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

Reading Time: 4 minutes [597 words]


Here is the translated text as follows:

We found the ship on fire and I was the first to board her. The first thing we did was to put out the fire, which we found in the magazine below the cabin floor. One of our men went down and discovered a quantity of cotton and brimstone burning, along with a slow match ignited and communicating with the magazine. The magazine contained fourteen or sixteen water casks of powder. We looked for the ship’s papers and logbook but did not find them.

We then bent the schooner’s sails and went up the river. We had the vessel in our possession for ten or twelve days. She was a long, low, two topsail schooner; she was sharp, and her masts raked a great deal. Her figurehead was cut off, and there was no name on her stern. Her deck was that of a slaver, with a grated hatchway. We tried to get possession of the crew but could not. When we left the river, we took an inventory of everything on board and then sailed for Cape Lopez, where the schooner blew up. It was supposed that a spark of fire got into the magazine. We lost two officers and two men. She had a long brass pivot gun abaft the mainmast and two short carronades, a six and a nine-pounder.

We captured one of the Panda’s crew before we left the river (Simon Domingo, the Portuguese). We took four Portuguese afterwards; one of them (Antonio Silvera) and the man first taken (Domingo) came with me in the Savage and are now in Boston. A boat was sent up to the African king, and he promised to give the prisoners up. When we went for them the next morning, the Prince came down and said they would be brought to us as soon as ‘the sun had gone to dinner’ (12 o'clock). However, the men were never sent. We secured five of the Panda’s crew at Fernando Po, and the captain, the boy (Costa), Velazquez, and the cook at Cape Lopez. They were kept on board the Curlew during the cruise and then sent to England. Four or five were apprehended at St. Thomas. The prisoners were taken first to Plymouth, and lastly to Portsmouth, from which place they were brought to the United States.

During cross-examination, it was revealed that the Esperanza was taken on suspicion of aiding the crew of the Panda. I have heard that she carried some of the prisoners and their money to Fernando Po. Two or three of the crew of the Esperanza were taken to Portsmouth, and some landed elsewhere. I don't know whether the vessel was libeled in England or whether she was announced as a pirate. The Esperanza carried the English flag and pennant for some time after her capture. It is customary to hoist the English flag when we take a prize, but not the pennant. No English officer has the right to hoist the pennant on any prize. I don’t think the arrival of the prisoners was announced in England. Some of them were in irons on board the Curlew. Two of them went ashore with me in a boat—Castillo and Garcia were the men. One of our men was with them when I left the boat, but he got drunk while I was away. Castillo and Garcia might have run away if they liked, but I think they would have been speedily retaken, as they did not know the language. I gave them something to drink, and they rowed me back.

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