The Lambertville press. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1858-1???, 1860-08-01
Confession of Albert w. Hicks,
the Pirate

Confession of Albert w. Hicks,
the Pirate.
From the confession of Hicks we
take so much as relates to the crime
which was the immediate cause of his
! arrest and conviction The confession
appears to be the work of third
party, and is exceedingly i'll written.
The sloop r. A. johnson offered an
easy prey She had on board I sup
posed something over a thousand dol
lars, and the crew consisted of but
two boys and myself.
I had never known of or seen Cap
tain Burr before shipped with him
He had never done me injury or wrong,
so that I had no revenge to crafty,
no grudge to pay.
He seemed kind and amiable man,
and would no doubt have awakened
kindly feelings in any heart but mine,
and even | liked him. Yet 7 engaged
myself to him solely and only for the
cruel purpose of taking his life, the
lives of the two young men, end make
myself master of the money supposed
he had on board.
| calculated to do this as calmly as
you wonld contemplate doing any OF
the usual dnties in the ordinary trans
actions of life.
had killed men, yes and boys too,
many time before, for far less in
ducements than the snm supposed l
should gain by killing them. / had
too often dyed my murderous hands in
blood in days gone by to feel the
slightest computations or qualms OF
conscience then.
never thought of the consequence
OF such q crime. The fear of detec-
ton never once crossed my mind. I
had too often done the same thing
with impunity to believe that o day OF
reckoning would ever come, in this
world at least, and / never gave q
thought about the world to come.
After engaging with Captain Burr,
/ went home to my wife, at 129 Cedar
street, and laying down on the bed,
told her not to disturb me, as I want
ed to take q long sleep. and if any one
came for me to say that | was not in.
She left me alone, anil / then delibe-
rately matured all my plans marked
out the course | intended to pursue
exactly, and after | had decided upon
every thing | went to sleep, and slept
as sonndly rs ever I slept in my life,
my mind was so much at ease, and
felt so contentcd at the idea of having
at least an opportunity Of making
some money in an easy way.
The next day | went on board and
commenced my duties, and in order tG
ingratiate myself into the good graces
of the captain | did even more than
wonld have been expected Of me-
We sailed on the 10th Of March
from the foot Of Spring street, and
proceeded to Keyport, where we re-
manned till Sunday. While here,
scraped the mast of the sloop, did a
lot of carpenter work, and evidently
pleased Captain Burr very much by
my earnestness in trying to make
every thing look ship shape.
We arrived at Gravesend on Satur.
day afternoon, and waited there for s
fair wind.
At last we put to sea, and when We
were off the Ocean House | went tc
the forecastle and got an axe, which ]
putg in.the boat hanging to the daviti
| aft.
The younger Watts was at thu
helm, and | asked him to allow me t.
steer little while. He consented ant
went forward.
In few minutes I left the helm
and taking the axe, went to him, ant
asked him if he saw Bamegat Light
He said he did not / told him t.
look again, and pointed with m,
hand.
He turned around and looked in m,
face moment, but even if he had sus
pected my cruel purpose, he wonlt
have read no indication Of it there, 70
| was as calm as though | was goinI
to do the simplest and most innocen
thing in my life.
Had been nnder human influences
the confident and trusty way in which
hSturned his eyes to mine would hav,
made ME hesitate, but no snch though
entered my heart, and / pointed again
aid told him to "look there, amt tha
it 2"
He turned bis head and peerec
through the darkness in the direction
/ pointed, and as he did 50 / strucl
him on the back of the head with tn,