The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1860-06-08
Rireluunn 4ispatft,..
MORNING IrrNr . ,s.o

AuglAuHu p1SratrD.
FRIDAY MORNING JUNE 9. ,sso
~
Confession sf Murderer.
The telegraph has stated that Albert W
Hicks alias johnson. now In prison at Nev
xofE, Tor the murder Of Capt. Burr and the
swo brosAsrs Watts, ON the sloop E. A. John !.
son, bound from NsW York for Vireini.. "a.
confessed the deed. The confession wa. ma.I.
on Tuesday evening, to turnkey OF the pri.
son. The Tribune says:
He says that between 9 and 10 o,clock At
night, when about fifty miles out at go he
commenced hi. bloody work. The Captain
the Watts boys was also sIeeDinr halow "
HICKS ana th0 other Watts were on deck. the
latter being on the look .out In the bow. The
murderer came up behind the unsuspectinr
probably handspike, dealt him deadly blow
upon the head. His victim fell upon the deck
ano was there pounded and beaten until life
The noise made ON deck in executing this
murder alarmed the brother of the murdered
man, who was sleeping directly beneath their
Iees AND ne came rushing on deck. Scarcely
Sau 5as mead appeared above the companion
natcn Wnen the murderer struck him also
upon the head with his deadly weapon. and
ne too, fell insensible to the deck He was
tnen dispatched In the same manner as his
hfother had been. Captain Burr had not vet
been disturbed, but was still quietly sieepine
10 his cabin, wholly unsuspcious of the
bloody scenes that were being enacted on
board his vessel. Hicks proceeded immedi-
ately 70 the cabin, where he made an assault
upon Captain Burr. His deadly work was
not In this instance performed in so sure and
sudden q manner. The first blow dealt the
captain only served to arouse him to a sense
OF mis- DANCE and he instantly sprang up and
grappled with the sssassin. The struggle was
long and terrible one, but Hicks. being
armed. and the most powerful man of the
two, eventually overcame the Captain, and
sncceeded in killing him. Hicks says that the
Captain made good fight, and might have
succeeded In OverpOwering him had be been
armed. but his physical strength alone was
his formidable weapons.
Inc bodies were permitted to lie where they
had fallen, while the perpetrator of this triple
murder ransacked the vessel for the pallry
| commit the crime. After the lapse of an hour
or 50, the sioop being then well out to sea, the
BODIES were thrown overheard by Hicks
When the vessel was brought back to this
port there were marks of blood and several
cuts on the gunwale of the sloop, as if the
| murdered men had grasped there in their
| struggle while being thrown overheard. and
| the murderer had cut their hands and let them
into the sea. This, Hicks says, was not the
case, as the bodies lay on deck q long time at
ter life was extinct. On being asked how he
leit while alone on the sloop, far at sea, at
| midnight, with his dead victims lying at his
feet he replied that there were Ave on Board
l himself, three dead persons, and the devil
made the fifth. Then, he says, he felt well
enough bnt now, after having been with him
ali bis life, the devil has deserted him. and he
feels very bad. He had heard that one OF the
| bodies b d been washed ashore, and asked il
that were 60. The keeper told him that such
| was reported 10 be tue tact. Hicks replied
! that he would not believe it, for he took pains
| TO bury them far out at sea- where there was
little prospect of their appearing against him
Reference has heretofore been made in the
Tribune as to the probability of Hicks having
been implicated in the mutiny on board the
bark Saladin, in 1874, which resulted in the
| murder OF six OF the crew Of that vessel and
subseq quently of the chief instigator OF the
mutiny and his son.
Hicks confesses to having been one of the
muiineers on board the bark Saladin, in lei4
but how he escaped the penalty Of the crime
he does not state. His life, he says, has beer
Is now convinced that th7 end has been reach
ed He appears perfectly quietin his cell, ano
is orderly and we'll behaved. Marshal Ryn
ders, In whose custody he is, has refused II
allow any OF the reporters of the daily pres!
to visit him; but has consented that phono
graphic reporter, not of the press, may si
with MIN, tor the purpose of preparing, frou
his own lips, history Of his life for publica
ton, for the benefit of his wife. The con
| demned man has begged that his wife may b
permitted to visit him twice q week in his cell
for the purpose of reading the Bible to him
(being himself unable to ready and admins
| ter TO him the consultations Of religion, SO ia
as is in her power. Application to this effec1
and also that he may be furnished at Govern
ment expense such food as he may desire, ha
been made to the Marshal; but whether b
has consented or not, we do not know. Yes
terday afternoon his wife went to see him
but was obliged to converse with him throng
the grated door. She then went to Marsha
Rynder's Office, and, we believe, obtained
| permit to 90 inside her huskandi cell Th
condemned man expresses no hope of escapin
his impending doom, but expects to walk I
| the scafold on the 18th Of next month, at Gil
bet (Bedlow's) Island.