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. This he said he had hitherto done,
but he had received no recompense. In confirmation of his own usage, he
desired me to examine his lip, which I had no occasion to do, having
already perceived it, for the wound was apparently almost fresh.
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