The Life, Trial, Confession and Execution of Albert W. Hicks / The Pirate and Murderer, Executed on Bedloe's Island, New York Bay, on the 13th of July, 1860, for the Murder of Capt. Burr, Smith and Oliver Watts, on Board the Oyster Sloop E. A. Johnson. Containing the History of His Life (Written by Himself) from Childhood Up to the Time of His Arrest. With a Full Account of His Piracies, Murders, Mutinies, High-way Robberies, etc., Comprising the Particulars of Nearly One Hundred Murders! to which is added the Account of His Arrest, Imprisonment, Trial and Execution. Also, His Phrenological Character, as described by L. N. Fowler.

by Albert W. Hicks

A desperate fight took place. We killed a number of the natives, and succeeded in driving off the rest, and thus having a taste for blood, and the demon in me being fully aroused, I suggested to the boat-steerer, that this would be a good time to kill the officers, and take the ship. He agreed to the proposition, and so did those who were with us, and it was arranged that as soon as we were on board, each should select his man—kill him at once, and then put to sea, steering as well as we could for the western coast of America.

There were two boats. The boat-steerer and myself being in one, with a portion of the crew, and the balance of the party in the other.

Our boat reached the ship last, and when we got on board we found the officers armed and fully prepared to receive us. It was evident we had been betrayed, and I afterward learned that one of the men in the first boat informed the captain of our intentions as soon as he arrived on board.

As soon as our feet trod the deck a bloody and desperate fight ensued, in which the officers were assisted by a portion of the crew, and they finally succeeded, though not without being severely wounded, in disarming and securing the boat-steerer and myself, and put us in double irons.

They kept us in the run of the ship until we touched at Wahoo, when we were set ashore.

We were no sooner on land than we gave free vent to all our passions and desires. There was not a day went by we did not commit a robbery, and had it been necessary we should not have hesitated to have added murder to our other crimes. At last we were taken and locked up until the ship was ready for sea again, when we were sent on board and kept in irons until we arrived at an island—the name of which I do not now remember—where we were allowed to go on shore, and got into a fight with the natives, who succeeded in driving us to our boats.

During our stay here another disturbance and mutiny was organized by me, in which the officers were disabled, and the ship having again become leaky we put back to Wahoo, where she was condemned and the crew discharged; myself and the boat-steerer making our escape to the interior to avoid the consequences of our mutinous conduct.

For a long time we led the life of freebooters, robbing and plundering wherever we went, and dissipating the proceeds of our robberies in the wildest debauchery.

At last I was taken, and, for the third time, incarcerated in the prison at Wahoo, but was released through the intercession of the captain of a Dutch ship, the Villa de Poel, of Amsterdam, who gave me a berth on board.

We sailed for the Bay of Magdalina, California, where we took a right whale, and when we had towed him along side the ship a quarrel took place between me and the mate. We had a desperate fight, but they overpowered me and put me in irons.