The first sailor that I examined was a black-haired, powerful fellow, in
an oil-skin jacket, with a good face enough, though he, too, might have
been taken for a pirate. In the affray in which the homicide occurred,
he had received a cut across the forehead, and another slantwise across
his nose, which had quite cut it in two, on a level with the face, and
had thence gone downward to his lower jaw. But neither he nor any one
else could give any testimony elucidating the matter into which I had
come to inquire. A seaman had been stabbed just before the vessel left
New York, and had been sent on shore and died there. Most of these men
were in the affray, and all of then were within a few yards of the spot
where it occurred; but those actually present all pleaded that they were
so drunk that the whole thing was now like a dream, with no distinct
images; and, if any had been sober, they took care to know nothing that
could inculpate any individual. Perhaps they spoke truth; they certainly
had a free and honest-like way of giving their evidence, as if their only
object was to tell all the truth they knew. But I rather think, in the
forecastle, and during the night-watches, they have whispered to one
another a great deal more than they told me, and have come to a pretty
accurate conclusion as to the man who gave the stab.
While the examination proceeded, there was a drawing of corks in a side
closet; and, at its conclusion, the captain asked us to stay to dinner,
but we excused ourselves, and drank only a glass of wine.
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