He had been one of the crew of the same ship. He told me the
particulars of the treatment of Thomas, with very little variation from
those contained in the public report. After cross-examining him in the best
manner I was able, I could find no inconsistency in his account.
I asked Dixon, how the captain came to treat the surgeon's mate in
particular so ill. He said he had treated them all much alike. A person of
the name of Bulpin, he believed, was the only one who had escaped bad usage
in the ship. With respect to himself, he had been cruelly used so early as
in the outward bound passage, which had occasioned him to jump overboard.
When taken up he was put into irons, and kept in these for a considerable
time. He was afterwards ill used at different times, and even so late as
within three or four days of his return to port. For just before the Alfred
made the island of Lundy, he was struck by the captain, who cut his under
lip into two. He said that it had bled so much, that the captain expressed
himself as if much alarmed; and having the expectation of arriving soon at
Bristol, he had promised to make him amends, if he would hold his peace.
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