The Mail and Empire, Toronto, Canada, 13 May 1899, p.13
Deserters Get the Lash.Punishment for Two British Sailors at Halifax.
Halifax, N.S., May 12. — Two naval deserters from H.M. cruiser Comus were detected by military police boarding a steamer yesterday bound for New York, where they had intended joining the United States navy, being attracted by the larger salaries paid on United States ships, as brought to their notice by advertisements in local papers. The deserters, who were eighteen and nineteen years old respectively, were handed over to the naval authorities.
The younger lad was sentenced to twelve lashes with a birch, and the other to twenty-four lashes.
