The Pirates Own Book (16 page)

The Panda being manned by Capt. Trotter and an English crew, commenced
firing on the town of Cape Lopez, but after firing several shots, a
spark communicated with the magazine and she blew up. Several men were
killed, and Captain Trotter and the others thrown into the water, when
he was made prisoner with several of his crew, by the King, and it
required considerable negociations to get them free.

The pirates having gone up the river, an expedition was now equipped to
take them if possible. The long-boat and pinnace were instantly armed,
and victualled for several weeks, a brass gun was mounted on the bows of
each, and awnings fixed up to protect the crew from the extreme heat of
the sun by day, and the heavy dews at nightfall. As the sea-breeze and
the flood-tide set in, the boats again started and proceeded up the
river. It was ascertained the war-canoes were beyond where the Panda was
first taken; for fear of an ambuscade great caution was observed in
proceeding. "As we approached a point, a single native was observed
standing near a hut erected near the river, who, as we approached,
beckoned, and called for us to land. We endeavored to do so, but
fortunately the water was too shallow to approach near enough.

"We had hardly steered about for the channel, when the man suddenly
rushed into the bushes and disappeared. We got into the channel, and
continued some time in deep water, but this suddenly shoaled, and the
boats grounded near a mangrove, just as we came in sight of a village.
Our crew jumped out, and commenced tracking the boat over the sand, and
while thus employed, I observed by means of my glass, a crowd of
natives, and some of the pirates running down the other side of a low
point, apparently with the intention of giving us battle, as they were
all armed with spears and muskets."

The men had just succeeded in drawing the boats into deep water, when a
great number of canoes were observed coming round the point, and at the
same instant another large party running down to launch; some more on
the beach, when they joined those already afloat, in all made above
twenty-eight canoes, and about one hundred and fifty men. Having
collected all their forces, with loud whooping and encouraging shouts to
one another, they led towards us with great celerity.

We prepared instantly for battle; the awnings were got down to allow
room to use the cutlasses and to load the muskets. The brass guns were
loaded with grape shot. They now approached uttering terrific yells, and
paddling with all speed. On board the canoes the pirates were loading
the guns and encouraging the natives. Bernardo de Soto and Francisco
Ruiz were conspicuous, in manoeuvring the negro boats for battle, and
commenced a straggling fire upon the English boats. In them all was
still, each man had a cutlass by his side, and a loaded musket in his
hand. On arriving within pistol-shot a well directed fire was poured
into them, seconded by a discharge of the three pounders; many of the
balls took effect, and two of the canoes were sunk. A brisk fire was
kept up on both sides; a great number of the negroes were killed, and a
few of the pirates; the English loss was small. The negroes now became
panic-struck, and some paddled towards the shore, others jumped
overboard and swam; the sharks caught several. Captain Gilbert and De
Soto were now caught, together with five of the crew; Ruiz and the rest
escaped to a village, some ways inland, and with the aid of a telescope
it was perceived the negroes were rapidly gathering to renew the combat,
urged on by Ruiz and the other pirates; after dislodging them from this
village, negociations were entered into by the king of Cape Lopez, who
surrendered Ruiz and several men to Captain Trotter. They were carried
in the brig Curlew to Fernando Po, and after an examination, were put in
irons and conveyed to England, and there put on board the British
gun-brig Savage, and arrived in the harbor of Salem on the 26th August,
1834. Her commander, Lieut. Loney, waited upon the authorities of Salem,
and after the usual formalities, surrendered the prisoners into their
hands—stating that the British Government waived their right to try and
punish the prisoners, in favor of the United States, against whom the
principal offence had been committed. The pirates were landed at
Crowningshield wharf, and taken from thence in carriages to the Town
hall; twelve of them, handcuffed in pairs, took their places at the bar.
They were all young and middle-aged, the oldest was not over forty.
Physiognomically, they were not uncommonly ill looking, in general,
although there were exceptions, and they were all clean and wholesome in
their appearance. They were now removed to Boston and confined in
prison, where one of them, named Manuel Delgarno cut his throat with a
piece of glass, thus verifying the old proverb,
that those born to be
hung, will never be drown'd!

On the 11th of November, Don Pedro Gilbert,
Captain
, Don Bernardo de
Soto,
Mate
, Francisco Ruiz,
Carpenter
, Nicola Costa,
Cabin-boy,
aged 15, Antonio Ferrer,
Cook
, and Manuel Boyga, Domingo de Guzman,
an Indian
, Juan Antonio Portana, Manuel Castillo, Angel Garcia, Jose
Velasquez, and Juan Montenegro,
alias
Jose Basilio de Castro, were
arraigned before the Circuit Court of the United States, charged with
the crime of Piracy. Joseph Perez appeared as
State's evidence
, and
two Portuguese sailors who were shipped on board the Panda at Prince's
Island, as witnesses. After a jury was empannelled, Mr. Dunlap, the
District Attorney, rose and said—"This is a solemn, and also an unusual
scene. Here are twelve men, strangers to our country and to our
language, indicted for a heinous offence, and now before you for life or
death. They are indicted for a daring crime, and a flagrant violation of
the laws, not only of this, but of every other civilized people." He
then gave an outline of the commission of the robbery of the Mexican.
Numerous witnesses were examined, amongst whom were the captain, mate,
and several seamen of the Mexican, who recognized several of the pirates
as being the individuals who maltreated them, and took the specie. When
Thomas Fuller, one of the crew of the Mexican was called upon to
identify Ruiz, he went up to him and struck him a violent blow on the
shoulder. Ruiz immediately started up, and with violent gesticulations
protested against such conduct, and was joined by his companions. The
Court reprimanded the witness severely. The trial occupied
fourteen
days
. The counsel for the prisoners were David L. Child, Esq., and
George Hillard, Esq., who defended them with great ability. Mr. Child
brought to the cause his untiring zeal, his various and profound
learning; and exhibited a labour, and
desperation
which showed that he
was fully conscious of the weight of the load—the dead lift—he had
undertaken to carry. Mr. Hillard concluded his argument, by making an
eloquent and affecting appeal to the jury in behalf of the boy Costa and
Antonio Ferrer, the cook, and alluded to the circumstance of Bernardo de
Soto having rescued the lives of 70 individuals on board the American
ship Minerva, whilst on a voyage from Philadelphia to Havana, when
captain of the brig Leon.

If, gentlemen, said he, you deem with me, that the crew of the Panda,
(supposing her to have robbed the Mexican,) were merely servants of the
captain, you cannot convict them. But if you do not agree with me, then
all that remains for me to do, is to address a few words to you in the
way of mercy. It does not seem to me that the good of society requires
the death of all these men, the sacrifice of such a hecatomb of human
victims, or that the sword of the law should fall till it is clogged
with massacre.
Antonio Ferrer
is plainly but a servant. He is set down
as a free black in the ship's papers, but that is no proof that he is
free. Were he a slave, he would in all probability be represented as
free, and this for obvious reasons. He is in all probability a slave,
and a native African, as the tattooing on his face proves beyond a
doubt. At any rate, he is but a servant. Now will you make misfortune
pay the penalty of guilt? Do not, I entreat you, lightly condemn this
man to death. Do not throw him in to make up the dozen. The regard for
human life is one of the most prominent proofs of a civilized state of
society. The Sultan of Turkey may place women in sacks and throw them
into the Bosphorus, without exciting more than an hour's additional
conversation at Constantinople. But in our country it is different. You
well remember the excitement produced by the abduction and death of a
single individual; the convulsions which ensued, the effect of which
will long be felt in our political institutions. You will ever find that
the more a nation becomes civilized, the greater becomes the regard for
human life. There is in the eye, the form, and heaven-directed
countenance of man, something holy, that forbids he should be rudely
touched.

The instinct of life is great. The light of the sun even in chains, is
pleasant; and life, though supported but by the damp exhalations of a
dungeon, is desirable. Often, too, we cling with added tenacity to life
in proportion as we are deprived of all that makes existence to be
coveted.

"The weariest and most loathed worldly life.
That age, ache, penury and imprisonment
Can lay on Nature, is a Paradise
To that we fear of Death."

Death is a fearful thing. The mere mention of it sometimes blanches the
cheek, and sends the fearful blood to the heart. It is a solemn thing to
break into the "bloody house of life." Do not, because this man is but
an African, imagine that his existence is valueless. He is no drift weed
on the ocean of life. There are in his bosom the same social sympathies
that animate our own. He has nerves to feel pain, and a heart to throb
with human affections, even as you have. His life, to establish the law,
or to further the ends of justice, is not required.
Taken
, it is to us
of no value; given to him, it is above the price of rubies.

And
Costa
, the cabin boy, only fifteen years of age when this crime
was committed—shall he die? Shall the sword fall upon his neck? Some of
you are advanced in years—you may have children. Suppose the news had
reached you, that your son was under trial for his life, in a foreign
country—(and every cabin boy who leaves this port may be placed in the
situation of this prisoner,)—suppose you were told that he had been
executed, because his captain and officers had violated the laws of a
distant land; what would be your feelings? I cannot tell, but I believe
the feelings of all of you would be the same, and that you would
exclaim, with the Hebrew, "My son! my son! would to God I had died for
thee." This boy
has
a father; let the form of that father rise up
before you, and plead in your hearts for his offspring. Perhaps he has a
mother, and a home. Think of the lengthened shadow that must have been
cast over that home by his absence. Think of his mother, during those
hours of wretchedness, when she has felt hope darkening into
disappointment, next into anxiety, and from anxiety into despair. How
often may she have stretched forth her hands in supplication, and asked,
even the winds of heaven, to bring her tidings of him who was away? Let
the supplications of that mother touch your hearts, and shield their
object from the law.

After a luminous charge by Judge Story, the jury retired to agree upon
their verdict, and at 9 o'clock the next morning came in with their
verdict.

Clerk
. Gentlemen of the Jury, have you agreed upon your verdict?

Jury
. We have.

Clerk
. Who shall speak for you?

Jury
. Our foreman.

The prisoners were then directed severally to rise as soon as called,
and receive the verdict of the jury. The Captain,
Pedro Gilbert
, was
the first named. He arose, raised his hand, and regarded the jury with a
firm countenance and steady eye.

Clerk
. Jurors look upon the prisoner; prisoner look upon the jurors.
How say you, Gentlemen, is the prisoner at the bar, Pedro Gilbert,
guilty or not guilty?

Foreman
. GUILTY.

The same verdict was pronounced against
De Soto
(the mate)
Ruiz
,
(the carpenter,)
Boyga, Castillo, Garcia
and
Montenegro
. But
Costa
, (the cabin-boy,)
Ferrer
(the negro,)
Guzman, Portana
, and
Velasquez
, were declared NOT GUILTY.

After having declared the verdict of the Jury, the Foreman read to the
Court the following recommendation to mercy:

"The sympathies of the Jury have been strongly moved in behalf of
Bernardo de Soto
, on account of his generous, noble and
self-sacrificing conduct in saving the lives of more than 70 human
beings, constituting the passengers and crew of the ship
Minerva
; and
they desire that his case should be presented to the merciful
consideration of the Government."

Judge Story replied that the wish of the jury would certainly be
complied with both by the Court and the prosecuting officer.

"The appearance and demeanor of Captain Gilbert are the same as when we
first saw him; his eye is undimmed, and decision and command yet sit
upon his features. We did not discern the slightest alteration of color
or countenance when the verdict of the jury was communicated to him; he
merely slightly bowed and resumed his seat. With
De Soto
the case was
different. He is much altered; has become thinner, and his countenance
this morning was expressive of the deepest despondency. When informed
of the contents of the paper read by the foreman of the jury, he
appeared much affected, and while being removed from the Court, covered
his face with his handkerchief."