“And then his lawyer got up and made a smart plea for him and set down; but then you might know he was a rowin’ agin the tide, for he was a pleadin’ for the devil himself.
“Then the Attorney Gineral got up, and says, ‘My Lords and Judges, and Gentlemen of the Jury, &c. &c.’ And if he didn’t make a splendid plea then I’m no judge—I once could tell all about it, for you see I was all ear when them big fellers spoke and we all talked it over on the v’yge so much, and what one forgot ‘tother recollected, and then besides ’twas published in the Bristol papers; and once I could say it all to a T, and I only wish I could remember it word for word, it would be sich great stuff for this book. But my memory has kind’a failed me for a few years; only I know the Gineral made all on us cry, he talked so fine, and I do remember the closin’ off sayin’. ‘My Lords, I have now finished the defence for the crown, and I submit the case to your lordships, feeling that your verdict will respect the rights of the throne and the liberties and safety of its loyal subjects. My Lords I have done.’ And down he sat.
“And there that big room—it was as big as the whole of our big red barn—was crowded full as it could stick and hold, and there was a’most all nations on ‘arth there. And I tell you if I didn’t feel fine to git up afore my lords, (as that ere Attorney Gineral called ’em,) and all them big bugs, and tell about that poor lady there; _and there agin I was treated better than I ever was in an American court in my life; for I never got up in a court room in this country to give testimony or see a black man, who warn’t rather laughed at by somebody_. Well, when the Attorney Gineral had finished, three of these ’ere lords I tell on went into another room, and stayed there a few minutes, and come back, and then the chief lord of the establishment got up, and drew on a kind of a black cap, and commanded the attention of all present, and the room was so still you could hear a pin drop. The prisoner was fetched forward, and the Judge turns to him and says:—
“‘By the testimony of Captain Truesdell and crew, and by your own confession, I find you, accordin’ to the laws of our king and country, _guilty_ of this murder; and have you any thing to offer why sentence of death should not be pronounced upon you?’ The Spaniard shook his head, and then the Judge pronounced his doom.