Year: 1860




The telegraph has stated that Albert w. Hicks
alas johnson, now in prison at New York, for
the murder of Capt. Burr and the two brothers
Watts, on the sloop E, A. johnson, bound from
New York for Virginia, has confessed the deed
The confession made on Tuesday evening, to
turnkey of the prison. The Tribune says:


He says that between 9 and 10 o'clock at night,
when about fifty miles out at sea, he commenced
his bloody work. The Captain sleeping be-
low in the cabin, and one of tie Watts boys was
also sleeping below. Hicks and the other Watts
were on deck, the latter being on the lookout In
the bow. The murderer came up behind the un-
suspectng young man, and with some heavy weap-
on, probably hanGspike dealt him a deadly blow
upon the head His victim fell upon the deck,
and was there pounded and beaten until dead.


The noise made on deck in executing this mur-
der alarmed the brother of the murdered man. who
was sleeping directly beneath their feet, and he
came rushing on deck. Scarcely had his head
appeared above the companion hatch when the
murderer struck him also on the head with his
deadly weapon, and he too, fell insensible to the
deck. He was then dispatched in the same man
ner as his brother had been. Captain Burr had
not yet been disturbed but was still quietly sleep
ing in his cabin, wholly unsuspcious of the bloody
scenes that were being enacted on board his vessel
Hicks proceeded immediately to the cabin, where
he made assault upon Captain Burr His deadly
work not in 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 long and
terrible one but Hicks, being armed and the most
powerful of the two, eventually oyercame the cap
tain, and succeeded in killing him. Hicks says
that the Captain made good fight, and might
have succeeded in oyerpowering him had he been
hI,t r,h-c alctro az
sufficient to cope with the murderer and his for
midable weapons


The bodies permitted to lie where they
had fallen, while the perIerator of this triple MUIR
der ransacked the vessel for the paltry sum of
money which had instigated him to commit the
crime. After the lapse of hour or so, the sloop
being well out at 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 the gunwale of the soop,
as if the murdered men had grasped there in their
struggle while being thrown overheard, and the
murderer bad cut their hands and let them into
the sea, This, says Hicks, was not the case, as
the bodies lay on deck long time after life was
extinct. On being asked how he felt while alone
on the soop, far at sea, at midnight. with his dead
victims lying at his feet, he replied that there
were five persons on board-himself, three dead
persons, and the devil made the fifth. Then, he
says, he felt well enough; but now after having
been with him all his life, the devil has deserted
him, and he feels very bad He had heard that
one of the bodies had been washed ashore and
asked if that were so. The keeper told him that
such reported to be the fact. 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 as to the
probability of Hicks having been implicated in the
mutiny on board the bark Saladin, in 1874, which
resulted in the mmder of six of the crew of that
vessel and subsequently of the chief instigator of
the mutiny and his SON.


Hicks confesses to have been one of the mutt
neers on board the lark Saadin, in 1844 but how
be escaped the penalty of the crime he does not
state. His life, he says, has been one long scene
Of crime and bloodshed, but he is now convinced
that the end has been reached