Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 9.djvu/577

 5Q2 FEDERAL REPORTER. �MuiiEAT V. White and another. �{District Court, D. Maine. December 6, 1881.) �1. Pl'nisitmbnt oi> Sbamen. �A subordinate offlcer is not justifled in puniahing a seaman for an olience 'nrhich the master bas condoned ; and the master is liable, also^ if lie allows the punishment to be inflicted in bis presence. �Mr. Haie, for libellant. �Mr. Hadlock, for White. �Mr. Wehh, for Hoffses. �Fox, D. J. The libellant was a seaman on board the ship Lewis Walsh on her late voyage from Liverpool to Portland, and bas insti- tuted this action against the master, White, and the mate, Hoffses, to recover damages for personal injuries by him sustained, on the fourth day of Aiigust last, from a pistol wound inflicted upon him by the mate in the presence of the master, and with his sanction and approval. �The libel sets forth, with great aggravation, that the libellant waa in the raate's watch, and soon after 8 o'clock of the morning in question the watch was set to work scrubbing paint; that the mate put the libellant to work cleaning in front of the cabin ; that the master af terwards directed him to clean on the port side near the pin-rail ; shortly after, the mate ordered him to go on top of the cabin and clean the bucket-rack ; this order was soon countermanded by the master, and the libellant returned to the deck ; that the captain told him to go to his work, "you d — s — of a b — ," to which he made auswer "that he would go to work, but he was not a s— of a h — ," when the mate came up, repeat- ing the same profane and vulgar language the captain had used, and thereupon the mate struck him on the side of the head with his clenched flst, again using the same words to him as before; that the mate jumped back and put his hand beliind him as though he would draw some instrument from his back pocket, saying, "Now come on, you s — of a b —, corne on," and thereupon libellant drew his knife from his sheath and held it dowu by his side, but so that it might be seen by the mate. This knife, it is alleged, was an old kitcheu knife, with a short, broken blade. The mate then ran towards the pin-rail for a belaying-pin, and at'terwards got one from the fife-rail, the libellant fol- lowing him and getting a pin from the pin-rail, after putting his knife down on the rail; that the mate went into the cabin and soon came out with a drawn revolver ajid club in his hands; went up to libellant, who was then at work in front of the cabin, and struck him with the club on his arm, which he raised to ward oJi the blow, and threatened to put a bullet through the head of libellant, and while on the deck, where he had fallen by reasbn of the mate's blow from the club, the mate fired at him, the hall striking in front of the slioulder, and is now lodged near the shoulder-blade. �The captain and mate, in their answers, deny that the libellant was sent upon ��� �