THE MIGNONETTE CASTAWAYS.

Kumara Times, Issue 2588, 20 December 1884, Page 3

THE MIGNONETTE CASTAWAYS.

« ——_—. Mr Baron Huddleston in charging the grand jury at Exeter Assizes on Nov. 3, dealt at length with the charge against the captain and mate of the yacht Mignonette, charged with having murdered and eaten the youth Parker. He said he could not give his adherence to the view that an appeal to chance by drawiug lots as to who should die would have been justifiable in this case, nor could he regard the taking of the boys life as an act of self-defence. The lads existence did not endanger the life of the others, for the boat could hold them all; and that the act was unjustifiable was clearly proved by the fact that had the boy had a revolver he would have been clearly entitled to take the captain's life when the latter advanced for the purpose of killing him. The selection of the boy as the victim because he had none dependent upon him, whereas, the others had, could not be accepted as a reason for taking the youth's life. No one had a right to accelerate the death of another, and if any deliberate act of the prisoners caused the lad's death they they were guilty of murder. No one would fail to feel the deepest compassion for the unhappy men, but the present was only a preliminary stage, and if a true bill were found and a conviction followed he would take care that the matter was placed in a form for further considerstion, so that there might be an appeal to the mercy of the Crown.