Michael Durnin deposed.—I live at Staten Island; I know Hicks, the prisoner; I saw him on the 21st of March; I was going down to Port Richmond, and met him with a bag on his shoulder; he bid me good morning, and I bid him the same; he asked something about his boat; he went toward Vanderbilt’s landing; he had a bag on his shoulder, like a feed bag.
This witness was not cross-examined.
Augustus Guisler deposed—I live at Stapleton, but attend bar at Vanderbilt’s Landing; I know the prisoner; I saw him on Wednesday morning, 21st March; he came to our shop, and said he wanted something to eat; he asked me if I had any coffee, and I said not, but told him where to get it; he went out and came back again, and said they were not up; he asked for eggs, and invited Mr. Hickbert to take a drink; he showed me a $10 gold piece, and asked me if I wanted it; I said, “No, sir, I have not change for it;” he then took some silver and paid me; I would not know the bag; the coat he had on was like that produced; it had patches on the elbows like this; Mr. Hickbert asked him if he was a seafaring man; he told Mr. Hickbert that he was captain of a sloop; that he had been run into, and one man was killed, and another knocked overboard; he said he was down stairs asleep at the time, and had only time to get his clothes and the “needful” (at the same time shaking the bag), and come ashore in the yawl boat; the bag in which he had his money was something like this one produced; he took the $10 gold piece out of the bag; he was about twenty minutes in our shop.
Cross-examined.—I didn’t count the money; Mr. Hickbert did not count it; I did not see the bag in his hand when he first came; he did not take it out of his pocket; he had a handkerchief in his hand; when he offered me the gold piece, he had the bag in his hands, leaning against the bar; he finally put his hand in his pocket and paid me; could not tell whether the bag was full or not; it looked like this bag; I have seen a good many shot-bags; I am seventeen years of age; I next saw the prisoner at the Second Ward station-house; Captain Weed sent for me; they told me they thought they had the man; I went there and identified him.
To the Court.—There were thirty or forty persons in the station-house at the time; I picked him out; no one pointed him out to me; I asked Captain Weed where he was; he said he would not tell me; that I was to point him out; there were others there; they all identified him but one little boy; the people were not mostly in policemen’s dress; there were all kinds of clothes.
Abraham S. Hickbert deposed that he saw the prisoner, on the 21st March, at the Vanderbilt ferry, at about half-past six o’clock; he asked me where he could get something good; I showed him; he went in and asked Augustus, the barkeeper. This witness corroborated the last witness as to the conversation with the prisoner, and further added that he told him that the vessel he was on was the William Tell; that he had been run into by a schooner, and one man was killed against the mast, and another knocked overboard. The prisoner shook a bag in his hand when he said he had only time to save the one thing needful.
Cross-examined.—I had never seen him before, to my knowledge; I cannot tell exactly how he was dressed, nor whether he had whiskers; I should think the man was about five feet eight inches; I did not take particular notice of his height; he said he was on the William Tell, and had been run into that morning in the lower bay.
To the Court.—Next saw the prisoner at the police station-house; identified him there by his face; he was not pointed out to me by any one.
To Mr. Graves.—To the best of my belief, he is the man I saw at Vanderbilt’s landing; I would not like to swear right up and down that he is the man.
Franklin E. Hawkins deposed that he is captain of the sloop Sirocco; I knew Captain Burr and the Watts boys; heard Captain Burr say he was going to write a letter home; saw the prisoner on board the sloop E. A. Johnson; my vessel was lying at Coney Island, and the sloop Johnson was lying at the same place; on the Sunday before she sailed I went out with her; Johnson came ashore in the yawl boat on the evening before the sloop sailed; Richard Eldridge took the letter from Captain Burr to his home in Islip; Captain Burr had dark hair; one of the Watts boys had light hair and the other a little darker; I do not know Captain Burr’s watch.