Galveston Daily News, Galveston, Texas
January 26, 1882
Punished for Abusing a Sailor.
(From the New York Maritime Register).
We have often called attention to the necessity of severely punishing those officers who abuse their sailors. We are glad to see that one of this class has met with the reward his inhumanity warrants. One Millais, the second mate of the ship David Crockett, while on a voyage from San Francisco, kicked a sailor so terribly so as to cause severe hernial rupture and to break the man's finger. Millais pleaded guilty to the charge, and in the United States Circuit Court in this city on Monday was sentenced to two years hard labor in the state prison at Auburn as a punishment for his cruelty. This is a severe sentence, but it was no doubt well deserved. Punishment of offenders is the only way to stamp out cruel practices from the merchant service, and that of Millais will no doubt have a restraining effect upon those officers who are accustomed to taking the law in their own hands. Judge Benedict administered a most scathing rebuke to Millais and pointed out the evil of using physical force upon the sailors without just cause or authority. After admitting everything that can be alleged in defense of officers who beat their men, all that can be said offers no excuse for brutal treatment. Officers who indulge in those practices seem to forget that there is even a limit to punishment. If they were punished proportionally to the amount of excessive punishment they inflict themselves, they would spent most of their time in jail. It is to be hoped that they sentence of Millais will be a warning for officers of this class, for it is about the only admonition that seems to weight with them. Enforcement of authority is proper and good officers can maintain it without difficulty, even with a poor crew. It is only the officers who are cowards at heart, or have the passions of brutes, that must descend to the means employed by Millais in order to enforce their orders.