801 Sheet – American State Trials 1918 Volume X Leo Frank Document

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Reading Time: 3 minutes [362 words]

Here is the translated text as follows:

PEDRO GIBERT AND OTHERS

The crime attempted to be destroyed by fire was obvious. The individuals, whoever they were, after committing the robbery, had resolved to consummate their crime by sacrificing every member of the crew, murdering those against whom they could have no personal animosity, and whom they had never before seen. It was a horrible crime; however, the horror it incited was not, at the present time, to weigh against these prisoners in the minds of the jury. The jury was first to determine if the prisoners were guilty.

Judge Story then proceeded to consider the remaining questions into which he had divided the case: whether the Panda was the vessel that robbed the Mexican, and if so, whether all the prisoners on board were equally guilty.

He reviewed all the evidence related to the first point and finally summed up in a manner that could not but have proved conclusive in the mind of everyone regarding the guilt of the prisoners. However, on the last question, he expressed himself decidedly in their favor. Only those of the crew, he said, could be convicted if they were proven to have participated in the crime. The mere fact of their being on board the Panda was not sufficient to condemn them.

Regarding the good character references given by some witnesses for Capt. Gibert, the judge noted that a good character certainly held weight, but numerous instances were on record of men, long held in high esteem, suddenly committing the greatest and most horrible crimes. As for De Soto, the generous act performed by that individual was fully appreciated by everyone in the court.

"I stand humbled before you, gentlemen, by a fact brought out in the course of the testimony you have heard: the fact of an American ship passing by and leaving American citizens to perish in sight of their countrymen. We have heard from the counsel for the defense an eloquent allusion to the parable of the priest and the Levite, and never, from the days of our Savior till now, can that parable have been more fully illustrated than by the fact to which I have alluded."

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