I come now to the closing acts of my life, to the last scenes in my wicked and bloody career.
From my youth up I lived by crime. I have steeled my heart against every good impulse. I have considered mankind my natural prey and have never hesitated to gratify my appetites, passions, and desires, no matter how dear the sacrifice paid by others for their gratification, and now society which I have so long outraged claims the only recompense I can make for all the wrongs I have committed; the law, which to me has ever been a subject of scorn and derision, now exerts its majesty, and calls on me to pay the penalty due for breaking it; mankind, against whom I have so long waged a bloody and resistless war, now clamors for my blood, in compensation for the innocent blood I have so often shed. Justice at last asserts her sway, and a dreadful punishment awaits me.
But let me go on to the end.
The sloop E. A. Johnson offered an easy prey. She had on board, I supposed, from all the information I could gather, something over a thousand dollars, and the entire crew consisted of but two boys and myself.
I had never known of or seen Captain Burr before I shipped with him. He had never done me injury or wrong, so that I had no revenge to gratify, no grudge to pay.
He seemed a kind and amiable man, and would, I have no doubt, awakened kindly feelings in any heart but mine, and even I liked him. Yet I engaged myself to him solely, and only for the cruel purpose of taking his life, the lives of the two young men, and making myself master of the money I supposed he had on board.
I calculated to do this as calmly as you would contemplate doing any of the usual duties in the ordinary transactions of life.
I had killed men, yes, and boys, too, many a time before, for far less inducement than the sum I supposed I should gain by killing them; and I had too often dyed my murderous hands in blood in days gone by, to feel the slightest compunctions or qualms of conscience then.
I never thought of the consequences of such a crime. The fear of detection never once crossed my mind. I had too often done the same thing with impunity to believe that a day of reckoning would ever come, in this world at least, and I never gave a thought to the world to come.
After engaging with Captain Burr, I went home to my wife at 129 Cedar street, and lying down on the bed, told her not to disturb me, as I wanted to take a long sleep, and if any one came for me, to say that I was not in. She left me alone, and I then deliberately matured all my plans. I marked out the course I intended to pursue exactly, and after I had decided upon everything, I went to sleep and slept as soundly as ever I slept in my life, my mind was so much at ease, and I felt so contented at the idea of having at last an opportunity of making some money in an easy way.