The History of the Lives and Bloody Exploits of the Most Noted Pirates; Their Trials and Executions / Including a Correct Account of the Late Piracies Committed in the West-Indies, and the Expedition of Commodore Porter; also, Those Committed on the Brig Mexican, Who Were Tried and Executed at Boston, in 1835

by Ezra Baldwin Strong

PIRACIES ON THE BRIG MEXICAN.

On the 26th day of August, 1834, His Britannic Majesty’s brig of war Savage, from Portsmouth, England, arrived at Salem, Massachusetts, having on board sixteen of the crew of the piratical schooner Panda, which robbed the brig Mexican, of Salem, on the high seas, nearly two years since.

The robbery committed upon the Mexican was one of the most audacious and cruel acts of piracy ever recorded. She was bound to Rio Janeiro from Salem; and was boarded by a piratical schooner under Brazilian colors, on the 20th of September, 1832, lat. 33, long. 34, 30, and robbed of twenty thousand dollars in specie, the officers and crew stripped of every thing valuable, and fastened below, and the vessel set on fire with the horrid intention of destroying her with all on board. Captain Butman and his men succeeded in getting on deck through the scuttle which the pirates had left unsecured, and extinguished the flames, and returned home. Our government ordered a vessel to cruise in pursuit, but she gave up the chase as hopeless. The piratical vessel was afterwards taken on the coast of Africa, by His Britannic Majesty’s brig Curlew, and destroyed, under the following circumstances:

The Curlew arrived at St. Thomas, west coast of Africa, from India, with orders to cruise on that coast; and her commander having obtained information that a schooner, suspected to be a pirate, was lying in the river Nazareth, on the southern extremity of the coast, immediately sailed in pursuit, and found the schooner as described. The boats of the Curlew were manned to take possession of her, when the crew of the schooner fled to the shore, with the exception of four who were taken prisoners. They had kindled a fire to destroy the schooner, and she had been stripped of every thing valuable. The fire was extinguished without damage. She had no cargo on board, but her water casks were all filled, and she was apparently ready for another cruise. In her cabin were found a compass, marked Boston, the flags and ensigns of different nations, and custom-house papers made out at Havana. In taking her down the river, she accidentally blew up, and the Curlew’s purser and one man were killed. The four men taken were shipped at St. Thomas after the robbery of the Mexican. The Curlew’s crew pursued the fugitives in various directions, and succeeded in capturing an additional number of the pirates; and several natives’ towns were burned by the Curlew’s men. The pirates had an examination in England before the proper authorities, when five of them offered to turn king’s evidence, two of whom were admitted to testify. They were fully committed, and the British government ordered them to this country for trial, and the affidavits and documents relative to their capture and subsequent confinement and examination were delivered to the authorities in this country.

The pirates were tried before the United States court at Boston, November 11th, 1834, which continued for fourteen days, and resulted in the conviction of seven of their number, five of whom were executed agreeably to their sentence, the other two received a reprieve from the President of the United States.

Execution of the Spanish Pirates.—[Thursday, June 11, 1835.]—Pursuant to previous arrangement, Captain Don Pedro Gibert, and Juan Montenegro, Manuel Castillo, Angel Garcia, and Manuel Boyga, were yesterday morning summoned to prepare for their immediate execution, agreeably to their sentence, for having, while belonging to the schooner Panda, committed piracy, by robbing the brig Mexican, of Salem, of twenty thousand dollars, and afterwards attempting to destroy the crew and all evidence of their crime, by setting fire to the vessel. It is understood, that, when the prisoners became thoroughly convinced that there was no longer any grounds to hope for a further respite, they entered into a mutual agreement to commit suicide on Wednesday night. Angel Garcia made the first attempt, in the evening, by trying to open the veins in each arm, with a fragment of a bottle, but was discovered before he could effect his purpose, and a stricter guard was afterwards maintained upon all of them during the remainder of the night, and every thing removed with which they might be supposed to renew any attempt upon their own lives. Yesterday morning, however, about nine o’clock, while the avenues of the jail resounded with the heavy steps of a host of acting marshals, and the “busy note of preparation” struck solemnly upon the ears of the spectators within reach of its echo, Boyga succeeded in inflicting a deep gash on the left side of his neck with a piece of tin. The officer’s eye had been withdrawn from him scarcely a minute, before he was discovered lying on his pallet, with a peculiar trembling of his knees, which induced the officers to examine if any thing had suddenly happened to him. They found him covered with blood, and nearly insensible; medical aid was at hand, and the wound was immediately sewed up, but Boyga, who had fainted from loss of blood, never revived again. Two Catholic clergymen, the Rev. Mr. Varella, a Spanish gentleman, and pastor of the Spanish congregation at New-York, and the Rev. Mr. Curtin, of this city, were in close attendance upon the prisoners during the whole morning; and at a quarter past ten, under the escort of the Marshal and his deputies, accompanied them to the gallows, erected on an insulated angle of land in the rear of the jail.

When the procession arrived at the foot of the ladder leading up to the platform of the gallows, the Rev. Mr. Varella, looking directly at Captain Gibert, said—“Spaniards, ascend to heaven.” Gibert mounted with a quick step, and was followed by his comrades at a more moderate pace, but without the least perceptible indication of hesitancy. Boyga, unconscious of his situation and destiny, was carried up in a chair, and seated beneath the rope prepared for him. Gibert, Montenegro, Garcia, and Castillo all smiled subduedly as they took their appointed stations on the platform. Judging only from Gibert’s air, carriage, and unembarrassed eye, as he glanced at the surrounding multitude, and surveyed the mechanism of his shameful death, he might have well been mistaken for an officer in attendance, instead of one of the doomed. With the exception of repeating his prayers, after the clergyman, he spoke but little. Soon after he ascertained his position on the stage, he left it, and passing over to the spot where the apparently lifeless Boyga was seated on the chair, he bent over his shoulder and kissed him very affectionately. He then resumed his station, but occasionally turned round to Mr. Peyton the interpreter, and the clergymen. Addressing his followers, he said—“Boys, we are going to die; but let us be firm, for we are innocent.” To Mr. Peyton, removing his linen collar, and handing it to him, he said—“This is all I have to part with—take it as a keepsake. I die innocent, but I’ll die like a noble Spaniard. Good bye, brother, we die in the hope of meeting you in heaven.” Montenegro and Garcia, though exhibiting no terror, vociferated their innocence, exclaiming—“Americans, we are not culpable—we are innocent; but we forgive all who have injured us.” Castillo addressed himself to an individual, whom he recognised in the front rank of the officers below the stage, and said—“Adieu, my friend—I shall see you in heaven—I do not care so much about dying, as to have the Americans think I am guilty,” [culpable.] All of them expressed great satisfaction at the intelligence of De Soto’s reprieve.

The Marshal having read the warrant for their execution, and stated that De Soto was respited for sixty days, and Ruiz for thirty, the ropes were adjusted round the necks of the prisoners, and a slight hectic flush spread over the countenance of each; but not an eye quailed, nor a limb trembled, nor a muscle quivered. As the cap was about to be drawn over Gibert’s face, the Spanish Priest fervently embraced him, and during the operation of covering the faces of the others, the Rev. Mr. Curtin advanced to the railing of the stage, and read a brief declaration on behalf of the prisoners, addressed to the citizens of America assembled, setting forth, that as at the trial they had declared their innocence, so did they now continue to do so. Boyga’s cap and rope were adjusted, as he sat, supported by an officer, in the chair, which was so placed as to fall with the drop. At a quarter before 11, after every preparation was completed, and while they were repeating to themselves, in scarcely audible tones, their prayers, Deputy Marshal Bass suddenly cut the small cord which restrained the spring, and the platform fell without even the creaking of a hinge. In falling, Boyga’s chair struck against the bodies of the Captain and Garcia. Boyga struggled slightly once after his descent, and Montenegro and Castillo but little; Capt. Gibert did not die quite so easily, the rope being placed behind his neck. Garcia struggled most and longest—about 3 minutes. After being suspended 30 minutes, the physicians in attendance pronounced them dead, and they were cut down, and placed in black coffins, in readiness in the yard.

It is stated in many of the papers, that Captain Gibert attempted to cut his throat on Wednesday night, but this is not the fact. It is true that he pursued a line of conduct on that night which induced the officers to suspect that he intended to commit suicide. Mr. Tavers, one of the guards, who understands the Spanish language, overheard the signal agreed upon, by the whole party. The Captain proposed to write till one o’clock, when he was to bid “Good bye” to the rest, and they were then to despatch themselves with pieces of glass. Accordingly, at the appointed hour, the Captain, having terminated his writing, destroyed a part of his papers, retired to a corner of his cell, and appeared to be arranging his person to “die with dignity;” but being closely watched at the window, the officers, Messrs. Shute and Pierce, entered his cell before he had completed his toilet. They asked him what he intended to do; but he was irritated by their undesired intrusion, and, showing temper, declined answering. Upon searching, they found a piece of glass in his pocket. They then ironed him, with his hands behind his back. He remained dogged in his disposition, and blew the light out four times, which the officer as often re-lighted, and threatened to put his legs in irons if he persisted in putting it out.

Montenegro, it was discovered, after his execution, had cut his throat in two places, and had bled very profusely, but had washed his shirt out in the morning to conceal the attempt. It was the irritation of the wounds, probably, that made him hold his head a little awry when the rope was first put round his neck. He was one of the most piratical looking of the crew, but one of the most innocent, and was always in pleasant humor. Garcia inflicted wounds upon his arms after he was ironed.

Dying Declaration of the Pirates.—The Catholic Sentinel of Saturday contains the following declaration of innocence, written in Spanish by Capt. Gibert, and signed by his companions. The substance of it was delivered from the platform, a few minutes before their execution, by the Rev. Mr. Curtin, one of the Catholic clergymen in attendance:—

“Americans! we, the undersigned, were reduced to this sad and ignominious fate by misfortune, not by guilt. In this world we have nothing to hope; but in the next, we confidently expect salvation from the benign mercy of our heavenly Redeemer. Then, Americans, we declare to you with our dying breath, that we are innocent; and we now aver so in the hearing of that God before whom we must in a few moments appear;—but our souls will not, at that sacred tribunal, be charged with debasing the last act of our lives by the utterance of falsehood. We speak the solemn truth;—we are not culpable,—and we reiterate here, under the gallows, what we declared on our trial, ‘that we die innocent men.’ May God forgive those who brought us to this fatal end, as we leave the world in peace with all men. Farewell, Americans.

Angel Garcia,

Juan Montenegro,

Pedro Gibert,

Manuel Boyga,

Manuel Castillo.”

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