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708

X, AMERICAN STATE TRIALS.

Havana and African trade. The
gana were of brass, think they
were long twelve pounders.
Benjamin Brown Head. Am
mate of the Mexican. At four
A. M. came on deck, and was told
of the cireumstance by the see-
ond mate—when he told me this,
T asked him if he could still see
the vessel he spoke of—he said,
No—I asked him for the glaze,
went with it on the forecastla
and saw the schooner, She was
then standing towards us—went
below and called the captain—
thonght she might want to hail
us—Captain came up and staid
till daylight. The schooner was
then coming up with us rapidly
—we shortly saw her plainly—
the appeared to be full of men—
Capt. Butman at firat thought
they were not men, but the dead-
eves of the lower rigging—went
about our work as usual, not
paying much attention to the
schooner. At balf past seven,
however, finding that she lay a
great deal nearer to the wind
than we could, and that she
sailed almost as fast again as we
did, we began to notice her
movements, and Capt. Butman
said he should like to tack end
try to get away from her—we
did eo, and stood to the west for
half an hour; suspected the
schooner from the number of
men she had on board, and from
her manoeuvres; told the captain
T thought it would be of no use
to attempt to hide the money, a3
all our crew knew that it was on
board. While we were talking,
the second mate came down, and
said the schooner was ebasing us.
‘We went on deck, and the second
mate said the sehooner had just
fired a gon; we saw the smoke,
and she was just then setting her

equare-sail; consulted what was
pest to be done, and at last
thonght it best to heave to,
knowing it would be of no use
attempt an eseape. Capt. But-
man ordered the colors to be
hoisted and the masin-topsail
backed; saw the men very thick
upon ber forecastle, from whieh
we were hailed. Saw knives un-
der the sleeves of their jackets
when they eame on deck—they
drew them—they were long,
Spanish knives. One of them di-
rected the captain to go down
into the cabin, and followed him
‘with two others, Captain had
not been down long, before he
called to me and told me to bring
all hands eft. The three men
then eame up from the cabin,
pointed their knives at us, and
directed us to go down one at a
time. When all the crew were in
the eabin, the three men came
down also, and told us te get up
the money quickly—they strack
us with their knives, because
they thought we were not quick
enough—we could not get the
money up quicker, in conse-
quence of being flustered and
alarmed by their conduct. As
fast as the boxes were bronght
up, they were carried up on
deck. After they were all got
up, one of the pirates hailed the
schooner, and said there was
plenty of money on board the
brig, and also said something
about the launch: immediately
afterwards saw the launch com-
ing from the schooner—the
money was put in, and earried
on board the sehooner. They
ransacked every place in the ves-
vel, seeking for more money.
‘The boatswain told me to go for-
ward, kieked me into the fore-
castle, and placed a man to keep

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