22 
time afterwards, it was decided, 
that his Lordship was warranted 
in what he had done. His Lord- 
ship said, that was a case at the 
assizes ; but it would be extremely 
improper, he conceived, that he 
should decide this in term-time, 
when the court was sitting. He 
said, they might apply to the court 
to-morrow morning. This case 
was new, his Lordship said; he 
did not recollect that it had ever 
happened before. 
7th. The session for the juris- 
diction of the High Court of Ad- 
miralty of England commenced at 
the Old Baily, when John Kimber 
was tried upon a charge of having 
murdered a negro-girl. Thomas 
Dowling, the surgeon, among many 
other things, swore that Captain 
‘Kimber suspended the negro girl 
five different times, first by one 
arm, then by another; next by 
one leg, and then by another; and 
lastly, that he suspended her by 
the two hands; and that at some 
of these times, when she was so 
suspended, the Captain flogged her 
himself with a long whip, with 
“uncommon severity. The whole 
-time that she was suspended might 
be about half an hour. Speaking 
‘as a professional man, he was of 
opinion, that the suspending and 
flogging were causes of the con- 
-vulsions, and her death’ was occa~- 
sioned by the convulsions. He ad- 
mitted, that he did not disclose this 
circumstance in the West Indics 
after their arrival, nor at Bristol 
after their return, except to a few 
of his private acquaintances. But 
that he was sent to London to give 
evidence before the Committee for 
the Abolition of the Slave Trade; 
to give an account of the firing 
from on board slave ships on the 
rvnt Bi 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 1792. 
town of Calabar; and that he men- 
tioned this murder to Mr. Wilber- 
force the day before he made his 
speech for the abolition of the 
slave trade in the House of Com- 
mons. On his cross-examination, 
he denied he had ever said that he 
would be the ruin of Captain Kim- 
ber. On the contrary, however, 
evidence was brought, that swore 
positively that he had frequently 
uttered these words. ‘The evi- 
dence of Devereux was in all par- 
ticulars similar to that of Dowling. 
He swore, that he did not know 
that. he had ever been accused of 
mutiny on board a former ship in 
which he had served. Three wit- 
nesses also contradicted Devereux 
on the point of his not knowing 
that he was charged with mutiny 
on board the Wasp ; they positively 
swearing that he was charged with 
mutiny on board that ship; that 
he knew it, was told of it, and him- 
self confessed that he was guilty of 
it; and that on his change from 
the Wasp, Capt. Kimber took him 
on board the Discovery at Calabar, 
out of humanity. On the part of 
the prisoner they called Mr. Wal- 
ter Jacks, Mr. Laffer, and Mr. 
Riddle, who all positively swore 
that ‘“* Dowling the surgeon had 
told them that Captain Kimber 
had used him exceedingly ill; that 
he believed him to be a rascal; 
that he would be revenged on him, 
and would ruin him if it were in 
his power.” Mr. Jacks said, these 
words occurred to him immediately 
after he heard that Captain Kim- 
ber was taken into custody. These 
three gentlemen also spoke to the 
general character of Capt. Kimber 
for good-nature and humanity. 
When the trial had arrived at this 
stage, the jury said they were per- 
feetly 
