792 Page – American State Trials 1918 Volume X Leo Frank Document

Here is the translated text as follows:

Diack, with a white streak, noted that she had two small guns and something resembling a gun covered up amidships. She estimated the vessel to be about one hundred and fifty tons burden. Regarding this latter item—the amount of tonnage—allowances must be made for the state of alarm into which Capt. Butman was thrown. Mr. Peyton has explained how difficult it is to judge the tonnage of a vessel; he mentioned that he and his messmates were, in one instance, unable to decide within fifty or sixty tons the burden of the vessel in which they were sailing.

Regarding the schooner’s armament, the Panda had two small guns and one pivot gun. Perez stated that the small guns were six and nine pounders, and Mr. Quentin, a naval officer, made a similar mistake in estimating their caliber. Capt. Butman, however, described the guns as "neither long nor short," and a singular corroboration of his opinion emerged during this investigation. In the roll of equipage of the Panda, read a few days ago, the small guns are listed as carronades, which, as Capt. Butman noted, are neither "long nor short guns." Is this not proof of Capt. Butman’s accuracy, of far greater importance than the mistake he made regarding the metal of the guns? A mistake, too, very easily made; for who has seen guns at sea in the same state of brightness as those exhibited in a park of artillery? And who has not noticed the dark and bronze state of the guns lying in our navy yard?

Remember the perfect agreement between the testimony of the crew of the Mexican and the witness Perez regarding the colors of the Panda. Reed, the mate, stated that when the piratical vessel approached them, she hoisted patriot colors. Perez says that when they fired a gun for the American brig to heave to, they hoisted the Colombian flag. The description given by Capt. Butman of the maneuvers of the piratical vessel at the time of the Mexican’s capture also corresponds with Perez’s account of the movements of the Panda during the same period. There are also numerous other coincidences between the testimony of the crew of the Mexican and the witness Perez.