Dwight, deposed: I reside at Islip, Long Island; I know the sloop E. A.
Johnson; I built her myself; I am an American citizen; I owned one half
of her, and Captain George H. Burr owned the other half; he was an
American citizen; I saw the prisoner at the bar on board the sloop E. A.
Johnson, on the Wednesday evening before she left; she was at the Spring
street dock; she had been lying there a week; she cleared on Thursday,
15th; Captain Burr told me he was going to Deep Creek, Virginia, for
oysters; the crew consisted of Captain Burr, Oliver Watts, and Smith
Watts, and the prisoner; Captain Burr told me he shipped the prisoner as
mate; Captain Burr was about thirty-nine years of age, Oliver Watts was
about twenty-four, and Smith Watts about nineteen; I knew Captain Burr
for a long time; the color of his hair was dark; Oliver Watts had very
light hair, and Smith Watts had dark brown hair; I don’t know the
handwriting of the boys (Watts); I have seen considerable of Captain
Burr’s writing; I saw the E. A. Johnson at the Battery when she was
brought in by the harbor police; I saw the yawl boat of the Johnson with
the harbor police; she had that yawl boat before she left; I took the
Johnson to Islip; on examining the Johnson I found a valise—a square,
black, canvas valise—and some clothes; I brought them here (identifies
the valise); found the things now in it, and a knife in it; saw the
prisoner in the sloop the night before she sailed; saw him next in court
before the Commissioner.
Mr. DWIGHT to the Court—The examination before the Commissioner took
place on the 28th and 29th of March.
_Cross-examined by_ Mr. GRAVES—I had no conversation with the prisoner
when I saw him on board the sloop on the Wednesday; I never saw Captain
Burr since; Oliver Watts was a large man; he would weigh about 170
pounds; Smith Watts would weigh, perhaps, 180 pounds; he was very large
for his age; Captain Burr was a small man; probably did not weigh more
than 125 or 130 pounds; it was after the examination before the
Commissioner—some four or five days—that I found the valise on board; I
gave it to Henry Seaman; I took the sloop over to Hoboken, lay there a
couple of days, and then took her to Islip; the Watts boys were on board
the sloop the Wednesday evening before she sailed.
_Re-direct._—I have seen Captain Burr write; I had business transactions
with him for the last nine years; when the defendant was on board on
Wednesday evening he was dressed with a blue shirt and overalls, like
those I found in the vessel; I was on board about half an hour; I took
supper there; the prisoner was at supper also; he sat at the table with
us (shipping articles produced); I recognize the names, etc., here, to
be in Captain Burr’s handwriting.
JOHN A. BOYLE deposed—I am enrollment and license clerk in the Custom
House (produces a book); the E. A. Johnson was enrolled on 3d of
December, 1858, as an American vessel (objected to by prisoner’s
counsel; admitted; exception taken.)
DANIEL SIMMONS deposed—I reside at Keyport, New Jersey; I am in the
oyster business; I know the sloop Edwin A. Johnson; I had her chartered
last spring from this port to Virginia for oysters; the last time I
chartered her was on the 14th of March; I knew Capt. Burr for two years;
I sailed once with him; I think she left here last on Thursday morning
the 15th of March; I settled with Capt. Burr for his charter on
Wednesday afternoon, 14th March; I gave him $200 in silver coin,
quarters, halves, and ten and five cent pieces; I gave him other money.
Mr. Graves objected to any proof of the payment of coin to the captain,
on the ground that the indictment did not warrant the allegation.
The Court was of opinion that the objection was not well founded, and
overruled it.
_Examination continued._—I paid him the balance of his charter money in
gold; two tens, two fives, a two and a half, one dollar in gold and a
half dollar; I gave it to him in a shot bag; it belonged to Capt. Burr,
but I had it in my safe, with the money in it, for some days before; I
did not know where the captain used to keep his money; there was a
secret drawer in the sloop where I kept money when I sailed with him; I
do not know that Capt. Burr ever kept his money there; I have seen that
bag since, when it was taken out of the prisoner’s pocket at the Second
precinct station-house; I saw it taken out of his pocket; there was
nothing in the bag then; there were two bags—I only knew one of them; I
saw the prisoner on board the sloop Edwin A. Johnson on the Wednesday
before she sailed, at the foot of Spring street—(bag produced); to the
best of my knowledge, this is the same bag that I gave the captain the
two hundred dollars in; I saw the prisoner on board in the forenoon of
Wednesday, and again in the evening; I think he had a monkey jacket on;
I saw the prisoner again, I think, at Keyport, on board the sloop; I was
about thirty yards from him; it was between daylight and dark; I could
not swear positively to him being on board at Keyport; the next time I
saw the prisoner was at the Second precinct station-house, when he was
brought back from Providence; it was on a Saturday; I had some
conversation with him; I asked him if he had ever seen me before; he
said he had not; this was in the back room of the station-house; Captain
Weed asked him if he knew me, and he said he did not; I told him I saw
him on board the Edwin A. Johnson, at Spring street dock; he said he
never was there, and did not know there was such a vessel; I asked him
if he knew Capt. Burr; he said he did not; that he never saw him and
never was on board the vessel; when I saw the prisoner on board the
sloop his whiskers were red and full; when I saw him after, his whiskers
were darker.
_Cross-examined._—When I hailed the vessel at Keyport, I asked them
where the captain was; and I think the prisoner is the man that answered
me, but I am not certain; I had no conversation with the prisoner on
board the sloop at Spring street; the first time I spoke to him was at
the station-house; Captain Weed asked me if I knew him and I said I did;
I identify the bag by the strings; I have no other marks to identify it;
the bag was pretty nearly full; there was no hole in the bag I gave
Captain Burr; there is a hole in this one produced.
DAVID S. BALDWIN deposed—I live at Islip; I know the prisoner; I saw him
on board the sloop on the 13th March; he was helping to get out oysters;
Captain Burr was not on board; the prisoner told me that he was going to
Virginia with Captain Burr for a load of oysters; he told me that night,
that if I wanted to go up town he would stay on board and mind the
vessel; I was cook; this valise I saw before; the prisoner handed it to
me when he came on board on the 13th; the prisoner did not stay on board
that night (examines the contents of the valise); I saw this knife
before with the prisoner, on board; he took it out to cut a piece of
string; I know it by this piece of the handle being rough, and the rivet
being bright; at that time the prisoner wore his whiskers as he does
now; I saw the prisoner on Wednesday morning on board the sloop at
breakfast; I did not see him again until to-day.
_Cross-examined._—I had been cook with Captain Burr; I left the sloop on
Wednesday; Smith Watts took my place as cook; the prisoner first came on
board between six and seven o’clock on Tuesday morning; I never saw him
before; I don’t know how he came to tell me he was going to Virginia
with Captain Burr; the captain told Johnson if he wanted to go up town
that night he could go; Johnson said to me if I wanted to go he would
stay on board.
JAMES H. BACON deposed—I am in the oyster business; I know the prisoner
at the bar; I saw him on board the E. A. Johnson on the 13th March; I
was there two days getting out oysters; Johnson was there shovelling out
oysters; he wore his whiskers same as he does now; he had a check shirt,
short coat, and comforter about his neck; I next saw him after his
arrest, when I was called on to identify him.
_Cross-examined._—I reside at Port Richmond; I was examined before the
Commissioner; he was working on board the boat helping me to fill out
the oysters; I think he had a dark pair of pantaloons and a Kossuth hat;
I think in the morning he had on a monkey coat, and when he went to work
he pulled on a blue shirt; I had no conversation with him more than to
tell him to fill the baskets a little fuller.
REUBEN KEYMER deposed—I am in the oyster and fish business; I knew of
the sloop E. A. Johnson being at Gravesend in March last; I don’t
recollect the date; she came there on Sunday and left on Tuesday night;
the next day (Wednesday) I saw the sloop towed up by a steamer; I saw
the prisoner the day the sloop sailed from Gravesend; he came ashore
after one of the Wattses; it was just at sunset; he came ashore in the
yawl boat; the sloop was about one hundred yards off; the prisoner was
sculling the yawl; I was afraid he would run foul of me; the prisoner
and Watts returned to the sloop in the yawl boat; the prisoner was
dressed in a coat of the description of the one produced; I watched the
sloop going out; she went southwest to clear Coney Island, and then she
took a southerly course (a chart of the bay produced—the witness
describes to the jury where the sloop lay, and her course); I saw her
three miles out to the east of Sandy Hook; the wind was west northwest;
the sloop was going about eight knots an hour; when she got out, she set
her flying jib; at the rate she was going she would pass Sandy Hook in
about an hour; when I saw Johnson come ashore from the sloop, I think I
recognized the boy that went back with him as one I had seen on the
sloop the day before.
_Cross-examined._—I was not well acquainted with any of them except
Capt. Burr. I am certain of the prisoner being the man who sculled the
yawl; I told the man in my boat not to run into him; I turned to the
prisoner and said to him, “Now I suppose you are going to give it to
her;” I was in a row boat; we were rowing our boat; I next saw the
prisoner in Court before the Commissioner; I think I stated before the
Commissioner that the prisoner had a monkey jacket on when I saw him in
the boat; I stood about five minutes on the shore and then went to my
house; I saw from the house about three miles out; if she kept the
southerly course I suppose she would have fetched up about the
Highlands, below Sandy Hook; she made a straight wake. (Witness again
described the course of the sloop on the chart.)
CHARLES BAKER deposed—I live at Gravesend; I knew Capt. Burr; I know the
sloop E. A. Johnson; I saw her in March last at Gravesend; I saw Capt.
Burr come ashore at Gravesend bay; knew Smith and Oliver Watts by sight;
I saw the prisoner Johnson come ashore and take away one of the hands; I
saw the sloop go away in about eight or ten minutes after the prisoner
and the young man got on board; Capt. Burr was on board; there were four
on board altogether.
_Cross-examined._—The young man had a small bundle under his arm; never
saw the prisoner before that; had no conversation with him; he was a
stranger and I took a little more notice of him than if I knew him; he
had a kind of monkey coat on; he had whiskers; he had none on his upper
lip then that I could see; I was not nearer to him than the length of
this room; I did not see which of the Watts boys went along with him.
JOHN S. WHITWORTH deposed—I live in Gravesend; I saw the prisoner at
Gravesend beach on the 19th or 20th of March last; he came ashore in a
yawl boat; I saw him raise the bow of the boat on the beach; I was
painting a vessel at the time; the boat was not more than a few minutes
there when I saw her go back again toward the E. A. Johnson, which was
about 100 or 120 yards off; I saw the prisoner on the day following; he
came ashore in the yawl boat; I did not see him go back to the sloop
that day; I don’t think he had any coat on on Monday; I think he had a
monkey coat on on Tuesday.
_Cross-examined by_ Mr. SAYLES.—The next yawl boat was coming ashore
when I left off work on Tuesday; I went away before she came to the
beach; the prisoner’s side was to me when he pulled the boat on the
beach on Monday.
By the consent of counsel the jury were permitted to separate after
suitable caution from the Court not to converse with any person on the
subject of this trial.
Adjourned to Tuesday at ten o’clock.
SECOND DAY.
RICHARD ELDRIDGE, examined by Mr. Dwight, deposed that he saw the sloop
E. A. Johnson at Gravesend on the Sunday morning and Monday; went on
board of her; saw Captain Burr and the two Watts boys, and Johnson, the
prisoner, on board; saw Johnson on board the sloop first on Sunday,
Monday and Tuesday. I went out in the Sirocco, in company with the
sloop, past Coney Island; we were bound up to the Health Office; it was
about sunset when we went out; Captain Burr, the two Watts boys, and
Johnson were on board when she left; she went on the usual course of
southern vessels; I took a letter from Captain Burr to his home; Johnson
wore a beard same as now, but no moustache on the upper lip; never saw
the prisoner since until yesterday.
_Cross-examined._—Knew Captain Burr well for years, and also knew the
Watts boys; I did not know the prisoner before that time; I had no
particular conversation with him; Captain Burr told me he was going to
Virginia.
GEORGE NEIDLINGER deposed—I live on Staten Island, at Port Richmond; I
saw Johnson, the prisoner, at six o’clock on the morning of the 21st of
March; I was standing at the barn door; he came up to me and asked me if
there was any one to interfere with his boat, and I said no; he left his
boat on the south side of the fort, and he came from that direction; he
told me he left the boat “back there;” I afterward went there and saw
that the boat had been hauled up by some boys; the harbor police came
for the boat and took it away the next evening; there was nothing in the
boat that I could see but some sand, oyster shells, and oars; the
prisoner went toward the Vanderbilt landing; he had on a monkey jacket
and a Kossuth hat—(jacket produced)—it was like this; he had a bag, like
a feed bag, which he carried on his shoulder—(witness described on the
diagram where he saw the prisoner)—he landed on the point below Fort
Tompkins; Vanderbilt’s landing is about two miles from Fort Tompkins;
the prisoner wore his whiskers pretty much as they are now, only he had
no hair on the upper lip; at the examination before the Commissioner he
had no whiskers on the side.
_Cross-examined._—Had never seen the man before; he had no conversation
with me except to ask if any one would interfere with his boat; he had a
monkey jacket and Kossuth hat, but I did not notice his pants; I made a
mistake before the Commissioner in stating that the jacket came down
below the knees; I meant to say that it came down to his hips; I
corrected myself.
To the COURT.—I think I changed my testimony before I left the
Commissioner’s Court.
_Cross-examination continued._—I saw the prisoner put on the coat before
the Commissioner, and then I changed my mind.
To Mr. DWIGHT.—I am not an American; I am a German.
MICHAEL DURNIN deposed.—I live at Staten Island; I know Hicks, the
prisoner; I saw him on the 21st of March; I was going down to Port
Richmond, and met him with a bag on his shoulder; he bid me good
morning, and I bid him the same; he asked something about his boat; he
went toward Vanderbilt’s landing; he had a bag on his shoulder, like a
feed bag.
This witness was not cross-examined.
AUGUSTUS GUISLER deposed—I live at Stapleton, but attend bar at
Vanderbilt’s Landing; I know the prisoner; I saw him on Wednesday
morning, 21st March; he came to our shop, and said he wanted something
to eat; he asked me if I had any coffee, and I said not, but told him
where to get it; he went out and came back again, and said they were not
up; he asked for eggs, and invited Mr. Hickbert to take a drink; he
showed me a $10 gold piece, and asked me if I wanted it; I said, “No,
sir, I have not change for it;” he then took some silver and paid me; I
would not know the bag; the coat he had on was like that produced; it
had patches on the elbows like this; Mr. Hickbert asked him if he was a
seafaring man; he told Mr. Hickbert that he was captain of a sloop; that
he had been run into, and one man was killed, and another knocked
overboard; he said he was down stairs asleep at the time, and had only
time to get his clothes and the “needful” (at the same time shaking the
bag), and come ashore in the yawl boat; the bag in which he had his
money was something like this one produced; he took the $10 gold piece
out of the bag; he was about twenty minutes in our shop.
_Cross-examined._—I didn’t count the money; Mr. Hickbert did not count
it; I did not see the bag in his hand when he first came; he did not
take it out of his pocket; he had a handkerchief in his hand; when he
offered me the gold piece, he had the bag in his hands, leaning against
the bar; he finally put his hand in his pocket and paid me; could not
tell whether the bag was full or not; it looked like this bag; I have
seen a good many shot-bags; I am seventeen years of age; I next saw the
prisoner at the Second Ward station-house; Captain Weed sent for me;
they told me they thought they had the man; I went there and identified
him.
To the COURT.—There were thirty or forty persons in the station-house at
the time; I picked him out; no one pointed him out to me; I asked
Captain Weed where he was; he said he would not tell me; that I was to
point him out; there were others there; they all identified him but one
little boy; the people were not mostly in policemen’s dress; there were
all kinds of clothes.
ABRAHAM S. HICKBERT deposed that he saw the prisoner, on the 21st March,
at the Vanderbilt ferry, at about half-past six o’clock; he asked me
where he could get something good; I showed him; he went in and asked
Augustus, the barkeeper. This witness corroborated the last witness as
to the conversation with the prisoner, and further added that he told
him that the vessel he was on was the William Tell; that he had been run
into by a schooner, and one man was killed against the mast, and another
knocked overboard. The prisoner shook a bag in his hand when he said he
had only time to save the one thing needful.
_Cross-examined._—I had never seen him before, to my knowledge; I cannot
tell exactly how he was dressed, nor whether he had whiskers; I should
think the man was about five feet eight inches; I did not take
particular notice of his height; he said he was on the William Tell, and
had been run into that morning in the lower bay.
To the COURT.—Next saw the prisoner at the police station-house;
identified him there by his face; he was not pointed out to me by any
one.
To Mr. GRAVES.—To the best of my belief, he is the man I saw at
Vanderbilt’s landing; I would not like to swear right up and down that
he is the man.
FRANKLIN E. HAWKINS deposed that he is captain of the sloop Sirocco; I
knew Captain Burr and the Watts boys; heard Captain Burr say he was
going to write a letter home; saw the prisoner on board the sloop E. A.
Johnson; my vessel was lying at Coney Island, and the sloop Johnson was
lying at the same place; on the Sunday before she sailed I went out with
her; Johnson came ashore in the yawl boat on the evening before the
sloop sailed; Richard Eldridge took the letter from Captain Burr to his
home in Islip; Captain Burr had dark hair; one of the Watts boys had
light hair and the other a little darker; I do not know Captain Burr’s
watch.
_Cross-examined._—The prisoner met me when he came ashore on Tuesday,
and asked me if I was Oliver; I had no conversation with the prisoner;
heard him talk with the captain; I can swear positively that this is the
man.
PATRICK MCCAFFREY deposed—I am a deck hand on the Staten Island
ferry-boat Southfield; I know the prisoner; I saw him in the gentlemen’s
cabin about seven o’clock on the morning of the 21st of March; I was
brooming off the cabin; he was sitting down, and he called me over and
asked me if I was a judge of this country’s money; that he was afraid
them fellows were cheating him; I said I was a pretty good judge of gold
and silver, but did not know much of bills; he asked me to count the
money; I counted out three or four gold pieces and told him what they
were; the bag was a kind of a shot bag; he asked me where the water
closet was and I showed him; he told me to mind his canvas bag and he
would give me the price of my bitters (identifies the coat); my
attention was particularly called to the coat by it being bare in some
places and having patches on the elbow.
Mr. DWIGHT asked that the prisoner now put on the coat.
The JUDGE said that he could not compel the prisoner to do so, as it
might aid other witnesses for the prosecution, who are now in court and
have not yet been examined.
_Examination continued._—Next saw the prisoner in the Second Ward
station-house; he denied having ever seen me; I looked all around the
station-house, and when I saw him I said, “There’s the man.”
To the COURT.—There were forty or fifty in the station-house; my
attention was not directed to him; no one pointed him out to me.
_Cross-examined._—Had never seen him before I saw him on board the
Southfield; he had whiskers up to his ears, but no moustache; his
whiskers were blacker when I saw him in the station-house than they are
now; I have not a doubt about the coat; I can swear positively to it and
the man; I cannot swear positively to the shot bag; I was born in
Ireland; I am only two years here; I have lived at Staten Island ever
since; I have been a coachman, and have been now nearly eighteen months
on the ferry-boat; I can’t tell how many passengers were in the
ferry-boat that morning.
WILLIAM DRUMM, a lad, deposed that he met the prisoner on a Wednesday
morning, about eight o’clock; can’t tell when; met him at the South
ferry; it was about the 21st of March; I saw him at a coffee and cake
stand at the ferry, kept by Charley McCosten; he got a cup of coffee and
a piece of pie; he put down a gold piece, and the man said, “Oh, ——,
have you no smaller change than that!” he then gave him something else.
I carried Johnson’s bag to the corner of Cedar and Greenwich streets. I
asked him fifty cents, and he gave me three shillings, and said if I did
not go out of that he would kick me (laughter); there was a Dutchman
there who told him two shillings were enough; I pointed out the prisoner
on the following Sunday, in the station-house.
_Cross-examined._—I testified before the commissioner that the bag was
very heavy and cut my shoulder, and that it did not seem to be filled
with clothes; I stated before the commissioner that the prisoner wore a
greyish coat; I saw him first at the coffee stand; he wanted a carriage
first.
PATRICK BURKE, deposed—I know the prisoner for about three years, by the
name of William Johnson; he had a room from me in Cedar street, near
Greenwich; the last time I saw him was on the Wednesday before his
arrest; I did not remark his dress; he had nothing with him that I saw;
I saw him again that day, in my house, about four o’clock; I saw some
bills with him that day; I do not know how much; I do not know that he
made any change in his clothes or his whiskers; he went away by the boat
that evening; he took his wife and child with him; he took some things
with him; he left a ship’s instrument (a compass, I think) behind at my
house; I had no conversation with him that day more than to bid him the
time of the day; he always paid me my rent like an honest man.
_Cross-examined._—I think it was before noon I saw him with the bills in
his hands; often saw bills with him before.
CATHARINE BURKE, wife of the last witness, corroborated her husband’s
testimony; Johnson did not say anything about what voyage he was going
on the last time he went to sea.
_Cross-examined._—I had seen the prisoner with money on previous
occasions.
ALBERT S. JAMES, broker, deposed—I saw the prisoner first on Wednesday,
the 21st March, at my office in South street; he asked me to take some
silver at as low a rate as possible; I had engaged to take some silver
from the market, and asked him if he came from there; he said no; the
“Cap” was sick; that he came honestly by the money; I changed about $135
in silver, and $35 in gold; it was in a bag and tied up in a
handkerchief. (Handkerchief and bag produced.) I think that is like the
bag but cannot identify the handkerchief; a man came into the office and
the prisoner seemed to hesitate, and did not seem to want to open the
bag before the man.
_Q._ What did you give him in exchange for the gold and silver.
_A._ I gave him $130 in Farmers’ and Citizens’ Bank of Williamsburg,
Long Island; their denominations were tens, fives, threes and twos; I
counted the money; the prisoner did not appear to count the money after
me; he did not see how much there was.