“Kidd’s explanation was frank and simple. He claimed his crew, a gang of thugs and cut-throats, had mutinied, had made him prisoner and of their own volition had captured the prize, and that the Adventure, being rendered unseaworthy in the action, had been abandoned, and the men and their belongings transferred to the Moorish ship. He also testified that his men had threatened to shoot him if he did not accede to their wishes and that during the time of the capture of the ship he had been locked in his cabin. He was questioned as to what became of the valuables, supposedly worth seventy thousand pounds sterling, which were on the Queda and in reply swore that the men had taken it and made away with it. In the end, to make a long story short, the trial simmered down to a charge against the unfortunate Captain of having killed a gunner named Moore, who was a member of the Adventure’s crew. Kidd frankly admitted he had killed the fellow by striking him over the head with a bucket, as Moore had been mutinous and had led the men in their scheme to turn pirates. Throughout these preliminary hearings, Kidd’s wealthy sponsors had deserted him. They saw that they would become involved; and poor Kidd found himself without friends or money and even deprived of the rights to produce documentary evidence of his statements. Heavily manacled, he was sent to England and tried on the charge of piracy and murder at Old Bailey in May, 1701. “The trial was a rank travesty of justice from the beginning. Papers and letters favorable to Kidd were refused as evidence; his erstwhile friends perjured themselves to save their own names; counsel was denied him and only his faithful wife stood by him. In addition to Kidd, nine of his crew were also charged with piracy, these being the men who had remained faithful to their captain, and although all testified in Kidd’s behalf and substantiated his story, Kidd and six of the men were condemned to be hanged in chains. At Execution Dock the maligned, helpless captain and his fellows were strung up without mercy on May 23rd, and their dead bodies suspended in chains along the river side, where, for years, the bones swayed and rattled in the winds as a grim warning to all pirates.