"About a fortnight before this accident fell out, Captain Kidd met with a ship on that coast (Malabar) that was called the Loyal Captain. And about a fortnight after this, the gunner was grinding a chisel aboard the Adventure, on the high seas, near the coast of Malabar in the East Indies."
Mr. Coniers. "What was the gunner's name!"
Palmer. "William Moore. And Captain Kidd came and walked on the deck, and walked by this Moore, and when he came to him, says, 'How could you have put me in a way to take this ship (Loyal Captain) and been clear?' 'Sir,' says William Moore, 'I never spoke such a word, nor thought such a thing.' Upon which Captain Kidd called him a lousie dog. And says William Moore, 'If I am a lousie dog, you have made me so. You have brought me to ruin and many more.' Upon him saying this, says Captain Kidd, 'Have I ruined you, ye dog?' and took a bucket bound with iron hoops and struck him on the right side of the head, of which he died next day."
Mr. Coniers. "Tell my Lord what passed next after the blow."
Palmer. "He was let down the gun-room, and the gunner said 'Farewell, Farewell! Captain Kidd has given me my last.' And Captain Kidd stood on the deck and said, 'You're a villain.'"
Robert Bradingham, who had been the surgeon of the Adventure Galley, then testified that the wound was small but that the gunner's skull had been fractured.
Mr. Cooper. "Had you any discourse with Captain Kidd after this, about the man's death?"
Bradingham. "Some time after this, about two months, by the coast of Malabar, Captain Kidd said, 'I do not care so much for the death of my gunner, as for other passages of my voyage, for I have good friends in England, who will bring me off for that.'"
With this, the prosecution rested, and the Lord Chief Baron addressed Kidd.
"Then you may make your defense. You are charged with murder, and you have heard the evidence that has been given. What have you to say for yourself?"