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

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Reading Time: 3 minutes [363 words]

Here is the translated text as follows:

The Clerk: Jurors, look upon the prisoner; prisoner, look upon the jurors. How say you, gentlemen, is the prisoner at the bar, Pedro Gibert, guilty or not guilty?

The Foreman: Guilty.

The same verdict was pronounced against De Soto (the mate), Ruiz (the carpenter), Boyga, Castille, Garcia, and Montenegro. However, Costa (the cabin boy), Ferrer (the negro), Guzman, Portana, and Velasquez were declared not guilty.

The Foreman read to the Court the following recommendation to mercy:

"The sympathies of the jury have been strongly moved in behalf of Bernardo De Soto, on account of his generous, noble, and self-sacrificing conduct in saving the lives of more than 70 human beings, constituting the passengers and crew of the ship Minerva; and they desire that his case should be presented to the merciful consideration of the Government."

Judge Storey replied that the wish of the jury would certainly be complied with by both the Court and the prosecuting officer.

The acquitted prisoners, on motion of Mr. Hilliard, were directed to be discharged, upon which several of the others loudly and angrily expressed their dissatisfaction at the result of the trial. Castille (a half-caste, with an extremely mild and pleasing countenance) pointed towards heaven and called upon the Almighty to bear witness that he was innocent. Ruiz uttered some words with great vehemence, and Garcia said, "All were in the same ship, and it was strange that some should be permitted to escape while others were punished." Most of them, on leaving the court, uttered some invective against "the picaro who had sworn their lives away."

When Costa, the cabin boy, was declared "Not Guilty," some degree of approbation was manifested by the audience, but it was instantly checked by the Judge, who directed the officers to take into custody anyone expressing either assent or dissent.

The jury was discharged, with the Judge thanking them for the great patience and attention they had exhibited throughout this painful trial, and hoping they would find, in the approbation of their fellow citizens and in the testimony of their own consciences, that reward which always resulted from the performance of an act of duty.

The convicted prisoners were then sentenced to death.