Gibbs was arraigned for the murder of William Roberts, and Wansley for that of William Thornby. They were both found guilty, and the district attorney moved for judgment on the verdict. There was nothing peculiar in their deportment during the trial. The iron visage of Gibbs was occasionally darkened with a transient emotion, but he had evidently abandoned all hope of escape, and sat the greater part of the time with his hands between his knees, calmly surveying the scene before him. Wansley was more agitated, and trembled visibly when he rose to hear the verdict of the jury.
The judge proceeded to pass sentence on them severally, that each should be taken from the place where they then were, and thence to the place of confinement, and should be hanged by the neck till dead; and that the marshal of the Southern District of New-York should see this sentence carried into execution on the twenty-second day of April following, between the hours of ten and four o’clock.
The first account which Gibbs gave of himself is, that his father obtained a situation for him in the United States sloop of war Hornet, Captain Lawrence, during the last war with England, in which vessel he made two cruises; in the last of which she captured and sunk the enemy’s sloop of war Peacock off the coast of Pernambuco, after an engagement of twenty minutes. On the arrival of the Hornet in the United States, Captain Lawrence was assigned by the government to the command of the frigate Chesapeake, then lying in Boston harbor, and Gibbs accompanied him to that ill-fated vessel in the month of April, eighteen hundred and thirteen.
This statement of his services was proved to be false, and acknowledged as such by himself. His motive for the falsehood was, to conceal his real adventures about this time, that his proper name might not be discovered. There is much to corroborate and nothing to disprove what follows.
After his exchange, he abandoned all idea of following the sea for a subsistence, went home to Rhode Island, and remained there a few months, but being unable to conquer his propensity to roving, he entered on board a ship bound to New-Orleans, and thence to Stockholm. On the homeward passage they were compelled to put into Bristol, England, in distress, where the ship was condemned, and he proceeded to Liverpool. He returned to the United States in the ship Amity, Captain Maxwell.
After its arrival, he left the ship, and entered on board the Colombian privateer Maria, Captain Bell. They cruised for about two months in the Gulf of Mexico, around Cuba, but the crew becoming dissatisfied in consequence of the non-payment of their prize-money, a mutiny arose, the crew took possession of the schooner, and landed the officers near Pensacola. A number of days elapsed before it was finally decided by them what course to pursue. Some advised that they should cruise as before, under the Colombian commission; others proposed to hoist the black flag. They cruised for a short time without success, and it was then unanimously determined to hoist the black flag and declare war against all nations. At last one of the crew, named Antonio, suggested that an arrangement could be made with a man in Havana, that would be mutually beneficial; that he would receive all their goods, sell them, and divide the proceeds. This suggestion being favorably received, they ran up within two miles of Moro Castle, and sent Antonio on shore to see the merchant and make a contract with him, which was done.
The Maria now put to sea, with a crew of about fifty men. The first vessel she fell in with was the Indispensable, an English ship, bound to Havana, which was taken and carried to Cape Antonio. The crew were immediately destroyed: those who resisted were hewed to pieces: those who offered no resistance, were reserved to be shot and thrown overboard. Such was the manner in which they proceeded in all their subsequent captures. The unhappy being that cried for mercy, in the hope that something like humanity was to be found in the breasts even of the worst of men, shared the same fate with him who resolved to sell his life at the highest price. A French brig, with a valuable cargo of wine and silk, was taken shortly after: the vessel was burnt and the crew murdered.
The sanguinary scenes through which Gibbs had passed, now effectually wrought up his desperation to the highest pitch, and being as remarkable for his coolness and intrepidity as he was for his skill in navigation, he was unanimously chosen to be their leader in all future enterprises. To reap a golden harvest without the hazard of encountering living witnesses of their crimes, it was unanimously resolved to spare no lives, and to burn and plunder without mercy. They knew that the principle inculcated by the old maxim that “dead men tell no tales,” was the safe one for them, and they scrupulously followed it. Gibbs states that he never had occasion to give orders to begin the work of death.
He now directed his course towards the Bahama Banks, where they captured a brig, believed to be the William of New-York, from some port in Mexico, with a cargo of furniture, destroyed the crew, took her to Cape Antonio, and sent the furniture and other articles to their friend in Havana. Sometime during this cruise, the pirate was chased for nearly a whole day by a United States ship, supposed to be the John Adams; he hoisted Patriot colors, and finally escaped. In the early part of the summer of eighteen hundred and seventeen, they took the Earl of Moira, an English ship from London, with a cargo of dry goods. The crew were destroyed, the vessel burnt, and the goods carried to the Cape. There they had a settlement with their Havana friend, and the proceeds were divided according to agreement.
During the cruise which was made in the latter part of eighteen hundred and seventeen, and the beginning of eighteen hundred and eighteen, a Dutch ship from Curacoa was captured, with a cargo of West-India goods, and a quantity of silver plate. The passengers and crew, to the number of thirty, were all destroyed, with the exception of a young female about seventeen, who fell upon her knees and implored Gibbs to save her life. The appeal was successful, and he promised to save her, though he knew it would lead to dangerous consequences among his crew. She was carried to Cape Antonio, and kept there about two months; but the dissatisfaction increased until it broke out at last into open mutiny, and one of the pirates was shot by Gibbs for daring to lay hold of her with a view of beating out her brains. Gibbs was compelled in the end to submit her fate to a council of war, at which it was decided that the preservation of their own lives made her sacrifice indispensable. He therefore acquiesced in the decision, and gave orders to have her destroyed by poison, which was immediately done.