further evident he became, after this, a Voluntier amongſt them. Firſt, becauſe he was preſently very forward and brisk, in robbing the Ship King Solomon, of her Proviſions and Stores. Secondly, becauſe he endeavoured to have his Captain ill uſed; and laſtly, becauſe he had confeſſed to Fenn, that he had been obliged to ſign their Articles that Night, (a Piſtol being laid on the Table, to ſignify he muſt do it, or be ſhot,) when the whole appeared to be an Untruth from other Evidence, who alſo aſſerted his being armed in the Action againſt the Swallow.
In anſwer to this, he firſt obſerved upon the Unhappineſs of being friendleſs in this Part of the World, which, elſewhere, by witneſſing to the Honeſty of his former Life, would, he believed, in a great Meaſure, have invalidated the wrong Evidence had been given of his being a Voluntier with the Pyrates. He owns indeed, he made no Application to his Captain, to intercede for a Diſcharge, but excuſes it with ſaying, he had a diſlike to him, and therefore was ſure that ſuch Application would have avail’d him nothing.
The Court obſerved the Pretences of this, and other of the Pyrates, of a Piſtol and their Articles being ſerved up in a Diſh together, or of their being miſuſed and forced from an honeſt Service, was often a Complotment of the Parties, to render them leſs ſuſpected of thoſe they came from, and was to anſwer the End of being put in a News-Paper or Affidavit: and the Pyrates were ſo generous as not to refuſe a Compliment to a Brother that coſt them nothing, and, at the ſame Time, ſecured them the beſt Hands; the beſt I call them, becauſe ſuch a Dependance made them act more boldly. Guilty.
Harry
