Page 1 New York Times, 1884, Cannibalism

It is hard not to come away with something else when you're reading a very old edition of the New York Times by virtue of the digitization of all their copies.

It used to be I had to thread microfilm at the library, or get a spot at what was the Science and Technology branch of the New York Public Library on 34th Street and Madison Avenue (no longer there) and plow though someone's digital database. Now, doing it at home.

I didn't set out to find a story about cannibalism, but I did as I scrolled through the September 8, 1884 edition of the New York Times looking for the story about the fire in Libby Custer's home. (Prior posting.)

I didn't have the page number for the fire at the apartment of the widow of General Custer, so I started at Page 1 and kept going until I found what I was looking for on Page 8, of the eight page edition. If the headline of The Latest Cannibal Story on Page 1 doesn't get your attention, then I can't help you, and you should stop reading this posting..

WTF! Are cannibal stories a regular feature in that you're now up-to-date if you read this one? Hard to tell. I'm not scrolling looking for more; this one is more than enough. Midway down in the 8th column of the eight column edition (no photos) is the story. I kid you not.

The lede:

London, Sept. 7 The crew of the Mignonette captured the turtle on the fourth day after the sinking of the yacht.

No photos, but a drawing (above) gleaned from everybody's favorite AI sources, Google and ChatGPT.

The Times spares no gory detail.

On the 18th of June, having been seven days without food and five without water, they discussed the question of casting lots which should die that the lives of the other might be prolonged, but were unable to agree. [Gee, no volunteers, huh?] Next day it was determined to kill the boy Parker, when Capt. Dudley opened his jugular vein with a penknife and he died instantly. The survivors, the Captain and two seamen, drank the murdered boy's blood and sustained life by eating the flesh [raw, I suppose] until rescued by the Montezuma on the 5th of July. The reason assumed for determining upon the boy's death is that he suffered most from thirst and was unmarried. When rescued the men looked like skeletons. They will be charged with murder.

That's all she wrote that day. But no end to the story.

ChatGPT:

In 1884, the small yacht Mignonette sank in the South Atlantic while sailing from England to Australia. Four survivors escaped into a 13-foot lifeboat:

• Tom Dudley (captain)
• Edwin Stephens
• Edmund Brooks
• Richard Parker

After about 20 days with almost no food and very little fresh water, the 17-year-old cabin boy, Richard Parker, became gravely ill after drinking seawater. Believing they were all about to die, Dudley and Stephens killed Parker and the three survivors ate his body to stay alive.

Four days later, they were rescued by the German ship Montezuma.

ChatGpt

Crew of the Mignonette ate a crew member as they were marooned

Yes. This was the infamous Mignonette case, one of the most famous legal cases involving survival cannibalism.

The case became famous because the survivors openly admitted what they had done. Dudley and Stephens were charged with murder. In the landmark English case Regina v Dudley and Stephens, the court ruled that necessity is not a defense to murder. Although they were initially sentenced to death, their sentences were commuted to six months' imprisonment.

The case has had a lasting influence on criminal law and is still taught in law schools around the world as a classic example of the limits of the "necessity" defense.

One curious historical footnote is that the cabin boy's name was Richard Parker—the same name later given to the tiger in Yann Martel's novel Life of Pi, though the novel's Richard Parker is an animal rather than a person.

More AI Sources 

Here's what happened:

• After the Mignonette sank, the four survivors escaped in a 13-foot dinghy.
• They had only two one-pound tins of preserved turnips and no fresh water.
• On the fourth day, they managed to catch a sea turtle, which provided meat and blood for food and drink, prolonging their survival for several more days.

Eventually, after the turtle and turnips were gone and no rescue had appeared, they killed the cabin boy, Richard Parker, leading to the famous legal case of Regina v. Dudley and Stephens.

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I don't know how the events unfolded after the rescue, but obviously the three that were left didn't hold together and tell the rescuers that they were the only survivors. Since the case reads Regina v Dudley and Stephens I'm going to guess that Brooks spilled the beans on the other two.

Perhaps, not being lawyers, they felt that the law would allow the killing and eating of another human if dire circumstances presented itself. Guess not.

I wonder if "necessity defense" is what drives "stand your ground" defenses when someone is harmed by a person who feels they are in imminent danger of being killed.

I have a source who might render an opinion on this if they answer. It will be interesting to learn if they have familiarity with  Regina v. Dudley and Stephens, when they were in law school, despite it no doubt being in British law.

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