that would have to be done. I under stood that it was to be done by Stephens nodding to the boy aad the i to me. Wo had not talked about it before. We did not talk about killing the boy at all, that is between us three. I was not aware when it was going to be done. I did not hear any con ver Ration between the prisoners of killing ' the boy. I was then forward, lying down lin the bows of the boat. I was trying jto .go to sleep. I had ray head right j forward, and my feet right under the j thwarts. . I had .an oilskin coat over Imy head. Dudley was aft, either ! lying or sitting down when I left him. Stephens was steering the boat. I don't think I had been asleep. I could not say whether I had been to sleep or not. I heard no conversation between the prisoners, but I heard a j little noise, and saw that the boy was I dead. I fainted away directly after that butonly a minute or two. I looked around again, and saw the captain and Stephens drinking the blood. The blood was in the bailer. One was I drinking from the bailer aud the other ; from tlie tin. The boy's eyes were j quite white. I saw the captain catching the blood from him, and I asked the captain to give me a drop, which he gave me. It was quite congealed. I drank it as well as I could. I sucked it down. Dudley was standing over the boy, and Stephens was standing near, steering the boat The boy's neok was cut, but 1 cannot tell how, as I did not look enough at the time. I did not see the knife, but I saw it some time afterwards. .It wad a peu- | knife, and , there was blood on it. I went aft soon after to steer the boat, and Dudley and Stephens cut the boy's clothes off, and his heart and liver . were taken out, and we eat it between us. For some days after that welived oti the boy's body. I did not at any time ask who had killed the boy, but I knew that the captain did it, because he said so himself, He told me he had -killed him with a knife. Mr Danckwertz asked the Bench upon tlu- evidence he had adduced, to commit the prisoners for trial at the eusuing winter assizes for the county of 'Corn wall. The magistrates retired for consultation and on returning into court the chairman stated that the Bench. had come to the conclusion that the case was of far too grave a nature for thena to decide. The prisoners would be committed; for. trial by a jury of their country. Both prisoners reserved their defence Mr. Tilly applied that the prisoner^ might be admitted to bail, offering the same tsuretieaias before, and the Bench at once granted the application,; their decision being greeted with j loud applause. Ah •' English Mother," on S«**ptember 19. wrote to the Pall Mall Gfea«tt« with reference to the proposed sub. scription for the survivors of the" Mignonette, to ask why ihyorse has thought of starting « fund to erect a tablet in memory of their victim :-r— lt j is our well-founded -boast (shei says) j that an Englishman knows how to die bravely. Miners have benn kttofwn to "at off their own arms (not each other's) wbim-thwy have been~t>Hoked -ap • i aid t many a timf our .British ■toidiers have died of privatfoto4--died nobly, -and together ; hut in: their direst strait*! they have not killed and torn out the heart of a comrade in order Vt>li» .for their . w«j## and

children." Why is an exception made i;i the case Of sailors alone ? In response to this letter, Mr. John F. Haskin, of Cannon -street, wrote offering to furnish • complete tablet, in accord with the wishes ofthe lad's friends. Ho suggests that it should l>e done by the etidolithic process ot Dr. Hand Smith, that being more imperishable, and if thought desirable Parker's portrait might be put upon it is well as the lettering. Another corr spondent wrote as follows :— The feelinp and discernment shown by " A Lady" in a letter published in your issue of the 19th inst, will be welcomed by all in whose hearts bravery and heroic deeds strike a sympathetic chord. It is surely uniesi able not to say indecent, to lionise in any way the three survivors from the abo\e ill-fated vessel, who, whatever their sufferings and temptations, have by a dreadful »ct forfeited all claim •to be regarded as heroes. Supposing they be acquitted at their trial of a terrible crime, it would surely be proper, as scon as may be to allow tho matter to fade away, and not to keep it green by mo-bid and misplaced feeling— aot fo,; the Buiferer, but for the survivor* in the dark and doubtful tragedy. ' Subsequent to. his coram :ment, Ca-'-t-tiu Thomas Dudley, of he Mi*»onet e, wrote to the Times to " Xpr-».'s hi-i thanks for numerous favou.s of sympathy to himself and companions for their past unparalleled suffc-rin^s and privations on the ocean, a id th~*ir present torture under the j ban of the law ; being charged with an act wiiich certainly was nit accompanied by either premeditation or malice in the true sense of the word." It is easy to believe, remarks tht St James's Gazette, that the writer of this extraordinary letter and his unhappy comrades suffered horribly, and that they did the dreadful deed for which they are to be tried because they saw in it a last hope of earing themselves from a painful death. But surely it would be more decent for men who did, under, whatever temptation commit au act revolting to the common instinct of mankind, to keep siienoe upon the subject of their offence. Sympathy with their torture under the ban of the law is all very well ; tint it must be remembered that they are not the only sufforers. The publio may be willing to view their conduct with pity, bat they certainly do not agree with what still appears to be Captain Dudley's view of the cawthat he and his comrades are persecuted innocents. 7, ,7