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t first treated him with suspicion, hearing that he had a commission to capture pirates. But Kidd soon reassured him over sundry cups of bombo, protesting with many oaths that 'his soul should fry in hell' sooner than that he should hurt a hair of one of Culliford's crew; and, as a proof of good will, presented him with two guns and an anchor. Then, finding the _Adventure_ had become unseaworthy, he abandoned her, and sailed for New England in the _Quedah Merchant_. In June, 1799, he reached Boston. Before his arrival, he heard he had been proclaimed a pirate, so he deputed a friend to approach Lord Bellamont on his behalf. The _Quedah Merchant_ was disposed of, and his plunder placed in a safe place. By assurance, and by a valuable present to Lady Bellamont, he thought he could face matters out. Bellamont appears to have been puzzled at first how to treat him. He was unwilling to believe all that was said. At the end of three weeks he made up his mind and arrested Kidd. For eight months he lay in Boston gaol, and was then sent to London for trial, remaining in Newgate for more than a year. Eleven of his crew were also arrested, two of them being admitted as King's witnesses. In the interval the storm against the Whig ministers had gathered strength, and articles of impeachment against Somers, Orford, and others were being prepared by the House of Commons. On the 27th March, 1701, Kidd was brought to the House to be examined, but he said nothing to inculpate any of the owners of the _Adventure_, so a resolution was passed that he should be proceeded against according to law. On the 8th and 9th May he was brought up for trial at the Old Bailey. The first indictment against him was for the murder of Moore, the gunner of the _Adventure_. There had been a quarrel in which Moore accused Kidd of having ruined them all, on which Kidd called him a 'lousy dog'; to which Moore replied in a rage, that if he was a dog it was Kidd who had made him one. At this Kidd hurled a bucket at him and fractured his skull. The jury found him guilty. He was then tried, together with nine of his crew, for the taking of the _Quedah Merchant_. His line of defence was that it was sailing under a French pass, and therefore a lawful prize, but he evaded actually saying so. He declared that Lord Bellamont had some French passes of ships he had taken, but would not produce them. That Kidd had captured some ships under French passes, and that the pa
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