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.
RICHARD O’CONOR, cartman, deposed—That he saw the prisoner on the 21st of March, and took his baggage to the Bay State (Fall River boat); the prisoner walked, and I saw him at the boat afterward. He told me if any one inquired where he was going, to tell them it was none of their business. When they were taking the luggage out, a woman asked him where they were going, and he said they were going to Albany to live on a farm.
Witness was not cross-examined.
GEORGE NIVENS, officer of second precinct, deposed—That he understood that a man answering the prisoner’s description had left in the Stonington boat, but traced him to Providence, where he arrested him in a boarding-house. I found the hackman who had conveyed Johnson, and he took me to the house; I found him in bed with his wife; I shook him up and searched him; I found on him a watch; I took away two trunks, two bags, two handkerchiefs, and a knife, a pocket-book, and some bed-clothing, which he claimed to be his. (Identifies the watch, pocket-book, and bags; cannot identify the handkerchiefs.) I found in the pocket-book $121 in bills on the Farmers’ and Citizens’ Bank of Williamsburg, mostly fives and tens; there are some ones; there are also some on the Lee, Huguenot Bank, and City Bank of Brooklyn; when I arrested him first I told him I arrested him for passing counterfeit money; I did not make any statement to him at the station-house in Providence; I believe Mr. Smith did; I brought him to New York next day; he told me that the watch belonged to his brother; he said he had not been in New York or Staten Island during the month of March; that he had been speculating around the market, and had about $60; at another time he said he got the money from his brother; on counting over the money in the pocket-book I found there were $121 in it; when I informed him in the cars of the charge against him, he denied all knowledge of Capt. Burr and the sloop E. A. Johnson.
Cross-examined.—At the time I had the conversation with him in the cars he was in irons; he did not tell me that he could not read or write.
To Mr. DWIGHT.—When I arrested him in Providence he told me his name was Hicks—Albert W. Hicks.
ELIAS SMITH deposed—That he was with Nivens when he made the arrest.
The COURT.—Are you a police officer?
Witness.—No, sir; I am a reporter of the Times.
To Mr. DWIGHT.—The prisoner denied all knowledge of the sloop E. A. Johnson or Captain Burr; he said he had not been in New York for two months; I understood him to convey the idea that he had been in Providence for two months (identifies the watch and pocket-book as those taken from the prisoner in Providence); I cannot identify the clothing; I addressed the prisoner at the station-house, and said to him, “Hicks, you are charged with the murder of three men;” he said nothing; I then changed the language and said to him, “You are charged with imbruing your hands in the blood of three of your fellow men for money;” the prisoner shook his head and said, “I do not know anything about it;” I then said to him, “You have been on board the sloop Edwin A. Johnson;” he shook his head and said he did not know anything about it, and was never on it; Mr. Nivens read the newspaper accounts of the transaction to him; he said he did not care much about the arrest except for the interruption to his business, as he had purchased a place in Providence; I told him he would be identified when he got to New York; he said we might think what we liked; he seemed annoyed at our pressing the subject.
Cross-examined.—I never found out how much he had paid; I said to him, “If you are innocent, then you are willing to go back to New York?” after hesitating, he assented; Detective Billings, of Providence, was with me when he signed the agreement to come back.
SCENE OF THE FIRST CONFLICT ON BOARD THE SLOOP “E. A. JOHNSON,” WITH THE BLOOD-STAINS ON THE DECK.
PORTRAIT OF OLIVER WATTS.
PORTRAIT OF CAPT. GEORGE BURR.
SAMUEL M. DOWNES deposed—I am captain and pilot of the steamtug Sirius; I picked up the sloop E. A. Johnson on the East Bank, near the Romer, about half-past six o’clock in the morning; I brought her to this city, and left her in the river at the foot of Fulton Market; the bowsprit of the sloop was broken off about midway; the jib hung overboard; there was no small boat on board; I boarded the sloop; one of the men of the schooner Telegraph had boarded her about the same time (witness describes the appearance of the sloop on a model produced in court); there were pools of blood on the deck, and the cabin appeared as if some one had been slaughtered there; there were marks of a hand, as if struggling, and then there appeared to be a blow of a hatchet where the hand mark was, as if it was cut; the blood flowed down to the scuppers; there were evidences of a scuffle; there was a mark of a foot in the blood, as if some person with a boot or a shoe had stepped in it; the appearance of the blood from the companionway seemed as if some person had been dragged from there and thrown overboard; there was some hair found in the pool of blood forward; it was dark brown hair; I did not remove the hair or anything on board; I brought her to New York; arrived about half-past ten o’clock at the foot of Fulton Market, and gave her up to Captain Weed of the Second Precinct.
Cross-examined, but nothing material was elicited.
Re-direct examination.—The wind was blowing north-northwest, which would bring the sloop out to sea.
HART B. WEED, examined by Mr. DWIGHT, deposed—I am captain of the Second District police; I examined the clothes brought by Nivens from Providence; there were coat, pants, vest, and some flannel clothing contained in a bag used for feed; the clothes produced—coat, vest, and pantaloons—are those given to me by Officer Nivens; there was also a hat (several other articles of clothing produced); these were either found in the trunk or the bag; I recollect finding a daguerreotype in the trunk or bag (produces it); I sealed it up and gave it to the clerk of this court. (The daguerreotype is of a young lady, and is said to be that of the sweetheart of one of the Wattses.) I was at the station-house when the prisoner was brought there; he said he knew nothing about it; I asked him if he knew anything about the vessel or the murder, and he said “No; he knew nothing about it, and had not been in New York, Staten Island, or Long Island for some time; Dr. Bonton, the coroner’s assistant, accompanied me to the sloop; we found a lock of brown hair—human hair—lying partially in a pool of blood on the deck; I gave the hair to the Assistant District Attorney; it was sealed up in the manner of this package produced; I cannot now swear that this is the hair; it was then clotted with blood; I also found hair on the coffee-pot in the cabin; I gave that to you (Mr. Dwight); (another package produced) this is the hair found on the coffee-pot; the blood had the appearance as if a person lay down and the blood flowed at each side.”
The cabin had a great deal of blood and had the appearance of being washed down; I found a bucket, with a rope, which appeared to be used in taking up water; I found a broom there; there was blood and hair on the rope attached to the bucket; sails and other things had been removed out; there were holes bored in the deck; we found an auger with blood on it; the auger fitted the holes in the deck; the coffee-pot was lying behind the stove, it seemed to be bruised; there was hair on it; we searched under the companionway and found a lead line there; we found some secret drawers; I saw the valise that was identified here yesterday in the cabin of the sloop; we found spots of blood on the ceiling of the cabin, and on each side of the door, as if a person had been drawn out of it; there were three cuts on the ceiling, which appeared to have been done with a sharp instrument; we found cuts on the clothing of the captain’s berth; the railing had the appearance as if a hand was on it and had been cut; we saw marks which seemed as if a person with bloody clothing had been shoved down the side of the vessel; there was blood on the stove and wood in the cabin; the cabin was in a deranged condition; I received some tackle from Captain Nickerson, which consisted of some of the gearing of the vessel; I took them down with one of my men, who had been a sailor, and we found they corresponded with the bowsprit of the Johnson.
Cross-examined (a shirt and linen coat produced).—These are the clothing we found in the captain’s berth with cuts on them; there was no blood on them nor on the bed; they had the appearance of being clean and folded up; I partially examined the prisoner to see if there were any marks on him; I found no fresh marks of violence on him; I lifted his shirt and looked at his body; I looked at his arms; I saw the figure of an eagle printed in India ink. I saw no other marks on his arm.
The hour of adjournment having arrived, the Court adjourned to ten o’clock Wednesday morning.