Chapter CXXIII (2)

"I then went to the stern," &c. This period of time of going to the stern of the launch, was immediately after this Wales had detected persons making signs to the prisoners by putting their hands to their chins, and when he told Cromwell if he saw any more signs between them he should put him to death. It was instantly after this detection and threat, and of course at a time when this purser's steward was in a good mood to see signs and kill, that he had this vision of the handspike: but he happens to swear that he does not know with what intent the attempt to pull it out was made. Far from seeing, as the commander did when he wrote the report, that the design to fell him was evident, he does not know what the design was at all; but he gives us a glimpse at the inside of his own heart, when he swears that he would blow out the brains of Wilson if he saw him again attempting to pull out the handspike, when he did not know what it was for. Here is a murderous design attributed to Wilson on an incident with Wales, in which Wales himself saw no design of any kind; and thus, upon his direct examination, and in the narrative of his testimony, he convicts the commander of a cruel and groundless misstatement. But proceed to the cross-examination: the judge advocate required him to tell the distance between himself and Wilson when the handspike was being pulled by Wilson? He answered forty feet, more or less! and so this witness who had gone to the stern of the launch, was forty feet from that stern when he got there.

2. _Missing their muster._--"McKinley, Green, and others, missed
their musters. Others of the implicated also missed their
musters. I could not contemplate this growth of disaffection
without serious uneasiness. Where was this thing to end?
Each new arrest of prisoners seemed to bring a fresh set of
conspirators forward to occupy the first place."

The point of this is the missing the musters; and of these the men themselves give this account, in reply to questions from the judge advocate:

"It was after the arrest (of Spencer), me and McKee (it is
McKinley speaks) turned in and out with one another when the
watch was called: we made a bargain in the first of the cruise
to wake one another up when the watches were called. I came up
on deck, awaked by the noise of relieving guards, 15 minutes too
late, and asked McKee why he did not call me? He told me that
the officer would not let him stir: that they were ordered to
lie down on the deck, and when he lay down he fell asleep, and
did not wake up: that was why I missed my muster, being used to
be waked up by one another."

Such is the natural account, veracious upon its face, which McKinley gives for missing, by 15 minutes, his midnight muster, and which the commander characterized as a lame excuse, followed by immediate punishment, and a confirmed suspicion of mutiny and piracy. All the others who missed musters had their excuses, true on their face, good in their nature, and only varying as arising from the different conditions of the men at the time.

3. _The African knife sign._--"In his sail-bag (Wilson's) was
found an African knife of an extraordinary shape--short, and
gradually expanding in breadth, sharp on both sides. It was of
no use for any honest purpose. It was only fit to kill. It had
been secretly sharpened, by his own confession, the day before
with a file to a perfect edge."

The history of this knife, as brought out before the court-martial was this (McKinley, the witness):

"I was ashore on the coast of Africa--I believe it was at
Monrovia that I went ashore, I having no knife at the time. I
went ashore there, and saw one of the natives with a knife. I
spoke to Mr. Heiskill (the purser) about buying it for me. He
sent me aboard the brig (Somers) with some things in the second
cutter. When I came back Warner had bought the knife I looked
at, and Mr. Heiskill bought an African dirk instead of that, and
gave it to me. I came on board with the knife, and wore it for
two or three days. Wilson saw it, and said he wanted to buy it
as a curiosity to take to New York. I would not let him have it
then. I went up on the topgallant yard, and it nearly threw me
off. It caught in some of the rigging. When I came down, I told
Wilson he might have it for one dollar. He promised to give a
dollar out of the first grog money, or the first dollar he could
get."

So much for this secret and formidable weapon in the history of its introduction to the ship--coming through the purser Heiskill, one of the supporters of Commander Mackenzie in all the affairs of these hangings--given as a present to McKinley, a cot-boy, _i. e._ who made up the cots for the officers, who had been a waiter at Howard's Hotel (N. Y.), and who was a favorite in the ship's crew. As for the uses to which it could only be put--no honest use, and only fit to kill--it was proved to be in current use as a knife, cutting holes in hammocks, shifting their numbers, &c.

4. _The battle-axe alarm._--"He had begun also to sharpen his
battle-axe with the same assistant (the file): one part of it he
had brought to an edge."

The proof was the knife and the battle-axe were publicly sharpened as often as needed, and that battle-axes, like all other arms, were required to be kept in perfect order; and that, sharp and shining was their desired condition. Every specified sign of guilt was cleared up before the court-martial--one only excepted; and the mention of that was equally eschewed by each party. It was the sign of music from the luxated jaw! Both parties refrained from alluding to that sign on the trial--one side from shame, the other from pity. Yet it was gravely reported to the Secretary of the Navy as fact, and as a means of seducing the crew. Returning to generalities, the informer Wales, presents himself prominently on this day--this 29th of November, memorable for its resolves; and groups a picture which was to justify all that was to be done in two days more, and of which the initiation and preliminary steps were then taken.

"The crew still continued very much dissatisfied, grumbling
the whole time. The master-at-arms was sick at the time, and I
attended to his duties, and had charge of the berth deck. Their
manner was so insulting that I had to bring three or four up for
punishment (with the cat-and-nine-tails.) The dissatisfaction
continued to increase (this was the 30th I think), and continued
till the execution took place, when I noticed a marked change in
their manner: those who were the most unruly and insolent were
the first to run and obey an order: they seemed to anticipate
an order."--"Before that, an order had to be given two or three
times before it was executed, and when they did execute it, they
would go growling along, as though they did not care whether it
was done or not. They went slow."

This swearing of Wales tallies with the report of the commander in bringing the mutiny up to the bursting point on the 29th of November. That was a point necessary to be reached, as it will be seen hereafter, and to be reached on that day. There was one other point necessary to be made out, and that was, the mutiny was to break forth before they arrived at the island of St. Thomas, as at that place the mutineers could be landed, or transhipped, and so the whole thing evaporate. They were now within less than four days of that island. Spencer had bet just before they would be there in eight days--a bet which seemed to say that he had no thought of preventing her from arriving there. But it was now necessary to have the mutiny to take place before they got to that island: and this essential point was established by Wales, by an addition to his previous testimony fixing that point. This addition to his testimony caused an inquiry to be put to him by the judge advocate before the court: "When did you first swear that Mr. Spencer told you that the mutiny would break out shortly before your arrival at St. Thomas?" Answer: "At the examination of officers, and of men by the officers. I forget what day, but I think it was on the 30th of November." This was corroborated in the view of the commander by the fortune-telling of the young Rodgers' fate--to die suddenly, i.e. in the mutiny before they got to St. Thomas, without adding the remainder of the prediction, that he was to die a gambler; and without adding the essential fact, that Spencer had a bet that she would arrive there by a given day.

On the 30th day of November, at nine o'clock in the morning, a letter was delivered by the commander to Lieutenant Gansevoort, Surgeon Leecock and Purser Heiskill, and four midshipmen, stating the dangers of the ship, and calling upon them to enlighten the commander with their opinion as to what should be done with Spencer, Small and Cromwell. The letter was not addressed to any of the acting midshipmen, the reason why being thus stated: "Though they had done men's duty in the late transaction, they were still boys: their opinion could add but little force to that of the other officers: it would have been hard, at their early age, to call upon them to say whether three of their fellow-creatures should live or die." So reasoned the commander with respect to the acting midshipmen. It would seem that the same reasoning should have excused the four midshipmen on whom this hard task was imposed. The letter was delivered at 9 o'clock in the morning: the nominated officers met in (what was called) a council: and proceeded immediately to take, what they called testimony, to be able to give the required opinion. Thirteen seamen were examined, under oath--an extra-judicial oath of no validity in law, and themselves punishable at common law for administering it: and this testimony written down in pencil on loose and separate slips of paper--the three persons whose lives were to be passed upon, having no knowledge of what was going on. Purser Heiskill being asked on the court-martial, why, on so important occasion pen and ink was not used, answered, he did not know--"that there were no lawyers there:" as if lawyers were necessary to have pen and ink used. The whole thirteen, headed by Wales, swore to a pattern: and such swearing was certainly never heard before, not even in the smallest magistrate's court, and where the value of a cow and calf was at stake: hearsays, beliefs, opinions; preposterous conclusions from innocent or frivolous actions: gratuitous assumptions of any fact wanted: and total disregard of every maxim which would govern the admissibility of evidence. Thus:

HENRY KING: "Believed the vessel was in danger of being taken
by them: thinks Cromwell the head man: thinks they have been
engaged in it ever since they left New York: thinks if they
could get adrift, there would be danger of the vessel being
taken: thinks Spencer, Small, Cromwell and Wilson were the
leaders: thinks if Golderman and Sullivan could get a party
among the crew now that they would release the prisoners and
take the vessel, and that they are not to be trusted."--CHARLES
STEWART: "Have seen Cromwell and Spencer talking together
often--talking low: don't think the vessel safe with these
prisoners on board: this is my deliberate opinion from what I've
heard King, the gunner's mate, say (that is) that he had heard
the boys say that there were spies about: I think the prisoners
have friends on board who would release them if they got a
chance. I can't give my opinion as to Cromwell's character: I
have seen him at the galley getting a cup of coffee now and
then."--CHARLES ROGERS: "I believe Spencer gave Cromwell 15
dollars on the passage to Madeira--Cromwell showed it to me and
said Spencer had given it to him. If we get into hard weather
I think it will be hard to look out for all the prisoners: I
believe if there are any concerned in the plot, it would not
be safe to go on our coast in cold or bad weather with the
prisoners: I think they would rise and take the vessel: I think
if Cromwell, Small, and Spencer were disposed of, our lives
would be much safer. Cromwell and Small understand navigation:
these two are the only ones among the prisoners capable of
taking charge of the vessel."--ANDREW ANDERSON: "Have seen
Spencer and Cromwell often speaking together on the forecastle,
in a private way: never took much notice: I think it's plain
proof they were plotting to take this vessel out of the hands
of her officers: from the first night Spencer was confined, and
from what I heard from my shipmates, I suspected that they were
plotting to take the vessel: I think they are safe from here to
Saint Thomas (West Indies), but from thence home I think there
is great danger on account of the kind of weather on the coast,
and squalls."--OLIVER B. BROWNING: "I would not like to be on
board the brig if he (Cromwell) was at large: I do not bear him
any ill will: I do not know that he bears me any ill will: I do
not think it safe to have Cromwell, Spencer and Small on board:
I believe that if the men were at their stations taking care of
the vessel in bad weather, or any other time when they could
get a chance, they would try and capture the vessel if they
could get a chance: to tell you God Almighty's truth, I believe
some of the cooks about the galley, I think they are the main
backers."--H. M. GARTY: "Believes Spencer, Small and Cromwell
were determined on taking the brig: he supposes to turn pirates
or retake slavers: on or about the 11th of October heard Spencer
say the brig could be taken with six men: I think there are some
persons at large who would voluntarily assist the prisoners if
they had an opportunity: thinks if the prisoners were at large
the brig would certainly be in great danger: thinks there are
persons adrift yet who would, if any opportunity offered, rescue
the prisoners: thinks the vessel would be safer if Cromwell,
Spencer, and Small were put to death."--GEORGE W. WARNER: "Have
seen Cromwell and Spencer sitting together frequently: have
heard Spencer ask Cromwell what sort of a slaver this vessel
would make? he replied, he thought she would make a nice slaver:
have no doubt he had joined Spencer in the project of taking
this vessel: thinks Cromwell would have taken the vessel to the
north west coast: Cromwell was in a slaver and taken a year
since at Cuba: has seen Spencer give Cromwell cigars: thinks
Cromwell deserves to be hung: thinks he is the most dangerous
man in the ship: if I had my way I would hang him."--VAN VELSON:
"A good while since Spencer said he would like to have a ship
to go to the north-west coast: Cromwell and him was thick:
should think Cromwell meant to join Spencer to take this vessel:
Spencer thought he could raise money to get a ship. My reason
for thinking that Cromwell meant to join Spencer in taking
this vessel, is because I have frequently seen them in close
conversation."

The drift of all this swearing was to show that the men ought not only to be put to death, but immediately, to prevent a rescue, and before they got to St. Thomas, and to make an excuse for not bringing them to the United States, pleading the difficulty to guard them in bad weather on the coast of the United States. (Among the persons examined, and one of those who "thinks the vessel would be safer if Cromwell, Spencer, and Small were put to death," was one Garty--Sergeant Michael H. Garty--who will be especially noticed hereafter.) The examination of these persons, though commenced immediately on receiving the commander's letter, was not finished until nine o'clock of the next morning, December the first; and then upon the pressing application of Gansevoort (who was absent much of the time), and telling the council that the commander was waiting for it. The answer was soon prepared, and delivered, declaring Spencer, Cromwell, and Small to be guilty of mutiny according to the evidence which had come to their knowledge, and that they were leagued with others still at large; and then goes on to say--"We are convinced that it would be impossible to carry them to the United States, and that the safety of the public property, the lives of ourselves, and of those committed to our charge, require that (giving them sufficient time to prepare) they should be put to death in a manner best calculated to make a beneficial impression upon the disaffected." And this recommendation was signed by the whole seven to whom the commander's letter had been addressed--among them two names illustrious in the annals of our navy. The heart grieves over that view, but draws a veil over the names, and absolves the boys from the guilt of the transaction. We know the power of the quarter deck. The midshipman must be born a Cato, or a Macon (and such men are only born once in ages) to be able to stand up against the irresistible will of that deck. History refuses to see these boys as agents in the transaction. Mackenzie, Gansevoort, Leecock and Heiskill, are the persons with whom she deals.

The narrative, thus far following the commander's report, is here suspended for the purpose of bringing in some circumstances not related in that report, and which came out before the court-martial; and the relation of which is due to the truth of history. 1. That the three persons whose lives were thus passed upon were, during this whole time, lying on the deck in their multiplied irons, and tied up in strong tarpaulin bags, wholly unconscious of any proceeding against them, and free from fear of death, as they had been made to understand by the commander that they were to be brought home to the United States for trial; and who reported that to have been his first intention. 2. While this examination was going on, and during the first day of it, Gansevoort (the head of the council) went to Spencer (telling him nothing of his object), for the purpose of getting proofs of his guilt, to be used against him whereof he got none; and thus tells his errand in answer to a question before the court-martial: "I am under the impression it was the 30th (of November), for the purpose of his proving more clearly his guilt. I took him the paper (razor-case paper), that he might translate it so I could understand it. My object was to obtain from him an acknowledgment of his guilt." 3. That it had been agreed among the upper officers two days before that, if any more prisoners were made, the three first taken should suffer immediate death on account of the impossibility of guarding more than they had. This dire conclusion came out upon question and answer, from one of the midshipmen who was in the council. "Had you any discussion on the 28th of November, as to putting the three prisoners to death?" Answer: "I don't recollect what day Gansevoort asked me my opinion, if it became necessary to make more prisoners, if we should be able to guard them? I told him no." "Did you _then_ give it as your opinion that Cromwell, Small, and Spencer should be put to death?" Answer: "Yes, sir." Four more officers of the council were ascertained to have been similarly consulted at the same time, and to have answered in the same way: so that the deaths of the three men were resolved upon two days before the council was established to examine witnesses, and enlighten the commander with their opinions. 4. That it had been resolved that, if more prisoners were taken, the three already in the bags must be put to death; and, accordingly, while the council was sitting, and in the evening of their session, and before they had reported an opinion, four more arrests were made: so that the condition became absolute upon which the three were to die before the council had finished their examination.

This is, perhaps, the first instance in the annals of military or naval courts, in which the commander fixed a condition on which prisoners were to be put to death--which condition was to be an act of his own, unknown to the prisoners, but known to the court, and agreed to be acted upon before it was done: and which was done and acted upon!

These are four essential circumstances, overlooked by the commander in his report, but brought out upon interrogatories before the court. The new arrests are duly reported by the commander. They were: Wilson, Green, McKinley, McKee. The commander tells how the arrests were made. "These individuals were made to sit down as they were taken, and when they were ironed, I walked deliberately round the battery, followed by the first lieutenant; and we made together a very careful inspection of the crew. Those who (though known to be very guilty) were considered to be the least dangerous, were called out and interrogated: care was taken not to awaken the suspicions of such as from courage and energy were really formidable, unless it were intended to arrest them. Our prisoners now amounted to seven, filling up the quarter deck, and rendering it very difficult to keep them from communicating with each other, interfering essentially with the management of the vessel." This is the commander's account of the new arrests, but he omits to add that he bagged them as fast as taken and ironed; and as that bagging was an investment which all the prisoners underwent, and an unusual and picturesque (though ugly) feature in the transaction, an account will be given of it in the person of one of the four, which will stand for all. It is McKinley who gives it, and who was bagged quite home to New York, and became qualified, to give his experience of these tarpaulin sacks, both in the hot region of the tropics and the cold blasts of the New York latitude in the dead of winter. Question by the judge advocate: "When were you put in the bags?" Answer: "After the examination and before we got to St. Thomas." "How were the bags put on you?" Answer: "They were laid on deck, and we got into them as well as we could, feet foremost." "Was your bag ever put over your head?" Answer: "Yes, sir. The first night it was tied over my head." "Who was the person who superintended, and did it?" Answer; "_Sergeant Garty was always there when we were put into the bags._ I could not see. I could not say who tied it over my head. He (Garty) was there then." "Did you complain of it?" Answer: "After a while the bag got very hot. Whoever was the officer I don't know. I told him I was smothering. I could not breathe. He came back with the order that I could not have it untied. I turned myself round as well as I could, and got my mouth to the opening of the bag, and staid so till morning." Question by a member of the court: "Did you find the bag comfortable when not tied over your head?" Answer: "No, sir. It was warm weather: it was uncomfortable. On the coast (of the United States in December) they would get full of rain water, nearly up to my knees." Catching at this idea of comfort in irons and a bag, Commander Mackenzie undertook to prove them so; and put a leading question, to get an affirmative answer to his own assertion that this bagging was done for the "comfort" of the prisoners--a new conception, for which he seemed to be entirely indebted to this hint from one of the court. The mode of McKinley's arrest, also gives an insight into the manner in which that act was performed on board a United States man-of-war; and is thus described by McKinley himself. To the question, when he was arrested, and how, he answers: "On the 30th of November, at morning quarters I was arrested. The commander put Wilson into irons. When he was put in irons the commander cried, 'Send McKinley aft.' I went aft. The commander and Gansevoort held pistols at my head, and told me to sit down. Mr. Gansevoort told King, the gunner, to stand by to knock out their brains if they should make a false motion. I was put in irons then. He ordered Green and McKee aft: he put them in irons also. Mr. Gansevoort ordered me to get on all fours, and creep round to the larboard side, as I could not walk." And that is the way it was done!

The three men were thus doomed to death, without trial, without hearing, without knowledge of what was going on against them; and without a hint of what had been done. One of the officiating officers who had sat in the council, being asked before the court if any suggestion, or motion, was made to apprise the prisoners of what was going on, and give them a hearing, answered that there was not. When Governor Wall was on trial at the Old Bailey for causing the death of a soldier twenty years before at Goree, in Africa, for imputed mutiny, he plead the sentence of a drum-head court-martial for his justification. The evidence proved that the men so tried (and there were just three of them) were not before that court, and had no knowledge of its proceedings, though on the ground some forty feet distant--about as far off as were the three prisoners on board the Somers, with the difference that the British soldiers could see the court (which was only a little council of officers); while the American prisoners could not see their judges. This sort of a court which tried people without hearing them, struck the British judges; and when the witness (a foot soldier) told how he saw the Governor speaking to the officers, and saw them speaking to one another for a minute or two, and then turning to the Governor, who ordered the man to be called out of the ranks to be tied on a cannon for punishment: when the witness told that, the Lord Chief Baron McDonald called out--"Repeat that." The witness repeated it. Then the Chief Baron inquired into the constitution of these drum-head courts, and to know if it was their course to try soldiers without hearing them: and put a question to that effect to the witness. Surprised at the question, the soldier, instead of answering it direct, yes or no, looked up at the judge, and said: "My Lord, I thought an Englishman had that privilege every where." And so thought the judge, who charged the jury, accordingly, and that even if there was a mutiny; and so thought the jury, who immediately brought in a verdict for murder; and so thought the King (George III.), who refused to pardon the Governor, or to respite him for longer than eight days, or to remit the anatomization of his dead body. There was law then in England against the oppressors of the humble, and judges to execute it, and a king to back them.

The narrative will now be resumed at the point at which it was suspended, and Commander Mackenzie's official report will still be followed for the order of the incidents, and his account of them.

It was nine o'clock on the morning of the first of December, that Gansevoort went into the ward-room to hurry the completion of the letter which the council of officers was drawing up, and which, under the stimulating remark that the commander was waiting for it, was soon ready. Purser Heiskill, who had been the pencil scribe of the proceedings, carried the letter, and read it to the commander. In what manner he received it, himself will tell:

"I at once concurred in the justice of their opinion, and in the
necessity of carrying its recommendation into immediate effect.
There were two others of the conspirators almost as guilty, so
far as the intention was concerned, as the three ringleaders who
had been first confined, and to whose cases the attention of the
officers had been invited. But they could be kept in confinement
without extreme danger to the ultimate safety of the vessel.
The three chief conspirators alone were capable of navigating
and sailing her. By their removal the motive to a rescue, a
capture, and a carrying out of their original design of piracy
was at once taken away. Their lives were justly forfeited to
the country which they had betrayed; and the interests of that
country and the honor and security of its flag required that the
sacrifice, however painful, should be made. In the necessities
of my position I found my law, and in them also I must trust to
find my justification."

The promptitude of this concurrence precludes the possibility of deliberation, for which there was no necessity, as the deaths had been resolved upon two days before the council met, and as Gansevoort communicated with the commander the whole time. There was no need for deliberation, and there was none; and the rapidity of the advancing events proves there was no time for it. And in this haste one of the true reasons for hanging Small and Cromwell broke forth. They were the only two of all the accused (Spencer excepted) who could sail or navigate a vessel! and a mutiny to take a ship, and run her as a roving pirate, without any one but the chief to sail and navigate her, would have been a solecism too gross even for the silliest apprehension. Mr. M. C. Perry admitted upon his cross-examination that this knowledge was "one of the small reasons" for hanging them--meaning among the lesser reasons. Besides, three at least, may have been deemed necessary to make a mutiny. Governor Wall took that number; and riots, routs, and unlawful assemblies require it: so that in having three for a mutiny, the commander was taking the lowest number which parity of cases, though of infinitely lower degree, would allow. The report goes on to show the commander's preparations for the sacrifice; which preparations, from his own showing, took place before the assembling of the council, and in which he showed his skill and acumen.

"I had for a day or two been disposed to arm the petty
officers. On this subject alone the first lieutenant differed
from me in opinion, influenced in some degree by the opinions of
some of the petty officers themselves, who thought that in the
peculiar state of the vessel the commander and officers could
not tell whom to trust, and therefore had better trust no one. I
had made up my own mind, reasoning more from the probabilities
of the case than from my knowledge of their characters, which
was necessarily less intimate than that of the first lieutenant,
that they could be trusted, and determined to arm them. I
directed the first lieutenant to muster them on the quarter
deck, to issue to each a cutlass, pistol and cartridge-box, and
to report to me when they were armed. I then addressed them as
follows: 'My lads! you are to look to me--to obey my orders, and
to see my orders obeyed! Go forward!'"

This paragraph shows that the arming of the petty officers for the crisis of the hangings had been meditated for a day or two--that it had been the subject of consultation with the lieutenant, and also of him with some of the petty officers; and it was doubtless on this occasion that he took the opinions of the officers (as proved on the court-martial trial) on the subject of hanging the three prisoners immediately if any more arrests were made. The commander and his lieutenant differed on the question of arming these petty officers--the only instance of a difference of opinion between them: but the commander's calculation of probabilities led him to overrule the lieutenant--to make up his own mind in favor of arming: and to have it done. The command at the conclusion is eminently concise, and precise, and entirely military; and the ending words remind us of the French infantry charging command: "En avant, mes enfans!" in English--"Forward, my children."

The reception of the council recommendation, and the order for carrying it into effect, were simultaneous: and carried into effect it was with horrible rapidity, and to the utmost letter--all except in one particular--which forms a dreadful exception. The council had given the recommendation with the Christian reservation of allowing the doomed and helpless victims "sufficient time to prepare"--meaning, of course, preparation for appearance at the throne of God. That reservation was disregarded. Immediate execution was the word! and the annunciation of the death decree, and the order for putting it in force, were both made known to the prisoners in the same moment, and in the midst of the awful preparations for death.

"I gave orders to make immediate preparation for hanging the
three principal criminals at the mainyard arms. All hands
were now called to witness the punishment. The afterguard and
idlers of both watches were mustered on the quarterdeck at the
whip (the halter) intended for Mr. Spencer: forecastle-men and
foretop-men at that of Cromwell, to whose corruption they had
been chiefly exposed. The maintop of both watches, at that
intended for Small who, for a month, had filled the situation of
captain of the maintop. The officers were stationed about the
decks, _according to the watch bill I had made out the night
before_, and the petty officers were similarly distributed, with
orders to cut down whoever should let go the whip (the rope)
with even one hand; or fail to haul on (pull at the rope) when
ordered."

Here it is unwittingly told that the guard stations at the hangings were all made out the night before.

For the information of the unlearned in nautical language, it may be told that what is called the whip at sea, is not an instrument of flagellation, but of elevation--a small tackle with a single rope, used to hoist light bodies; and so called from one of the meanings of the word whip, used as a verb, then signifying to snatch up suddenly. It is to be hoped that the sailors appointed to haul on this tackle had been made acquainted (though the commander's report does not say so) with the penalty which awaited them if they failed to pull at the word, or let go, even with one hand. The considerate arrangement for hanging each one at the spot of his imputed worst conduct, and under an appropriate watch, shows there had been deliberation on that part of the subject--deliberation which requires time--and for which there was no time after the reception of the council's answer; and which the report itself, so far as the watch is concerned, shows was made out the night before. The report continues:

"The ensign and pennant being bent on, and ready for hoisting,
I now put on my full uniform, and proceeded to execute the
most painful duty that has ever devolved on an American
commander--_that of announcing to the criminals their fate_."

It has been before seen that these victims had no knowledge of the proceedings against them, while the seven officers were examining, in a room below, the thirteen seamen whose answers to questions (or rather, whose thoughts) were to justify the fate which was now to be announced to them. They had no knowledge of it at the time, nor afterwards, until standing in the midst of the completed arrangements for their immediate death. They were brought into the presence of death before they knew that any proceedings had been had against them, and while under the belief, authorized by the commander himself, that they were to be brought home for trial. Their fate was staring them in the face before they knew it had been doomed. The full uniform of a commander in the American navy had been put on for the occasion, with what view is not expressed; and, in this imposing costume,--feathers and chapeau, gold lace and embroidery, sword and epaulettes--the commander proceeded to announce their fate to men in irons--double irons on the legs, and iron cuffs on the hands--and surrounded by guards to cut them down on the least attempt to avoid the gallows which stood before them. In what terms this annunciation, or rather, these annunciations (for there was a separate address to each victim, and each address adapted to its subject) were made, the captain himself will tell.

"I informed Mr. Spencer that when he had been about to take my
life, and to dishonor me as an officer when in the execution
of my rightful duty, without cause of offence to him, on
speculation, it had been his intention to remove me suddenly
from the world, in the darkness of the night, without a moment
to utter one murmur of affection to my wife and children--one
prayer for their welfare. His life was now forfeited to his
country; and the necessities of the case growing out of his
corruption of the crew, compelled me to take it. I would not,
however, imitate his intended example. If there yet remained
one feeling true to nature, it should be gratified. _If he had
any word to send to his parents, it should be recorded, and
faithfully delivered._ Ten minutes should be granted him for
this purpose; and Midshipman Egbert Thompson was called to note
the time, and inform me when the ten minutes had elapsed."

Subsequent events require this appeal to Spencer, and promise to him, to be noted. He is invoked, in the name of Nature, to speak to his parents, and his words promised delivery. History will have to deal with that invocation, and promise.

This is the autographic account of the annunciation to Spencer; and if there is a parallel to it in Christendom, this writer has yet to learn the instance. The vilest malefactors, convicts of the greatest crimes, are allowed an interval for themselves when standing between time and eternity; and during that time they are left, undisturbed, to their own thoughts. Even pirates allow that much to vanquished and subdued men. The ship had religious exercises upon it, and had multiplied their performance since the mutiny had been discovered. The commander was a devout attendant at these exercises, and harangued the crew morally and piously daily, and in this crisis twice or thrice a day. He might have been of some consolation to the desolate youth in this supreme moment. He might have spoken to him some words of pity and of hope: he might at least have refrained from reproaches: he might have omitted the comparison in which he assumed to himself such a superiority over Spencer in the manner of taking life. It was the Pharisee that thanked God he was not like other men, nor like that Publican. But the Pharisee did not take the Publican's life, nor charge him with crimes. Besides, the comparison was not true, admitting that Spencer intended to kill him in his sleep. There is no difference of time between one minute and ten minutes in the business of killing; and the most sudden death--a bullet through the heart in sleep--would be mercy compared to the ten minutes' reprieve allowed Spencer: and that time taken up (as the event proved) in harassing the mind, enraging the feelings, and in destroying the character of the young man before he destroyed his body. It is to be hoped that the greater part of what the commander says he said to Spencer, was not said: it would be less discreditable to make a false report in such cases than to have said what was alleged; and there were so many errors in the commander's report that disbelief of it becomes easy, and even obligatory. It is often variant or improbable in itself, and sometimes impossible; and almost entirely contradicted by the testimony. In the vital--really vital--case of holding the watch, he is contradicted. He says Midshipman Thompson was called to note the time, and to report its expiration. Mr. O. H. Perry swore in the court that the order was given to him--that he reported it--and that the commander said, "very well." This was clear and positive: but Mr. Thompson was examined to the same point, and testified thus: That he heard him (the commander) say something about ten minutes--that he told Mr. Perry, he thinks, to note the time--that Perry and himself both noted it--thinks he reported it--don't recollect what the commander said--is under an impression he said "very good." So that Mr. Perry was called to note the time, and did it, and reported it, and did not know that Thompson had done it. To the question, "What did Mr. Thompson say when he came back from reporting the time?" the answer is: "I did not know that he reported it." At best, Mr. Thompson was a volunteer in the business, and too indifferent to it to know what he did. Mr. O. H. Perry is the one that had the order, and did the duty. Now it is quite immaterial which had the order: but it is very material that the commander should remember the true man.--The manner in which the young man received this dreadful intelligence, is thus reported:

"This intimation quite overpowered him. He fell upon his knees,
and said he was not fit to die."

"Was not fit to die!" that is to say, was not in a condition to appear before his God. The quick perishing of the body was not the thought that came to his mind, but the perishing of his soul, and his sudden appearance before his Maker, unpurged of the sins of this life. Virtue was not dead in the heart which could forget itself and the world in that dread moment, and only think of his fitness to appear at the throne of Heaven. Deeply affecting as this expression was--am not fit to die--it was still more so as actually spoken, and truly stated by competent witnesses before the court. "When he told him he was to die in ten minutes, Spencer told him he was not fit to die--that he wished to live longer to get ready. The commander said, I know you are not, but I cannot help it."--A remark which was wicked in telling him he knew he was not fit to die, and false, in saying he could not help it. So far from not being able to help it, he was the only man that could prevent the preparation for fitness. The answer then was, an exclamation of unfitness to die, and a wish to live longer to get ready. But what can be thought of the heart which was dead to such an appeal? and which, in return, could occupy itself with reproaches to the desolate sinner; and could deliver exhortations to the trembling fleeting shadow that was before him, to study looks and attitudes, and set an example of decorous dying to his two companions in death? for that was the conduct of Mackenzie: and here is his account of it:

"I repeated to him his own catechism, and begged him at least to
let the _officer_ set to the men he had corrupted and seduced,
the example of dying with decorum."

"The men whom he had corrupted and seduced,"--outrageous words, and which the commander says, "immediately restored him to entire self-possession." But they did not turn away his heart from the only thing that occupied his mind--that of fitting himself, as well as he could, to appear before his God. He commenced praying with great fervor, and begging from Heaven that mercy for his soul which was denied on earth to his body.

The commander then went off to make the same annunciation to the other two victims, and returning when the ten minutes was about half out--when the boy had but five minutes to live, as he was made to believe--he soon made apparent the true reason which all this sudden announcement of death in ten minutes was in reality intended for. It was to get confessions! it was to make up a record against him! to excite him against Small and Cromwell! to take advantage of terror and resentment to get something from him for justification in taking his life! and in that work he spent near two hours, making up a record against himself of revolting atrocity, aggravated and made still worse by the evidence before the court. The first movement was to make him believe that Cromwell and Small had informed upon him, and thus induce him to break out upon them, or to confess, or to throw the blame upon the others. He says:

"I returned to Mr. Spencer. I explained to him how Cromwell had
made use of him. I told him that remarks had been made about the
two, and not very flattering to him, and which he might not care
to hear; and which showed the relative share ascribed to each of
them in the contemplated transaction. He expressed great anxiety
to hear what was said."

It is to be borne in mind that Spencer was in prayer, with but five minutes to go upon, when Mackenzie interrupts him with an intimation of what Small and Cromwell had said of him, and piques his curiosity to learn it by adding, "which he might not care to hear"--artfully exciting his curiosity to know what it was. The desire thus excited, he goes on to tell him that one had called him a damn fool, and the other had considered him Cromwell's tool: thus:

"One had told the first lieutenant: 'In my opinion, sir, you
have the damned fool on the larboard arm-chest, and the damned
villain on the starboard.' And another had remarked, that after
the vessel should have been captured by Spencer, Cromwell might
allow him to live, provided he made himself useful; he would
probably make him his secretary."

Spencer was on the larboard arm-chest; Cromwell on the starboard: so that Small was the speaker, and the damned fool applied to Spencer, and the damned villain to Cromwell: and Spencer, who had all along been the chief, was now to be treated as an instrument, only escaping with his life if successful in taking the vessel, and, that upon condition of making himself useful; and then to have no higher post on the pirate than that of Cromwell's secretary. This was a hint to Spencer to turn States' evidence against Cromwell, and throw the whole blame on him. The commander continues, still addressing himself to Spencer--

"_I think this would not have suited your temper._"

This remark, inquisitively made, and evidently to draw out something against Cromwell, failed of its object. It drew no remark from Spencer; it merely acted upon his looks and spirit, according to the commander--who proceeds in this strain:

"This effectually aroused him, and his countenance assumed a
demoniacal expression. He said no more of the innocence of
Cromwell. Subsequent circumstances too surely confirmed his
admission of his guilt. He might perhaps have wished to save
him, in fulfilment of some mutual oath."

This passage requires some explanation. Spencer had always declared his total ignorance of Cromwell, and of his visionary schemes: he repeated it earnestly as Mackenzie turned off to go and announce his fate to him. Having enraged him against the man, he says he now said no more about Cromwell's innocence; and catching up that silence as an admission of his guilt, he quotes it as such; but remembering how often Spencer had absolved him from all knowledge even of his foolish joking, he supposes he wished to save him--in fulfilment of some mutual oath. This imagined cause for saving him is shamefully gratuitous, unwarranted by a word from any delator, not inferrible from any premises, and atrociously wicked. In fact this whole story after the commander returned from Small and Cromwell, is without warrant from any thing tangible. Mackenzie got it from Gansevoort; and Gansevoort got one half from one, and the other half from another, without telling which, or when--and it was provably not then; and considering the atrocity of such a communication to Spencer at such time, it is certainly less infamous to the captain and lieutenant to consider it a falsehood of their own invention, to accomplish their own design. Mackenzie's telling it, however, was infernal. The commander then goes on with a batch of gratuitous assumptions, which shows he had no limit in such assumptions but in his capacity at invention. Hear them!

"He (Spencer) more probably hoped that he might yet get
possession of the vessel, and carry out the scheme of murder
and outrage matured between them. It was in Cromwell that he
had apparently trusted, in fulfilment of some agreement for a
rescue; and he eloquently plead to Lieutenant Gansevoort when
Cromwell was ironed, for his release, as altogether ignorant of
his designs, and innocent. He had endeavored to make of Elisha
Andrews appearing on the list of the "certain," an _alias_ for
Small, though his name as Small appeared also in the list of
those to effect the murder in the cabin, by falsely asserting
that Small was a feigned name, when he had evidence in a letter
addressed by Small's mother to him that Small was her name as
well as his."