THE MIGNONETTE CASE.

Manawatu Times, Volume X, Issue 1384, 30 December 1884, Page 3

THE MIGNONETTE CASE.

The trial of Thomas Dudley and Edwin Stephens, the captain and mate of the yad a 'Mignonette, tor the wilful murder oi the lad Richard Parker on the high, seas, on July 25, took place at Exeter on November 6, (writes tne Argus' London corresponcU nt)-, before Mr Baron Huddles! .;>. The court was densely crowded, even ladies being present. The prisoner Dudley seemed m good spirits, but Stephens was anxious and depressed. The counsel for the defence insisted that the action of the prisoners was justified by the aeceasity of their case. The jury returned the following special verdict, adding thereto a strong ex* pression of sympathy and compass si ou foe the sufferings the prisoners had undergone : — " That on July 5, 1884, the prisoners, with one Brooks, all aole bodied English seamen, and the deceased* an English boy, between 17 and 18, the crew of an English yacht, were cast away m a storm on the hig> seas, 1600 milps from the Cape of Good Hope, and were compelled to put into an open boat ; that m this boat they had no supply of water ard no supply of food, except two lib tins of turnips, and for three days they had nothing else to subsist on. ... That the boat was drifting on the ocean, and was probably more than J 000 miles from land ; that on the 18th day, when they had been seven days without food, and five without water, the prisoners spoke to Brooks as to what shonld be done if no succor came, and suggested someone should be sacrificed to save the rest, but Brooks dissented, and the boy to whom they were understood to refer, was not- consulted ; that on the day before the act m question Dudley proposed to Stephens and Brooks that lots should be cast who should be pnt to death to save the rest, but Brooks refused to consent and it was not put to the boy, and m point of fact thare was no drawing of lots.; that on the day the prisoners spoke of their having families, and suggested it would be better to kill the boy that their lives should be saved, and: Dudley proposed if no vessel was m sight by the next morning that the boy should be. killed ; that next day no vessel appearing Dudley told I Brooks that he had better go and have a sleep, and made signs to Stephens and Brooks that the boy had better be killed. Stephens agreed to the act but Brooks die* sented from it ; that the boy was lying at the bottom of the boat quite helpless, and extremely weakened by famine, and by drinking sea water, and could make no resistance nor. did he ever assent to being killed ; that Dudley with the assent of Stephens, went to the boy and telling him his time had come, put a knife into his throat and killed him, that the. three men fed upon the boy for four days ; that on the fourth day after the act the boat was picked np by a passing vessel, and the prisoners were rescued, still alive, but m the lowest state of prostration ; that they were carried to the port of Falmouth, and committed for trial at Exeter ; that if ! the men had riot fed upon the body of the boy they would probably not have survived to be so picked up and rescued, but would within the four days have died of famine ; that the boy, being m a much weaker condition, was likely to have died before the ai ; that at the time of the act there was no sail m sight, nor any reasonable prospect of relief; that under these circumstances there appeared to the prisoners every probability that unless they then or very soon fed upon the boy one of them would die of starvation; that there was no appreciable chance ot saving life, except by killing someone for the others to eat ; that, assuming any necessity to kill any* one, there was no greater necessity for killing the boy than any of the other three men.; but whether, upon the whole matter, the prisoners were and are guilty of murder, the jury are ignorant, and refer to the Court."