Part 4
PATRICK MCCAFFREY deposed—I am a deck hand on the Staten Island ferry-boat Southfield; I know the prisoner; I saw him in the gentlemen’s cabin about seven o’clock on the morning of the 21st of March; I was brooming off the cabin; he was sitting down, and he called me over and asked me if I was a judge of this country’s money; that he was afraid them fellows were cheating him; I said I was a pretty good judge of gold and silver, but did not know much of bills; he asked me to count the money; I counted out three or four gold pieces and told him what they were; the bag was a kind of a shot bag; he asked me where the water closet was and I showed him; he told me to mind his canvas bag and he would give me the price of my bitters (identifies the coat); my attention was particularly called to the coat by it being bare in some places and having patches on the elbow.
Mr. DWIGHT asked that the prisoner now put on the coat.
The JUDGE said that he could not compel the prisoner to do so, as it might aid other witnesses for the prosecution, who are now in court and have not yet been examined.
_Examination continued._—Next saw the prisoner in the Second Ward station-house; he denied having ever seen me; I looked all around the station-house, and when I saw him I said, “There’s the man.”
To the COURT.—There were forty or fifty in the station-house; my attention was not directed to him; no one pointed him out to me.
_Cross-examined._—Had never seen him before I saw him on board the Southfield; he had whiskers up to his ears, but no moustache; his whiskers were blacker when I saw him in the station-house than they are now; I have not a doubt about the coat; I can swear positively to it and the man; I cannot swear positively to the shot bag; I was born in Ireland; I am only two years here; I have lived at Staten Island ever since; I have been a coachman, and have been now nearly eighteen months on the ferry-boat; I can’t tell how many passengers were in the ferry-boat that morning.
WILLIAM DRUMM, a lad, deposed that he met the prisoner on a Wednesday morning, about eight o’clock; can’t tell when; met him at the South ferry; it was about the 21st of March; I saw him at a coffee and cake stand at the ferry, kept by Charley McCosten; he got a cup of coffee and a piece of pie; he put down a gold piece, and the man said, “Oh, ——, have you no smaller change than that!” he then gave him something else. I carried Johnson’s bag to the corner of Cedar and Greenwich streets. I asked him fifty cents, and he gave me three shillings, and said if I did not go out of that he would kick me (laughter); there was a Dutchman there who told him two shillings were enough; I pointed out the prisoner on the following Sunday, in the station-house.
_Cross-examined._—I testified before the commissioner that the bag was very heavy and cut my shoulder, and that it did not seem to be filled with clothes; I stated before the commissioner that the prisoner wore a greyish coat; I saw him first at the coffee stand; he wanted a carriage first.
PATRICK BURKE, deposed—I know the prisoner for about three years, by the name of William Johnson; he had a room from me in Cedar street, near Greenwich; the last time I saw him was on the Wednesday before his arrest; I did not remark his dress; he had nothing with him that I saw; I saw him again that day, in my house, about four o’clock; I saw some bills with him that day; I do not know how much; I do not know that he made any change in his clothes or his whiskers; he went away by the boat that evening; he took his wife and child with him; he took some things with him; he left a ship’s instrument (a compass, I think) behind at my house; I had no conversation with him that day more than to bid him the time of the day; he always paid me my rent like an honest man.
_Cross-examined._—I think it was before noon I saw him with the bills in his hands; often saw bills with him before.
CATHARINE BURKE, wife of the last witness, corroborated her husband’s testimony; Johnson did not say anything about what voyage he was going on the last time he went to sea.
_Cross-examined._—I had seen the prisoner with money on previous occasions.
ALBERT S. JAMES, broker, deposed—I saw the prisoner first on Wednesday, the 21st March, at my office in South street; he asked me to take some silver at as low a rate as possible; I had engaged to take some silver from the market, and asked him if he came from there; he said no; the “Cap” was sick; that he came honestly by the money; I changed about $135 in silver, and $35 in gold; it was in a bag and tied up in a handkerchief. (Handkerchief and bag produced.) I think that is like the bag but cannot identify the handkerchief; a man came into the office and the prisoner seemed to hesitate, and did not seem to want to open the bag before the man.
_Q._ What did you give him in exchange for the gold and silver.
_A._ I gave him $130 in Farmers’ and Citizens’ Bank of Williamsburg, Long Island; their denominations were tens, fives, threes and twos; I counted the money; the prisoner did not appear to count the money after me; he did not see how much there was.
RICHARD O’CONOR, cartman, deposed—That he saw the prisoner on the 21st of March, and took his baggage to the Bay State (Fall River boat); the prisoner walked, and I saw him at the boat afterward. He told me if any one inquired where he was going, to tell them it was none of their business. When they were taking the luggage out, a woman asked him where they were going, and he said they were going to Albany to live on a farm.
Witness was not cross-examined.
GEORGE NIVENS, officer of second precinct, deposed—That he understood that a man answering the prisoner’s description had left in the Stonington boat, but traced him to Providence, where he arrested him in a boarding-house. I found the hackman who had conveyed Johnson, and he took me to the house; I found him in bed with his wife; I shook him up and searched him; I found on him a watch; I took away two trunks, two bags, two handkerchiefs, and a knife, a pocket-book, and some bed-clothing, which he claimed to be his. (Identifies the watch, pocket-book, and bags; cannot identify the handkerchiefs.) I found in the pocket-book $121 in bills on the Farmers’ and Citizens’ Bank of Williamsburg, mostly fives and tens; there are some ones; there are also some on the Lee, Huguenot Bank, and City Bank of Brooklyn; when I arrested him first I told him I arrested him for passing counterfeit money; I did not make any statement to him at the station-house in Providence; I believe Mr. Smith did; I brought him to New York next day; he told me that the watch belonged to his brother; he said he had not been in New York or Staten Island during the month of March; that he had been speculating around the market, and had about $60; at another time he said he got the money from his brother; on counting over the money in the pocket-book I found there were $121 in it; when I informed him in the cars of the charge against him, he denied all knowledge of Capt. Burr and the sloop E. A. Johnson.
_Cross-examined._—At the time I had the conversation with him in the cars he was in irons; he did not tell me that he could not read or write.
To Mr. DWIGHT.—When I arrested him in Providence he told me his name was Hicks—Albert W. Hicks.
ELIAS SMITH deposed—That he was with Nivens when he made the arrest.
The COURT.—Are you a police officer?
Witness.—No, sir; I am a reporter of the _Times_.
To Mr. DWIGHT.—The prisoner denied all knowledge of the sloop E. A. Johnson or Captain Burr; he said he had not been in New York for two months; I understood him to convey the idea that he had been in Providence for two months (identifies the watch and pocket-book as those taken from the prisoner in Providence); I cannot identify the clothing; I addressed the prisoner at the station-house, and said to him, “Hicks, you are charged with the murder of three men;” he said nothing; I then changed the language and said to him, “You are charged with imbruing your hands in the blood of three of your fellow men for money;” the prisoner shook his head and said, “I do not know anything about it;” I then said to him, “You have been on board the sloop Edwin A. Johnson;” he shook his head and said he did not know anything about it, and was never on it; Mr. Nivens read the newspaper accounts of the transaction to him; he said he did not care much about the arrest except for the interruption to his business, as he had purchased a place in Providence; I told him he would be identified when he got to New York; he said we might think what we liked; he seemed annoyed at our pressing the subject.
_Cross-examined._—I never found out how much he had paid; I said to him, “If you are innocent, then you are willing to go back to New York?” after hesitating, he assented; Detective Billings, of Providence, was with me when he signed the agreement to come back.
SAMUEL M. DOWNES deposed—I am captain and pilot of the steamtug Sirius; I picked up the sloop E. A. Johnson on the East Bank, near the Romer, about half-past six o’clock in the morning; I brought her to this city, and left her in the river at the foot of Fulton Market; the bowsprit of the sloop was broken off about midway; the jib hung overboard; there was no small boat on board; I boarded the sloop; one of the men of the schooner Telegraph had boarded her about the same time (witness describes the appearance of the sloop on a model produced in court); there were pools of blood on the deck, and the cabin appeared as if some one had been slaughtered there; there were marks of a hand, as if struggling, and then there appeared to be a blow of a hatchet where the hand mark was, as if it was cut; the blood flowed down to the scuppers; there were evidences of a scuffle; there was a mark of a foot in the blood, as if some person with a boot or a shoe had stepped in it; the appearance of the blood from the companionway seemed as if some person had been dragged from there and thrown overboard; there was some hair found in the pool of blood forward; it was dark brown hair; I did not remove the hair or anything on board; I brought her to New York; arrived about half-past ten o’clock at the foot of Fulton Market, and gave her up to Captain Weed of the Second Precinct.
_Cross-examined_, but nothing material was elicited.
_Re-direct examination._—The wind was blowing north-northwest, which would bring the sloop out to sea.
HART B. WEED, examined by Mr. DWIGHT, deposed—I am captain of the Second District police; I examined the clothes brought by Nivens from Providence; there were coat, pants, vest, and some flannel clothing contained in a bag used for feed; the clothes produced—coat, vest, and pantaloons—are those given to me by Officer Nivens; there was also a hat (several other articles of clothing produced); these were either found in the trunk or the bag; I recollect finding a daguerreotype in the trunk or bag (produces it); I sealed it up and gave it to the clerk of this court. (The daguerreotype is of a young lady, and is said to be that of the sweetheart of one of the Wattses.) I was at the station-house when the prisoner was brought there; he said he knew nothing about it; I asked him if he knew anything about the vessel or the murder, and he said “No; he knew nothing about it, and had not been in New York, Staten Island, or Long Island for some time; Dr. Bonton, the coroner’s assistant, accompanied me to the sloop; we found a lock of brown hair—human hair—lying partially in a pool of blood on the deck; I gave the hair to the Assistant District Attorney; it was sealed up in the manner of this package produced; I cannot now swear that this is the hair; it was then clotted with blood; I also found hair on the coffee-pot in the cabin; I gave that to you (Mr. Dwight); (another package produced) this is the hair found on the coffee-pot; the blood had the appearance as if a person lay down and the blood flowed at each side.”
The cabin had a great deal of blood and had the appearance of being washed down; I found a bucket, with a rope, which appeared to be used in taking up water; I found a broom there; there was blood and hair on the rope attached to the bucket; sails and other things had been removed out; there were holes bored in the deck; we found an auger with blood on it; the auger fitted the holes in the deck; the coffee-pot was lying behind the stove, it seemed to be bruised; there was hair on it; we searched under the companionway and found a lead line there; we found some secret drawers; I saw the valise that was identified here yesterday in the cabin of the sloop; we found spots of blood on the ceiling of the cabin, and on each side of the door, as if a person had been drawn out of it; there were three cuts on the ceiling, which appeared to have been done with a sharp instrument; we found cuts on the clothing of the captain’s berth; the railing had the appearance as if a hand was on it and had been cut; we saw marks which seemed as if a person with bloody clothing had been shoved down the side of the vessel; there was blood on the stove and wood in the cabin; the cabin was in a deranged condition; I received some tackle from Captain Nickerson, which consisted of some of the gearing of the vessel; I took them down with one of my men, who had been a sailor, and we found they corresponded with the bowsprit of the Johnson.
_Cross-examined_ (a shirt and linen coat produced).—These are the clothing we found in the captain’s berth with cuts on them; there was no blood on them nor on the bed; they had the appearance of being clean and folded up; I partially examined the prisoner to see if there were any marks on him; I found no fresh marks of violence on him; I lifted his shirt and looked at his body; I looked at his arms; I saw the figure of an eagle printed in India ink. I saw no other marks on his arm.
The hour of adjournment having arrived, the Court adjourned to ten o’clock Wednesday morning.
THIRD DAY.
The court was densely crowded at an early hour.
THEODORE BURDETT, examined by Mr. Dwight, deposed, that he is a policeman belonging to the harbor police; I found a boat about seven o’clock on Thursday, the 22d of March, the day after the sloop was brought up to the city; I found the boat fifty yards to the southward of Fort Richmond; Hickbert and Gresler (the two witnesses) gave me information where I could find the boat; I saw the hostler of the fort; he gave me the oars and half an old boot, and a piece of an old stump of a broom; I went to the sloop and found Mr. Selah Howell, the owner; I showed him the boat as it lay at the slip; he claimed it, and took it away.
To the JUDGE.—This was at the police station.
SAMUEL J. CONOVER deposed—I am a watchmaker, doing business with Mr. Squire, No. 182 Bowery; I remember repairing a watch about a year ago for a person named Burr; it was on the 6th of April, a year ago; it was not Mr. Burr himself who brought it; it was left by a gentleman whom I saw in the court yesterday; the person who left it took it away I presume; it was a double case silver watch; the maker’s name J. Johnson, and the number 21,310. (Looks at the watch.) This is the watch that I repaired; I do not know the guard; I don’t know that I ever saw Capt. Burr.
_Cross-examined._—In giving a description of the watch and its number I am aided by a record which we keep at the store; I am pretty sure I made the record before it was repaired; the record is in my handwriting. (The witness was requested to send for the record.)
HART B. WEED, recalled, deposed—That the dark hair produced is what I found in the cabin; this other (the light hair) I found forward of the mast, on the deck in a pool of blood. (Witness here selected and showed out the clothes brought from Providence in the trunk and bag.) I have now a bag in my hand in addition to the things produced yesterday; the contents were taken out of a green chest brought by the officers from Providence.
_Cross-examined._—I cannot enumerate all the articles found; I did not find any jewelry; I do not know if any one took a list or description of the articles.
_Re-direct examination._—I now recollect that I found the daguerreotype produced yesterday (of a young lady) in the breast pocket of this coat, (a dark frock coat).
HENRY SEAMAN deposed—I reside in Brooklyn; I was acquainted with Capt. Burr for fourteen or fifteen years; I saw him on the Tuesday before he left; I know Capt. Burr’s watch; I had it in my hand on the Tuesday; it was at my house, and he (Capt. Burr) took it away that evening; I recollect leaving Capt. Burr’s watch to be repaired at some store in the Bowery, a year ago last April; I did not go after it again; I know it by its general appearance, and by the guard, and the way the guard is knotted; I knew the sloop Johnson, and its yawl boat; I saw the yawl boat at the police station after the sloop had been towed in to the city; it was on the 22d or 23d of March last; saw the yawl boat on the sloop the time she was here before the last trip; I do not know the prisoner; Captain Burr was a man of about five feet seven or five feet eight inches in height. I found the ship’s papers in the cabin, at the head of the captain’s birth; I gave them to Captain Weed, of the Second Ward station; I knew the Watts boys; Oliver was about five feet nine or ten, and weighed about 180 or 185 pounds; he was the light-haired one; Smith Watts was taller, and weighed about 175 pounds; I do not know Smith Watts’ writing.
_Cross-examined._—I had the watch in my hand probably fifteen or twenty minutes; it was on the Tuesday before the Thursday that he sailed; I don’t think I said before the Commissioner that it was the Tuesday week before he sailed; I do not know why I took the watch in my hand; I had no idea that I should be called on to identify it; I left it at Mr. Squire’s store to be repaired; I did not go for the watch; I remember the number of the watch, 21,310; the number was marked down on the boom of my cart by Captain Burr when he gave it to me at foot of Spring street; I did not state that fact before; I have since sold the cart; Captain Burr’s wife and my wife are sisters.
To Mr. DWIGHT—Captain Burr carried the watch for four or five years.
Mr. CONOVER—(recalled and produces the record).—It is as follows:
+---------------------------------------------------+ | MR. BURR | | D. B. Silver watch, | | J. Johnson, Liverpool, 21,310. | | Dld. | +---------------------------------------------------+
_To prisoner’s counsel._—I can’t say to whom I delivered the watch; my impression is that I delivered it to the gentleman who left it, but I am not certain; it was there about a week.
CATHERINE DICKERSON, a girl about seventeen years of age, deposed: I knew Oliver Watts; I saw him last on the Tuesday of the week he sailed; I do not know the date; I gave him my daguerreotype.
Mr. GRAVES objected to this testimony.
The COURT said he deemed the evidence was proper and important; it had been proved that a daguerreotype was found in a coat, and if the prosecution can prove that that coat belonged to young Watts, and that this is the daguerreotype this witness gave him, it will go far to connect the prisoner with the transaction on board that sloop. The Court thought the evidence not only eminently proper, but very material and important testimony.
_Witness continued._—When I gave him the daguerreotype he put it in his coat pocket; I saw that coat since in the District Attorney’s office (coat produced in which Captain Weed found the daguerreotype); I think this is his coat and this the pocket he put it in; he then jumped into the cars (daguerreotype produced); this is the same one I gave him; I don’t remember any of the other clothes of Oliver but the coat.
_Cross-examined._—The coat was shown me in the District Attorney’s office; they showed me one coat and asked me if it was Oliver’s, and I said not; they then showed me the other, and I said it was Oliver’s; I identify it from the yellow lining in the sleeves, and the cloth being worn off the button; it was on the sidewalk, right by the cars, I gave Oliver my daguerreotype.
HARRIET ROBINSON (mother of the last witness)—My former husband’s name was Dickerson; I knew Oliver Watts for three or four years; he used to stay at my house when home from sea; he had not all his clothes when at my house last; he had a pair of pants which he took away with him; he wore on that Tuesday his best coat; I should suppose this (the coat in which Captain Weed found the daguerreotype) to be the coat; I know it from the lining, etc.; he said he gave $16 for it; the other I think was his every day coat.
_Cross-examined._—Nothing material elicited.
ABBEY HUBBARD deposed—My first husband’s name was Watts; I am the mother of Smith Watts; the last time I saw him was on the 7th of March; he started to go with Captain Burr to Virginia (identifies a portion of the clothes belonging to her son, Smith Watts); I patched this shirt myself; this bag has the initials of my present husband, Lorenzo Hubbard, on it; I put my son’s clothes in it that morning myself; I knew the shirts; I cut them myself, and had them sewed; he was very large, and could not get shirts to fit him; I cut them in the old fashioned way myself; I have had no tidings of him since, only that I suppose he was murdered. (Sensation in court.)
_Cross-examined._—I reside at Islip; I am not any relation of Captain Burr’s family, but I was acquainted with him for fourteen or fifteen years.
_Re-direct examination._—Witness exhibited further signs in stitches and patches, by which she positively identified her son Smith Watts’ shirt; the pantaloons have a new pocket, which I put in, as he had worn out the other one; all those things that I have identified my son took away with him in the bag which has my husband’s initials on it.
The cross-examination was a mere repetition of her direct testimony.
To Mr. DWIGHT—(Handkerchief produced by officer Nivens, shown to witness)—This was Smith Watts’ handkerchief; I have washed and done it up for him for two years, and never saw one like it.
Mrs. HUBBARD, who gave her testimony clearly, and maintained her self-possession on the witness stand, burst into tears, and continued to weep for some time after she retired from the body of the court.