Trial of the Officers and Crew of the Privateer Savannah, on the Charge of Piracy, in the United States Circuit Court for the Southern District of New YorkWarburton, A. F. (Adolphus Frederick)
History
Trial of the Officers and Crew of the Privateer Savannah, on the Charge of Piracy, in the United States Circuit Court for the Southern District of New York
Warburton, A. F. (Adolphus Frederick)
Piracy -- United States; Privateering -- United States; United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865
_A._ I should think she was all of 10 or 11 miles off.
_Q._ The brig Perry made chase for you?
_A._ Yes, sir.
_Mr. Larocque_: If the Court please, from the opening of counsel I
suppose he is now proceeding to that part of the case that he laid
before the jury in his opening, that consists in an exchange of shots
between the brig Perry and the Savannah. We object to that. There is no
charge in the indictment of resisting a United States cruiser, or of
any assault whatever.
_Mr. Smith_: What the vessel did on the same day, before and after the
main charge, goes to show the purpose of the voyage--the general object
of the Savannah and her crew. It may be relevant in that respect.
_Mr. Larocque_: We are not going to dispute the facts testified to by
this witness. There will be no dispute on this trial that this was a
privateer--that her object was privateering under the flag of the
Confederate Government, and by authority of that Government, and, under
these circumstances, the gentleman has no need to trouble himself to
characterize these acts by showing anything that occurred between the
Savannah and the Perry. Your honor perceives at once that this
indictment might have been framed in a different way, under the 8th
section of the Act of 1790, with a view of proving acts of treason, if
you please, which are made piracy, as a capital offence, by that act.
The counsel has elected his charge, and he has strictly confined the
charge in the indictment to the allegation of what occurred between the
Savannah and the Joseph. There is not one word in the indictment of any
hostilities between the Perry and the Savannah, and therefore it must
be utterly irrelevant and immaterial under this indictment. Evidence on
that subject would go to introduce a new and substantial charge that we
have not been warned to appear here and defend against, and have not
come prepared to defend against, for that reason. So far as
characterizing the acts we are charged with in the indictment, there
can be no difficulty whatever.
_The Court_: I take it there is no necessity for this inquiry after the
admission made.
_Mr. Evarts_: We propose to show the arrest and bringing of the vessel
in, with her crew.
_The Court_: Of course.
_Mr. Evarts_: That cannot very well be done without showing the way in
which it was done.
_The Court_: But it is not worth while to take up much time with it.
_Mr. Brady_: The witness has stated that this vessel was captured, and
he has stated the place of her capture; and of course it is not only
proper, but, in our view, absolutely necessary, that the prosecution
should show that, being captured, she was taken into some place out of
which arose jurisdiction to take cognizance of the alleged crime. But
the cannonading is no part of that.
_Q._ _By Mr. Smith_: State the facts in regard to the capture of the
Savannah by the Perry.
_A._ Well, the brig Perry ran down after dark and overtook us; came
within hail.
_Q._ At what time?
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