Nathaniel Gordon: Difference between revisions - Wikipedia
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Line 37: In 1851, Gordon, captaining the ''Camargo,'' went on another expedition from Brazil to Africa. Gordon took on 500 Africans and set sail for Brazil. He had to take numerous measures to avoid naval patrol ships. Gordon was nevertheless chased by a British [[man-of-war]]. After arriving in Brazil and dropping off the Africans, Gordon burned his ship to destroy evidence. The Africans were seized and some of Gordon's men were arrested and charged. Gordon himself escaped by dressing into women's clothes.<ref name=":1" /> Shortly after the ''Camargo'' voyage, Gordon, captaining ''Ottawa'', made a slaving voyage to Cuba, where slavery was also still legal, with a cargo of Africans. Only about 25 percent of the Africans survived, with Gordon later claiming that a rival trader had poisoned them. After landing in Cuba, Gordon burned his ship afterwards to destroy evidence.<ref name=":1" /> In late July 1860, Gordon set sail for the west coast of Africa. On August 7, 1860, he loaded 897 slaves aboard ''Erie'' at [[Sharks Point]], [[Congo River]], [[West Africa]].<ref name="Spears 1900 464">{{Citation
| last = Spears | first = John R. Line 48 ⟶ 46: | year = 1900 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=VR5fi49ZUs0C&pg=PA464 }}</ref><blockquote>"The slaves numbered eight hundred and ninety, of whom but one hundred and seventy-two were men. The women numbered one hundred and six, and the remainder were boys and girls. Gordon was one of those slavers who carried children because it was safer to carry them. They would but flinched and screamed when he tortured them; they would never strike back."</blockquote>According to reports, Gordon was responsible for at least 29 deaths. Those who died were thrown overboard.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Execution of Gordon The Slave-Trader |url=https://blackhistory.harpweek.com/7illustrations/slavery/ExecutionOfSlavetrader.htm |access-date=2022-05-11 |website=blackhistory.harpweek.com}}</ref> ''Erie'' was captured by the [[USS Mohican (1859)|USS ''Mohican'']] 50 miles from a Cuban port on August 8, 1860.<ref name="harpers">[http://www.sonofthesouth.net/slavery/slave-trader.htm "The Execution of Gordon, The Slave-Trader"], ''[[Harper's Weekly]]'', March 8, 1862.</ref> The slaves were taken to [[Liberia]], the American colony established in West Africa by the [[American Colonization Society]] for the settlement of free blacks from the United States.<ref name="Spears 1900 464" /> Gordon was extradited to New York to face a federal trial. Arrested with him were [[first mate]] William Warren and [[second mate]] David Hall.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Howard |first=Warren S. |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/American_Slavers_and_the_Federal_Law/rbmSrE5-B7IC?hl=en&gbpv=0 |title=American Slavers and the Federal Law |publisher=University of California Press |pages=223 |language=en}}</ref>
==Trials== [[File:Slave trading criminal case involving Nathaniel Gordon.png|right|250px|thumb|Slave trading criminal case involving Nathaniel Gordon]] The [[United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York]], [[James I. Roosevelt]], offered Gordon a $2,000 fine and two-year sentence in exchange for information about his financial backers. However, Gordon, confident that he wouldn't face any severe consequences, rejected the deal, believing it was not lenient enough.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=Historian sheds light on a shameful period - The Boston Globe |url=http://archive.boston.com/ae/books/articles/2006/08/01/execution_case_puts_slave_trade_under_the_microscope/?__goto=loginpage |access-date=2022-05-11 |website=archive.boston.com |language=en}}</ref> The case was repeatedly delayed due to the onset of the Civil War. By the time of Gordon's trial, a new district attorney, [[Edward Delafield Smith]], had been appointed. Smith saw the Gordon case as a chance to become prominent and an opportunity to set an example for all future slave traders. He wanted Gordon executed.<ref name=":2" />
Gordon's first trial in [[New York City]] in June 1861 ended in a mistrial, with the jury voting 7-5 in favor of a conviction, allegedly due to bribes. Smith immediately pushed for a retrial. To counter potential tampering and bribes, the government had the jury [[Jury sequestration|sequestered]]. Among the arguments used by Gordon's lawyers during his second trial were technicalities which had successfully been exploited in other trials:<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Miller |first=William Lee|author-link=William Lee Miller |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H_EWaLCjXTgC |title=President Lincoln: The Duty of a Statesman |date=2009 |publisher=Vintage Books |isbn=978-1-4000-3416-1 |language=en}}</ref> Line 76 ⟶ 70: Do not flatter yourself that because they belonged to a different race from yourself, your guilt is therefore lessened – rather fear that it is increased. In the just and generous heart, the humble and the weak inspire compassion, and call for pity and forbearance. As you are soon to pass into the presence of that God of the black man as well as the white man, who is no respecter of persons, do not indulge for a moment the thought that he hears with indifference the cry of the humblest of his children. Do not imagine that because others shared in the guilt of this enterprise, yours, is thereby diminished; but remember the awful admonition of your Bible, "Though hand joined in hand, the wicked shall not go unpunished."|Worcester Aegis and Transcript; December 7, 1861; pg. 1, col. 6.<ref>{{cite magazine |magazine=The Harbinger |title=A Death-Blow at the Slave- Trade |page=18 |date=January 1862 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cicEAAAAQAAJ&q=Let%20me%20implore%20you |publisher=Ward & Co. |location=London}}</ref> </blockquote>In February 1862, Smith allowed William Warren and David Hall to plead guilty to lesser charges under the [[Slave Trade Act of 1800]]. Warren, who claimed he was not an American citizen, was sentenced to 8 months in prison, while Hall was sentenced to 9 months in prison. Because both men were broke, they were each fined only one dollar. During sentencing, Judge Shipman advised Hall that he was being treated extremely leniently, and warned him "if caught engaged in it again, the punishment would be severe."<ref name=":4" /><ref>{{Cite news |date=1862-02-27 |title=The Slave-trade.; UNITED STATES CIRCUIT COURT. Before Judge Shipman. THE MATES OF THE SLAVER ERIE. (Published 1862) |language=en |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1862/02/27/archives/the-slavetrade-united-states-circuit-court-before-judge-shipman-the.html |access-date=2023-08-11}}</ref>
==Appeals for pardon and execution== | |||