WELLINGTON.

Colonist, Volume IV, Issue 350, 1 March 1861, Page 3

WELLINGTON.

(From the Advertiser, Feb. 20.) THE JOHN BUNYAN—-CHARGES OF PIRACY AND MURDER. The Resident Magistrate was occupied during Monday and Tuesday, the 18th. and 19th February, in investigating a charge of piracy, preferred by Captain Allan against eight of the crew of the John Bunyan, which vessel arrived here on Friday last from London direct. A charge of wilful murder was subsequently preferred against the captain by John M'Taggerty, one of the accused. .:■' ■ : i«ONi>AY. Mr. King, assisted by Mivßorlase, appeared for the prosecution. The prisoners were undefended. John M kTageerty, John Anderson, James Gaskin, George Kausee, Henry Hoylett, Richard Gale, Frederick Heyden, and John Pledger, having been placed at the bar, and answered to their names, were accused, on the information of Captain Allan, of piracy on the high seas. Joseph Allan, on being sworn, deposed that he was the Captain of the British ship John Bunyan, now lying in the port of Wellington, and which arrived here from London direct on Friday last. The eight men at the bar had signed articles as j able seamen on the 10th November last; nothing particular occurred until the 19th January, when It was discovered that Henry or Hendrick Haylett was intoxicated, and an examination of the bulkhead took place in consequence; no charge however was made, until Ist February; on that day witness was told that he w.is wanted on deck, and that George Kansce was intoxicated, which, finding was the case, the witness ordered him to be manacled; no drink was allowed by the ship's articles to any of the crew ; thought other of the seamen were drunk, and could swear John Pledger was; Alexander" Davidson, the second mate, i searched the latter's bed and chest, and found in the former two bottles of beer, which he brought on deck; had reason; to .believe that these bottles were part' of the cargo of the ship; .Daniel M'Donald was at the wheel at two o'clock iv the afternoon of that day, he was then relieved by Frederick Heyden; after M'Donald went below the third officer came to witness and said that M'Ddnald had removed the forecastle-hoJd ladder; ■• witness then proceeded to the hatch and told the /men to put up the ladder; John M'Taggerty told witness to comr down and put it up himself; M Taggerty had an axe in his hand at the time, and was sitting in a threatening attitude; seeing the mutinous state of the men witness ordered the third officer to load his double-barrelled gun and to take it into, the cuddy in case of an emergency; witness then went aft on the poop, the Test bf&lhe officers following him; witness told the officers that the best plan they could adopt was to call the men aft, one by one, and put them in irons; was told that John Anderson had come on the poop, and that he was slightly intoxicated ; he had only his shirt and drawers on; h|e came aft voluntarily ; witness asked him what all the row was about in' the forecastle; he said he did not know, and that he was afraid of his life; he never told witness, he was afraid of his life either before or since; told him to go and put on a. pair of. trousers and then come aft; .he replied that he was afraid of his life and would not go below; told Alexander Davidson to 1 call two of the, watch on deck (Daniel M'Douald and Richard Gale), whose .duty it was to be on deck ; immediately after this order was given five of the men came on deck; the two men ordered on deck came aft on the poop : ; Gale was slightly intoxicated, but could not say whether M'Donald was; witness asked M'Donald what all this row was about; he replied that since they'had commenced the game they intended to carry it out; could not form any idea of what he meant by this;. witness then ordered the first and second officers to put the manacles on M'Donald; they took hold of him for that purpose, but he broke away from them, calling upon the rest of the crew to'come aft; Richard Gale with an oath said they should not put his ni3te in irons ; John M'Taggerty and John Pledger then came aft with John Gale, which, when witness saw, he put himself between M'Donald and the officers, and presented his revolver, saying that the first man who offered any resistance he would fire; as soon as witness said this M'Donald struck him a violent blow on the left shoulder; M'Donald ducked his head down at the same time, to avoid aa he supposed the pistol, which being cocked went off, the ball striking M'Dpnald in the forehead ; John M'Taggerty and Richard Gale' were then rushing up the poop ladder, upon which witness presented his revolver to the former, and said that if he advanced he would fire; M'Taggerty stopped, and drawing his hair from.his forehead said * I don't care aby d——n for you or your pistol either;' witness then reasoned with them on the folly of their conduct, after which they allowed themselves to be quietly put in iroris; M'Donald's body was removed to the companion ladder; Kansce, who was then in irons, was struck by R. Gale, who accused him of-its being aft his fault; M'Taggerty was also very violent; washed the body of the deceased, and did all he could for his recovery; gave orders for the crew one by one to come aft to be put in irons ; Pledger was very violent and threatened to cut all' the officers' throats* and it required three or four men to secure him; after being put in irons he continued to use such threatening language that I found it necessary to trice him up and gag him; the whole of the occurrences of this day were read over to the prisoners on the following day from the official log; Hainerson, one of the seaman, told witness the night after the occurrence that he felt his lite in danger; .b/efoxe the Ist February witness had reason to believe that the sailors were broach-: ing cargo; after leaving the forehpld witness felt it necessary to warn two of the passengers, Peebles and Thompson, that their lives might be in danger, and that it would be well for them to go below and protect themselves and families. In reply to the court, witness said that he had carried a loaded revolver since the 19th January, when he had called the crew aft and accused them of broaching cargo; on that occasion they denied the charge; the forehold was stowed with coals and bottled beer; had the hold surveyed that morningj and it was found that there was a sufficient empty space for thirteen or fourteen casks; could not tell the exact quantity missing until the cargo was discharged. In answer to Gaskin, witnes3 said that the prisoner had no unlawful weapon in his hand when he came afr, aud that he was some three or four feet from M'Donald when the latter struck him. In reply to Richard Gale witness denied that he had said before be fired the pistol that his Scotch hlood was up. He also denied that he had said that he did not intend to shoot in the head but only in the arm. None of the men were armed when they came aft. Thomas Barnett, chief matejjfthe John Bunyan, I deposed : Sailed from the Tharals in the said vessel lon the 10th November» believed that the cargo [ was broached during the voyage i. found <J>K^dsc#

drunk on the'l9th January, he quarrelled with, one of the watch; in consequence of that he and the carpenter went below and found that where the bottled beer was stowed there was room for about nine casks; the beer was part of the cargo of the ship; reported it to the captain, who made an eutry of it in the official log; was not present when the crew were called aft on that occasion, it being his watch below; nothing after occurred till the Ist February, when he was told by the second mate that Kansce was drunk, and that they all ! seemed drunk below; saw M'Taggerty sitting I with an axe in his hand at the foot of the ladder ■in the forecastle, threatening to cut the legs off any man that came down; heard M'Donald say that the first who came down he would cut his heart out; saw M'Taggerty throwing bottles of heer about below; all the nien were below, except Kansce in irons and Heyden at the wheel; did not think it would have been safe at that time for •any of the officers to go below; the captain asked witness how many irons he had got, and he replied lie had eight or nine pairs; John Anderson at that time came on deck, with nothing on but his shirt and drawers; witness asked him whether he had anything to do with this affair, and he said no; he said he dared not go below, as he was afraid of his life; the captain told the second officer to call M'Donald and Gale aft; it was their watch on deck at that time; M'Donald said let us go aft and see what, the captain, wants; all but two men were then on deck; M'Donald. and Gale came on the poop, when the captain asked them what all this row was about, and told witness to put them in irons; M'Donald broke loose, and Gale said he would not sec his shipmate put in irons; the captain stepped between witness and Davidson, the second mate, and presenting his revolver said that he. would fne on the first who offered resistance; McDonald swung his arm round and stvuekthe capTa^m^on the right shoulder, when the went off; M'Donald fell; in striking the blow M'Donald ducked his head, and at the same time i the pistol went off; M'Taggerty and Gale made an attempt to come on the poop, when the captain said that if they offered resistance he would fire ; shortly after M'Taggerty.said, 'Captain,#ou have <!<neyf;ur duty, but it is a pity that the man is shot;' the captain asked the men to allow themselves to be put- quietly in irons; M'Taggerty observed, ' You have shot that man,' and the captain replied,' Yes, but you drove me to it;' when \vithes3 went below lie found three dozen empty bottles and about a 9 many broken ones; examined j the bulkhead with the carpenter, and the latter reported that it had been broken open. The remainder of the evidence of this witness was immaterial. He was cross-examined by Gaskin, Heyden, and Pledger, but nothing of consequence was elicited. . The Courfc then adjourned for half an hour. At the expiration of this time, the prisoners having answered to their names, Alexander John Davidson, the second mate, was examined, and corroborated the evidence of the previous witness. The third/mate was also examined, but his evidence threw no additional light on the matter--it simply confirmed the statements of the previous witnesses. . The Court thenadjourueduntil Tuesday.

TUESDAY. On the Court re-assembling on Tuesday, morning John Elder, the carpenter, was put. in the witness box. His evidence was to the effect that Daniel M'Donald having been relieved from the wheel at two o'clock was ordered by one of the officers not to go below; lie said be would go down, and no one should stop him; he appeared to be under the influence of liquor; he went down, and hauled away the ladder; the captain came up, and ordered the ladder to be replaced; M'Donald said that, if he wanted the ladder put up, to come down and put it up himself; M'Taggerty was at the time sitting on his chest, at the foot of the hatch, with the cook's axe in his hand, using threatening language;, he did not think it safe for any of; the officers to go. below; was told ,by the. captain at that time to put his tools safe away; went forward after that, and saw Anderson at the galley door without his trowsers; Anderson said he had nothing lo do with it, and that he had left the forecastle us his life was in danger; he was in liquor, but nut drunk; Anderson said he would not go downio the forecastle again, and he went aft; whilst witness was aft saw four of the crew forward, two of whom werei:in the act of sparring; the second officer called M'Donald twice; he told him that the captain wanted him; did not hear his answer j M'Donald went on the poop; witness afterwards went there, when the captain was speaking to M'Donald, but did not hear what he said; did not hear M'Donald say anything to the captain; heard the captain give orders to the fii3t and second officers to put ftt'Donald in iroris; he resisted and attempted-to leave the poop; the captain presented his revolver at him, and said if- he offered any resistance he would fire; Gale said, ' I'm d-—-d if you put my shipmate in irons; M'Donald, when, he broke away from the officers, cried out to the crew to come aft; no one had prompted witness to say this; the captain had his revolver when M'Donald was leaving the poop, when he threatened if M'Donald offered any resistance, he would fire; M'Donald then turned round and struck the captain ; tfeird the pistol go off, and saw M'Donald fall; saw M'Taggerty and Gale attempting to come upon the poop-; the captain, keeping his pistol pre r sented, thereatened if they came up he would tire; {he captain then reasoned with them, after which M'Taggerty consented to be ironed. John Grey, the steward, was then examined. He saw M'Douald come aft, and heard the captain ask hini what the row was all about. He replied, ' I don't know, sir, but they have commenced it, and I suppose they intend to carry it but.' The evidence of this witness corroborated that of the preceding ones. , ; Herman Hammerson, a seaman on board the John Bunyan, was next examined; but, owing to his ignorance of the English language, his testimony: was in a great degree unintelligible. ae saw plenty of bottled beer about in the forecastle, and, in reply to one of the prisoners, said he had lent a j hand in bringing it up, aud in drinking it too.* 1 Alexander M'Eeth, a boy, was then examined, and testified to the violent language of M'Donald.

George Peebles aud Heury Thompson, two.passengers, were the last witnesses examined. They both shewed they had been warned by the captain on the day in question that they might have to defend their lives, as there was a mutiny on board. They were not on deck when M'Donald was shot. They both boreftestimony to the general good conduct of the captain towards the crew. ; This closed the case for the prosecution. The prisoners were then remanded until Wednesday, (this day Vat one o'clock, when the charge against the .captain of wilful murder will then be proceeded with.' »;' - ".. ■. /. ■'■; • ' ' ;'.''^- • During^the two days the court was crowded with spectatop, and great interest appeared to be .manifestedwlne proceedings.