HIGH COMMISSIONER'S COURT

Samoa Times and South Sea Gazette, Volume 3, Issue 117, 27 December 1879, Page 2

HIGH COMMISSIONER'S COURT

(Be-fore R. S. Swanston, Esq., Deputy Commissioner, and Captain Laurenson. and Mr. W, E. Agar, Assessors.) ( hi Thursday week lasl the High Commissioner's Court was engaged in enquiring into the death of certain labourers on board tho Mary Anderson schooner. Depositions were previously taken before the British Consul. These having been handed over to the Court, read to, and declared as correct by, the respective deponents, the following further evidence was taken: W-. Harris, mate of the Marv Andursou, being sworn, stated :—Warry was a man employed us Interpreter j ho belonged to Santo; ho was employed ou lioard the Mary Anderson on our previous trip as interpreter j I bollovo he uacd lo bo gnncralfy employed in such

capacity; Paddy, tho man who killed Yvarr),' belonged to Pentecost; he had ■ come on board about a fortnight before tho murder, with a boy, and while on board appeared to be always in high spirits ; there had been no difficulty between Paddy and Warty that] know of; Warry had been on board about two ! hours when the murder occurred; I do !not think it at all probable that these I two men had ever met before, and that there was any grudge ; Paddy struck at everybody recklessly ; we had got under weigh about 2 p.m. from close to shore at Santo where we had been cutting firewood; the murderer was with the woodcutters and returned on board with them : Paddy killed two men—Warrie and a recruited labourer, of Santo, and wounded two others—Suserabi, a recruited labourer, and Tiale, a Samoan, one of the crew ; I did not see either of the men killed; I examined the men before they were thrown overboard ; there was no sign of life in any of them ; one murdered man had his head split open from the forehead back ; the other had his head split i down tho middle to the full depth of the ; tomahawk, the brains in both cases being i plainly visible. James Maguiro, being sworn, stated : I 1 am cook and steward of the Mary Ander--1 son ; Suserabi was the man whose wounds ' I bound up ; 1 cannot tell how he came on deck; t saw him on deck ; he was struck on the head and arm : he was so ■ frightened he could not speak; Charlie, ' whom f also attended, had three cuts on the back ; at the time 1 do not think anyone was below, everybody had come on deck ; there was a great deal of excitement; the tomahawk that Paddy used was one that was on deck : when I was ! below half-anhottr before tho occurrence , Paddy was lying down : the'captain gave ' orders to seize Paddy ; 1 did not hear the captain make use of any other expression ; he gave orders to seize the man; there ; lias been tumble between Dyer and the ■ captain since the murder : 1 do not think • that there had I. u anv before; 1 do not ■ know who fired at Paddy. (I. Peters, being sworn, stated : I am a Samoan and able seaman on board the ' Mary Anderson; 1 stood at, the after hatch; 1 heard shuts but do not know who tired them ; could not see: the rowwas in the lore hatch, and i was on tho ; look-out at the after batch ; 1 do not know who gave the orders : 1 heard somu _ one say look after the after hatch, and I went there with an axe; 1 did not see what happened at the lore hatch wheie the row was; the galley is between the ', two batches ; 1 was ashore with the men ' getting wood, but I did not see anyone • aggravate Paddy, or give any cause to him to assault anyone. Peter Kabricius, sworn, stated : I am idi!e seaman on board the Mary Anderson ; , 1 saw Paddy come toward mo with a ~ tomahawk, and J certainly believed he intended to kill me for he buried the tomahawk in the ladder with the cut. he made at ine ; ft was blowing- hard; the captain was at the wheel ; we did as we \ thought best ; there was UU ver any loaded '. musket in the main hold, therefore 1 am ■ certain that the musket Paddy had was ' not loaded; I hit Paddy with the axe \ when he rushed at ine ; Paddy cut at me ami I cut at him, hitting him about the . waist,; .limmv who shot ai Paddv was a , Malicolo man' and one of our hired boats . crew, he fired after I had struck Paddv with the ax-; I wa- that excited that I ' fainted that night at the wheel ; we lanr (led Jimmy at Malicolo; I did not hear , the captain say, "pass the brtll deck," | I did not hear the- captain give any comt maud, nor hear the captain say -kill the man if you cannot seize him :" the mur- ' duror was a general favourite on board ' and 1 feel sure was never ill used by any \ ono, but on the contrary was always well ■ treated, and often got more to oat than the others because he. was so readv to help the cook. j Samuel Dyer, recruiting agent on the Mary Anderson, being sworn, stated : 1 '. was asleep when the row occurred. The . captain was at the wheel and was the . only person in charge ; 1 heard him say - "seize him, take him prisoner," I took I the snider to disable the murderer; a musket was fired from on dock, and the , murderer staggered I could not swear who tired the shot, a man on dock or one in the hold ivhw. T Mi, i .!.• man tried L I. take my life; I motioned to Paddy to . put the axe down but, he onlv flourished . it and dug it into tin; bead ot' one he bad already hit; I think the man died from . the effect of the shot lirod from on deck ; ', I am certain the men were dead when I thrown overboard: the boat's crew used , lo take their guns below ; I should not . think Paddy lived five minutes after the _ last shot; the man never had the least . provocation to cause the murder ; I am certain that nothing was done On shore to cause his excitement; Warry certainly did banter him a little on his' nakedness but not sufficient to cause the outbreak ; there wore no unfair means usud to get him on board ; 1 have been ten years iu tho labour trade and never knew of such a case as this in my experience before; every cll'url was made to arrest, the man but it was not possible to seize him alive : at that timetl apt.iii, and ] were on good terms; about two months after the occurrence) we disagreed. Charles Towers "being sworn, stated: I was asleep below; the first, thing 1 knew I was struck by mi ,i V . j„ i no back • I was struck tbree times; Paddv a Pentecost, native struck tiie but why'l do not know; on being wounded I'jumped on 'leek and went forward and fainted ; I do not know more. Susnmbi of Santo, with one wound in 111" bead, two iu tho arm, and one on tho kuM, utatod i I was ailoop whon tho man | attacked me and 1 jumped up and rau to

shelter myself behind tlio moat; he f o j, lowed me and struck at my Lead ami \ \ saved my Load by throwing my arm up. 11 then ran on deck and was taken into the cabin and medicine, put on m v ' wounds. Oscar Shulze, master of the Mary Anderson, being sworn, stated: I was at s. ;;l when tho murder occurred; the nian made for everybody indiscriminately ; (),„ crew were partly white; it was blowin« strong;; had 1 had a full white crew 0 7i board I would not have kept the wheel uudcr the circumstances; I had to weather Cape Cumberland and there was not one to whom I ocald trust at the wheel i,: the time; I shipped two Samoans as A. B's; these men were not competent its .\. B's; one could read the compass but tho other could not and I did not feel it right to put either of them at the wheel at that time; while I was at tho helm tb,.. men rushed madly on deck and ci ied two men were killed; 1 gave an order to tin mate ; I said, Harris take the man prisoner ; I positively swear that I gave tho mate Harris that order and in reply hj,, said, very well Sir wo'll do our best; niv mate acted for me because I did not consider the vessel safe until wo had weathered the cape ; my mate reported thai ii t endeavouring to secure Paddy ho had been killed ; I expect my mato on gottiug orders from me to do the same as I would do were I there, ami to tho best of mv belief I consider the mate carried out niv instructions: I was still at tho wh«v| when tho bodies wero brought on deck; we had not then yet weathered the capo; the mate reported to me that the men wero dead, viz., the murderer and tho two murdered; 1 was perfectly satislied that tho report made to me was correct as [ have always found him a thorough seaman and trustworthy, he having at times lull charge of the vessel during my ahsenee on duty ; 1 gave the order for tin; burial of the dead; I would have objected ti mv male giving (his order; 1 am ijuitu satislied the men were dead; I saw llieii). but it' my mate had buried them without my order ] would not have been satisfied about their death. ;j^ u -£?-J»*fcU This closed the evidence, and on the 22nd. instant, the Deputy Commissioner delivered the following judgment of the Court:—By the Order in Council of ];l August, 1H77, for the better government of Her Majesty's subjects in the Western Pacific, see. 2S of part i, a case of murder "shall bo triable by a Judicial Commissioner with Assessors and not otherwise : hut a cast; of manslaughter uiuv b} tried by the Court. The term Court, as defined in src. 20 of part 3, "applies to every member exorcising jurisdiction in conformity with this Order who shall for the purposes of said Order bo deomci to form the High Conimistiouor's (.'our:." and therefore applies to each Deputy Commissioner within his district. Tin British schooner Mary Anderson sniM from Apia about the end of July in this year, on what is called a labour cruise, and on the 11th September following, while in the pursuit of the object of her voyage, the cireuinstances detailed in the evidence occurred. A Pentecost man named Paddy, who had shipped to serve as u labourer in Samoa, murdered two ••■ his fellows and wounded severely nnoih'T and also wounded one ~ft!„.. ship's crew he dclicd all attempts to arrest him in himurderous career, armed as he was wild an axe, and in the attempt to secure hi< person by those on hoard the sehoom: l'addy was killed. In the evidence given the fact is proved (hat life was taken, with intent, by those in charge of the vessel. Paddy was killed,—but tlm proved fact does not amount to murder. .Murder is the intentional taking of human life without justification, excuse »r extenuating circumstances. Manslaught-r is voluntary, but extenuated, homicide, arising from u sulliciont cause', ami is excusable when done for the defence of person or properly, and necessary for lis preservation, believing these to bo, a* 1 do, the legal definition of tho (llKrtv named two terms, I. as Deputy Commissioner, consider that I have power to d'-nl with this matter which has been referred 1.0 in.' by 11. K.M. Consul bo- Samoa, and viewing as I do the circumstance as a case of manslaughter, so far ns tho death of I'addy is concerned, which is nil that i-tlbets those in charce nf tt ■■•". ' "" ..... iimiK mat I am exceeding my authority under the Order in Council, in deciding (hat there is nothing in the oviilhucu to deter mo from pronouncing thai, the acth.u of those, at the time, on board I ho Mary Anderson which resulted in th" death of Paddy, was a case of limaslaughter, excusable as being necessary for the preservation of life. I thcrefnm do now acquit tho master and crow of tii" Mary Andcrt-on of any criminal attempt on the life of tho aforenamed I'ciilcc**' man called Paddy, and do adjudge th' act of taking his life as one of justifi»W fl homicide clone in the defence of and lor the preservation of other lives. The above decision was fully concurred in by the two assessors.