Kidd. "You heard that one, Captain Elms, say they were French passes?"
Davis. "Yes, I heard Captain Elms say they were French passes."
Mr. Baron Hatsell. "Have you any more to say, Captain Kidd?"
Kidd. "I have some papers, but my Lord Bellomont keeps them from me, so that I cannot bring them before the Court!"
Bradingham and other members of the crew admitted that they understood from Kidd that the captured ships were sailing under French passes. Kidd, having been convicted of murder, was now allowed to fetch in witnesses as to his character as a man and a sailor previous to the fatal voyage. One Captain Humphrey swore that he had known Capt. Kidd in the West Indies twelve years before. "You had a general applause," said he, "for what you had done from time to time."
The Lord Chief Baron. "That was before he was turned pirate."
Captain Bond then declared:
"I know you were very useful at the beginning of the war in the West Indies."
Colonel Hewson put the matter more forcibly and made no bones of telling the Court:
"My Lord, he was a mighty man there. He served under my command there. He was sent to me by the order of Colonel Codrington."