Pirate tales from the lawHarris, Arthur M. (Arthur Merton)
History
Pirate tales from the law
Harris, Arthur M. (Arthur Merton)
Pirates
Mr. Attorney General floundered back on an act of Henry the Eighth, but
if Menzies had had a modern court his point would have stuck. Not that
this is a modern principle of law; but a modern court under the same
rules as this old court would have held with Menzies. The president
of the council, the provincial council constituting this court of
admiralty, hemmed and hawed and fudged by.
Menzies was both a lawyer and a man, but he really had no court to
try his case in. All the council could see was a case of piracy, and
away with technicalities. That would be all right, of course, if
technicalities did not exist for the protection of the innocent. Quelch
was guilty, no doubt, according to the gossip blowing about Boston, but
innocent so far as the court in its particular province was concerned.
Quelch didn’t say much. If he had he would not have done himself much
good. It is fair to say on behalf of the court that though it erred in
admitting Pimer, Clifford and Parrot as witnesses, there was a fair
showing of other proof which went to help the State’s case, though that
does not exonerate the court from the use of improper procedure in the
particular which has been shown.
“Guilty,” said the council. Cæsar-Pompey and the other negroes were
discharged along with the handful of men who showed they had sailed
under a sort of compulsion.
Twenty men, including Quelch, were sentenced to die; and of these,
six were hanged on “Charles River, Boston side, June 30, 1704.” They
were John Quelch, John Lambert, Christopher Scudamore (the cooper who
boasted of shooting Captain Bastian), John Miller, Erasmus Peterson and
Peter Roach (the automaton). The record is silent as to the fate of the
remaining fourteen; possibly their sentences were commuted.
The end of the matter is best told by one who saw it.
“On Friday, the 30th of June, 1704, pursuant to orders in the death
warrant, the aforesaid pirates were guarded from the prison in Boston,
by forty musketeers, constables of the town, the provost-marshal and
his officers, with two ministers, who took great pains to prepare
them for the last article of their lives. Being allowed to walk on
foot through the town, to Scarlet’s wharf, where the silver oar being
carried before them, they went by water to the place of execution,
being crowded and thronged on all sides with multitudes of spectators.
“At the place of execution, they then severally spoke as follows,
_viz._:
“1. CAPTAIN JOHN QUELCH. The last words he spoke to one of the
ministers at his going up the stage, were, ‘I am not afraid of death;
I am not afraid of the gallows; but I am afraid of what follows; I am
afraid of a great God and a judgment to come.’
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account