Lynchburg Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1829-185?, 1834-11-27
TRIAL OF1HE PIRATES.


From The Boston Atlas, Mop. ID.
The whole Of yesterday was occupied IN the
cross examination, by Mr.. Child, of tho govern.
men, witness, Perez. No conirade'Ion OF his pre-
vious testimony was pcrcepliJle TO os but he
most decidedly conrndctcd statement made on
Wednesday by The blnck cook Of tho Hegiean--
The latter stated TINT when The Meai2an was
boarded 10y the crew the schooner, he enw An
fonio Eerrez the cook Of that vessel, standing on
tho fore top gnllan, yard, and plainly distinguish
cd tho tniiooing on his cheeks; while Perez, VINO
during the whole of the time was o. the look out
in the fore top, affirmed that Forroz never came
aloft o, near the top gaIlnst yard at all. lie tPe
rezl said that when tho Panda sailed from Havana
hor cargo consisted OF 60 pipes Of new rum about 81
bales Of cloth, $50 muskels 30 barrels OF powder,
bhrrcl OF knives box Of necklaces. and OF
Ants and axes. The witness was examined with
great minu,eness by Mr.. Child lie stated lha; he
could not read bui tina, he able to tell the let
ter on the boxe, Of dollars taken from the Mexican,
because he knew four letters Of The nlPhabe', VIZ.
2, u, o and u. lila knowledge in this particular
was by Mr.. Child, who presented him with
the alphabet, hen he Designated almost all the let
tcrs correctly.
The indictment (Spanish) upon which the prI-
soners were tired, was then placed before him, and
he read with difficulty small part OF it-Perez
here, however, having been under the hands OF Mo
Child for several hours, became impressed with
the idea thlt the questions he was asked wero pun
with a view 10 mako him crmnate himself and
got into state Of great excitement lie spoke IN
loud and rapid tones, struck his breast and the rail
Of the stand in which he has placed several times
with great violence, and said he wanted to tell
how the captain divided the money and made him
and others take it, His (pcrcz's) object was to ex-
El,n il,f
confusion, and was unable Tor considerable time to
stop the voice Of the witness Flo was n, last taken
out, and being in n state of great exhaustion, re-
freshment was procured for him.
The Court remarked that if the prisoner imagi
ned he wns eliminating himself in answering the
questions Of Mr., Child, That dclusion oueh, 10 bc
removed from his mind
Mr., Child objected on the ground that If the vii
ness was under the impression alluded To, he was
sill bound to speak 10 speak tho truth, and he (Mr
CD thought that, possessing the counsel for
the prisoners did such feeble materials for the de-
| fence, having no Witnesses they ought to b. allow
ed the benefit of any thing that might fall from the
witness un Ter the existing state of his mind.
The District Attorney said the honor of the 60
vernncnl had boon pledged to the witness that #
he spokc the TRUTH no harm should result to him
lie Che District Attorney thought il therefore his
to do away any such deusion that which now
restcd on tho mind Of tho witness.
| Mr.. Child here expressed himself very strongly
in relation to the officer for the government and the
Court. He sad he bad never Witnessed such an
exercise Of the power of the powerful against the
weak, and stated that, from tho most careful cx-
| animation, he had become convinced Of the limo
echce Of the prisoners, and believed them TO DO tho
victims Of one OF the vlest plots that had ever been
invented.
Mr. Dunlap said he should no, suffer personal
| feelings 10 influence him IN this matter II had
been his desire upon this, on all other occasions,
TO give the prisoners fair trldl and no left the
connsel for tho prisoners to say whether if he fMr
ID had been disposed to have taken advantage a.
goinst them, he had no, had an opportunity Of do
ing so. lie did not deny tho tight OF counsel to
question the witness, or even TO lay traps to ca c
hm-to sec II he had spoken falsely; but he did
wish the witness to un lcrstand that this WINS not
done 10y the government, who had pledged itself 10
bear him harmless. 1.-THE impression under which
the witness was laboring, was moi cleared up, he
would believe that he was dealing with a faithloss
government; the anchor which bound him to tic
government would be broken, and he would act md
| speak accordingly.
Alter much iu'iher discussion il was agreed that
the witness should be appraised of the true state o,
inc case, which was accordingly done, and the
Gloss examination then proceeded In the course
OF II, he was permitted to state what he knew il
relation 10 the division OF the money From this i,
app cared that the greater part had fallen to the ca
talns share-he was sole owner ofthe vessel ant
bad done what he liked with it--no rule of division
existed among the crew About $4,000 were diyid
ed among them at Nazareth, and they were then
told that II they did not take their several shares
there would be the devil to pay'-wlness received
$3.50, aud believes if he had not taken it, he should
have been stabbed. Witness and five others threw
all their money into the sea when going from Naz
are'h to Fernando Pc, where they were taken into
custody. When they confessed to Gov. Nichols
atthot place, they told whereabouts they had thrown
the money overheard, and the governor went with
negro divers and got il up again.
| About this time the witness again became excit.
cd. and having been under Interrogation for csh,
hours, the const judged it best TO adjourn till this
morning nj nine o'clock
Perez gives his testimony in very intelligent
plain, and yeraclous manner, and we have cycrv
reason to believe that al the time he shipped on board
the Panda, he was unaware that she was about to
proceed upon pira'cal voyage. May not this
nave been the case also with others OF the crew.
| SATURDAY, Nov. Is.
Simon Domingo, ono of the Portuguese who
SURRENDERED himself at Nazareth to Capt. Trouer
was next examined. He was sworn on the Cath
ole Bible and Messrs. Payton and Trnvcrs were
appointed interpreters Shipped on boardthc Pom.
da at Princes IsunI on the 9th Feb SO. The mi.
soners now present formed par. of her crew Wen,
from Princes Island to the river Nazareth with her
when they arrived there dropped two anchors AID
stayed months Slaves had been bong hit prev ious.
| ly. AS soon as the schooner anchored the Can
tam and officers went on shore and never saw
Them any more on board The Panaa was cap,u.
rcd by the English in boats. Tho carpenter Ru-
ez) tried 10 set her on fire. and the crew all got in.
20 the boat and went on shore. The carpenter was
the last man on board and left the schooner in /,