LEGAL BARRIERS ON PLAR TRIP
"I Kill You"
Well Behaved
Longed For The Frozen Wastes, but Found High Temperatures In Golden State That Set Pulses Throbbing BYRD'S MESS BOY CHARGED WITH STABBING
A CCORDING to Lanier, .the false '/\ message was only a link m a long chain of circumstances which led to his appearance' m the Auckland Police Court, charged with attacking the boatswain, John Francis Murphy, with a knife. , • „ In a statement made to the police shortly after he was arrested on board the ship, the colored mess boy, who gave his age as twenty, is alleged to have said that he had a knife m his hand when he was struggling with the boatswain, but that it was Murphy who commenced the. fight. The boatswain jumped on his back while he was bending over his work, and he did not wilfully stab him, he is said to have told the police. "The members of the crew have no use for Lanier, as he is always carrying tales from the mess-room to the chief steward," said Murphy when called to give an accbunt of the affray. About nine o'clock, on the morning he received the knife wound, Murphy said he was having an argument with the chief steward about some cutlery that had been thrown overboard. The altercation took place m the steward s cabin, and resulted m his striking the steward.
Lanier. appeared m the door just as he hit the steward, he said, and, jumping on his back, tried to strangle him with his arms, crying out: "I kill you, I kill you." . "I shook him off and chased him to the cook's galley, where he rushed to the drawer where the knives were kept," said the boatswain. "I knew that if I stepped m he would draw a knife on me." Then came an anti-climax to the proceeedings, for the chief officer made his appearance and threatened to place the boatswain m irons. Everything then settled down to norma.l until it was time for the midday meal. "I was sitting m a swivel chair near the door when Lanier entered, and as he stepped m he made :i lunge at me. I thought he was going to strike me, and I struck at him with my right hand," • Murphy told the court. At that time the boatswain did not know that he had been struck with a knife, he said, but as he rushed out into the galleyway to chase the moss boy he found that blood was dripping from his shirt. "I did not see what accused struck me with," Murphy told Detectivesergeant Kelly. Mr. W. W. King (who appeared for
(Prom "N.Z. Truth's" Special Auckland Bepresentative).
the negro) ; You knew that Lanier wanted to go with the Byrd expedition, and that he took it pretty seriously? — Yes. "And the sailors used to joke him, didn't they?" Murphy admitted that "the South Pole boy" was something of a joke on board the "Golden State." Once a bogus radio message was put on the board, stating that "another colored, gentleman had flown over the South Pole," and Lanier had seen the message. Mr.. King: What is the food like aboard the ship? The boatswain did not. sea what tha state of the mess had to do with the charge against the mess boy. and said so, but Mr. King pressed the point. "Did you ever make complaints about the food?" asked Mr. King. Yes, Murphy admitted that ho had complained, and he considered that the chief steward was at fault. Counsel: You thought that accused was taking false tales to the steward about what you did m the mess-room, didn't you? — Yes.
A diary that had been kept by Lanier on * the trip from San Francisco was produced by his counsel, who read an extract from it relating to a threat said to have been made by the boatswain. "Listen here, you. If you don't stop telling tales to the chief steward I'll throw you over the side, and the chief steward with you," were the words that Lanier olaimed Murphy had used to him. "With fine discrimination, Murphy denied that he had threatened to throw the mess boy overboard, but he admitted that he told him that "he would punch his nose." ' When the question of knife-carrying by individual members of the crew
"Another colored gentleman has flown over the South Pole.' 1 When these words, written on the radio message board of the S. S. Golden State met the eye of Robert White Lanier, the Negro boy who was on his way to join Commander Byrd's expedition, and who was acting as mess boy on the Golden State, he soon guessed that it was an attempt on the part of some of the crew, to "pull his leg."
was mentioned by counsel, the boatswain waxed indignant. "The way you talk about carrying knives on American ships, you would think we were a lot of savages. We are not allowed to carry knives. The articles won't allow it," he declared hotly. . .. He admitted that he carried a pocket-knife, but "all sailors did that. '. Further cross-examined, Murphy said that his duties did not take him to the chief steward's cabin on the day of the alleged assault. ' "Have you ever put the hose m tne stftward's cabin?" was counsel's next question, and Murphy made a strong denial. "I have never seen such a lot of mean and dirty men," was the next extract counsel read fro m the negro's diary, and he asked the boatswain if he knew any . reason why Lanier should write that. Murphy said he had no idea why those remarks should be recorded, and he denied that he had jumped- on the mess boy's back while he was working. Counsel: Do you drink?— Yes. Fairly considerably ?— No. Yes, he had . a good time when he came ashore, the boatswain admitted, but he fouffht. only
when "it came his way." "You know what a free-for-all is, don't you?" asked counsel. ; ■ Murphy agreed that the phrase was not new to him, but he did not agree that he had caused a "free-for-all" referred to by Lanier m his diary. "The free-for-all. My,,,. ; new-made friends and I left the ship In a hurry, the boatswain swinging right and left," was the next extract counsel read fromthe diary, but the boatswain said that he had no knowledge of the affair. A further story of fighting on the high seas was told when Jack Ander-
son, a cadet on the Golden State, stepped into the witness-box. When asked what he had seen of the tussle between the boat- , swain and the mess boy on the occasion when Murphy received a knife wound, the cadet said that when Lanier entered the messroom he carried a towel over his shoulder and his right hand was hidden beneath it. That was all Anderson knew of the affray, but he had something to say about another fight m whiich he and the negro were mixed up. Counsel: Did you pass a filthy remark to Lanier at the mess table on that occasion ?— I don't remember. "Did you reach to your pocket for a knife?" asked counsel. -Anderson: I did not pull a knife. I TTie story of the fight, as told m the mess boy's diary, was read to the court, and it would seem by the account given there that the cadet came off second best, for the diary finished with the words: "Using a short break to the chin, I brought him down for the count." Anderson corroborated the story somewhat, for he admitted that he did not know much about the fight until
he found himself on his bunk. The captain of the Golden State said that he was not aware of any illfeeling among the crew on the trip from San Pedro, ' except an altercation between the boatswain and the chief steward. As far as he knew, there had been no trouble between Lanier and Murphy. The mess boy had always been wellbehaved. On the morning of the trouble between the two, he had told the mate either to put the boatswain m irons or lock him m . his room. Murphy had been put away, but had later broken out. Counsel: He was m a pretty desperate state of mind, wasn't he? — Oh, no; he was just quarrelsome. He had been drinking the night before. Detective- sergeant McHugh told the court that when he went to arrest Lanier he found him m tears. Mr. King said apparently there had been considerable bad feeling among the crew. Accused had been quite frank to the police, and would tell the same story to a jury if he were committed to the Supreme Court. He did not think any jury would convict accused on the evidence. Mr. Hewitt, S.M., committed the mess boy for trial, and allowed bail m £100 on condition that he report to the police daily.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZTR19290221.2.5
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NZ Truth, Issue 1212, 21 February 1929, Page 2
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1,499LEGAL BARRIERS ON PLAR TRIP NZ Truth, Issue 1212, 21 February 1929, Page 2
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