On the 26th day of August, 1834, His Britannic Majesty’s brig of war
Savage, from Portsmouth, England, arrived at Salem, Massachusetts,
having on board sixteen of the crew of the piratical schooner Panda,
which robbed the brig Mexican, of Salem, on the high seas, nearly two
years since.
The robbery committed upon the Mexican was one of the most audacious and
cruel acts of piracy ever recorded. She was bound to Rio Janeiro from
Salem; and was boarded by a piratical schooner under Brazilian colors,
on the 20th of September, 1832, lat. 33, long. 34, 30, and robbed of
twenty thousand dollars in specie, the officers and crew stripped of
every thing valuable, and fastened below, and the vessel set on fire
with the horrid intention of destroying her with all on board. Captain
Butman and his men succeeded in getting on deck through the scuttle
which the pirates had left unsecured, and extinguished the flames, and
returned home. Our government ordered a vessel to cruise in pursuit, but
she gave up the chase as hopeless. The piratical vessel was afterwards
taken on the coast of Africa, by His Britannic Majesty’s brig Curlew,
and destroyed, under the following circumstances:
The Curlew arrived at St. Thomas, west coast of Africa, from India, with
orders to cruise on that coast; and her commander having obtained
information that a schooner, suspected to be a pirate, was lying in the
river Nazareth, on the southern extremity of the coast, immediately
sailed in pursuit, and found the schooner as described. The boats of the
Curlew were manned to take possession of her, when the crew of the
schooner fled to the shore, with the exception of four who were taken
prisoners. They had kindled a fire to destroy the schooner, and she had
been stripped of every thing valuable. The fire was extinguished without
damage. She had no cargo on board, but her water casks were all filled,
and she was apparently ready for another cruise. In her cabin were found
a compass, marked Boston, the flags and ensigns of different nations,
and custom-house papers made out at Havana. In taking her down the
river, she accidentally blew up, and the Curlew’s purser and one man
were killed. The four men taken were shipped at St. Thomas after the
robbery of the Mexican. The Curlew’s crew pursued the fugitives in
various directions, and succeeded in capturing an additional number of
the pirates; and several natives’ towns were burned by the Curlew’s men.
The pirates had an examination in England before the proper authorities,
when five of them offered to turn king’s evidence, two of whom were
admitted to testify. They were fully committed, and the British
government ordered them to this country for trial, and the affidavits
and documents relative to their capture and subsequent confinement and
examination were delivered to the authorities in this country.
The pirates were tried before the United States court at Boston,
November 11th, 1834, which continued for fourteen days, and resulted in
the conviction of seven of their number, five of whom were executed
agreeably to their sentence, the other two received a reprieve from the
President of the United States.
_Execution of the Spanish Pirates._—[Thursday, June 11, 1835.]—Pursuant
to previous arrangement, Captain Don Pedro Gibert, and Juan Montenegro,
Manuel Castillo, Angel Garcia, and Manuel Boyga, were yesterday morning
summoned to prepare for their immediate execution, agreeably to their
sentence, for having, while belonging to the schooner Panda, committed
piracy, by robbing the brig Mexican, of Salem, of twenty thousand
dollars, and afterwards attempting to destroy the crew and all evidence
of their crime, by setting fire to the vessel. It is understood, that,
when the prisoners became thoroughly convinced that there was no longer
any grounds to hope for a further respite, they entered into a mutual
agreement to commit suicide on Wednesday night. Angel Garcia made the
first attempt, in the evening, by trying to open the veins in each arm,
with a fragment of a bottle, but was discovered before he could effect
his purpose, and a stricter guard was afterwards maintained upon all of
them during the remainder of the night, and every thing removed with
which they might be supposed to renew any attempt upon their own lives.
Yesterday morning, however, about nine o’clock, while the avenues of the
jail resounded with the heavy steps of a host of acting marshals, and
the “busy note of preparation” struck solemnly upon the ears of the
spectators within reach of its echo, Boyga succeeded in inflicting a
deep gash on the left side of his neck with a piece of tin. The
officer’s eye had been withdrawn from him scarcely a minute, before he
was discovered lying on his pallet, with a peculiar trembling of his
knees, which induced the officers to examine if any thing had suddenly
happened to him. They found him covered with blood, and nearly
insensible; medical aid was at hand, and the wound was immediately sewed
up, but Boyga, who had fainted from loss of blood, never revived again.
Two Catholic clergymen, the Rev. Mr. Varella, a Spanish gentleman, and
pastor of the Spanish congregation at New-York, and the Rev. Mr. Curtin,
of this city, were in close attendance upon the prisoners during the
whole morning; and at a quarter past ten, under the escort of the
Marshal and his deputies, accompanied them to the gallows, erected on an
insulated angle of land in the rear of the jail.
When the procession arrived at the foot of the ladder leading up to the
platform of the gallows, the Rev. Mr. Varella, looking directly at
Captain Gibert, said—“Spaniards, ascend to heaven.” Gibert mounted with
a quick step, and was followed by his comrades at a more moderate pace,
but without the least perceptible indication of hesitancy. Boyga,
unconscious of his situation and destiny, was carried up in a chair, and
seated beneath the rope prepared for him. Gibert, Montenegro, Garcia,
and Castillo all smiled subduedly as they took their appointed stations
on the platform. Judging only from Gibert’s air, carriage, and
unembarrassed eye, as he glanced at the surrounding multitude, and
surveyed the mechanism of his shameful death, he might have well been
mistaken for an officer in attendance, instead of one of the doomed.
With the exception of repeating his prayers, after the clergyman, he
spoke but little. Soon after he ascertained his position on the stage,
he left it, and passing over to the spot where the apparently lifeless
Boyga was seated on the chair, he bent over his shoulder and kissed him
very affectionately. He then resumed his station, but occasionally
turned round to Mr. Peyton the interpreter, and the clergymen.
Addressing his followers, he said—“Boys, we are going to die; but let us
be firm, for we are innocent.” To Mr. Peyton, removing his linen collar,
and handing it to him, he said—“This is all I have to part with—take it
as a keepsake. I die innocent, but I’ll die like a noble Spaniard. Good
bye, brother, we die in the hope of meeting you in heaven.” Montenegro
and Garcia, though exhibiting no terror, vociferated their innocence,
exclaiming—“Americans, we are not _culpable_—we are innocent; but we
forgive all who have injured us.” Castillo addressed himself to an
individual, whom he recognised in the front rank of the officers below
the stage, and said—“Adieu, my friend—I shall see you in heaven—I do not
care so much about dying, as to have the Americans think I am guilty,”
[culpable.] All of them expressed great satisfaction at the intelligence
of De Soto’s reprieve.
The Marshal having read the warrant for their execution, and stated that
De Soto was respited for sixty days, and Ruiz for thirty, the ropes were
adjusted round the necks of the prisoners, and a slight hectic flush
spread over the countenance of each; but not an eye quailed, nor a limb
trembled, nor a muscle quivered. As the cap was about to be drawn over
Gibert’s face, the Spanish Priest fervently embraced him, and during the
operation of covering the faces of the others, the Rev. Mr. Curtin
advanced to the railing of the stage, and read a brief declaration on
behalf of the prisoners, addressed to the citizens of America assembled,
setting forth, that as at the trial they had declared their innocence,
so did they now continue to do so. Boyga’s cap and rope were adjusted,
as he sat, supported by an officer, in the chair, which was so placed as
to fall with the drop. At a quarter before 11, after every preparation
was completed, and while they were repeating to themselves, in scarcely
audible tones, their prayers, Deputy Marshal Bass suddenly cut the small
cord which restrained the spring, and the platform fell without even the
creaking of a hinge. In falling, Boyga’s chair struck against the bodies
of the Captain and Garcia. Boyga struggled slightly once after his
descent, and Montenegro and Castillo but little; Capt. Gibert did not
die quite so easily, the rope being placed behind his neck. Garcia
struggled most and longest—about 3 minutes. After being suspended 30
minutes, the physicians in attendance pronounced them dead, and they
were cut down, and placed in black coffins, in readiness in the yard.
It is stated in many of the papers, that Captain Gibert attempted to cut
his throat on Wednesday night, but this is not the fact. It is true that
he pursued a line of conduct on that night which induced the officers to
suspect that he intended to commit suicide. Mr. Tavers, one of the
guards, who understands the Spanish language, overheard the signal
agreed upon, by the whole party. The Captain proposed to write till one
o’clock, when he was to bid “Good bye” to the rest, and they were then
to despatch themselves with pieces of glass. Accordingly, at the
appointed hour, the Captain, having terminated his writing, destroyed a
part of his papers, retired to a corner of his cell, and appeared to be
arranging his person to “die with dignity;” but being closely watched at
the window, the officers, Messrs. Shute and Pierce, entered his cell
before he had completed his toilet. They asked him what he intended to
do; but he was irritated by their undesired intrusion, and, showing
temper, declined answering. Upon searching, they found a piece of glass
in his pocket. They then ironed him, with his hands behind his back. He
remained dogged in his disposition, and blew the light out four times,
which the officer as often re-lighted, and threatened to put his legs in
irons if he persisted in putting it out.
Montenegro, it was discovered, _after_ his execution, had cut his throat
in two places, and had bled very profusely, but had washed his shirt out
in the morning to conceal the attempt. It was the irritation of the
wounds, probably, that made him hold his head a little awry when the
rope was first put round his neck. He was one of the most piratical
looking of the crew, but one of the most innocent, and was always in
pleasant humor. Garcia inflicted wounds upon his arms after he was
ironed.
DYING DECLARATION OF THE PIRATES.—The Catholic Sentinel of Saturday
contains the following declaration of innocence, written in Spanish by
Capt. Gibert, and signed by his companions. The substance of it was
delivered from the platform, a few minutes before their execution, by
the Rev. Mr. Curtin, one of the Catholic clergymen in attendance:—
“Americans! we, the undersigned, were reduced to this sad and
ignominious fate by misfortune, not by guilt. In this world we have
nothing to hope; but in the next, we confidently expect salvation from
the benign mercy of our heavenly Redeemer. Then, Americans, we declare
to you with our dying breath, that we are innocent; and we now aver so
in the hearing of that God before whom we must in a few moments
appear;—but our souls will not, at that sacred tribunal, be charged with
debasing the last act of our lives by the utterance of falsehood. We
speak the solemn truth;—we are not culpable,—and we reiterate here,
under the gallows, what we declared on our trial, ‘_that we die innocent
men_.’ May God forgive those who brought us to this fatal end, as we
leave the world in peace with all men. Farewell, Americans.
_Angel Garcia_,
_Juan Montenegro_,
_Pedro Gibert_,
_Manuel Boyga_,
_Manuel Castillo_.”
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