Evening star., 1932-10-09
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.

Grim souvenirs of blind justice and
in the law division Of the Library of
Congress.
Contemporary printed copies of
transcripts of the trials of Charles the
First, the judges who condemned him
to the Scaffold and were condemned in
turn, Sir Walter Raleigh, and Capt. Will
liam Kidd, the pirate. are among the
age-yellowed volumes found in search
for material for an exhibit before the
American Bar Association, this week
Some of these are believed to be
unique records of these famous trials.
Transcript of Kidd Trial.
One of the strangest items found
in the collection is printed copy, pub
lished in 1902, of the court transcript
of the arrangement. tryal and con-
demnation of Capt. William Kidde for
murther and piracy upon six several
indictments at the admiralty
held by his majesty'S commissioners at
the Old Bailey on the eighth and
ninth of May, 17O1. and also the tryals
of Michael Churchill, James Howe,
Robert Lamley, William Jenkins. Go
Dlltl iOll, I1uSll dIlOl, Dbl
corn, Abel Owens and Darby Mullens
al the same time and place for piracy"
At tie end of the tWo-day trial, as
the record reads the jurors for our
sovereign lord the King do upon their
oath present that William Kidde, late
of London, mariner, not having the
fear of God before his eyes, but being
moved and seduced by the instigation
of the Devil, the 30the day of October in
the ninth year of the reign of our Sow
ereign Lord the King, William the
Third, with certain wooden bucket
bound with iron hoops of the value of
eight pence, which he the said Will
liam Kidde. then and there had and
held in his right hand. did violently fe-
loniously. voluntarily and of his malice
aforethought, beat and strike the afore-
said William Moore on the right part Of
the head of him, the aforesaid William
Moore. above the right right ear of the
aforesaid William Moore. on the
one and thirtieth day of October.
near the aforesaid coast of Malabar. in
the East Indies aforesaid, in the ship
aforesaid called the Adventure Galley,
within the jurisdiction of the Admiralty
of England aforesaid. did die"
Kidd and his companions also were
tried at the same time for five alleged
cases of piracy. but the evidence Of
fered was rather inconclusive. The
dreaded scourge of the Indian Ocean
was convicted beyond question. how
ever, of killing the sailor with "the GER
tain wooden bucket of the value of
eight pence"
Puritan Judges Scored.
The transcript of the trial of Charles
is an even greater curiosity. 1t was
printed in 1854. during the reign of
Charles H. Evidently the procedure of
the actual trial was reproduced from
the long-lost manuscript record. but the
royalist editor adorned it with vitu-
perative comments on the Puritan
judges, as may be judged from the title
page:
"A true copy of the journal of the
high court of justice for the tryal of
King Charles I, as it was read in the
House Of Commons and attested under
the hands of Phelps, clerk of that in
famous court
Appended to the journal are eye
witness details of the execution of the
monarch which concludes with the
paragraph:
His blood was taken up by divers
persons for different ends; by some as
trophies of their villainy, by others as
relics of a martyr, and in some hath 1t
the same effect produced by the bless