The Book of Buried Treasure Part 11

_Clerk of Arraignment_. "Will you plead to the indictment?"

_Kidd_. "I would beg that I may have my papers for my vindication."

It is very obvious that up to this point Kidd was concerned only with the charges of piracy, and attached no importance to the fact that he had been indicted for the murder of his gunner. Regarding the matter of the French pa.s.ses, Kidd was desperately in earnest. He knew their importance, nor was he begging for them as a subterfuge to gain time.

He had been employed as a privateering commander against the French in the West Indies and on the New England coast, as the doc.u.ments of the Provincial Government have already shown. It is fair to a.s.sume that he knew the rules of the game and the kind of papers necessary to make a prize a lawful capture by the terms of the English privateering commission which he held. But his efforts to introduce this evidence which had been secured by Bellomont and forwarded to the authorities in London, were of no avail. Compelled to plead to the indictment for murder, Kidd swore that he was not guilty, and the trial then proceeded under the direction of Lord Chief Baron Ward. Dr. Oldish, who sought to be a.s.signed, with Mr. Lemmon, as counsel for the prisoner, was not to be diverted from the main issue, and he boldly struck in.

"My Lord, it is very fit his trial should be delayed for some time because he wants some papers very necessary for his defense. It is very true he is charged with piracies in several ships, but they had French pa.s.ses when the seizure was made. Now, if there were French pa.s.ses, it was a lawful seizure."

_Mr. Justice Powell_. "Have you those pa.s.ses?"

_Kidd_. "They were taken from me by my Lord Bellomont, and these pa.s.ses would be my defense."

_Dr. Oldish_. "If those ships that he took had French pa.s.ses, there was just cause of seizure, and it will excuse him from piracy."

_Kidd_. "They were taken from me by my Lord Bellomont and those pa.s.ses show there was just cause of seizure. That we will prove as clear as the day."

_The Lord Chief Baron_. "What ship was that which had the French pa.s.ses?"

_Mr. Lemmon_. "The same he was in; the same he is indicted for."

_Clerk of Arraignment_. "Let all stand aside but Captain Kidd.

William Kidd, you are now to be tried on the Bill of Murder; the jury is going to be sworn. If you have any cause of exception, you may speak to them as they come to the Book."

_Kidd_. "I challenge none. I know nothing to the contrary but they are honest men."

The first witness for the Crown was Joseph Palmer, of the _Adventure Galley_ (who had been captured by Bellomont in Rhode Island and who had informed him of the incident of the death of Moore, the gunner). He testified as follows:

"About a fortnight before this accident fell out, Captain Kidd met with a ship on that coast (Malabar) that was called the _Loyal Captain_.

And about a fortnight after this, the gunner was grinding a chisel aboard the _Adventure_, on the high seas, near the coast of Malabar in the East Indies."

_Mr. Coniers_. "What was the gunner's name!"

_Palmer_. "William Moore. And Captain Kidd came and walked on the deck, and walked by this Moore, and when he came to him, says, 'How could you have put me in a way to take this ship (_Loyal Captain_) and been clear?' 'Sir,' says William Moore, 'I never spoke such a word, nor thought such a thing.' Upon which Captain Kidd called him a lousie dog. And says William Moore, 'If I am a lousie dog, you have made me so. You have brought me to ruin and many more.' Upon him saying this, says Captain Kidd, 'Have I ruined you, ye dog?' and took a bucket bound with iron hoops and struck him on the right side of the head, of which he died next day."

_Mr. Coniers_. "Tell my Lord what pa.s.sed next after the blow."

_Palmer_. "He was let down the gun-room, and the gunner said 'Farewell, Farewell! Captain Kidd has given me my last.' And Captain Kidd stood on the deck and said, 'You're a villain.'"

Robert Bradingham, who had been the surgeon of the _Adventure Galley_, then testified that the wound was small but that the gunner's skull had been fractured.

_Mr. Cooper_. "Had you any discourse with Captain Kidd after this, about the man's death?"

_Bradingham_. "Some time after this, about two months, by the coast of Malabar, Captain Kidd said, 'I do not care so much for the death of my gunner, as for other pa.s.sages of my voyage, for I have good friends in England, who will bring me off for that.'"

With this, the prosecution rested, and the Lord Chief Baron addressed Kidd.

"Then you may make your defense. You are charged with murder, and you have heard the evidence that has been given. What have you to say for yourself?"

_Kidd_. "I have evidence to prove it is no such thing, if they may be admitted to come hither. My Lord, I will tell you what the case was.

I was coming up within a league of the Dutchman (the _Loyal Captain_), and some of my men were making a mutiny about taking her, and my gunner told the people he could put the captain in a way to take the ship and be safe. Says I, 'How will you do that?' The gunner answered, 'We will get the captain and men aboard.' 'And what then?' 'We will go aboard the ship and plunder her and we will have it under their hands that we did not take her.' Says I, 'This is Judas-like. I dare not do such a thing.' Says he, '_We_ may do it. We are beggars already.'

'Why,' says I, 'may we take the ship because we are poor?' Upon this a mutiny arose, so I took up a bucket and just throwed it at him, and said 'You are a rogue to make such a notion.' This I can prove, my Lord."

Thereupon Kidd called Abel Owens, one of his sailors, and asked him:

"Can you tell which way this bucket was thrown?"

_Mr. Justice Powell_ (to Owens). "What was the provocation for throwing the bucket?"

_Owens_. "I was in the cook-room, and hearing some difference on the deck, I came out, and the gunner was grinding a chisel on the grind-stone, and the captain and he had some words, and the gunner said to the captain, 'You have brought us to ruin, and we are desolate.'

'And,' says he, (the captain) 'have I brought you to ruin? I have not brought you to ruin. I have not done an ill thing to ruin you; you are a saucy fellow to give me these words.' And then he took up the bucket, and did give him the blow."

_Kidd_. "Was there a mutiny among the men?"

_Owens_. "Yes, and the bigger part was for taking the ship, and the captain said, 'You that will take the Dutchman, you are the strongest, you may do what you please. If you will take her, you may take her, but if you go from aboard here, you shall never come aboard again.'"

_The Lord Chief Baron_. "When was this mutiny you speak of?"

_Owens_. "When we were at sea, about a month before this man's death."

_Kidd_. "Call Richard Barlicorn."

(Barlicorn was an apprentice who has been mentioned in the inventory of the Sloop _San Antonio_.)

_Kidd_. "What was the reason the blow was given to the gunner?"

Barlicorn. "At first, when you met with the ship (_Loyal Captain_) there was a mutiny, and two or three of the Dutchmen came aboard, and some said she was a rich vessel, and they would take her. And the captain (Kidd) said, 'No, I will not take her,' and there was a mutiny in the ship, and the men said, 'If you will not, we will.' And he said, 'If you have a mind, you may, but they that will not, come along with me.'"

_Kidd_. "Do you think William Moore was one of those that was for taking her?"

_Barlicorn_. "Yes. And William Moore lay sick a great while before this blow was given, and the doctor said when he visited him, that this blow was not the cause of his death."

_The Lord Chief Baron_. "Then they must be confronted. Do you hear, Bradingham, what he says?"

_Bradingham_. "I deny this."

As for this surgeon, Kidd swore that he had been a drunken, useless idler who would lay in the hold for weeks at a time. Seaman Hugh Parrott was then called and asked by Kidd:

"Do you know the reason why I struck Moore?"

_Parrott_. "Yes, because you did not take the _Loyal Captain_, whereof Captain How was commander."

_The Lord Chief Baron_. "Was that the reason that he struck Moore, because this ship was not taken?"

_Parrott_. "I shall tell you how this happened, to the best of my knowledge. My commander fortuned to come up with this Captain How's ship and some were for taking her, and some not. And afterwards there was a little sort of mutiny, and some rose in arms, the greater part; and they said they would take the ship. And the commander was not for it, and so they resolved to go away in the boat and take her. Captain Kidd said, 'If you desert my ship, you shall never come aboard again, and I will force you into Bombay, and I will carry you before some of the Council there.' Inasmuch that my commander stilled them again and they remained on board. And about a fortnight afterwards, there pa.s.sed some words between this William Moore and my commander, and then, says he (Moore), 'Captain, I could have put you in a way to have taken this ship and been never the worse for it.' He says, (Kidd), 'Would you have had me take this ship? I cannot answer it. They are our friends,' and with that I went off the deck, and I understood afterwards the blow was given, but how I cannot tell."

_Kidd_. "I have no more to say, but I had all the provocation in the world given me. I had no design to kill him. I had no malice or spleen against him."

The Lord Chief Baron. "That must be left to the jury to consider the evidence that has been given. You make out no such matter."