The arrival of the barkentine off the port of Halifax with the three
bodies of the murdered victims in a canvas covered boat towed behind
the Fuller, unfolded a tale of horror to shock humanity and unequalled
in criminal history.
The ship was in charge of Monks, a young Harvard student who was taking
this trip on the Fuller for his health, while the first mate, Thomas
Bram, a colored man, and a seaman named Charles Brown, were in irons.
The Halifax authorities locked up Monks and the entire crew. Monks was
the son of fine people, respected and well-to-do ship owners, and he
was quickly given his liberty on parole, but the other members of the
crew were held until an investigation could be made.
It appeared that upon the night of the murders only six persons were
aft. On deck were Bram, the first mate, in charge of the ship, and
Brown, the helmsman. The other four were below, only half a level lower
than the after deck. They were Captain Charles I. Nash, asleep in the
chart room; Augustus Blandburg, second mate, in his bunk in the room
adjoining the chart room; Mrs. Nash, in her stateroom leading from the
main cabin; and Monks, whose room was between the chart room and the
captain’s cabin.
In the middle of the night, Monks testified that he was awakened by
a woman’s scream, loud and piercing. Dressing as quick as possible,
he seized his revolver from the table--and it was discovered later it
was the only one on board--and rushed up the companionway stairs to
the deck. In doing so he had to run through the chart room, and on the
floor he saw the body of the captain. As he reached the deck he said
he saw Bram at the head of the stairs holding in his hand a heavy piece
of board which he threw at Monks. Bram said afterwards that seeing the
passenger rushing up the stairs with a pistol, he became frightened and
threw the board as a matter of protection.
The entire crew was then aroused and the cabin inspected. The second
mate’s body was found on his bunk and Mrs. Nash’s body in bed in her
cabin.
Monks’ escape was considered miraculous in view of the fact that
he alone of the four persons below decks at the time escaped the
slaughter. All of the rooms here practically opened into the main cabin.
In the panic which followed the finding of the bodies, Monks and the
cook, Jonathan Spencer, took charge. Every man, particularly Bram and
Brown, were watched. On the morning of the fourth day Spencer became
suspicious of Bram and had him put in irons.
After being ironed, Bram declared that on the night of the murders, he
had, through a window of the chart room, seen Brown murder the captain.
Brown in turn accused Bram of the killing. There was considerable doubt
whether Brown could have left the wheel, committed the murders and
returned to the wheel without the course of the ship being very evident
to the others of the crew.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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