Selah Cowell was the first witness called, and being examined by Mr. 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.