Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1860-06-07

/ Hicks dispatched him also with the same wea-
pom. Capt. Burr had not yet been disturbed
but was still quietly sleeping in the cabin,
wholly unsuspicious of the bloody scenes that
were being enacted on board his vessel. Hicks
proceeded Immediately to the cabin, where he
made an assault upon Capt. Burr. His dead
| ly work was not i'll this instance performed in
so sure and sudden manner. The first blow
dealt the captain only served to arouse him
to sense of his danger, and he instantly
sprang up and grappled with the assassin. The
struggle was a long and terrible one, but Hicks
being armed, and the most powerful man OF
the two, eventually overcame the captain, and
succeeded in killing him. Hicks says that the
captain made a good fight, and might have
succeeded in overpowering him had he been
armed, but his physical strength alone was not
enough to cope with the murderer and his Tor
midable weapons.
In reference to the'knife marks found on the
bulwarks of the sloop, Hicks says that they
were not made by him. The bodies were not
| thrown overheard for an hour or two after the
| murders had been committed, so that he had
| no occasion to cut the hands of his victims as
they chung to the rail, was supposed.
When asked how he felt on board the sloop
after the commission of the murders he re-
piled that the devil sustained him, and he felt
good enough. ale has deserted me now,
tIuuSi, lSoulhtu lllS tbuluSlGI, anu L lSSl
bad enough" AT the conclusion of the con-
tession, a long conversation ensued between
the culprit and the keeper, which ran some
what after the following style;
KEEPER.-You say that the captain strug
gle hard before he died?
HIcKs-Yes, he fought hard, but l brought
him at last.
KEEPER-You say the devil WIS with you,
and sustained you during the time you were
on board with the murdered men.
HICKs-Yes, the devil was the fifth man,
and he sustained me throughout the whole
scene. He has left me since, though.
decentralization was the sloop when
the murders were committed
HICKs-We were about fifty miles out at
sea. They say that one of the bodies has been
found. How is that
KEEPER-That is the report.
HICKs-I don't believe it. l was too far out
at sea, and took good care that they should not
come up.
KEEPER-How about the murders on the
ship Saladin, which you are suspected OF be-
ing implicated in?
HIcKs-Well, 1 have been mixed up in a |
great many scrapes You will hear all about |
it when my life comes out in pamphlet form.
The pamphlet is to be published for the bene-
fit of my widow, and will be issued III few
days.
Hicks appeared perfectly cool during the
time he made this confession. Sometimes,
however, he was not disposed to answer freely
all the questions put to him by the keeper, and
acted as though he was half sorry that he
made the confession at al"
This coldbooded and deliberate murderer
had no quarrel with the men he killed. His
sole object was to get sum of money, about
$500, which the captain had in his cabin.
1t seems that the fellow has been most I'M
scrupulous and bloody villain nearly the
whole of his life. He confesses this, and ad- |
nts especially that he was one of the mutt
neers and pirates who killed the officers of the
English ship Saladin, and took possession of
her, in 1874. The mutineers quarreed and |
threw their leader overheard. The Saladin
was driven on the coast of New Brunswick,
where some of the scoundres were tried and
hung. Hicks has not yet told how he escaped
on that occasion, nor has he made any other
revelations touching his life of crime, although
he contesses, in a general way, that he has in
the course of his life committed many acts of
violence and bloodshed. He expresses no
hope of escape from the gallows, and there is
no doubt that he will be hung at Bedlow's ISL
and (now called Gibbet Island) on the thir-
teenth day of July.