APPENDIX TO CHRONICLE. 



221 



Robei t Ormsby \vas present at 

 the wreck ; there was an alteica- 

 tion hetueeii John Fenton and 

 the (leceasetl : John Fenton t^;reat- 

 ened to throw tlie deceased dow n 

 the rock ; HiUas was a great 

 means of saving the crew : he 

 heard Fenton fay, " G — d damn 

 you;" there were waim words 

 on ihe subject of the wreck — he 

 heard that the mate, on wliom 

 tlie care of the \essel devolved, 

 gave it up into Mr. Fenton's 

 charge, and he saw the writing 

 liy which it was conveyed to hini; 

 he head Mr. I'enton iiad remain- 

 ed all night upon a roi k on the 

 shore, endeavouring to give all 

 the assistance in his jjower. He 

 saw Major Hillas at Mr. Jones's 

 house on the day before the duel, 

 and saw them })reparing the pis- 

 tols, and Hdlas practising at a 

 board, and tiring: Hi las fired 

 but a few shots only to tiy his 

 pistols. 



Mr. Wynne was one of the ma- 

 gistrates who sat on the investi. 

 gation of the salvage claims; Co- 

 l.nel Irwin sat along witli him ; 

 Mr. Hill. IS remained all the time 

 of the investigation ; he used veiy 

 warm expressions to .Mr. 'Ihnmas 

 Fenton ; he statcid his own case, 

 and alli-ged that the mate was 

 unwarrant.doly taken out of iiis 

 hands by Mr. Thomas Fenton ; 

 his words \\ere very strong: he 

 recollected his concluti.ng bv sav- 

 ing, " t'lat tiie mate was taken, 

 he might say, stolen from him ;" 

 the niiigistrates interi upted him : 

 his belief was, that he meant to 

 apply tlie expression to Mr. 

 Thomas Fenion : as a magistrate 

 he wished to put a stop to the 

 jjioceeding. 



Mr. Whitestone, counsel for 

 Vol.. LVHI. 



the prisoners, said, he would call 

 b'lt one witness. 



DiK tor Carter was at the duel ; 

 he j)roposed an apology to Mr. 

 Ferrall to be made by Major Hil- 

 las ; the ajxilogy he proposed wiis 

 for him to say, that " the expres- 

 sion which he u-ed relative to 

 Mr Fenton, were spoken in heat, 

 and niit founded in fact, and he 

 wa^ sorry for them." This was 

 objected to. Ddctor Carter then 

 proposed to expunge the words 

 •' not founded in fact," but Cap- 

 tain Ferrall would not suft'er any 

 apology. Hillas was attended by 

 three men, all very competent to 

 advise inm on such a subject ; but 

 Captain Ferrall was particuhirly 

 so. 



On being cross-examined, he 

 said, there was no written apo- 

 logy required funn Major Hillas; 

 he did not know whether Mr. 

 INlichael Fenton, the prisoner 

 Thomas's father, was skille'l in 

 duelling; but he was <,uite sure 

 that Mr. John Fento: , his -econd, 

 was quite inexp iienced, ami he 

 believed Thou. as never sent a 

 message before. 



The case here closed on the 

 part of the prisoners ; an-.l Judge 

 Fletcher proceeded to charge the 

 Jury : he said that he had ;m ar- 

 duous duty to discharge, but that 

 there was no exception in a case 

 of this kind ; and he was bouml 

 to tell them, that where in a dwcl 

 death ensues, it is nuiider — mur- 

 der as well in the piii;ci|)al as in 

 the second. Here one of the se- 

 conds was the cousin, and the 

 other (Mr. Ferrall), though not 

 indicted, was equally culpable. 

 No matter whether the duel was 

 fair or f<ail, usual or not; the 

 law recoiini!.ed no shades of dis. 



Y 



tiuciion 



