Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, Transmitted to Congress, With the Annual Message of the President, December 7, 1874

No. 713.
Admiral Polo de Bernabé to Mr. Fish.

Legation of Spain,
Washington, December 10, 1873,

As a result of the protocol signed at Washington on the 29th of November last, relative to the case of the Virginius, the undersigned, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of Spain, has the honor to transmit herewith to the Secretary of State of the United States various authenticated documents, which prove, in the opinion of the undersigned, that the steamer Virginius had no right, at the time of her capture, to use the flag of the United States.

The documents referred to are a certified copy of the papers relative to the said steamer, in the archives of the New York custom-house, which were used for the purpose of clearing the vessel at that port on the 4th of October, 1870; affidavits of Shepperd, Bowen, and Smith, persons who have commanded the Virginius since her departure from New York, and during a part of her illicit career in the Caribbean Sea and its neighborhood; the affidavit of Greenwood, engineer on board during a part of the same time; and those of Murphy, McCann, Gallagher, Rawlings, and Furlong, seamen or firemen, together with the affidavit of Yarona, the so-called secretary or chief of staff of General Quesada, so-called, who appears to have been the person who really controlled the vessel from the date of her departure from the United States in 1870, and during most, if not all, the time which elapsed between that date and her capture.

All this proof has been taken after a notice to the Department of State, in which the undersigned pointed out the propriety of the attendance of a person appointed for the purpose to examine the witnesses, as he might think fit, on the part of the United States, which was done accordingly.

Together with the depositions taken in the city of New York, the undersigned also transmits to the honorable Secretary of State the original and a translation of proof taken at Santiago de Cuba, on the 26th of October, 1871, before the consuls of the United States and of Venezuela, and given by two persons who were on board the Virginius at the time that vessel landed in Cuba a military expedition commanded by Raphael Quesada, about the 21st of July, 1871.

From an examination of the aforesaid documents the following facts appear to be sufficiently proved:

Toward the close of 1869, or at the beginning of 1870, the leader of the Cuban insurrection created a mission, called “foreign,” in the United States, the principal members of which were Manuel Quesada, in the quality of president, and Adolphus de Varona, secretary. Prior to the time adverted to the said leader had sent one Morales Lemus in the character of a diplomatic representative to the United States, in anticipation of the moment when the Federal Government might believe that the belligerent rights of the insurrection should be acknowledged.

The object and the character of the mission of Quesada were not diplomatic, but aimed at the creation in the United States of a financial, naval, and military center, whence material aid might be dispatched to the insurgents. He was also intrusted with the purchase of arms and munitions of war, with-authority to enlist men to act in hostility to a country with which the United States were in relations of the most perfect peace, friendship, and good faith. Quesada arrived at New York in February or March, 1870, and held interviews with different Cuban associations, clubs, or meetings, organized in the United States to aid the insurrection in Cuba by means of pecuniary and other assistance.

Even in advance of the departure of Manuel Quesada from Cuba, two military expeditions from New York had landed in that island, one in the steamer Perit, under the command of the so-called General Jordan, and the other in the Salvador, with Raphael Quesada, brother of Manuel, and both composed of a large number of men, provided with arms and munitions.

In discharge of the functions of his mission adverted to, General Jordan, a citizen of the United States and one of the persons comprising the expedition, was selected by Quesada to organize the military forces of the insurgents, and at the proper time Jordan returned to the United States after having been relieved by Agramonte.

One of the results of the mission of Quesada and of the other Cuban associations in the United States was the collection of a large sum of money, by means of individual subscriptions and by the sale, in this country, of the so-called Cuban bonds, which sum was placed in the hands of one Castillo, appointed treasurer of the said funds, whose residence was at New York. In the sequel a board of directors was appointed, which controlled the expenditure of the money, the purchase of arms and vessels, and the enlistment of men.

Among the members of the club were H. Raymond, Martinez, José Maria Mora, Plutarch Gonzalez, and others, who then were and now are residents of the city of New York. With the money collected as has been stated, and controlled by the Cuban agents of the insurrection, the steamers Florida and Virginius were purchased. The latter vessel, built in England, became the property of the United States by capture as a blockade-runner while attempting to enter the southern ports of this republic, and again up an a subsequent occasion in the settlement of a debt. Her nominal purchaser, who on the 27th of August, 1870, took from the United States Treasury Department a proforma proprietary title, was a person named John F. Patterson, then and now a resident of the city of New York. It does not appear to be clearly shown by the depositions and other accompanying documents whether Patterson bought the steamer as agent of said insurgent Cubans, or whether he did it in his own name, afterward transferring it to the latter.

The undersigned, however, has reason to believe that when a thorough examination of all the circumstances shall have been made, it will appear that he did not make the purchase, except in the character of agent, as above expressed. At the time of the sale, the steamer was at the Washington navy-yard, and one J. K. Roberts, of New York, in September, 1870, employed Captain Shepperd to navigate her from that navy-yard to the port of New York; which service was performed in the course of that month, Roberts having stated to Shepperd that he had bought the vessel of the United States Government on account of certain Cubans, among whom he mentioned José Maria Mora, of the city of New York, and the so-called General Quesada; that the Cubans had furnished the money for the purchase, and afterward for the repairs and finishing-work on board at the city of New, York. And about two weeks after her arrival at that port Roberts stated to Shepperd that the steamer was the property of Mora, Quesada, and other insurgent Cubans, and that she was going to be employed in landing expeditions in Cuba and in other enterprises in the interest of the Cuban insurgents; and Roberts asked Shepperd if, under such circumstances, Shepperd was disposed to take command of the steamer; and when Shepperd wished to inform himself further touching the true character of the business, Roberts answered that he should be presented to Mora and Quesada, which introduction took place the same evening at Mora’s house, in the city of New York; Quesada, Patterson, Adolf Yarona, and various other Cubans being present. At the aforesaid interview, Mora and Quesada declared frankly to Captain Shepperd that they were owners of the vessel, and, for the purpose of persuading him to take command of the Virginius, Mora stated to him that there would be various opportunities for making money offered to him, by means of the capture and confiscation of Spanish vessels and their cargoes on the high seas. Yarona, Quesada’s secretary, testified that the sum paid for the vessel proceeded from the insurrectionary funds, and amounted to about $15,000, and that both the fact of the purchase, as well as that of the payment, were well known at the club of the Foreign Mission, as also the fact that the cargo of the schooner Billy Butts, which vessel, by a preconcerted arrangement, met the Virginius near the island of Curacoa, in November, 1870, was bought with funds of the same origin. If, indeed, evidence of these allegations does not appear to be fully established in the depositions to which reference has just been made, the undersigned relies for the conviction of the Secretary of State, or any legislative or judicial tribunal, or any committee of Congress empowered to compel the attendance of witnesses, and upon their answers to proper questions, which would easily show that Patterson, the supposed owner of the Virginius, received $15,000 for her in United States currency, a large sum in so called Cuban bonds, and a further compensation for his agency in obtaining a register and a clearance in his name from the New York custom-house, and for the purpose of appearing in the false and fraudulent character of her true owner during her piratical enterprises against Spain. The principal persons who were concerned in the purchase of the steamer, such as Quesada, Gonzalez, Martinez, and various others, are now in the city of New York, within the jurisdiction of this Government, and within easy reach of the exercise of its sovereignty; while, on the other hand, neither the undersigned nor the government which he represents enjoys, in this country, any power to compel true answers to be given in investigations for the purpose of exposing the true history of the purchase of the steamer and her clearance from the port of New York.

The Virginius left that port, pursuant to what is said above, about the 4th of October, 1870. The annexed custom-house papers declare that she carried no cargo, and, after the most particular inquiries, the undersigned has found no indication that any insurance was effected on the vessel, conformably to the usual practice for merchant-vessels or honest transports. General Quesada, Varona, Eloy, Camacho, Domingo Mora, (son of José Maria Mora, to whom reference has already been made,) and various other Cubans who took passage on board of her, did not embark at the wharf, as is customary for honest passengers, but overhauled her at sea in the lighter Virginia Seymour.

During the voyage to Curaçoa, having descried a merchant-vessel, and believing it to be Spanish, Quesada proposed to Captain Shepperd, through Alfaro, that the said vessel should be captured, and the scheme was only abandoned when it was noticed that the vessel was sailing under the English flag. In the vicinity of the island of Curagoa, the cargo of arms and munitions of war from New York in the schooner, Billy Butts was transferred to the Virginius under the direction of Quesada, and the steamer proceeded to Puerto Cabello; meanwhile Varona went in the schooner toward the island of Cuba, and sought, as he declares, to put himself in communication with Cespedes, for the purpose of obtaining for Quesada an appointment making him sole representative of the material interests of the insurrection in the United States.

During the whole of the passage from New York to Puerto Cabello, the captain of the Virginius recognized Quesada as owner of the steamer, and as a superior whose orders he must obey.

Varona testifies that during the voyage, in the name of General Quesada, he informed Shepperd that the steamer really belonged to them and not to Patterson or to any one else, giving him by this to understand that she belonged to the Cuban club; and the witness added that his personal expenses were to be paid from the same funds which had been used to buy the steamer.

Captain Shepperd left the Virginius at Puerto Cabello, and about the middle of November, 1870, returned to the city of New York, where he had interviews with Patterson and with Mora, the former having stated to him that he ought to have brought the vessel to New York, taking advantage of the title which he had in his possession. Shepperd imparted this indication, in a measure, to Mora, who denied that Patterson was the real owner of the vessel, in proof of which he showed him receipts for the purchase-money and for the finishing and repairing done at the port of New York before the voyage, given in favor of Mora.

Patterson subsequently expressed to Shepperd his regret that he had permitted his name to be used in connection with the ownership of the vessel, and Roberts also told Shepperd that the vessel would have to sail as the property of an American, because the Cubans could not own a vessel of that nationality.

Captain Shepperd declares that on various occasions he had conversations with the consuls of the United States at Curacoa, Laguayra, and Puerto Cabello, in relation to the ownership and destination of the Virginias, and that the consul at Puerto Cabello requested him to make a statement in regard to a rumor which had reached his ears, to the effect that the steamer was going to serve in a revolution then in progress in Venezuela; Shepperd did so in a letter dated December 9, 1870, in which he proposed to state, as he declares, under oath, that such was not, to his certain knowledge, the object of the persons interested in the vessel, nor would he have to render any such service while in command.

The entire testimony of Captain Shepperd, as regards his conversations with these different consuls of the United States, leaves the impression that they were not ignorant of the real ownership and the real destination of the vessel, while they wished to see nothing but her papers certified by the collector of customs at New York.

After the arrival of the Virginius at Puerto Cabello, a conference was held with the accredited representatives of Guzman Blanco, who was then at the head of one of the contending parties of that state, at a place on the beach not far from the Virginius.

To this place Quesada was brought in a boat from the Virginius, which carried the insurgent flag of Cuba, and after this the principal part of the cargo of arms and munitions of war was conveyed from the steamer to a fort that was near. Before this took place, Captain Smith having abandoned the steamer, one Marquez, the chief engineer, who had shipped in New York, was made what the witness calls the paper-captain, because he was no seaman, while the real command was held by a Cuban named Eloy Camacho, who likewise shipped at New York, in company with Quesada, from the Virginia Seymour. The vessel was at once set to work transporting Venezuelan troops along that coast, in the interest of Guzman Blanco; and afterward the assistant engineer, Greenwood, having gone, by order of Quesada, on board of a Venezuelan vessel-of-war which was in that port, the Virginius towed said vessel-of-war out to sea, and assisted in the capture of a flotilla of armed schooners belonging to the party that was contending against Guzman Blanco, and while this capture was in progress the Virginius hauled down the American flag and hoisted that of Venezuela in its stead.

The most brilliant exploit performed by the Virginius after the aforesaid incident ‘was’ the landing of a military expedition on the coast of Cuba, the details of which are given in the depositions taken at Santiago de Cuba by the consuls of the United States and of Venezuela.

At a subsequent period of her career, in April, 1872, she is found at Aspinwall, where Captain Bowen, whose testimony forms a part of the accompanying documents, took command, having been commissioned for this purpose by Manuel Quesada and his chief executive officer, Pedro Alfaro, who distinctly stated to him that she was intended to be used in landing military expeditions on the island of Cuba. Captain Bowen remained in command of her for two or three months, and during that time he never knew or recognized any other owners than the Cubans.

When he went on board as captain, the vessel had no American flag, and he bought one himself.

Bowen, in his testimony, clearly expresses the conviction that the consul or consular agent of the United States at Aspinwall was only too well aware of the true character of the vessel and the kind of business in which she was engaged.

While Bowen was in command at Aspinwall, an incident occurred affecting the ownership of the steamer, and throwing a great deal of light upon the real ownership as well as upon the absence of all direction of or interest in its acts on the part of Patterson. A considerable debt had been incurred for repairs and provisions, and on this account Captain Bowen states that he gave to a business house at Aspinwall and Curaçoa, whose owners were known to be agents of Quesada and the Cubans, a mortgage on the vessel in his own name, as captain. This he did not do, as he states, in the exercise of his discretionary powers as the captain of a merchant-vessel, but he acted solely in obedience to the orders of Quesada. He made no arrangement with Patterson in relation to the matter, nor did he ever inform him of the transaction until his arrival in New York when he told him of it, altogether casually, in the course of conversation. It is probable that this mortgage would not have been given if Bowen had considered Patterson as the owner, or if Quesada had been only the freighter of the vessel; and the reason why Quesada neither signed nor executed the mortgage as the owner, doubtless was that, had he done so, the American consul and everybody else would have seen that the papers of the vessel, which declared that Patterson was her owner, were incorrect and fraudulent. The mortgage for payment subsequently in part at Puerto Cabello by Quesada and the English consul at that place, who acted as the agent of Mahl Brothers, who were obligated by the mortgage; and for the rest of the sum that was due, a new mortgage was executed, the old one being canceled by the then captain of the steamer, Smith, who, as had been done on the former occasion, acted according to Quesada’s instructions, there having been no communication on the subject with Patterson in New York, save in the case or the mortgage signed by Bowen.

Bowen leaves no room for conjecture as regards his own belief concerning the ownership of the Virginius; he openly declares his belief that the vessel was owned by Cubans, although sailing under the American flag and calling herself a United States vessel. This individual left the steamer at Puerto Cabello, where Captain Smith took command, having been engaged by Quesada, as his predecessors had been, without having had any communication concerning the vessel, either directly or indirectly, with Patterson.

He gives a detailed account of his departure from that port; of what was said to him by Quesada or Alfaro with regard to converting the vessel into a privateer and capturing Spanish merchant-vessels on their way to Maracaibo. He also states how and when he took Pulgar and his followers on board, and speaks of the habitual use which he made of the Venezuelan flag. He says that he only had one American flag on board, while he had six of the so-called Cuban flags. He states what occurred on board on the anniversary of the rising at Yara, and finally states that he obeyed the directions of Quesada and no one else, and expresses his conviction that the vessel was owned by Cuban insurgents, and that Patterson had no sort of interest in her.

The testimony sent with the present note concludes at the time that Captain Smith gave up the command of the Virginius; but from that moment her operations in the landing of a military expedition on the coast of Cuba, and subsequently up to the time of her capture by the Tornado, are matters of public notoriety.

By the light afforded by the foregoing statement, based upon the authenticated testimony of persons who have been on board of the Virginius, the invalidity of the documents with which the vessel was dispatched in the port of New York is very clearly seen.

The United States, in conformity with their views of what is required by international interests, have enacted laws and established rules and conditions for identifying and determining the nationality of vessels carrying their flag. These rules and conditions treat, among other things, of the place of building; of the nature and domicile of the owners, officers, and crew, and of the formalities with which the papers are to be issued. The laws of the United States are very strict as regards that which constitutes national character, as is well-known both to navigators and to writers who treat of this part of law.

One of these laws provides that “previous to the registry of any vessel or ship, the husband, or acting and managing owner, together with the master thereof, and “one or more sureties,” to the satisfaction of the collector of the district whose duty it is to make such registry, shall become bound to the United States, if such ship or vessel shall be of burden exceeding three hundred tons, in the sum of two thousand dollars, with condition, in each case, that the certificate of such registry shall be solely used for the ship or vessel for which it is granted, and shall not be sold, lent, or otherwise disposed of to any person or persons whomsoever; and that if any foreigner, or any person or persons for the use and benefit of such foreigner, shall purchase, or otherwise become entitled to the whole, or any part or share of or interest in such ship or vessel, the same being within a district of the United States, the said certificate shall, in such case, within seven days after such purchase, change, or transfer of propetry, be delivered up to the collector of the said district; and that if any such purchase, change, or transfer of property shall happen when such ship or vessel shall be at any foreign port or place, or at sea, then the said master, or person having the charge or command thereof, shall, within eight days after his arrival within any district of the United States, deliver up the said certificate to the collector of such district.” (U. S. Stat, at Large, vol. 1, p. 290.)

If the inclosed papers of the Virginius be attentively examined, it will be seen that the bond required by the law previous to the registry is only signed by the ostensible owner, Patterson, and by Captain Shepperd, but that the signatures of the sureties required by the law are wanting. The burden of the Virginius being more than three hundred tons, the sum which ought to have been pledged according to the law is $2,000, and it is very easy to see why she could not or would not procure the required sureties; whether a transfer of the Virginius was made to the Cuban insurgents previously to the registry, it being agreed that she should be allowed to use said American registry; or, after having obtained her registry, it was agreed to make a transfer to them of the whole or a part of the vessel.

The undersigned will not now stop to examine whether, according to the law of the United States, the want of said sureties did not invalidate the registry of the Virginius so far as to deprive her of the protection of the United States flag. He only purposes now to call attention to the fact that the lack of sureties confirms the evidence that the vessel had been transferred, directly or indirectly, through Patterson, to foreigners who never had any intention to bring it back to the United States.

It may be confidently asserted that Patterson did not intend, either in case the Cuban insurgents should acquire the whole or a part of the ownership before the vessel left New York, or in case of the transfer being effected after her departure from the port, that her captain should return the certificate, as provided by the law, within eight days after his return to the United States, and he therefore took good care to furnish no surety that he would do so.

The undersigned does not see how the Secretary of State of the United States can doubt that it was the intention of Patterson, and the Cuban conspirators who were associated with him, fraudulently to obtain from the collector of customs at New York certain formalities on papers which should be just sufficient to enable them to clear the vessel, and which, in foreign ports, might furnish a plausible pretext to the consuls of the United States to dispatch her. In proof of this it will be observed that no number was designated for the Virginius, (as provided by the act of Congress of July 28, 1866,) up to February 21, 1872, and that, when a number was then designated, it was not done in virtue of an application addressed by the owner or captain to a collector of customs, as required by the regulations of the Treasury Department. This circumstance tends to prove, in the judgment of the undersigned, that the true owners of the vessel had no interest in assuring to themselves the protection to their property which is provided by the laws of the United States, in that it is marked with all clearness that if, at any time, a registered vessel ceases to have the number to which she makes reference, said vessel will cease to be recognized as a vessel of the United States.

The undersigned does not propose, on this occasion, to make an examination of the conditions which may be required, and of the elements which may at all times be necessary to establish the nationality of a merchant-vessel of the United States. He cannot do less, however, than to call attention to a declaration of the Supreme Court of the United States, according to which “the object of a register is to make manifest the nationality of a vessel which is engaged in trade with foreign countries, and to furnish her a means of making evident that nationality wherever she may be found.”

What effects can be assumed or what respect paid to a register obtained in fraudulent violation of the laws of the United States, or used subsequently with manifest infraction of said laws, when the transfer of the proprietorship of the vessel to a foreigner has been accomplished?

The same eminent tribunal has likewise declared, at a period not more remote than the month of December, eighteen hundred and sixty-eight, that “the vessels of the United States are the creatures of the legislation of Congress,” and that “vessels that are not within the terms of the acts of Congress, and have not aright to the benefits and privileges which the same confer, have no more value as respects American vessels than the wood and iron which have served for their construction; their true value, if not their complete and total value, consists in their right to the character of national vessels, and to enjoy the protection of the national Hag hoisted at their mast-heads.”

On another occasion the presiding judge of the Supreme Court (Chief-Justice Marshall) decreed that “in cases of alienation to a foreigner, the privileges of an American hull are ipso facto annulled.”

Another case emanating from the most elevated tribunal of this country will be found on page 227 of the 9th volume of Wheaton, in which the judgment pronounced appears so exactly applicable to the case now under discussion, that the undersigned cannot omit to call to it the attention of the Secretary of State.

A vessel called the Margaret obtained a register at the port of Baltimore, and subsequently was transferred in Cuba, by edict, to a Spanish subject domiciled in that island, after which she sailed for Baltimore with her American documents.

On the institution of proceedings of confiscation against the vessel, in virtue of section 16 of the act of 1792, relative to registers, the defense relied on the circumstance that the transfer to a Spanish subject had been effected with the sole object of evading the Spanish customs-laws, and that the real American ownership had not undergone an exchange bona fide. The court expressed itself in these terms:

But even supposing that the only object of the transfer was the perpetration of a fraud against the laws of Spain, it was, nevertheless, an act which bound the parties and changed the legal ownership. It was, within the terms of the law, a complete transfer to a foreign subject, by way of trust and confidence, the nature of the confidence requiring that there should be a reconveyance to the American owner when the special ends of the first transfer had been carried fully into effect. We are in nowise disposed to admit that a reconveyance would be decreed in any American court of justice in a transaction of this character with a foreign subject, in a foreign port, in violation of the laws of this country it is sufficient for us, however, that the transaction is within the very terms of the act of Congress, which does not require a sale in good faith, but an exchange of ownership “by way of trust, confidence, or otherwise.” But we are told that the case is not comprised within the intention of the act. What that intention is can only be known by the terms in which the act is drawn; and every part of it evinces the great solicitude of the legislative body to discover and examine every change of ownership, for which purpose the act requires a public declaration of the change and its verification in the vessel’s papers, which make apparent at all times the names of the legitimate owners. The manifest intention of these laws is to encourage American navigation [to the exclusion of] foreign ownership, and of securing to American vessels, duly registered, a preference in all our fiscal transactions over every vessel hot having strictly a right to that character. The legislature foresaw that it would be impossible for the agents of the government to ascertain the secret intentions of individuals or the object of a transfer of ownership. The question of whether such transfers had been made in good faith, or had merely served to cover an illicit purpose, was a matter which had to be left to the confidence of private persons, and could rarely be verified by competent and disinterested proof. To consent to secret conveyance of ownership to any persons, and especially to foreigners, and to allow vessels at the same time to retain all the benefit of American character, would put at hazard and might frustrate the main object of the act, and give place to all sorts of contrivances to evade the laws and place it out of the power of the Government to expose the fraud. There can be no doubt, therefore, as to what was the true purpose of the legislation, to wit: It was the establishment of clear and simple provisions of law, whereby it would be requisite for every transfer to be made known from time to time as it should occur, and to always give up the American documents when the legal ownership passed to a foreigner, whatever might be the secret conditions accompanying the conveyance. The terms of the section to which reference has been made are clear and positive, and so far from invalidating, they sustain most completely the intention of the act. They cannot, consequently, be interpreted in a more limited sense than that which their evident purport indicates.

It is plain to the undersigned that this authorized exposition of the law of the United States must destroy every effort and pretext on the part of Patterson, or any one else claiming to bear the name of that individual, to show that the register of the Virginius was valid and sufficient, or that said vessel had a right to use the American flag or papers at the time of her capture. Of a like character is the pretense that the conveyance to the Cubans did not deprive Patterson of the legal ownership, seeing that that conveyance was only made by way of trust or of charter of the steamer, with the view of withdrawing her from the use of the legitimate rights which Spain might have against her.

If, laying aside the municipal law, the honorable Secretary of State should allege that, in virtue of what was agreed on in the protocol of the 29th of November, 1873, Spain had contracted the duty of proving in a satisfactory manner to the Government of the United States tha the Virginius, at the time of her capture, unduly carried the flag of the United States, agreeably to international law, the undersigned cannot but insist that, according to the accredited text of that law, as Spain was authorized, in view of the circumstances, to inquire into the national character of the Virginius, and the documents and annexed evidence demonstrate that the American nationality which she invoked was at the time of her capture by the Tornado, and according to the rules of international law, spurious and untenable. In fact, the principles laid down by Phillimore, in his Treatise on International Law, demonstrate that Spain had, and has, the capacity of proving, if this can be done, that the flag and the documents of the Virginius were “false credentials, used for the purpose of disguising the true character of the vessel;” “and it is not a less important part,” adds the same author, “of the ordinary labors of a prize-court to drag off this mask, and, the disguise being removed, to make appear in its true character an enemy’s vessel.”

Dana, the illustrious commentator on the Elements of International Law by Wheaton, puts forward the same ideas. He says:

Whenever a nation has the quality of assuring itself of the nationality of a merchant-vessel, whether she be hostile or whether she be pacific, the right that it has to proceed thus cannot be limited by the flag or by the papers which are used. In such a situation a country is at liberty to inquire what there is behind the nationality indicated by the flag and the papers, and to make inquiry as to the true nationality, which depends upon the domicile of the owner and upon other circumstances. In a case of this kind, the vessel may be considered as condemned by the fact of her having used a flag and papers to which she was not entitled, if the country making the inquiry has an interest in proving such illegality. This is usually done in time of war, and may be done in time of peace. The practice is equivalent to the application of a rule of conclusive presumption, and the decision as to whether it is to be adopted or not is regulated by national expediency. The vessel cannot ask for the application of the rule for its benefit: so that if it should appear that the papers and flag of any particular nation had been used with the consent of that nation, the vessel having been thereby invested, in a given case, with a false national character, such consent does not stand in the way of the right of the country making the inquiry, as regards the relation existing between the said nation and the owner of the vessel, to cast aside all consideration of the flag and papers, and to show the true nationality of the vessel. In case of interference on the part of the nation that gave the consent, the question would become a political one between the two nations.

In the opinion of the undersigned, whatever may be the turn taken in the discussion relative to the nationality of the Virginius, adjusted to the acknowledged precepts of international law, it would have to terminate in the consideration of what class are the vessels which the United States have permitted to use their flag and to shelter themselves under the immunities of its colors. All nations ought to know and to respect said laws, and the undersigned does not deny the prerogative which every sovereign state possesses to determine for itself the conditions of the nationality of its merchant vessels.

The undersigned has had occasion to call to mind the very significant circumstance of the owners of the Virginius not having taken out a policy of maritime insurance for the voyage which she undertook from New York on the 4th of October, 1870. Now, in case the United States had recognized or affirmed a state of belligerency between Spain and her insurrectionary citizens in Cuba, and the Virginius had been insured at New York against capture, arrest, detention, or impediment on the seas by any king, prince, or power, and that Patterson had guaranteed the vessel as a national vessel of the United States, would a tribunal, which was called to judge in conformity to the law of nations, have decided that the insurers had incurred the obligation of making good the losses experienced in consequence of her capture by the Tornado? And if the guarantee of Patterson had expressed that the vessel was American, and proof been given of it, if necessary, that he was in the city of New York, would a judicial tribunal, which in presence of the declarations on which this writing was founded, have declared that the vessel had truly the character which had been attributed to her, and that consequently the insurers would be obliged to pay?

The undersigned has the honor to show that, in virtue of the practice of all maritime nations, a guarantee of American nationality implies, first, that the vessel belongs in fact and in her totality to citizens of the United States at the time when the risk began; secondly, that said ownership had not passed into the hands of a foreigner, not even by way of trust; thirdly, that the vessel would have to go always provided with documents and other requisites which accredit in good faith the necessary elements of her true nationality.

In the case in question, the most positive proof exists that the Virginius has not been in the possession or at the disposal of Patterson as her sole and exclusive owner, even supposing that she ever was so, since October 4, 1870; but that, on the contrary, the direction of all her movements during the entire period which has elapsed has been in the hands of insurgent citizens of Spain, represented by Quesada and Alfaro.

It cannot be doubted that such a state of things, even were there no other circumstances, imposes upon Patterson the obligation to explain how and in what manner he transferred the control of the vessel to others, and by what legal documents, if any, and how it is, that a citizen of the United States has permitted the Virginius to be put to a use which, if he permitted it knowing what he did, renders him subject, according to the laws of his country, to fine and imprisonment.

The undersigned hopes that he has fully proved, by the foregoing considerations, and to the satisfaction of the honorable Secretary of State, that, according to the laws of the United States, in which are clearly and definitely laid down the conditions which must define the legal character of the nationality of their vessels, not only do there not exist such conditions in the case of the steamer Virginius, but that, at the time of her capture by the Spanish war-steamer Tornado, she was fraudulently using the papers and flag of the country whose protection she claims.

The undersigned avails. &c,

JOSÉ POLO DE BERNABÉ.

[Inclosure l.]

Bill of sale of registered vessel.

To all to whom these presents shall come, greeting:

Know ye that I, Everett C. Banfield, Solicitor of the Treasury of the United States, in pursuance of the authority conferred upon me by virtue of an act of Congress entitled “An act to provide for the appointment of a Solicitor of the Treasury,” approved May 29, 1830, and “An act to prevent and punish frauds upon the revenue, to provide for the more certain and speedy collection of claims in favor of the United States, and for other purposes,” acting for and in behalf of the United States, the owner of the steamer or vessel called the Virgin, of New Orleans, of the burthen of four hundred forty-one 84/100 tons, or thereabouts, for and in consideration of the sum of nine thousand eight hundred dollars, lawful money of the United States of America, to the United States in hand paid, before the sealing and delivery of these presents, by John F. Patterson, of New York, the receipt whereof I do hereby acknowledge and am therewith fully: satisfied, contented, and paid, have bargained and sold, and by these presents do bargain and sell, unto the said John F. Patterson, his executors, administrators, and assigns, the whole of the said steamer or vessel, together with the masts, bowsprit, sails, boats, anchors., cables, and all other necessaries thereunto belonging; the certificate of registry of which said steamer or vessel is as follows, viz Register No. 108, (one hundred and six,) permanent. (Signed) J. W. Graham, Asst. Register. {Seal of United States Treasury.} (Signed) W. B. Kellogg, Collector, by W. J. Brown, Act. D’y Collector. [Seal.] (Signed) James C. White, D’y Naval Officer. [Seal.]

An act of Congress of the United Satates. In pursuance of an act of the Congress of the United States of America, entitled “An act concerning the registering and recording of ships or vessels,” approved December 31, 1792, and of “An act to regulate the admeasurement of tonnage of ships and vessels of the United States,” approved May 6, 1864, Miles T. Steele, of New Orleans, in the State of Louisiana, having taken or subscribed the oath required by the said acts, and having sworn that he is a citizen of the United States, and sole and only owner of the steamer or vessel called the Virgin, of New Orleans, whereof Miles T. Steele is at present master, and is a citizen of the United States, as he hath sworn, and that the said steamer or vessel was formerly a blockade-runner, and sold by Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands, at the port of Mobile, February 14, 1866, as per register No. 18, issued and dated at Mobile, March 12, 1866, now surrendered properly and district changed; and said-register, No. 18, having certified that the said vessel has one deck and one mast, and that her length is 216–0/10 feet; her breadth, 24 5/10 feet; her depth 10 9/19 feet; her height, /10 feet; that she measures four hundred forty-one 84/100 (441 84/100) tons, viz: capacity under tonnage-deck, 375 82/100 tons; capacity between decks above tonnage-deck, 0/100 tons; capacity of inclosures on the upper deck, viz: 66 2/100 tons; total tonnage, 441–84/100 tons; that she is a steamer, has a round stern and a scrawl-head. And the said Miles T. Steele having agreed to the description and admeasurement above specified, and sufficient security having been given, according to the said acts, the said steamer has been duly registered at the port of New Orleans.

Given under our hand and seal at the port of New Orleans, this 23d day of June, in the year one thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.

And the United States having acquired title to said vessel, registered as aforesaid, in the collection of a debt due the United States by bill of sale from the said Miles T. Steele, dated May 14, 1867, and recorded in the custom-house at New Orleans, in book A, page 20, the said register has not been surrendered or renewed.

To have and to hold the said steamer or vessel and appurtenances thereunto belonging unto him, the said John F. Patterson, his executors, administrators, and assigns, to the sole and only proper use, benefit, and behoof of him, the said John F. Patterson, his executors, administrators, and assigns forever. And I, the said E. C. Banfield, Solicitor of the Treasury, as aforesaid, have, and by these presents do promise, covenant, and agree, for and in behalf of the United States, to and with the said John F. Patterson, his heirs, executors, administrators, and assigns, to warrant and defend the said steamer or vessel, and all the other before-mentioned appurtenances, against all and every person and persons whomsoever claiming by, from, or under the United States.

In testimony whereof, the said Everett C. Banfield, Solicitor of the Treasury, has hereunto set his hand and seal this 27th day of August, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy.

[solicitor’s seal.]

E. C. BANFIELD,
Solicitor of the Treasury.

Signed, sealed, and delivered in presence of—

• J. H. Robinson.
• H. C. Whitley.

[United States internal-revenue stamp here.]

District of Columbia, ss:

Personally appeared before me, a notary public in and for the District aforesaid, Everett C. Banfield, Solicitor of the Treasury of the United States, and acknowledged the within bill of sale to be his free act and deed.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal of office the seventh day of September, in the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy.

[seal.]

N. CALLAN,
Notary Public.

Received and recorded September 26, 1870, 2½–o’clock p.m.

T. W. J. SIZER
R. Clerk.

District and Port of New York,
Collector’s Office.

I hereby certify the within to be true copy of the original on record in this office.

Given under my hand and seal this 20th day of November, 1873.

[Seal of the collector of the port of New York.]

A. PUFFER,
D. Collector.

Port of—District of—,ss:

No. 14.—25851.

I, John F. Patterson, of the city, county, and State of New York, do solemnly swear, according to the best of my knowledge and belief, that the ship or vessel called the Virginius, of New York, is of the burthen 441 84/100 of tons, and was formerly the steamer Virgin, and sold by order and on account of United States Government, as per copy of register No. 106, issued at the port of New Orleans 23d June, 1866. Now canceled. Property changed.

That my present place of abode or residence is New York, and that I am a citizen of the United States, and the true and only owner of the said ship or vessel, and there is no subject or citizen of any foreign prince or state directly or indirectly, by way of trust, confidence, or otherwise, interested therein, or in the profits or issues thereof, I and that F. E. Shepperd is the present master or commander of the said ship or vessel.

JOHN F. PATTERSON.

Sworn to this 26th day of September, 1870.

W. A. MORRIS,
Deputy Collector.

I, F. E. Shepperd, the present master of the above-mentioned vessel, do solemnly swear that I am a citizen of the United States, having been born in Forsyth County, State of North Carolina.

F. E. SHEPPERD.

Sworn to this 4th day of October, 1870.

W. A. MORRIS,
Deputy Collector.

Know all men by these presents that we, John F. Patterson, F. E. Shepperd, are held and stand firmly bound unto the United States of America in the full and just sum of two thousand dollars, to which payment, well and truly to be made, we bind ourselves, our heirs, our executors, and administrators, jointly and severally, by these presents. Witness our hands and seals this 26th of September, one thousand eight hundred and seventy.

The condition of the foregoing obligation is such, that, whereas, Thomas Murphy, collector of the district of-, has issued and granted a certificate of registry in the manner prescribed by the act entitled “An act concerning the registering and recording of ships and vessels,” for the steamship called the Virginius, of New Vork, burthen 441 84/100 tons, whereof— —is at present master, which certificate is dated this day, and numbered 14:

Now, therefore, if the said certificate of registry shall be used for the said vessel for which it has been granted, and shall not be sold, lent, or otherwise disposed of, to any person or persons whomsoever, and in case the said vessel shall be lost, or taken by an enemy, burnt or broken up, or shall be otherwise prevented from returning to the port to which she belongs, if the said certificate (if preserved) shall, within eight days after the arrival of the master or person having charge or command of the said vessel within any district of the United States, be delivered up to the collector of such district; or if any foreigner, or any person or persons for the use and benefit of such foreigner, shall purchase or otherwise become entitled to the whole or any part or share of or interest in the said vessel, the same being within a district of the United States, if the said certificate shall, with seven days after such purchase, change, or transfer of property, be delivered up to the collector of said district, or if such purchase, change, or transfer of property shall happen when the said vessel shall be in any foreign port or place, or at sea, if the master or person having the charge or command thereof shall, within eight days after his arrival within any district of the United States, deliver up the said certificate to the collector of such district, then the said obligation shall be void, and of no effect; but otherwise shall remain in full force and virtue.

JOHN F. PATTERSON, [L. S.]
F. E. SHEPPERD. [L. S.]

Signed, sealed, and delivered in the presence of—

Under tonnage-deck	375.82
Between decks above deck
Inclosures on upper deck	66.02
Total	441.84

Steamer R. S. Scroll. S. Iron.

• B. F. WYMAN,
• JAS. HAGGERTY,
  Deputy Collectors.

District and Port of New York,
Collector’s Office.

I hereby certify the within to be a true copy of the original on record in this office.

Given under my hand and seal this 18th day of November, 1873.

[seal.]

R. WYNKOOP,
Deputy Collector.

F. W. J. S.

Fees 50 cents.

G.

[Inclosure 2.]

List of persons composing the crew of the steamer Virginius, of New York, whereof Shepperd is master, bound for Curagoa.

Names.	Places of birth.	Places of residence.	Of what country citizens or subjects.	Aged.	Description of their persons.
					Height.		Complexion.	Hair.
					ft.	in.
H. Marquis.	New York	New York.	United States	36	5	8	Light	Light.
Ed. Greenwood	do	do	do	29	5	9
James E. Fox.	Do	do	do	39	5	7
Walter Robinson.	Georgetown, D. C	do	do	37	5	10
William Quigley	Washington	Do	do	32	5	6
Thomas Gallagher.	Ireland	do	do	37	6	2
Andrew Cox	do.	Do	do.	29	6	0
George W. Miller.	New York	do	do	25	5	8
Daniel Shea.	Ireland	do	do.	26	5	6
Stephen Cox	New York	do	do	26	6	2
Peter Myers	Ireland	do	do	32	5	4
Ambrose Rowling	New York.	do	do.	25	5	9
Thomas Bowers	do.	do	Do	27	5	6
Ed. Dooly	Boston	do	do.	27	5	8
Hugh Green.	Ireland	do	Do	18	5	9
Michael McCarty	do	Do	do	94	5	3
John McCormack	New York	Do	Do	21	5	9
Daniel Bassett	Do	do	do	15	4	11
Thomas Griffiths	do.	do	do	42	5	9
William Fisk	Sweden.	do	Do	54	5	9
Frank Zumann	Prussia	do	Do	30	5	7
Thomas Anderson.	Germany	do	do.	32	5	7
George Anderson	Norway	do	do	24	5	9
William Johnson	Sweden	do		32	5	7
Daniel Young	Delaware	do	Do	33	5	6
John Maximore	New York	do	do.	44	5	11
William Augabur	Hamburg	Do	Do	32	5	7
Solomon W. Johnson	New York	Do	do	27	5	9
Ed. Rogers	Do	do	do	53	5	4
Dolan Stoker	Philadelphia	do	Do	21	5	5

F. E. SHEPPERD, Master.

State of New York, ss:

I, Hy. Camerden, jr., public notary, do hereby certify that, on the day of the date hereof, before me personally came and appeared F. E. Shepperd, master or commander of the steamer Virginius, now about clearing out for Curacoa, who, being duly sworn, did solemnly and sincerely declare that the above list contains the names of the officers and crew of the said steamer, together with the places of their birth and residence, as far as he hath been able to ascertain the same.

Given under my hand and seal of office, at the city of New York, this 4th day of October, 1870.

[seal.]

HENRY CAMERDEN, Jr.,
Notary Public.

City of New York, ss:

I, the undersigned notary public, do hereby certify that the within-named persons who compose the company of the within-mentioned steamer, whereof Shepperd is at present master, having produced to me proof in the manner directed by the laws of the United States, I do certify that the several before-mentioned persons are all citizens of the United States, except

In testimony whereof I have hereunto affixed my name and seal of office the 4th day of October, 1870.

[seal.]

HENRY CAMERDEN, Jr.
Notary Public.

District and Port of New York,
Collector’s Office.

I hereby certify the within to be a true copy of the original on file in this office.

Given under my hand and seal this 20th day of November, 1873.

[seal.]

A. PUFFER,
Deputy Collector.

F. W. J. S.

Know all men by these presents that we, F. E. Shepperd, master or commander of the steamer called the Virginius, now lying in the district of New York, and Hy. Carnerden, jr., are held and firmly bound unto the United States of America in the full and just sum of four hundred dollars, money of the United States, to which payment well and truly to be made we bind ourselves jointly and severally, our joint and several heirs, executors, and administrators, firmly by these presents, sealed with our seals, and dated this 4th day of October, in the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy. Whereas the above bounden master hath delivered to the collector of the customs for the district of New York, in the State of New York, a verified list, containing, as far as he can ascertain them, the names, places of birth, residence, and description of the persons who compose the company of the said steamer now lying in the said district, of which he is at present master or commander, of which list the said collector has delivered to the said master a certified copy:

Now, the condition of this obligation is such, that if the said master shall exhibit the aforesaid certified copy of the list to the first boarding officer at the first port in the United States in which he shall arrive on his return thereto, and then and there also produce the persons named therein to the said boarding officer, except any of the persons contained in the said list who may be discharged in a foreign country, with the consent of the consul, vice-consul, commercial agent, or vice-commercial agent there residing, signified in writing under his hand and official seal, to be produced to the collector of the district within which he may arrive, as aforesaid, with the other persons comprising the crew, as aforesaid, or who may have died or absconded, or who may have been forcibly impressed into other service, of which satisfactory proof shall be then also exhibited to the said last-mentioned collector, then and in such-cases the above obligation shall be void, and of no effect; otherwise it shall abide and remain in full force and virtue.

F. E. SHEPPERD. [L. S.]

HY. CAMERDEN, Jr. [L. S.]

Sealed and delivered in presence of—

F. W. J. Sizer.

District and Port of New York,
Collector’s Office.

I hereby certify the within to be a true copy of the original on record in this office.

Given under my hand and seal this 18th day of November, 1873.

[seal.]

R. WYNKOOP,
Deputy Collector.

F. W. J. S. Fees, 20 cents.

[Twenty-five-cent internal-revenue stamp.]

[Inclosure 3.]

Report and manifest of the cargo laden at the port of New York on board the steamship Virginius, whereof Shepperd is master, (or conductor,) bound for Curaçoa.

[441 tonnage. 31 crew.]

Marks.	Nos.	Packages and contents.	Quantities—pounds, galons, &c.	No. 1—Value of domestic merchandise.	No. 2— Value of foreign merchandise.	No. 3— Value of foreign merchandise. From bonded warehouse.	No. 4— Value of foreign merchandise. Not from bonded warehouse which has paid duties.	No. 5— Value of foreign merchandise on the passage in transit from one foreign country to another.	To be lauded at—
			Lbs.
	170	Barrels bread	13,600	$680					} Curaçoa
	2	Boxes saddlery		400
	4	Trunks clothing		350

Wood, Niebuhr & Co., 18 Exchange Place, New York, Oct. 4, 1870.

Note.—See instructions on the other side.

F. E. SHEPPERD.

[Int rev stamps, $3.]

Master’s oath on clearing outwards.

District of New York:

I, F. E. Shepperd, master or commander of the steamship Virginius, bound from the port of New York to Curacoa, do solemnly, sincerely, and truly swear that the manifest of the cargo on board the said steamship, now delivered by me to the collector of this district, and subscribed with my name, contains, according to the best of my knowledge and belief, a full, just, and true account of all the goods, wares, and merchandise now actually laden on board the said vessel, and of the value thereof; and if any other goods, wares, and merchandise shall be laden or put on board the said steamship previous to her sailing from this port, I will immediately report the same to the said collector. I do also swear that I verily believe the duties on all the foreign merchandise therein specified have been paid or secured according to law, and that no part thereof is intended to be relanded within the United States, and that if, by distress or other unavoidable accident, it shall become necessary to reland the same, I will forthwith make a just and true report thereof to the collector of the customs of the district wherein such distress or accident may happen. I do furthermore swear that I have not received on board said vessel, and have not under my care or within my control, and that I will not receive and convey, any letters or letter-packets addressed to any foreign country which have not been delivered to me from the post-office, except such as relate to the cargo and are addressed to the owner or consignee of said vessel, or such as are inclosed in a United States stamped envelope of a denomination sufficient in amount to cover the United States postage legally chargeable thereon, if the same had been posted and transmitted by the regular mail. And said cargo is truly intended to be landed at the port of Curaçoa. So help me God.

F. E. SHEPPERD.

Sworn to before me this 4th day of October, 1870.

W. A. MORRIS,
Deputy Collector.

J. A. H.

instructions.

The outward manifests must correspond in every particular with the special or part manifests.

• Column number 1 should embrace all domestic merchandise, whether exported “in bond under the internal-revenue act or otherwise;” also, to include all manufactures from foreign products, such as cordage from foreign hemp, sugar refined from foreign sugar, coffee and spices having been ground or adulterated, &c, &c.
• Column number 2 should embrace all foreign merchandise “free” or “not dutiable.”
• Column number 3 should embrace all foreign merchandise exported from “bonded warehouse,” duties remaining unpaid, or which, having been paid, are “returnable as drawback.”
• Column number 4 should embrace all foreign merchandise on which the duties have been paid, which has left the custody of the officers of the customs, provided the condition of the merchandise has not been changed; if remanufactured or adulterated, it becomes a domestic export, and must be classified as such under column 1.
• Column number 5 should embrace all foreign merchandise “in transit” or entered for immediate exportation, and so declared upon the custom-house entry.

The above requirements will be exacted at the clearance-desks.

District and Port of New York,
Collector’s Office.

I hereby certify the within to be a true copy of the original on file in this office.

Given under my hand and seal this 20th day of November, 1873.

[seal.]

A. PUFFER,
Deputy Collector.

F. W. J. S.

Wood, Niebuhr & Co., 18 Exchange Place.

1867–’8.—New form shippers’ manifest.—Part of cargo.

Manifest of part of cargo shipped by E. Titus on board the steamship Virginius, whereof Shepperd is master, (or conductor,) for Curaçoa.

Marks.	Nos.	Packages and contents.	Quantities—pounds, galons, &c.	No. 1	No. 2	No. 3	No. 4	No. 5	To be lauded at—
				—Value of domestic merchandise.	—Value of foreign merchandise free.	Value of foreign merchandise from bonded warehouse.	Value of foreign merchandise not from bonded warehouse which has paid duties.	Value of foreign merchandise on the passage in transitu from one foreign country to another.
	170	Barrels bread	13,600 lbs.	$680					} Curaçoa
	2	Boxes saddlery		400
	4	Trunks clothing		350

New York, October 4, 1870.

Note.—See instructions on the other side.

District and Port of New York:

I, A.M.D, do solemnly, sincerely, and truly swear that the within manifest contains a full, just, and true account of all the goods, wares, and merchandise shipped by E. T on board the within-named vessel or vehicle, and that the quantities and values of each article are truly stated, according to their actual cost, or the values which they truly bear in this port at this time. And I further swear that the said merchandise is truly intended to be exported to Curaçoa. So help me God.

A.M. DUNBAR.

Sworn to this October 4, 1870, before me,

W. A. MORRIS,
Deputy Collector.

J. A. H.

instructions.

The outward manifests must correspond in every particular with the special or port manifests.

• Column No. 1 should embrace all domestic merchandise, whether reported “in bond” under the internal-revenue act or otherwise; also to include all manufactures from foreign products, such as cordage from foreign hemp, sugar refined from foreign sugar, coffee and spices having been ground or adulterated, &c.
• Column No. 2 should embrace all foreign merchandise “free” or “not dutiable “from warehouse.
• Column No. 3 should embrace all foreign merchandise exported from “bonded warehouse” duties remaining unpaid, or which, having been paid, are returnable as drawback.
• Column No. 4 should embrace all foreign merchandise free, or on which the duties have been paid, which has left the custody of the officers of the customs; provided the condition of the merchandise has not been changed; if re manufactured or adulterated, it becomes a domestic export, and must be classified as such under column 1.
• Column No. 5 should embrace all foreign merchandise “in transit,” or entered for immediate exportation, and so declared upon the custom-house entry.

The above requirements will be enacted at the clearance-desks.

District and Port of New York,
Collector’s Office. [undated].

I hereby certify the within to be a true copy of the original on file in this office. Given under my hand and seal this 20th day of November, 1873,

A PUFFER,
Deputy Collector.

F. W. J. S.

[Inclosure 4.]

Deposition of Francis E. Shepperd.

United States of America,
Southern District of New York, ss:

To all to whom these presents shall come:

I, Joseph Gutman, jr., a commissioner of the United States circuit court for the southern district of New York, duly appointed and commissioned, and dwelling in the city of New York, send greeting:

Know ye, that on the twenty-eighth day of November, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, before me, at my office, No 29 Nassau street, in the city of New York, appeared as a witness Francis E. Shepperd, a mariner, formerly on board the steamship Virginius, produced by the consul-general of Spain for the district of New York, in the United States of America; and that I was attended at the same time by Sidney Webster, esq., counselor at law in said city, representing the aforesaid consul-general of Spain, and by George Bliss, esq., attorney of the United States for the southern district of New York, attending by the direction of the Secretary of State of the United States, and that the aforesaid witness, having been first duly cautioned by me to declare the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, in respect to the matters concerning which he should be interrogated, and having then been duly sworn by me according to the laws of the United States, did, in answer to the interrogatories addressed to him in my presence, voluntarily, freely, and solemnly declare and depose in my presence as follows, that is to say:

1. Question. Were you examined in the matter of the steamship Virginius before. Commissioner Gutman on the 2d May, 1872?—Answer. I think I was—that was the date. It was in the spring or early summer.

2. Q. Where are you now residing?—A. Warrenton, Va.

3. Q. For how long a time did you follow the sea as a profession?—A. Nineteen or twenty years.

4. Q. Are yon a graduate of the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis?—A. I am, sir.

5. Q. What year did you graduate?—A. Eighteen hundred and fifty-five.

6. Q. Were you subsequent to your graduation a teacher in that academy, and for how long a time?—A. I was for two years employed as an instructor in the department of English and ethics.

7. Q. Between what years?—A. Between 1858 and 1861.

8. Q. What year did you leave the naval service of the United States?—A. In 1861.

9. Q. Were you in the confederate service?—A. I was.

10. Q. In what capacity?—A. In a variety of capacities. I served some in the army and some in the navy, once or twice in command of an iron-clad.

11. Q. After the rebellion ended, were you in the American mercantile marine service?—A. I was.

12. Q. Please state in what capacities and in what ships.—A. In a bark—the name of which I have forgotten—from Baltimore to Havana as first mate; then two years afterward in command of a steamer, for two years consecutively, called the Mary, which ran in the Gulf between Mobile and Cedar Keys; then, afterward, the Virginius.

13. Q. Who were the owners of the steamer Mary?—A. During the first year that I commanded her she was owned jointly by Isaac K. Roberts, Colonel Ingersoll, of Mobile, and some few others whose names I have forgotten. After that she was represented to me to be solely owned by Isaac K. Roberts.

14. Q. You commanded, did you not, the Virginius on her voyage from Washington to Hew York in 1870?—A. I did.

15. Q. Who employed yon for that command?—A. Isaac K. Roberts.

16. Q. How long have you known John F. Patterson?—A. Since 1870.

17. Q. Then you first knew him about the time you took command of the Virginius? —A. About three months before.

18. Q. When you sailed from New York in command of the Virginius on her voyage to Curaçoa, whom did you believe to be her owners?—A. I believed her real owners to be certain Cubans—themselves the real owners or the representatives of other Cubans. The names of these representatives or owners were General Quesada and José Mora.

19. Q. Did you, before sailing on this voyage to Curacoa, have any conversation with John F. Patterson with respect to the ownership of the Virginius; if so, what was it, as nearly as you can recollect?—A. I did have conversations with Patterson on that subject. He said that the vessel would go in his name; and he, at that time and afterward, expressed to me regret at allowing his name to be used in connection with the ownership of the vessel.

20. Q. Did you, before sailing to Curagoa, have any conversation with I. K. Roberts in respect to the ownership of the Virginius, and, if so, what statement did Roberts make to you on that subject?—A. I did; he stated to me that it was at the time not decided in whose name the papers should be made out—in his or in Patterson’s—and informed me that he had bought her for these parties that I have referred to, perhaps not mentioning their names, but using the general term “Cubans.” He said this thing, which I well remember, that of course she had to go out in the name of an American, as they (the Cubans) could not own an American ship.

21. Q. In what line of steamers, if you know, was Roberts interested at that time?— A. He had been, up to that time, managing either for himself or for his father, Marshall O. Roberts, a line of steamers known as the Fernandina and Cedar Keys line.

22. Q. Did Roberts say anything to you in respect to the purchasing of the Virginius back again from the Cubans for his line?—A. He did; he said that he was to have her for his line when she had finished running the blockade.

23. Q. Did I. K. Roberts say anything to you about not permitting the Virginius to be in his name, on account of the objections which his father, Marshall O. Roberts, had raised?—A. That he expressed himself in that exact language, I would not say, but his objection, as I now recollect it, was expressed in language which produced that impression on my mind.

24. Q. At what time did you first get a suspicion that the Virginius was to be used by the Cubans against Cuba, if at all?—A. About ten days before Mr. Roberts informed me of the fact, and about two weeks before she sailed. My suspicions were aroused by the fact that the repairs which were being put upon the vessel were inadequate to the kind of service in which the other steamers of this line or any passenger steamer required.

25. Q. Did you have any interview with José Mora, at which he showed to you the bills which he had paid for the repairs of this steamer?—A. I did; at an office in No. 29 Broadway, New York City. This interview was about January, 1871, as well as I recollect; after I returned from Puerto Cabello.

28. Q. State as nearly as you can what Mora said to you on that occasion.—A. He spoke of the large amount of money expended for fitting out the Virginius, and I think showed the bills to me more in connection with his disappointment at not having gone to Cuba, or as much for that reason as others. He showed me Patterson’s receipt for the purchase money paid to him, and the bills for repairs. Many of the bills I recognized myself as having approved them.

27. Q. Do you remember to have seen, at any time, any bill of sale of the Virginius from Patterson?—A. I do not.

28. Q. You say that you identified many of the bills as being for repairs which you knew were actually made on the Virginius?—A. Yes.

29. Q. Was this the same Mora with whom, as you testified in your previous examination, you had an interview at his house, in company with Quesada, where your employment on the Virginius was arranged?—A. The identical man.

30. Q. Did you have any conversation with any consuls of the United States, at ports or places around the Caribbean Sea, or thereabouts, in respect to the character of the business of the Virginius; if so, with whom?—A. I did; the first one with the consul at Curaçoa, Faxon by name, I think; next with the consul at Laguayra, whose name I have forgot ten; next with Lacombe, at Puerto Cabello. I do not embrace them all in the same category, as having said the same things about it. I made no reply to the assertion made by Consul Faxon, that though the papers of the Virginius were all right, that in his official capacity he had nothing more to do than to recognize her as an American vessel; hut that he clearly understood the object of her mission in the Caribbean Sea, and was personally in sympathy with it; this was at Curacoa.

31. Q. What did the consul at Puerto Cabello say to you, if anything?—A. The consul at Puerto Cabello asked me to make a statement to him with regard to a rumor which he had heard that the steamer was to be employed in the Venezuelan service, in the revolution then going on in that country, and I stated to him that to the best of my knowledge such was not the intention of those interested in the vessel, nor should such service be rendered by me while in command of her.

32. Q. What did the consul at Laguayra say to you, if anything?—A. The consul at Laguayra said that while he, in his official capacity, recognized the nationality of the vessel, because of the papers and flag, he clearly understood what the object of her being there was; and treated with Varona, who was on board, and who, when Quesada was absent or present, generally represented him and acted for him.

33. Q. What did the consul at Puerto Cabello and Varona treat about?—A. In the first place, the payment of the crew, and the selection of a successor to myself; and altogether recognized the Cubans there represented by Quesada and Varona as the parties who had all to say about the vessel.

34. Q. Were you present at any of these treaties or conferences?—A. I was, once or twice.

35. Q. Did you hear these things done, of which you have just spoken?—A. I did. Yet I would say that in the matters of papers and of records in this matter, all the technical formalities were not lost sight of in connection with it.

36. Q. Did Varona or Quesada have any conversation with you at any time while captain in respect to changing the flag of the Virginius?—A. They did.

37. Q. Please state that conversation as carefully and correctly as you can, and state when and where it occurred.—A. I will make a preface to it by saying that at the island of Buen Ayre, where the guns were taken on board from the schooner Billy Butts, the crew manifested a natural desire to know what was to be done with the guns, and what compensation they would get for the risk of carrying those guns to Cuba, if such was the intention; made an agreement with General Quesada for the prepayment to them of certain sums per capita, and a certain other sum; the first to be paid in advance and placed in my hands, which was done, the last being received by them after the vessel should have successfully made the landing or otherwise run the Cuban blockade. It was nearly two months after this that General Quesada, through Ms representative Varona, (who spoke English,) addressed the crew on the deck of my ship, stating that this contract was to be annulled; that the vessel would have to perform for the present other service, and that it might become necessary to change the flag; and under these altered circumstances he desired to know how many of the crew would remain by the ship and obey his orders. About this juncture of his address I interrupted him by demurring slightly to the proposition to change the flag, or to alter at that time, or any time, the exact nature of the enterprise for which I was employed in New York; and receiving verbally no satisfactory reply, I wrote Quesada a letter stating these intimated changes as the ground of my suspicions, and requesting him to state positively whether my suspicions were groundless or not; and stating that if such change ware meditated Would turn the vessel over to him, recognizing her as his property. I did not in this letter say anything as to the formal ownership of the vessel; but in conversation with him through an interpreter, and with several of the Cubans, I gave him to understand that, though I should abandon the enterprise then, I should take no advantage of the fact that she bore the American flag, and that she was nominally owned by an American citizen, and would not interrupt them in any enterprise they saw fit to engage in looking to the liberation of Cuba. I would say, incidentally, that this change, of which they would not say anything in writing, was talked about between themselves and myself; that change meant assistance to the government of Guzman Blanco, or to Venezuela, for the reason that when the revolution was put down Guzman Blanco would give them men and otherwise assist them in getting to Cuba.

38. Q. What answer did Quesada make to that letter?—A. His answers were vague. He did not state what the change was, but said that it was to be a radical change. Queseda did not state that in writing, but verbally. He did answer my letter in writing.

39. Q. How soon after this occurrence did you leave the Virginius?—A. That instant.

40. Q. Where was this?—A. Puerto Cabello, Venezuela.

41. Q. Did they pay you for your services up to that time?—A. But partially.

42. Q. How much, if you remember?—A, About five hundred dollars in all, I think.

43. Q. Who paid you the money?—A. A portion of it Mr. Patterson gave me a check for, before I sailed from New York; the remainder I got in small sums from Quesada. I had quite a large amount, I forget now how much, which I turned over to him immediately on resigning the command of the vessel, and also this draft that was given to me for the crew when they threatened to mutiny.

44. Q. Did you have any conversation with Patterson about the ownership of the Virginius after you returned to New York from Puerto Cabello?—A. I did.

45. Q. Please state what he said to you;—A. “When the aspect of affairs looked to the privilege which he might enjoy as the formal owner of the vessel, he then, in conversations, expressed to me regret that I did not bring the Virginius home; and at other times he fully indorsed the honesty of my action in allowing her to remain in the hands of those who had paid the money for her. He said to me at one time: “Damn it, she ain’t mine anyhow.” Both he and Roberts (though I never saw Roberts after I came back) did expect to be benefited in some way by the services of this vessel when she should have completed her mission of running the Cuban blockade.

46. Q. Did you know how they intended to be benefited?—A. I do not know exactly how, though they could have run her in the Gulf. Their line at that time was ended; they never continued it afterward. They could have run her in the Gulf, between New Orleans and some ports of Florida, or perhaps to Havana, though that would be risky.

47. Q. How did you understand that they were to use her, if Patterson and Roberts had parted with their property in her after she came back?—A. My impression is that they were to buy her back for a very small sum of money. My recollection of all these things is a little dim now, as I have been absent for a few years.

Being cross-examined by George Bliss, esq., United States attorney, he says:

48. Q. What is your present occupation?—A. I am acting for the agent of a railroad; I am actually the agent, though there is another party nominally the agent. It is known as the Orange and Alexandria Railroad.

49. Q. When and under what circumstances did you first become acquainted with Mr. Patterson?—A. When I brought the steamer Mary from Mobile to New York, in the summer of 1870, he at that time being the agent in New York of the joint lines of railroad and steamers, of which she was one, to Mobile, Ala., from New York.

50. Q. You say that after your return Mr. Patterson showed you the bills?—A. Mr. Mora.

51. Q. Mr. Mora showed you the bills. Was one of them for the purchase-money of the vessel?—A. That is my recollection now, though whether it was in the form of a bill of sale, or not, I do not know. I feel satisfied that that was an item shown to me among the list of moneys paid to Patterson.

52. Q. Do you remember the amount?—A. I do not.

53. Q. Can you give any impression upon it?—A. I am under the impresssion that it was some nine thousand dollars; about that. That is my impression. It was the largest amount in the list; that is my impression. I once or twice asked Roberts what he gave for her, before I ever heard of this thing, and I don’t think he ever answered the question.

54. Q. Might it not have been an item of the amount paid by Patterson in the purchase of the vessel by him?—A. That I do not know, but I will state this: that Mora’s manner and intention, expressed at the time, by showing me these bills, was to convey the idea upon my mind that a large amount of money had been expended for this expedition, in proof of which he showed me these itemized payments, the particular items of which I have now forgotten. That is about as clear as I can put it.

55. Q. This conversation with Consul Faxon, under what circumstances did it occur?—A. In going from his office in Curaçoa, across a lagoon to visit a family to whom he was going to introduce me.

56. Q. Did he state what he understood the object of her mission to be?—A. He expressed to me that he understood what she was going to do. That he said she was going to Cuba I do not now remember, but that he clearly understood what was to be done; that in his official capacity he saw nothing wrong in the vessel, and that personally he was in sympathy with the enterprise. As consul he was guarded, I think, not to allow his official capacity to conflict with his personal feeling, and therefore did not express himself very plainly, as I recollect.

57. Q. It was not the consul at Puerto Cabello who asked about her employment in the Venezuelan service?—A. No; the consul at Laguayra, I mean.

58. Q. Did that consul at Laguayra inquire about her employment many other service?—A. He did not.

59. Q. Did not?—A. No, sir; he did not say anything about it.

60. Q. Was it the consul at Puerto Cabello or at Laguayra whom you have referred to as treating with Quesada and Varona with reference to the vessel?—A. The consul at Puerto Cabello.

61. Q. Give his name.—A. Lacomb; of French descent, though I believe a native of this country.

62. Q. Precisely when did the address by Varona as to changing the flag take place?— A. I will have to refer to notes of mine at home to tell the time. It was in November.

63. Q. November, 1870?—A. November, 1870.

64. Q. At the time that Varona addressed the crew was Quesada present?—A. He was.

65. Q. Did Quesada understand English?—A. When spoken slowly he could understand a conversation.

66. Q. The intention referred to of changing the flag was to change it to the Venezuelan, was it?—A. That was the rumor, though that was not expressed.

67. Q. Was anything said about her ever flying the Cuban flag, of an intent to fly the Cuban flag at any time?—A. There was a suggestion made to me as to the propriety of doing so, by Varona, coming from Quesada, but hot this Varona that made this speech, but by Dr. Varona. The suggestion was made to me, on the voyage out, to use the Cuban flag and to board and capture a vessel then in sight, if she should turn out to be Spanish. I said the Cuban flag should not be used. But I told them they could very easily overpower me, meaning that I would give my consent to being overpowered, and they could tie me in the cabin, and lower the boats and capture this vessel.

68. Q. How did it happen that you were not paid in full?—A. For the reason that the absence of written agreement in New York left me to depend upon men without honor to pay me by virtue of a verbal understanding between them and me.

69. Q. Then they claimed they had paid you in full, did they?—A. Yes.

70. Q. What was your view of the amount they had agreed to pay—by the month or voyage, whatever it was?—A. Well, it is a long matter.

71. Q. I merely want to know what the amount was.—A. It was subjected to various contingencies. For instance: I said to them, “Gentlemen, if I undertake this thing, mark you, I go at great risk. I know the Spanish will shoot me, therefore I run great risk. I run the risk of the crew mutinying, and my going to subject American citizens to danger. But/’ says I, “lam ready, and at all times ready, to undertake this thing; but if you do not furnish me with the means, mark you, I have in spirit fulfilled my agreement with you; and, therefore, you must pay me, in consideration of that, something.” And then I was to get—I have forgotten now—several thousand dollars, in case I succeeded; I think it was five, if I succeeded in running the blockade. I have forgotten the amount; several amounts were talked over. But I was to have for all the time I was gone double pay; but my pay was only to be put down at $150 a month, in order not to excite suspicion at the custom-house by so high pay for so small a vessel. They all understood that.

72. Q. You said in your former deposition that Mora informed this deponent that the steamer Virginius was the property of certain Cubans together, and represented by Mora, Queseda, and Manuel Ruiz, and they explained to you in part the manner in which the funds were raised for the purchase of the steamer and the disbursements of her voyage and enterprise. When did he so inform you? Before you sailed or after you returned?—A. My impression is that he did this. I so understood it from him before, and so understood it from conversations with him afterward.

73. Q. My question is directed particularly to his explanation to you in part of the manner in which the funds were raised. Was that before or after you went?—A. After, I think.

74. Q. What did he say to you as to the manner in which the funds were raised?—A. My recollection is, through subscriptions made here in New York, moneys raised by Quesada in Europe, and the sacrifice of trinkets and jewelry by the ladies sympathizing with Cuba. That is my recollection.

75. Q. Were you aboard the vessel at the time when the marine lawyer, Gallagher, made the complaint to some consul?—A. I was not.

76. Q. Was that after you left?—A. That was after I left.

77. Q. Do you know any reason why, after taking aboard the cargo of the Billy Butts at Buenos Ayres, the vessel did not undertake to run the blockade?—A. I understood the delay then to be the want of soldiers to accompany the landing.

78. Q. Did you understand that she went to Venezuela for the purpose of getting soldiers?—A. When I sailed from New York I knew she was going to that section of the Caribbean Sea, to fall in with men and arms. Did not know where the arms were to come from or the men. Did not at sailing suppose they were to be enlisted in Venezuela. My first impression was that they were to be Cuban patriots, who had lodged on this island, wishing an opportunity to avenge their country’s wrongs.

79. Q. But when you left Curaçoa, or left that vicinity, after taking the arms on board, did you then understand that she was going to Venezuela for soldiers?—A. My recollection is that that was then my impression.

80. Q. Did you ever know of any attempt being made to get soldiers?—A. I heard of it frequently from Varona and from Quesada; and Quesada, in the little English that he talked, expressed to me his great regret of the revolution then existing in Venezuela, and there was a general regret expressed on the part of his compatriots that the existence of this revolution deterred the running of the Cuban blockade at that time.

F. E. SHEPPERD.

Subscribed and sworn to before me this 28th day of November, 1873.

JOSEPH GUTMAN, Jr.,
United States, Commissioner, Southern District of New York.

And now I, Joseph Gutman, jr., a duly-appointed commissioner of the United States for the southern district of New York, in attestation, do hereby certify that the foregoing questions and answers, after having been written out as above, were read to the foregoing witness, and were in my presence signed by him; and, in attestation of the verity and solemnity of all of the foregoing, I do hereby attach my signature and seal of office this twenty-eighth day of November, in the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.

[seal.]

JOSEPH GUTMAN, Jr.,
United States Commissioner, Southern District of New York.

[Inclosure 5.]

Affidavit of Francis Bowen.

United States of America,
Southern District of New York, ss:

To all to whom these presents shall come:

I, Joseph Gutman, jr., a commissioner of the United States circuit court for the southern district of New York, duly appointed and commissioned, and dwelling in the city of New York, send greeting:

Know ye, that on the twenty-sixth day of November, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, before me, at my office No. 29 Nassau street, in the city of New York, appeared as a witness Francis Bowen, a mariner, formerly on board the steamship Virginius, produced by the consul-general of Spain for the district of New York, in the United States of America, and that I was attended at the same time by Sidney Webster, esq., counselor at law in said city, representing the aforesaid consul-general of Spain, and George Bliss, esq., attorney of the United States for the southern district of New York, attending by the direction of the Secretary of State of the United States, and that the aforesaid witness having been first duly cautioned by me to declare the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth in respect to the matters concerning which he should be interrogated, and having then been duly sworn by me according to the laws of the United States, and the following affidavit made by the said Bowen before H. J. Begly, esq., having been delivered in my presence into the hands of Mr. Bliss, did, in answer to the interrogatories addressed to him in my presence, voluntarily, freely, and solemnly declare and depose in my presence as follows, that is to say:

Southern District of New York, ss:

Francis Bowen, being duly sworn, deposes and says: That he is by profession a master-mariner, was born in the State of New York, is forty-nine years of age, and is at present residing in the city of New York; that he has followed the sea as a profession for upward of thirty-two years, and commanded vessels since twenty-two years; that among the vessels he has commanded are the barks Comet, Sultana, and Jane, the brig Victorine, the clipper-ships Kate Hooper and Nightingale, the schooner Mariguita, the steamships Vera Cruz and J. C. Harris, and many small steamers in China; that he was first officer in the Pacific mail-steamer Colon from April 1, 18/3, to about September of the same year.

And this deponent further says, that on the last of March or first of April, in the year 1872, he assumed command of the steamship Virginius at Aspinwall, and continued in command of her from that date till the latter part of June, in the same year, when he left her at Puerto Cabello; that the commander of the said steamer who immediately preceded him therein was one Marquez, and engineer on said steamer, but not a seaman, and that he was informed and believes that the person in command of said steamer immediately before the last-named, Marquez, was a Venezuelan or a Cuban, and that the commander immediately preceding the last-named person was Capt. F. E. Shepperd.

And this deponent further says, that in March, 1872, he was at Panama, on his way from New York to China, and while there his attention was called to the Virginius by her previous captain, Marquez, before mentioned, who said she was in need of a commander, and this deponent replied that he would take command of her if well paid, and the said Marquez referred this deponent to Rafael Quesada, then in Panama, a brother of Gen. Manuel Quesada, now of the city of New York; that this deponent had an interview with the said Rafael Quesada, who informed him that he could not make any agreement for a commander, but this deponent must see his brother, the aforesaid Manuel Quesada, who was at Aspinwall; and this deponent did thereupon go to Aspinwall, and did there have an interview with the said Manuel Quesada, at the Betan Court Hotel, in Aspinwall.

And this deponent further says, that on the interview he had with the said Manuel Quesada, a Cuban named Pedro or Francia Alfaro was present as a chief executive Officer or business man; that this deponent, at that interview, asked the said Manuel Quesada in what business the Virginius was to be engaged, when and what sum he would pay this deponent to be captain; that to this question the said Manual Quesada replied that the steamer was to attempt to land an expedition on the coast of Cuba, and that he would pay this deponent three hundred dollars a month to be captain, and an advance of two hundred dollars; and if an expedition was successfully landed in Cuba, he would give this deponent $5,000 in addition, beside his pay as aforesaid, and perhaps a larger sum; and the said Quesada also said to this deponent that if an expedition was landed safely in Cuba, everything would then be very prosperous with the Cuban junta in New York, and this deponent should command a new ship, and one armed as a privateer.

That this deponent did at that interview engage and hire himself to command the said steamer, and that he entered into the arrangement with the said Manuel Quesada as controlling the said steamer, and that he never knew or saw any one then or at any time who assumed any control over her; and thereupon the said Manuel Quesada took this deponent on board the Virginius, then lying at Aspinwall, and presented him to the engineers, and all the persons on board, as the commander of the steamer.

That this deponent immediately took command of the said steamer, and found that a large number of Cubans, said to be fifty or sixty, living in barracks near by, were supplied each day with provisions from the said steamer; that when this deponent took command there was no American flag on the steamer, but one was purchased by him; that no concealment was practiced by this deponent, either with the consul of the United States then in Aspinwall, or with any other person, in respect to the character and destination of the said steamer; and that on or about the first of May, or last of April, he cleared the steamer before the United States consul; and this deponent sailed without any verbal orders from the said Manuel Quesada, except instructions from him that he had given sealed instructions to the aforesaid Alfaro, who would be on board, and that when said instructions should be opened at sea they were to be obeyed; that the said Alfaro did sail on board the steamer, together with a few other Cubans, and a large number of bags of clothing; that the Spanish steamer Pizarro was then lying in the port of Aspinwall, and, on the suggestion of the consul of the United States, the United States steamer Kansas, which arrived in Aspinwall about this time, escorted the Virginius outside the port, followed also by the aforesaid steamer Pizarro; and when this deponent had got well to sea, the sealed orders in the hands of the said Alfaro were opened, and found to be signed by the said Manuel Quesada, who directed the steamer to proceed to Carthagena, and there await further orders.

That this deponent had frequent conversations with one Perry, then consul or consular agent of the United States at Aspinwall, in respect to the character and the business of the steamer Virginius, and that the said consul perfectly understood the character of her employment, and who controlled her.

That when the Virginius arrived in the port of Carthagena there was much exultation on the part of certain people there who knew of the character of the steamer; that the crew became mutinous, and this deponent applied to the United States consul or consular agent, who procured them to be placed in prison; that the said consul or consular agent was perfectly well aware of the character of the business in which the said steamer was engaged, as this deponent knows by conversation with him; that after repairing the steamer, and taking in coal, she proceeded, by the direction of Alfaro, to Puerto Cabello.

That when the Virginius arrived at Puerto Cabello, as aforesaid, she was out of coal and leaking badly in both compartments; that the said Manuel Quesada soon after arrived in that place; that it was impossible to make the needed repairs on her, nor was there any money forthcoming with which to buy necessary provisions and supplies for the steamer, and all her crew, together with the chief engineer, were discharged, there being retained on board only two Cuban engineers, one named Chamberlain and another named Knight, both of whom the newspapers say were on board the Virginius, and recently executed at Santiago de Cuba; and that this deponent thereupon resigned his command of said steamer, and shortly after left for Caracas, from which place he returned to Puerto Cabello two months afterward, remained there a week, and then proceeded to New York, after which this deponent became first officer, as aforesaid, of the Pacific mail-steamer Colon.

That this deponent was informed while at Puerto Cabello, and believes, that the Virginius had a few months previously been at that port, and in the service of Guzman Blanco, then engaged in civil war in that country; that while at Puerto Cabello this deponent had frequent cenversations with the American consul, and the latter admitted and stated to this deponent that he was perfectly aware of the business in which the Virginius was engaged; that on several occasions this deponent appeared before the said consul in company with the said Manuel Quesada in respect to the affairs of the said steamer, and particularly in respect to discharging her crew, at which said interviews the said consul could not fail to see, in the opinion of this deponent, that the said Quesada was the manager and sole controller of the said steamer as owner, and that while the said steamer was lying at Puerto Cabello, as aforesaid, orders were issued that no supplies of any kind should be furnished to the steamer unless on written orders, signed by the said Manuel Quesada or the said Alfaro.

And this deponent further says, that during the time he was in command of the said steamer he never saw any mark of her number or of her tonnage carved or marked on her main beam, as required by the laws of the United States, and he never heard until quite recently that she had any number, and that the said steamer had been lying at Aspinwall for about six months previous to this deponent assuming command thereof; and this deponent further solemnly declares that, during all the time he was in command of the said steamer, he never supposed or believed that she was under any other control than that of the aforesaid Manuel Quesada in behalf of the Cubans, nor did he ever suppose or believe that the steamer was to be engaged in any legitimate business.

FRS. BOWEN.

Sworn to and subscribed before me this 22d day of November, 1873.

H. J. BEGLY,
Notary Public, Kings County, New York.

Being cross-examined by George Bliss, United States district attorney, he says:

1. Question. Under what circumstances did you leave the Virginius?—Answer. I left her when they had no more money to pay me my wages.

2. Q. During the time you were in command of her where did she go?—A. She went from Aspinwall to Carthagena, and Carthagena to Puerto Cabello.

3. Q. That is all?—A. That is all.

4. Q. How long did she lie at Carthagena?—A. I think about ten days.

5. Q. How long did she lie at Puerto Cabello before you went to Carthagena?—A. I went from Carthagena to Puerto Cabello in her.

6. Q. Where did you take command of her?—A. In Aspinwall.

7. Q. How long were you in command of her in Aspinwall before she left Aspinwall?—A. Over a month; but I can’t give the exact date.

8. Q. How long did she lie at Carthagena?—A. Over ten days.

9. Q. How long at Puerto Cabello before you left her?—A. Somewhere about three weeks, I think.

10. Q. Who paid you?—A. General Quesada.

11. Q. Where?—A. Aspinwall and Puerto Cabello.

12. Q. While you were at Carthagena what were you doing?—A. Repairing the ship. She sprung a leak, and it was necessary to repair that leak, and take in coal.

13. Q. While at Puerto Cabello what was she doing?—A. Nothing.

14. Q. How large a crew did you have?—A. We were very short-handed. I think we had about six deck-hands, and about nine in the fire-room.

15. Q. That included engineers?—A. Three engineers besides that, and some water-tenders who were Cubans.

16. Q. Did you have any armament?—A. No.

17. Q. No guns?—A. No large guns.

18. Q. What do you mean by “large guns?”—A. Cannon. We had some muskets and pistols.

19. Q.-How many?—A. O, a couple of dozen.

20. Q. Have any cargo on board at any time?—A. Nothing except bags of clothing.

21. Q. How much of that?—A. Well, I suppose there might have been a hundred bags of it.

22. Q. Containing what kind of clothing?—A. All sorts; a good deal of linen, stuff to be put into uniforms for soldiers.

23. Q. What do you mean by a “good deal?”—A. I mean thirty bags of cloth and canvas.

24. Q. How do you know it was to make into uniforms for soldiers?—A. I was told so by Quesada.

25. Q. Did you have any passengers on board?—A. None as passengers.

26. Q. Quesada on board?—A. Alfaro was on board.

27. Q. Alfaro on board all the time?—A. All the time.

28. Q. As a passenger?—A. As a passenger.

29. Q. Did he exercise any control over the ship?—A. Yes, sir; all control.

30. Q. He had his orders from Quesada which you have referred to in your affidavit?—A. Yes, sir.

31. Q. How long had you known Mr. Marquez?—A. I had never known him until I met him in Panama.

32. Q. You met him accidentally?—A. I met him at the hotel there.

33. Q. What had been your last command prior to taking command of the Virginins? —A. I will have to stop to think about that. My last command was a vessel in China, a steamboat in China, called the White Cloud.

34. Q. How long before you arrived in Aspinwall was it that you gave up command of that vessel?—A. Two or three years.

35. Q. What had you been doing in that time?—A. I had been agent for a Havana house in Macao.

36. Q. All the time?—A. Not all the time, because I was unemployed part of the time.

37. Q. Had you just given up that agency?—A.–No; I had been home for part of a year.

38. Q. Where was your home?—A. Here in New York. I went to Aspinwall, and was on my way to China again.

39. Q. Did you leave here with any anticipation of having any connection with the Virginius?—A. No.

40. Q. Had you known Rafael Quesada?—A. No, sir.

41. Q. Had you known Alfaro Quesada.?—A. No, sir.

42. Q. What pay did you get?—A. Three hundred dollars a month.

43. Q. That was all?—A. Yes.

44. Q. Did you ever make any attempt to land in Cuba?—A. No, sir.

45. Q. When you took command was there any flag on board the Virginius?—A. No, sir.

46. Q. Of no nationality?—A. No, sir.

47. Q. You state that Consul Perry at Aspinwall perfectly understood the character of the employment of the Virginius, and who controlled her; what facts can you give to show that to be so?—A. Well, the fact that he referred me continually to Quesada; that I was a medium of communication between the two of them always.

48. Q. Any other!—A. Well, from the fact that he mentioned the thing to me continually.

49. Q. Mentioned what?—A. Why, the purpose for which the ship was to be used, running the blockade.

50. Q. What did he say the purpose was?—A. Carrying arms, &c, to Cuba.

51. Q. Perry said so?—A. Perry said so.

52. Q. Anything else?—A. Not that I recollect of. It was a common understanding between us.

53. Q. You say there was much exultation on the part of certain people at Carthagena. Whom do you refer to?—A. Well, a number of Cubans there, and, they say, sympathizers with the Cubans.

54. Q. For what reason did the crew become mutinous?—A. On account of a lack of food and hard work.

55. Q. You say that the consul and consular agent that were at Carthagena knew perfectly well the business that the Virginius was engaged in, as you know from conversations with them. Can you state those conversations or their substance?—A. We always spoke of the Virginius as exactly that kind of vessel: that she belonged to the Cubans, and was to run the blockade, and carry arms through. There were no pretensions made to keep the thing quiet.

56. Q. Did you ever see the Virginius after you left her?—A. Yes; I saw her in Puerto Cabello.

57. Q. How long after did you see her in Puerto Cabello?—A. Two months.

58. Q. Did you see her after that?—A. Yes; I saw her at Aspinwall when she left, and was escorted out. I was aboard of her at the time.

59. Q. You took command of the vessel, then, believing that she was owned by the Cubans 1—A. Yes, sir.

60. Q. But sailing her under the American flag, purporting to be a vessel of American ownership, and intended, as such, to be used in landing arms and munitions upon the island of Cuba, against the consent of the Spanish government?—A. Yes, sir.

62. Q. And you lent yourself to that purpose for the compensation of $300 a month, and the contingent fee that you should receive in case of success?—A. Yes, sir.

63. Q. Since you left the Pacific mail-steamship in September, 1873, have you been engaged in any business?—A. No, sir.

64. Q. You left voluntarily?—A. Well, I can’t say I left voluntarily. I left from disagreement with the president of the company. I left one ship under promise of being-transferred to another one, and then I was not transferred.

65. Q. How came you to make this affidavit?—A. Well, when I first heard the news of the Virginius being taken, when those first four people were executed, when the news first came here, a friend of mine mentioned to me that my testimony might be of some importance, and I asked him to go and see if it would be.

66. Q. Go and see whom?—A. Go and see Mr. Webster.

67. Q. As a result of that you made this statement?—A. As a result of that I made this statement.

63. Q. You did not put yourself in communication with the officers of your own Government?—A. No, sir.

69. Q. Have you received any compensation or any promise of any compensation?— A. Well, my business is to go to sea; if I am detained on account of this, I am promised to be compensated for the time that I lose.

70. Q. Have you been detained ashore in consequence of this?—A. Yes; I suppose I have been sick in consequence of this.

71. Q. When did this first commence?—A. I have been sick for the last ten days.

72. Q. When did you first put yourself in communication?—A. I think it was about two weeks ago.

73. Were you going to sea at that time?—A. I had made application for a berth at that time, and probably should have succeeded in getting it.

FRANCIS BOWEN.

Subscribed and sworn to before me this 28th day of November, 1873.

JOSEPH GUTMAN, Jr.,
United States Commissioner, Southern District New York.

And now I, Joseph Gutman, jr., a duly appointed commissioner of the United States circuit court for the southern district of New York, in attestation, do hereby certify that the foregoing questions and answers, after having been written out as above, were read to the foregoing witness, and were, in my presence, signed by him, and in attestation of the verity and solemnity of all the foregoing, I do hereby attach my signature and seal of office this twenty-eighth day of November, in the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.

[seal.]

JOSEPH GUTMAN, Jr.,
United States Commissioner, Southern District of New York.

[Inclosure 6.]

Deposition of Francis Bowen.

United States of America,
Southern District of New York, ss:

To all to whom these presents shall come:,

I, Joseph Gutman, jr., a commissioner of the United States circuit court for the southern district of New York, duly appointed and commissioned, and dwelling in the city of New York, send greeting:

Know ye, that on the 5th day of December, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy three, before me, at my office, No. 29 Nassau street, in the city of New York, appeared, as a witness, Francis Bowen, a mariner, formerly on board the steamship Virginius, produced by the consul-general of Spain for the district of New York, in the United States of America, and that I was attended at the same time by Sidney Webster, esq., counselor at lay in the said city, representing the aforesaid consul-general of Spain, and George Bliss, esq., attorney of the United States for the southern district of New York, attending by the direction of the Secretary of State of the United States, and that the aforesaid witness, having been first duly cautioned by me to declare the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, in respect to the matters concerning which he should be interrogated, and having then been duly sworn by me, according to the laws of the United States, did, in answer to the interrogatories addressed to him in my presence, voluntarily, freely, and solemnly declare and depose in my presence as follows, that is to say:

1. Question. Have you been previously examined in this case?—Answer. Yes, sir.

2. Q. Captain Smith, who was in command of the Virginius subsequent to yourself, has testified that when he assumed command of her at Puerto Cabello he found, attached to the certificate of registry deposited with the United States consul at that place, a bottomry-bond, which he believes was signed by you at Aspinwall while captain of her; do you remember any such bond?—A. Yes; I signed a bottomry-bond in Aspinwall.

3. Q. For what was that bond given, and to whom?—A. The bond was given for the purpose of paying the debts of the ship, and was given to Mahl & Brothers of Aspinwall and Curaçoa.

4. Q. By whose direction, if any one’s, did you sign and give the bond?—A. Manuel Quesada—by his direction.

5. Q. Who were Mahl &. Brothers; what was their business?—A. Ship-chandlers and provision merchants, and were the recognized agents of Quesada, and the Cubans generally, in Aspinwall and Curaçoa.

6. Q. Did you, of your own knowledge, know for what repairs or other hills this bottomry-bond was given?—A. I know it was given for the expenses of the ship the time she had been in Aspinwall.

7. Q. State, if you know, what amount of bills the Virginius incurred while in Aspinwall.—A. That I can’t say. I cannot tell the amount of her bills; I know nothing about them. I signed no bills myself, and paid no bills at all.

8. Q. About what time was this bottomry-bond given?—A. It was given two or three days before the ship sailed. It was in the end of April or beginning of May, 1872.

9. Q. Do you know any large bills for repairs which the Virginius incurred at Aspinwall, and, if so, to whom?—A. The largest bill that I know was incurred was to the Panama Railroad Company.

10. Q. For about how much?—A. Between two and three thousand dollars; I think it was $2,800. I would not be positive.

11. Q. Who, if any one, directed you to sign this bottomry-bond?—A. Manuel Quesada.

12. Q. What was the amount of it?—A. I think it was $13,600. It may have been $13,500. It was over $13,000 any way.

13. Q. Do you remember when and where it was payable?—A. I do not, but think it was payable at Puerto Cabello.

16. Q. Did you ever make any communication with John F. Patterson in respect to this bottomry-bond?—A. Not till after I had returned to New York.

17. Q. What did he say about it?—A. I don’t know that he said anything about it, in particular; it appeared to be a thing that did not interest him at all. He sent for me one day—wanted to see me about the Virginius; and as soon as I called he says, “Bowen, I heard you were appointed to that ship; I thought you would do something with it, a man like you.” I told him that I had no control over the ship at all.

18. Q. Where did you call?—A. On him at his office, on the corner of West and Warren streets, in the city of New York. He was joking me about having made a mistake with the Virginius—that he thought when he heard I had charge of it I would certainly do something with it. I told him it was impossible where money was lacking, and that I did not have credit enough for a keg of white lead, and that, therefore, I couldn’t handle the ship at all.

19. Q. Was it at this time you told him about the bottomry-bond?—A. I told him about it; I said that from the very fact that two days before leaving Aspinwall I had to sign a bottomry-bond for $13,600, (I think it was $1.3,600,) for this vessel, “How do you suppose that I could do anything with the steamer under such circumstances?”

20. Q. That did not refer to the bottomry-bond, but to the steamer?—A. Yes, to the steamer.

21. Q. Do you know anything of the payment of this bottomry by anybody?—A. I know that the British consul in Puerto Cabello (who was appointed agent by the brother of Mahl in Aspinwall, one of the firm, to receive this money) told me that he had received $8,000 of this money.

22. Q. Six thousand dollars on the bond?—A. Six thousand dollars on the bond.

23. Q. In Puerto Cabello?—A. In Puerto Cabello.

24. Q. Where were you when the English consul made this statement?—A. In his own office.

25. Q. In Puerto Cabello?—A. Yes.

26. Q. Do you remember his name?—A. No, I do not remember his name; it was a curious name, too; if I heard it I would recollect; it was an Irish name, I think.

27. Q. Fix the time, the date of this conversation, as nearly as you can.—A. The end of May or beginning of June.

28. Q. 1872?—A. 1872.

29. Q. In signing or executing this bottomry-bond on the Virginius, state whether you exercised your own judgment and discretion as her master, or whether you acted under the direction of some one else, and, if so, whom?—A. I acted entirely under the direction of Manuel Quesada.

30. Q. You mean you didn’t exercise any judgment?—A. Of course, I exercised no judgment; I could gain nothing by doing a thing like that. It was necessary for me to get that ship away from the port, and she could not have left the port without paying her bills, and the only way to do it was through signing this bottomry-bond. My reason was simply this: that if I had left the Virginius where she was—watched by the Spanish cruiser Pizarro, the Pizarro threatening to sink her—the people might have thought I was afraid of getting shot. At any rate, under the circumstances, I couldn’t think of leaving the ship at that time, though really I would have been glad, very glad, to have done so; not on account of the Pizarro, but on account of their not having any money to pay me.

31. Q. So that you signed this bond after consultation with Quesada?—A. I signed this bond through the orders of Quesada, as he was the person that employed me, and I took my orders from him and nobody else.

Cross-examined by Mr. Tremain:

32. Q. When did yon first see Mahl Brothers?—A. The first time I met them was in Aspinwall, when I joined that ship.

33. Q. And that was when?—A. That was in the end of March, 1872.

34. Q. On what business?—A. To order stores for the ship.

35. Q. What was their business?—A. Ship-chandlers and provision-merchants.

36. Q. At Aspinwall?–A. At Aspinwall.

37. Q. What was the entire amount of the indebtedness incurred on account of the ship to Messrs. Mahl Brothers up to the time you left Aspinwall?—A. I could only say so far as the amount of the bond—the bottomry-bond—was concerned. That is supposed to cover everything.

38. Q. So that as far as you know the amount was about the amount of the bottomry-bond?—A. About $13,600, the amount of the bond.

39. Q. What conversation, and when, and with whom did you first have in regard to the bottomry-bond and its execution?—A. The first conversation that I ever had was with General Quesada, and it was only a few days before the ship sailed. I knew before that the ship would be detained on account of her debts there. The bills were deposited in the consul’s office, but I had no idea of the amount of her indebtedness until I signed this bond. Quesada told me it would be necessary for me to sign a bottomry-bond to get the ship away. I told him I would do it when the bottomry-bond was made out. I signed the bottomry-bond in the consul’s office afterward.

40. Q. Which consul?—A. The American consul in Aspinwall, Mr. Perry. The bottomry-bond was given about three or four weeks after I joined the ship. I first joined her at Aspinwall in about March, 1872. I think it was payable in Puerto Cabello, but don’t recollect how long it was to run.

41. Q. What do you know about its payment?—A. I only know what the English consul in Puerto Cabello told me, about that $6,000; and that was that Quesada had already paid $6,000 to the English consul for the account of Mahl, at Curaçoa.

42. Q. When was it that the English consul told you?—A. He told me this after I had left the ship and had been to Caracas and returned; this was in the latter part of the month of July, 1872.

43. Q. Was the ship there then?—A. The ship was there then.

44. Q. Captain Smith was then in command?—A. Yes. She was without any captain at all for several weeks.

45. Q. I mean at that time?—A. At that time he was.

46. Q. When did you next hear anything of the bond?—A. I have not heard anything of it, except what I talked to Mr. Patterson about it in New York.

47. Q. What was the message you received from Mr. Patterson?—A. The message I received was that he wished to see me.

48. Q. A verbal message to that effect, that is all?—A. Mr. Roberts told me.

49. Q. State all that occurred at that interview as nearly as you can recollect it.—A. Well, there was nothing, no particular business, occurred between us. It was more of a friendly talk than anything else. I told him about this bottomry-bond, however, which he knew nothing about up to that time; never heard of it.

50. Q. Did he demur to it or make any objections about it?—A. No.

51. Q. And when was that; about when?—A. October, 1872.

52. Q. What was the vessel worth when this bond was given?—A. Well, I am not a judge of prices.

53. Q. Anywhere near it?—A. She was worth her price in old iron; that was about all. I would not have taken her for a gift to have taken her anywhere.

54. Q. Can you give me a fair estimate of the value of the ship when you joined her, or when you left her; or about that time?—A. When I joined her she was not worth as much as when I left her, hardly. I can’t give any estimate; it depends entirely on what part of the world the ship would be what her value was.

FR’S BOWEN.

Subscribed and sworn to before me this 5th day of December, 1873.

JOSEPH GUTTMAN, Jr.,
United States Commissioner, Southern District of New York.

And now I, Joseph Guttman, jr., a duly appointed commissioner of the United States circuit court for the southern district of New York, in attestation, do hereby certify that the foregoing questions and answers, after having been written out as above, were read to the foregoing witness, and were in my presence signed by him, and in attestation of the verify and solemnity of all of the foregoing I do hereby attach my signature and seal of office this sixth day of December, in the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.

[seal.]

JOSEPH GUTTMAN, Jr.,
United States Commissioner, Southern District of New York.

[Inclosure 7.]

Deposition of Charles Smith.

United States of America,
Southern District of New York, ss:

To all to whom these presents shall come:

I, Joseph Guttman, jr., a commissioner of the United States circuit court for the southern district of New York, duly appointed and commissioned, and dwelling in the city of New York, send greeting:

Know ye, that on the third day of December, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, before me, at my office, No. 29 Nassau street, in the city of New York, appeared as a witness Capt. Charles Smith, a mariner, formerly on board the steamship Virginius, produced by the consul-general of Spain for the district of New York, in the United States of America; and that I was attended at the same time by Sidney Webster, esq., counselor at law in said city, representing the aforesaid consul-general of Spain, and by Mr. Tremain, assistant district attorney of the United States for the southern district of New York, attending by the direction of the Secretary of State of the United States; and that the aforesaid witness, having been first duly cautioned by me to declare the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, in respect to the matters concerning which he should be interrogated, and having then been duly sworn by me according to the laws of the United States, did, in answer to the interrogatories addressed to him in my presence, voluntarily, freely, and solemnly declare and depose in my presence as follows, that is to say:

1. Question. What is your age, occupation, and place of birth?—Answer. My age is 45; occupation, ship-master; place of birth, Troy, N. Y.

2. Q. For how many years have you been a ship-master, and of what vessel are you now master?—A. I have been a ship-master about ten years, and I am master of the steamship Mediator at the present time, running between New York and Norfolk, Va.

3. Q. When did you arrive in this port in the Mediator, and when do you sail?—A. I arrived Monday morning, and sail this evening between 4 and 5 o’clock.

4. Q. Did you ever command the steamship Virginius; and, if so, when did you assume command and where, and when and where did you give up your command?—A. I took command of her some time in June, 1872, either before or shortly after the middle of June, at Puerto Cabello; and I gave up command of her at Maracaibo in November—I think it was November 15, 1872.

5. Q. Who, if you know, was in command of the Virginius immediately before you?—A. Captain Bowen.

6. Q. How did you happen to be in Puerto Cabello and to take command of the Virginius?—A. I went to Laguayra first as mate of a brig from Philadelphia, and from Laguayra I went to Puerto Cabello, and there I heard that this steamer was there, and that she was without a master, and I applied for the situation and got it.

7. Q. To whom did you first apply, and with whom did you contract to become her master?—A. I first applied to Alfaro; I think his first name is Pedro. When I first saw Alfaro, General Manuel Quesada was with him, and I considered Alfaro as a sort of business agent of Quesada and of the ship. There was a consultation held then about the matter between Quesada and Alfaro, and Alfaro turned around to me and says he, “Captain, the general wishes you to call to-morrow, at half-past 8;” so at half-past 8 I called. I did not find Alfaro there at that time, but Quesada handed me a letter, and asked me to take it to Alfaro on board the ship. I took the letter on board, and Alfaro opened it and read it, and then he stated his terms to me and asked if I would accept them, and I did, and joined the ship immediately and took command.

8. Q. Please state what those terms were.—A. He was to give me $200 a month, and extra pay if we did any extraordinary work. To land an expedition I was to have extra pay. The way they put it to me, I considered that I was to have about $5,000 extra pay. The words were said in this way: “If you run in an expedition it will be as good as $5,000 to you, besides your pay.”

9. Q. Expedition to what place?—A. To Cuba. Of course they did not tell me that the first day, but it was all understood.

10. Q. When you took command of the Virginius did you find any ship’s papers on board; and, if so, what papers?—A. I found nothing on board but the log-book, and that was not written up; but I did find the papers at the consul’s.

11. Q. Describe, as correctly as you can, what papers belonging to the ship you found at the American consulate in Puerto Cabello.—A. As near as I can recollect I found a certificate of registry with no official number marked on it, and no crew-list. I found a bottomry-bond attached to the papers for about $10,500, American gold, purporting to have been given at Aspinwall by Captain Bowen.

12. Q. Describe what flags, if any, you found on board the Virginius when you took command.—A. I found an old Venezuelan flag and an old American ensign.

13. Q. Any of any other description?—A. No, sir, I did not find them at that time; they were on hoard of her, though, hut I did not find them then. A few days afterward I was shown three Cuban flags on board.

14. Q. Do you know where and when that American ensign was procured?—A. Yes, sir, at Aspinwall; it was bought for $25.

15. Q. How long before?—A. I could not tell the exact time; it was probably two months at least, and may-be three months.

15. Q. When you took command of the Virginius what officers of the ship did you find aboard?—A. I found no officer there except one man who was acting as mate; I don’t know his name: he only stayed three days.

17. Q. Was there any crew on board?—A. Yes, sir; there were two English sailors, one Cuban oiler, one Cuban engineer, and one American engineer, (Knight,) one English oiler, one Cuban steward, and a Cuban as a purser, and Alfaro was there—I don’t know whether you would count him as one of the crew or not—and a cook, a Venezuelan, and two Venezuelan boys; that was all.

18. Q. Were any officers engaged by the ship in Puerto Cabello before you sailed from there?—A. No; I had no officers.

19. Q. Was any crew shipped at Puerto Cabello after you took command?—A. Yes, sir.

20. Q. How many, and of what nationality?—A. I shipped all hands there to make up a ship’s company. I cannot tell the exact number, but I shipped in the neighborhood of eight deck-hands, I think; and I suppose I shipped twelve firemen and coal-passers altogether. I probably shipped in the neighborhood of twenty-five, all told. They were all Venezuelans or Curaçoa men.

21. Q. Did they sign articles; and, if so, what was the voyage?—A. I made out the articles, and I recollect exactly what I made out: “To Curaçoa or any port in the West Indies, for a period not exceeding four months.”

22. Q. Were the articles signed before the American consul?—A. Yes, sir; the principal part of them; the most of the crew signed on board.

23. Q. Do you remember the name of the American consul at Puerto Cabello at that time?—A. I cannot recollect his name; he was a doctor by profession.

24. Q. Did you have any conversation with the American consul at Puerto Cabello in regard to the character of the Virginius and her business?—A. Yes; very often.

25. Q. Please state, as near as you can remember, what he said to you about it?—A. I often had the old doctor tell me, up in the club-house: “Captain, I know very well that the Virginius ain’t no business to my protection, but I can’t help but protect her; I don’t know what to do;” and when a man-of-war would come in he would try to throw the Virginius off on her.

26. Q. Did he make any objection or obstacle to the shipping of the crew on her before himself?—A. No, sir; he never made any objection.

27. Q. Were you present at any interview between Alfaro and the American consul in respect to the Virginius?—A. Yes, sir; I was present at a great many interviews they had in respect to the Virginius quite a number of times. I objected to their talking Spanish once or twice, but still it was always done.

28. Q. Do you speak or understand Spanish?—A. No, sir; very little.

29. Q. When you sailed from Puerto Cabello had you any cargo on board?—A. No, sir.

30. Q. Had you any passengers?—A. None but General Quesada and Alfaro.

31. Q. Whom, at Puerto Cabello, did you consider the owner of the Virginius?—A. I always considered that Alfaro was the owner.

32. Q. Did you ever have any instructions or communication from Patterson into the Virginius?—A. I never had a word.

33. Q. When you cleared from Puerto Cabello did you go to the custom-house yourself?—A. No, sir.

34. Q. Who did clear her at the custom-house?—A. Alfaro.

35. Q. When you sailed from Puerto Cabello what were your orders as captain?—A. When I sailed from Puerto Cabello I did not have any idea just before I sailed that Quesada was going along with me, and when I was ready I was on the wheel-house, and I told Alfaro to tell the general that if he was ready to go ashore he had better go; and Alfaro says to me, “The general says if you are ready to go, go, and shape your course for St. Thomas.” Says I, “We ain’t got fuel enough to go to St. Thomas, but, damn it, let her go. Obey orders or break owners;” and I started.

36. Q. Did you lay your course for St. Thomas?—A. Yes, I laid my course what would be the proper course for St. Thomas. I stayed on the wheel-house quite a while, and the Spanish man-of-war got away right after me. I went down off the wheel-house after I got out of the harbor. I went aft, where General Quesada was sitting, and he says to me, “Captain, come here, I want to speak to you.” He says, “I will tell you where I want to go now. I want to go to Maracaibo.” He also stated, “Pulgar is a friend of mine, and I will get plenty of money there.”

37. Q. Did you go to, Maracaibo?—A. Yes.

38. Q. Were you followed out of the harbor of Puerto Cabello by a Spanish man-of-war’?—A. Yes.

39. Q. For how long a time?—A. Well, I could see him for about three hours.

40. Q. Did you outsail the cruiser?—A. Yes, sir.

41. Q. How did the consul at Puerto Cabello know that you were an American citizen?—A. He asked me if I was an American citizen, and I told him “yes.” I said, “I have a United States Government certificate.”

42. Q. Did you take any oath before him of citizenship?—A. No, sir.

43. Q. Do I understand you that when the Virginius sailed from Puerto Cabello the only two American citizens on board were yourself and Knight, the second engineer?— A. Yes, sir.

44. Q. As from what country were the Cubans on board put on the shipping-articles?—A. Most of them from Mexico.

45. Q. Was the Virginius advertised for sale at Puerto Cabello?—A. Yes, sir.

46. Q. In what paper, if any?—A. I cannot tell the name of the paper. It was in the regular paper. I think there was but one paper there.

47. Q. Was she advertised to be sold at auction?—A. Yes, sir.

48. Q. Was she sold at auction?—A. Yes, sir.

49. Q. Were you present at the sale?—A. Yes.

50. Q. Was she knocked down and bid in?—A. Yes.

51. Q. For what price?—A. Seventeen thousand five hundred dollars.

52. Q. To whom, and by whom?—A. She was bid by proxy by Alfaro for an Englishman by the name of Bayley. The auction was in the cabin of the Virginius, and we were all sitting around the table. Alfaro said he had a telegraph to bid $17,500 for Bayley, of Caracas, an English civil engineer, I believe.

53. Q. Did the United States consul know anything of this sale?—A. He was present at the sale.

54. Q. Had the Virginius been appraised previously to this?—A. Yes.

55. Q. By whom?—A. By regularly-appointed appraisers from the shore.

56. Q. Who appointed them?—A. I was the man to appoint them, but they were appointed by Alfaro. I signed the documents. It was mere matter of form for me, for it was all in Spanish. I had to appoint two, and they had to appoint one. The appraisement was by a carpenter and an engineer, and I don’t know what the other was. There were three of them.

57. Q. At what sum did they appraise her?—A. Eighteen thousand dollars—hull and engines.

58. Q. For what was the Virginius sold?—A. Under the bottomry-bond.

59. Q. Do you know whether there were any proceedings before a judicial officer in Puerto Cabello?—A. Yes, there were.

60. Q. After the sale did the English consul at Puerto Cabello say anything to you in respect to it; and, if so, what?—A. Yes; the English consul met me the next day after the sale, I think, but I am not certain about dates; it was shortly after the sale. He said to me, “You are going to hoist the English flag.” He said, “I have a telegram from the English minister at Caracas to seize her for a pirate if she hoists the English flag.”

61. Q. Did you report this to Alfaro; and, if so, what did he say?—A. I reported it to Alfaro, and he said, “Never mind; we are not going to hoist the English flag.”

62. Q. Had you, previous to this sale and about this time, been making an English flag; and, if so, by whose order?—A. I was making an English flag by order of Alfaro actually before the sale, and, when he heard about this, he said, “Never mind about the English flag.” I got the English flag as far done as the union, and we used the union afterward as a signal at the main.

63. Q. Did you have any conversation with the American consul subsequently about the sale?—A. Yes.

64. Q. What did he say?—A. He told me the ship was sold; and, said he, “Captain, I will have to take your register and cut it in two, send one-half to the Department at Washington and give you the other half.” He also said to me, “Captain, don’t hoist the American flag again.” The money for the purchase was to be paid in three days, and I asked the American consul if I had a right to hoist the American flag before that time was up, and he said, “No.”

65. Q. Was the money paid?—A. No, sir.

66. Q. Do you know why it was not paid?—A. Yes, sir; because they did not want her to go under the English flag.

67. Q. Did you go with Alfaro before a court at Puerto Cabello, and sign any papers there in respect to the non-payment of the money and the sale?—A, Yes, sir.

68. Q. Do you know what the papers were?—A, No, sir, Alfaro told me they were papers declaring the sale null and void.

69. Q. Did you go before the American consul in respect to declaring the sale null and void?—A, Yes, sir.

70. Q. What did the American consul say, if anything, in respect to it!—A. I could not exactly recollect what he did say, hut I know he made some remarks with reference to getting rid of the ship; he said he did not know what to do about it hardly; he said he had hoped he had got rid of the ship.

71. Q. After this did Alfaro, at Puerto Cabello, suggest to you that you go on a trial trip with the Virginius?—A. Yes, sir.

72. Q. Did you apply to the American consul at Puerto Cabello for the ship’s papers to go on this trial-trip; and, if so, what did he say to you?—A. Yes, sir; I applied, but he refused to give them to me.

73. Q. Did he assign any reason?—A. I said to him, “It is only for a trial-trip,” and then he made use of the expression, “Yes, the Alabama went on a trial-trip.”

74. Q. Do you know whether, at that time, he consulted with Captain Renshaw, in command of the American war-vessel Canandaigua, which was lying then in Puerto Cabello?—A. Yes, sir; I know he consulted with Captain Renshaw, for it was done in my presence.

75. Q. Did you hear the advice which he gave to the consul; if so, what was it?— A. Not to let her go on a trial-trip. Then Captain Renshaw turned around to me, and said, “You shan’t go out on a trial-trip; but if you want to go to Key West, I will take you to Key West; if you go out you will excite these Spanish people”—meaning the Spanish man-of-war lying there. Captain Renshaw also made the remark, “I know the ship is not entitled to American protection, but I will protect you if you go out to Key West, but you shan’t go out on a trial-trip.”

76. Q. All this happened after the auction of which you have just spoken I —A. Yes, sir; that was after the auction, I am confident.

77. Q. About what date was this, as near as you can give it?—A. I think it was somewhere between the 20th and 26th of July, 1872.

78. Q. About what date did you leave Puerto Cabello for Maracaibo?—A. August 7, 1872.

79. Q. After leaving Puerto Cabello, and you got clear of the Spanish man-of-war, did Alfaro make any statements to you in respect to what might be done with the Virginius?—A. Yes, sir; he made the statement, as coming from General Quesada, that they would like to arm the ship—put guns on board of her.

80. Q. Did he say anything about having commissions on board?—A. He also told me that he had blank commissions on board to be filled up, and offered me a commander’s position in the Cuban navy.

81. Q. I understand you that Chamberlain was on board the Virginius as chief engineer?—A. Yes, sir.

82. Q. Did he wear any uniform; and, if so, what was it?—A. He wore what they call a Cuban uniform generally in port, and when he was oft’ duty out at sea.

83. Q. On the voyage from Puerto Cabello to Maracaibo, how many flags did you have on board, and of what nationality?—A. We had six Cuban flags, one American flag, and one Venezuelan.

84. Q. When you speak of a Cuban flag, do you mean the Spanish flag, or the flag of the insurrection?—A. What they call the Cuban flag—I mean the Cuban flag, the one of the insurgents; it was their flag; it is a flag composed of one star with a blue ground, and red and white stripes on it; I forget how many.

85. Q. On the voyage did you fly the Venezuelan flag?—A. No, sir; flew the Venezuelan flag at the fore when going into or out of port.

86. Q. Did you fly the American flag with it?—A. Yes, sir.

87. Q. Where did you fly that?—A. At the flag-staff over the stern.

88. Q. Then the Venezuelan flag was at the fore, and the American flag on the flagstaff over the stern?—A. Yes, sir.

89. Q. Was this the condition of the flags when she left Puerto Cabello?—A. Yes, sir.

90. Q. And when you entered at Maracaibo?—A. Yes, sir. Come to recollect now, we had another flag aboard that I knew nothing about. It was a private signal between Quesada and General Pulgar, and when that flag was hoisted at the fore it meant that General Quesada was on board the Virginius. It was a large white flag with a black ball in it; it was a very large flag, and that I hoisted at the fore when going past the fort at San Carlos.

91. Q. Where was the Virginius lying on the 10th of October, 1872?—A. She was lying in the harbor of Maracaibo.

92. Q. What flags did you hoist on the Virginius that day?—A. During the day we hoisted the American flag at the flag-staff, the Venezuelan flag forward, and a burgee at the main, and at night. There was a party on board that day and a band of music. For a little while they hoisted the Cuban flag at the flag-staff; it was presented to General Quesada by the ladies of Caracas.

93. Q. Was this the anniversary of the insurrection at Yara?—A. I was given to suppose so.

94. Q. On the voyage from Puerto Cabello to Maracaibo, did you have conversations with Quesada and Alfaro in respect to arming the Virginius, or making captures; and if so, what was the conversation?—A. Quesada, through Alfaro, told me that if we got a chance, or, rather, he asked me how I would like to arm the Virginius and capture one of the Spanish mail-boats. I didn’t say much. At one time I said, “You don’t catch me after anything with the crew that I have got here.” At one time he told me, said he, “Captain, I will give you a chance with the Virginius to go among the Spanish fleet and get away from them again.” At the same time he had been complimenting me on the way I had handled the Virginius.

95. Q. At what date did you arrive at Maracaibo?—A. On August 11, 1872.

96. Q. Did Pulgar come on board the Virginius; and, if so, where?—A. When the Virginius first entered at San Carlos he came on board. That is the fort outside.

97. Q. With whom?—A. He had a couple of aids with him. I don’t know what they were or what position they held.

98. Q. How did he come on board?—A. In one of our boats. I sent a small boat for him by the orders of Quesada.

99. Q. How long did you remain at Maracaibo in the charge of the Virginius?—A. Somewhere in the neighborhood of three months—a little over three months.

100. Q. What day did you leave her?—A. I think on November 15, 1872—somewhere in that neighborhood.

101. Q. Did you make a pleasure-trip with Pulgar and his suite onboard on October 10, 1872?—A. Yes, sir.

102. Q. What was done on board the Virginius during this trip?—A. I suppose that there were probably on board, besides Pulgar and his suite, about fifteen or twenty ladies and as many gentlemen—somewhere in that neighborhood. We had a band of music, the government band, on board also. We had a dinner. The dinner took place on deck. This excursion started in the afternoon and got back toward 8 or 9 o’clock in the evening. Then we commenced dancing, and kept it up probably till 12 o’clock, and afterward had supper, and they ended it with speeches. The speeches, as nearly as I could understand Spanish, were all for Cuba. Every man that made a speech was for Cuba.

103. When you arrived in Maracaibo, did you deposit the ship’s papers with the American consul?—A. Yes.

104. Q. What was his name?—A. Juttings.

105. Q. Did you have any conversation with Juttings about the character of this ship; and, if so, what did he say to you?—A. I had, a few days after I arrived. He said to me, “If I was you I would leave that ship and go away. She is nothing but a pirate, and by and by you will get taken and get your neck stretched,” or some such expression as that. He also told me that when the ship was there before, the men came ashore with uniforms on and with side-arms, and that he wrote to the Government at Washington about it, but that the Government had never answered him, and, said he, “What can I do?”

106. Q. When you left the ship at Maracaibo, who assumed command of her as captain?—A. Knight, the second engineer, after I left.

107. Q. After you left Maracaibo and arrived in Philadelphia, did you have any letter from the consul at Maracaibo in respect to the Virginius?—A. Yes, sir.

108. Q. Have you that letter?—A. No, sir; I have only got the envelope.

109. Q. What did he say in it to you about the ship?—A. He said that he cleared the Virginius for Curaçoa, with Knight for captain; and he also made the remark in the letter, “The Lord only knows where she will go, but I cleared her for Curaçoa.” Here is the envelope. I tore up the letter, as there were some private things in it.

110. Q. Have you seen Alfaro since you left the Virginius at Maracaibo; and, if so, where?—A. Yes, sir; I saw him in Twenty third street, New York City, at the house of Ramon Cespedes; I forget the number.

111. Q. What did he say to you about the ship, if anything, after she left Maracaibo?—A. He said to me, “Captain, I had to navigate the ship myself to Curaçoa. We put Knight in command for the purpose of clearing her with the American consul at Maracaibo, but I had to navigate the ship myself, and I worked her just the same as you used to show me how;”

112. Q. Have you seen General Quesada in New York City since you returned from Maracaibo?—A. Yes, sir.

113. Q. When did you see Alfaro?—A. I cannot state the date, but I think it was somewhere in the neighborhood of about four months ago. I saw Quesada at the same time. Once I saw him at the same house as Alfaro; twice I saw him at No. 33 Thirty-third street.

114. Q. During the time you were in command of the Virginius, had she any number indorsed on her papers?—A. No, sir.

115. Q. Had she any number marked on her main beam?—A. No, sir.

116. Q. Did you ever make any reports to Patterson, either verbally or in writing, in respect to the Virginius?—A. No, sir.

117. Q. Have you ever had any conversations with Alfaro in respect to Patterson?— A. Yes, sir.

118. Q. In respect to the ownership of the Virginius?—A. Yes, sir.

119. Q. What did Alfaro say to you in respect of Patterson’s ownership?—A. Alfaro one day—don’t know when it was, or how the conversation, came about, but I recollect it quite well; he said that Patterson did not own a dollar of the ship, and also said that the ship should never go to the United States again. He did not say it exactly in those words. He said something else about how they got him to go on the papers, but I cannot tell exactly what it was. It was about the time of this sale, and about what they were going to do about it.

120. Q. Did you have any correspondence at Puerto Cabello with the commander, Potter, in respect to the Virginius?—A. Yes, sir.

121. Q. Is this (producing a paper) the original of the letter to you, and will you not hand it to the commissioner? (Appended and marked Exhibit A.)—A. Yes, sir.

122. Q. Is this (referring to the paper) the rough draught of the reply you made to him?—A. Yes, sir. (Appended and marked Exhibit B.)

123. Q. Who paid you your wages?—A. Alfaro; till that I got.

123. Q. During the time that you commanded the Virginius, whom did you consider to be her owners?—A. I considered General Quesada and Alfaro as her owners. I had every reason to suppose that they were the owners. I recognized nobody else as the owners but Alfaro and Quesada.

The district attorney, having been notified by Mr. Webster but a few minutes before the examination took place, was unable to be present, but was represented by his assistant, Mr. Tremain, who interrogated the witness as follows:

124. Q. What is your entire knowledge concerning the bottomry-bond that you have spoken of, and of its origin?—A. My knowledge of it is from seeing it attached to the certificate of the ship in the hands of the American consul at Puerto Cabello, when I first joined the ship as master of her.

125. Q. Have you any knowledge of the consideration of that bond otherwise than that?—A. No, sir; it was made in Aspinwall by another man.

126. Q. What did you hear Alfaro say about that?—A. I have heard Alfaro say in several instances about that bottomry-bond, when I would speak about going to sea, “We will make that bottomry-bond all right.” Alfaro took up the bottomry-bond afterward in his own name, giving bonds to pay it at Caracas in six months after date.

127. Q. When was that done?—A. A few days before I sailed for Puerto Cabello. I eould not tell you the exact date.

128. Q. Was that done before the American consul?—A. Yes, sir.

129. Q. What did you hear him say about the original bond at that time?—A. I heard him say that the original bond was canceled then. They canceled the original bond, and he took it. It was made out in his name then.

130. Q. He paid no money?—A. Not in my presence.

131. Q. After that was it paid?—A. Never in my presence or to my knowledge,

132. Q. You know nothing about the final cancellation of this second bond?—A. No, sir.

133. Q. When you say you considered Alfaro and Quesada as owners, do you mean that you had any knowledge of any consideration being paid by Quesada for any interest in the vessel?—A. No, sir, I had no knowledge; I merely say that because I was given every reason to suppose they were the owners by their actions, and by the way the business of the ship was carried on.

134. Q. Do you know of any consideration passing from Alfaro to anybody else for any interest in the vessel?—A. I don’t.

135. Q. You received all the directions concerning the management of the ship from Alfaro?—A. Yes, sir.

136. Q. When you turned over the ship and its command, what papers did you leave for your successor in command of the ship?—A. I left the certificate of registry and this bottomry-bond of Alfaro’s at the consul’s. When I left the ship the papers were on board of the ship, and I deposited them at the consul’s. I had got them from the consul’s to tow a vessel out to sea—a schooner. That was a temporary employment. When I left the ship I was very sick, and took the papers up to the consul’s, and deposited them with him, and told him I was going to leave. I deposited the certificate of registry, and this bottomry-bond of Alfaro’s, and the crew-list that I had from Puerto Cabello. I left them all with Mr. Juttings.

137. Q. What flags were on board the vessel at that time?—A. There was one American flag, one Venezuelan flag, and six Cuban flags. I don’t know as they were all on board at that time. Quesada had left at that time, and gone to Caracas, and he might have taken one of the Cuban flags with him.

138. Q. When did Alfaro leave the vessel?—A. He never left it while I was in it.

139. Q. When did Quesada leave?—A. He left it with Pulgar somewhere in the neighborhood of October, and went to Caracas with Pulgar and his suite.

140. Q. What did Captain Bowen say to you concerning the Virginius at or about that time?—A. I had no conversation with him about the Virginius one way or the other, except about her capabilities. He said she was a rotten, poor thing, that could not cross a mill-pond.

141. Q. What did you say when you were offered a Cuban commission by Alfaro I— A. I said I would think of it. I passed it off some way or other; but I can’t tell you exactly what I said.

142. Q. What did you give him to understand?—A. I don’t know just whether I gave him to understand that I would not accept of it; but I did not intend to accept of it, and I guess I gave him to understand that I would not accept of it under those circumstances, any way.

143. Q. When was the first time that you ever heard of Mr. Patterson in connection-with the Virginius?—A. When I first saw her papers I saw his name.

144. Q. Did you ask anything about him?—A. I did not ask much about him at that time; but afterward I asked Alfaro about him.

145. Q. What did he say?—A. Well, very often he would try to pass it off in a laughing way; he would say,” Patterson is all right,” or something like that. I heard him say once, “Patterson has got his price; we don’t want anything more to do with him,” or something to that effect. He would generally bring the conversation out in some such way as that.

146. Q. You never had any other information concerning Patterson’s connection with the ship than what Alfaro gave you?—A. That was the only information I had.

147. Q. You are an American citizen?—A. Yes, sir.

148. Q. Did you ever have any written orders while you were in command of the Virginius?—A. No, sir; I never had a written order.

149. Q. Did you ever make any other trip in her except from Puerto Cabello to Maracaibo?—A. No, sir.

150. Q. How long had you been in command of her before you were aware that there were judicial proceedings pending or to be instituted?—A. It was a very short time after I got command of her.

151. Q. What did you hear?—A. Well, at one time Alfaro said, “If we could only sell her to the Spaniards! Why don’t they buy her?” We were blockaded by the Spaniards, you know, while we were lying there, and he says to me, “If the Spaniards give $50,000 for her, we will sell her and go to Europe and get another one.”

152. Q. Were there efforts made at that port to sell the vessel?—A. There were no efforts made until at or about the time of the sale; that is, not to my knowledge. I know Alfaro told me, either once or twice, that Guzman Blanco would buy her if he had the money, but he had not the money. Guzman Blanco was the President of Venezuela. They wanted from him about $60,000 of their money; that is somewhere in the neighborhood of $50,000 American gold. Alfaro said they would sell the vessel to Guzman Blanco if he had the money to pay for her.

153. Q. What were those judicial proceedings?—A. The proceedings were these: the sale was for the bottomry-bond. They had to advertise so many days in the papers for proposals for this money, and of course that was not forthcoming, and then the ship was to be appraised, and according to law a ship cannot be sold for anything more than she is appraised for, because it would not be a bona-fide sale, and the only bid was $17,500.

154. Q. Who appointed the appraisers?—A. Well, I was considered to, but Alfaro did.

155. Q. What do you know about the consideration for that bottomry-bond?—A. I know nothing about the bond except that I saw it attached to the certificate of registry at the consul’s. I think it was signed by Captain Bowen, but I am not certain. I don’t know what the consideration for it was, nor do I remember, if I ever knew, to whom the bond was originally given. There were no other parties represented, at the time of the sale, in the cabin of the Virginius, except the judge, the auctioneer, Alfaro, the American consul, and myself; I think that was all, except this Cuban who was acting as purser. I saw no money pass.

156. Q. Do you think there was a cancellation of this first bottomry-bond and a new bond given or was the bond assigned over to Alfaro?—A. I gave, as captain, a new bottomry-bond to Alfaro for the amount of the old bond, which was about $10,000, and with that the consul canceled and Alfaro took up the old bond given at. Aspinwall, but there was no money passed, and the bottomry-bond I gave was to be paid at Caracas six months after date.

157. Q. Do you know where this ship was when this bond became due—the one you gave?—A. I don’t know where she was when it became due. She was nowhere near Caracas, however. When I said that there were two judges who declined to order the sale, I spoke only from general information. I was not accurately acquainted with all the steps in the judicial proceedings or with the special action of those two judges, otherwise than I have stated. I got all my information from Alfaro.

158. Q. Who was it that wanted this vessel to go on a trial-trip?—A. Alfaro.

159. Q. Was that after you had completed-your repairs and were ready to go?—A. Yes.

160. Q. Was the Spanish man-of-war still in the harbor?—A. Yes; it was either the Pizzaro or the Del Blanco, or some such name. It was the same vessel that chased me and I outsailed her.

161. Q. How many war-vessels were there while you were in Puerto Cabello?—A. Two were there during the time I was there, the Shawmut and the Canandaigua. The Shawmut had been lying there some three or four weeks then.

162. Q. When you first took command of this vessel was there, to your knowledge, anything unusual or irregular in the papers of the ship?—A. The only thing unusual in the papers of the ship was that she had no official number; I guess that was about the only thing unusual. I refer to the official number on top of the register.

163. Q. Have you not known that to be omitted, sometimes, in a ship’s register?— A. Not for any length of time.

164. Q. When you arrived at Maracaibo, did you pursue the usual course as to reporting to the American consul or leaving with him any papers?—A. Yes, sir; I pursued the usual course with him, but not at the custom-house. I did not enter at the custom-house. Any other vessel that came in had to go and deposit the papers at the custom-house, and then the American consul would go and get them.

165. Q. But you pursued the usual course so far as the American consul was concerned?—A. Yes, sir.

166. Q. What papers did you deliver to him?—A. I delivered to him the certificate of registry, the bottomry-bond, and the crew-list.

167. Q. What did the consul at Puerto Cabello say to you concerning the Virginius being entitled to official protection?—A. I have heard him express doubts whether she was entitled to any American protection at all. He did not believe that she was entitled to it, but he did not know how to get rid of it. He worked more under the orders of the United States minister than of anybody else. The Maracaibo consul could not work under him, because it would take six or seven hours to get communication.

168. Q. Did the consul at Puerto Cabello tell you that he did not know what else he could do?—A. He told me that he did not actually believe that the Virginius was entitled to protection. The old man felt very much relieved when she was sold at auction, for he thought he was going to get rid of her. He said that he was going to cut the register in two, and give me half, and send one half to the Department at Washington.

169. Q. What did the consul at Maracaibo say to you about her?—A. He said to me, “Why don’t you get rid of that damned pirate? She is nothing but a pirate, and you will get caught by and by, and they will hang you, and I want to see you off, any how, though I do not care for any of the rest.” Jut tings did not believe that she was entitled to protection at all. There were only one or two American citizens on board, and he knew that very well.

170. Q. Did either of those officials express any doubt as to her right to their official protection by reason of any irregularity in the ship’s papers?—A. No; neither one of them expressed doubt about the regularity; because if they had found the first flaw they would not have protected her.

171. Q. So far as you know, there was nothing to which exception could be taken by either of those gentlemen in the performance of their official duties in that respect?— A. No, sir.

172. Q. Was she armed before you left her?—A. No, she was not what we call an armed ship—that is she was not armed with big guns; although there were rifles enough on board of her to arm the whole crew. There was probably in the neighborhood of 100 or 150 rifles. It was a large quantity of arms for a merchant-ship.

173. Q. When you left her was the American flag flying?—A. No, sir; when I left her we had no flag up. She was then down at the island of Taos. There was a coal mine there.

174. Q. At what time did you arrive at Maracaibo?—A. I think it was the night of August 11.

175. Q. You took no trip in her from that time until you left her?—A. Except to tow this schooner out about eighty miles outside of San Carlos, and the excursion of October 10.

176. Q. When you towed the schooner out did you make any clearance?—A. I went to the consul and got my papers. I made no clearance from the custom-house.

177. Q. Did you get a clearance at that time for a voyage from any port?—A. No clearance from any port. I simply got my papers, and towed this vessel out and returned.

178. Q. Was there any Spanish man-of-war about?—A. No, sir.

179. Q. When was that?—A. I cannot give the exact date. It was after the excursion—some time in October, I think.

180. Q. Why did you finally leave?—A. On account of my ill health.

181. Q. Do you know of any other matter or thing concerning the Virginius or her character, that you have not stated?—A. No, sir; not that I know of.

CHARLES SMITH.

Subscribed and sworn to before me this 3d day of December, 1873.

JOSEPH GUTMAN, Jr.,
United States Commissioner, Southern District of New York.

And now I, Joseph Gutman, jr., a duly appointed commissioner of the United States circuit court for the southern district of New York, in attestation, do hereby certify that the foregoing questions and answers, after having been written out as above, were read to the foregoing witness and were in my presence signed by him; and in attestation of the verity and solemnity of all of the foregoing, I do hereby attach my signature and seal of office, this third day of December, in the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.

[L. S.] JOSEPH GUTMAN, Jr.,
United States Commissioner, Southern District of New York.

Exhibit A.

United States Steamer Shawmut, (4th rate,)
Off Puerto Cabello, Venezuela, South America, June 26, 1872.

Sir: Will you be good enough to inform me, if you can, when the Virginius will be ready to proceed to sea? Not only when her repairs will be completed and stores supplied, but when her indebtedness will be so settled that she will be clear.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

EDW’D G. POTTER,
Commander Commanding.

Charles Smith, Esq.,
Commanding Steamship Virginius.

Exhibit B.

Steamship Virginius, June.

Sir: Your communication of the 26th instant has been received. In reply to your questions concerning this steamer, I have to state that her repairs and stores, including coal, will be complete between the 1st and 6th of July, 1872. I am unable to answer the question when her indebtedness will be so settled that she will be clear, as that rests altogether with Mr. Alfaro, the holder of the keel-bond, and as he is also providing funds for the disbursements of the ship, of course, he is the proper person to hold her or let her go.

Edward E. Potter, Esq.,
Commander United States Steamship Shawmut.

[Inclosure 8.]

Deposition of Edward Greenwood.

United States of America,
Southern District of New York, ss:

To all to whom these presents shall come:

I, Joseph Gutman, jr., a commissioner of the United States circuit court for the southern district of New York, duly appointed and commissioned, and dwelling in the city of New York, send greeting:

Know ye, that on the twenty-fifth day of November, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, before me, at my office, No. 29 Nassau street, in the city of New York, appeared as a witness Edward Greenwood, a mariner, formerly on board the steamship Virginius, produced by the consul-general of Spain for the district of New York, in the United States of America; and that I was attended at the same time by Sidney Webster, esq., counselor at law in said city, representing the aforesaid consul-general of Spain, and by George Bliss, esq., attorney of the United. States for the southern district of New York, attending by the direction of the Secretary of State of the United States; and that the aforesaid witness having been first duly cautioned by me to declare the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, in respect to the matters concerning which he should be interrogated, and having then been duly sworn by me, according to the laws of the United States, did, in answer to the interrogatories addressed to him in my presence, voluntarily, freely, and solemnly declare and depose in my presence as follows, that is to say:

1. Question. What is you age, occupation place of birth, and citizenship?—Answer. I was forty-two years of age the 30th of last March; occupation, engineer.

2. Q. Marine engineer?—A. Marine engineer; yes, sir; birth New York City, and a citizen of the United States.

3. Q. When and where did you first know the steamer Virginius?—A. I first knew the steamship as the steamer Virgin, lying at the foot of Leroy street, in New York.

4. Q. At what date?—A. I could not give the exact date. I think it was the month of October, 1870.

5. Q. When, if you know, was her name changed from Virgin to Virginius?—A. Prior to her sailing; a day or two before we sailed, as near as I can recollect.

6. Q. Do you know anything of the circumstances under which it was changed?— A. I do not.

7. Q. In what capacity did you go on the steamer Virginius on her voyage from New York, October 4th, 1870?—A. I was first assistant engineer.

8. Q. By whom were you first approached to serve on the Virginius?—A. Mr. Mar-quiz.

9. Q. Who was he?—A. The chief engineer.

10. Q. When and where were you approached by him?—A. In the city of New York.

11. Q. How long before she sailed?—A. I could not tell you the exact time. It was in the neighborhood of two or three weeks.

12. Q. How long were you at work on the steamer before she sailed?—A. Probably a fortnight.

13. Q. Who directed you while you were employed on her before she sailed?—A. Mr. Mar quiz.

14. Q. How long previous to that had you known Mr. Marquiz?—A. Probably a year or more.

15. Q. Do you know of your own knowledge whether he was an American citizen?— A. I do not.

16. Q. Do you know whether he was a foreigner by birth?—A. I cannot say.

17. Q. After the Virginius left the wharf at New York, and while proceeding down the bay, did you see a party come on board her from a tug-boat?—A. I saw them come on board off the Highlands—it was hardly in the bay—on the high seas, as I termed it.

18. Q. Do you remember the name of the tug from which they came on board?—A. The Virginia Seymour.

19. Q. How many were in that party, and what were their names, if you know any of them?—A. One was represented as General Quesada, another was named Mora, and one was pointed out to me by the name or Varona. There were probably ten or fifteen of them altogether. I can’t be positive as to the exact number.

20. Q. Of what nationality did they appear to you to be?—A. Cubans.

21. Q. What was the first port the Virginius made after leaving New York?—A. Curaçoa.

22. Q. Did you sign shipping-articles in the port of New York before sailing on the Virginius?—A. Yes, sir.

23. Q. For what port or place did you sign articles?—A. I would not be positive whether it was Cedar Keys, Havana, or Mobile. It was a general topic of conversation that we were to run between those ports. That was what Marquiz told me when I shipped on the vessel. Cedar Keys, Mobile, and Havana were mentioned, and probably some portion of the Caribbean Sea.

24. Q. Was it ever said to you, or did you understand when you signed the articles, that you were to go to Curaçoa?—A. I Was told confidentially by Captain Shepard, prior to our sailing, that we were going to Curaçoa—by Captain Shepard and Mr. Marquiz both.

25. Q. What else did they state to you about the character of the voyage, if anything?—A. Well, prior to taking the ammunition on board, when these Cubans came on board off the Virginia Seymour, we got into conversation about it, and I went to Captain Shepard and asked him “Where is this ship going?” Says he, “You know where Ave are going—going to Curaçoa.” Says I, “This looks very suspicious, these men coming on board, each with a revolver hung on him, I ain’t accustomed to going to sea in this way.” “Oh,” says he, “we’ll be all right,” or “all lovely,” or something like that. Says I, “If they capture us we are liable, according to Spanish laws, if I know anything about them, to be shot or garroted, either one.” “Oh, no,” says he, “there won’t be anything of that kind even if they do capture you.” That was all that occurred until we arrived at Curaçoa.

26. Q. While the steamer was lying at Curaçoa, do you know anything of a schooner which arrived from New York; and, if so, what was her name?—A. Yes; the Billy Butts.

27. Q. How long was this after the Virginius arrived at Curaçoa?—A. I think we lay at Curaçoa eight or nine days, as near as I can recollect, before the schooner came in—about that time.

28. Q. What, if anything, did the Virginius do with that schooner, the Billy Butts? A. We left Curaçoa along about dusk and we exercised a great deal of caution in going out between the two forts there.

29. Q. Did the Virginius have the schooner in tow?—A. No sir; not at that time. We picked her up in the course of the night, and took her to Buen Ayre.

30. Q. An island?—A. Yes, I think it is an island.

31. Q. What happened next?—A. We took the powder, shot, shell, and ammunition out of her and put it on board the Virginius. My firemen turned to at it. The men were promised a dollar an hour in gold, because time was an object in getting this war-material on board. Immediately after getting it on board, the men came forward and wanted to know where the steamer was going. The whole snip’s company, I think, came forward, with the exception of the officers. There was considerable chaffering and bickering, and I forget the precise sum they offered, but I think it was $150 that they offered for each and every time they ran the blockade into the Island of Cuba. That offer was for the men, irrespective of their positions, whether they were firemen, coal-passers, or sailors; and there was some sort of arrangement made by Captain Shepard, through the interpreter, with General Quesada, and he (Quesada) gave a draft on the Bank of England, I understood, for a large amount, to make that arrangement good.

32. Q. Quesada gave a draft?—A. Yes, sir. I did not see the draft given, but the men said he gave it. Then we proceeded to Laguayra. At Laguayra Quesada and some of these other Cubans went ashore, and I think they stayed over night; at least the ship lay there over night. I think they went to the hotel there, the Posado Delphino. From Laguayra the steamer went to Puerto Cabello, and there this ammunition was taken out of the Virginius—some portion of it. I think there was some left on board, a small amount, but I won’t say positively now.

33. Q. What was done with the cargo taken out of the Virginius at Puerto Cabello? A. It was put into the fort—a Venezuelan fort—I think it is called. Fort St. Michael’s.

34. Q. Was any part of the cargo placed on any other steamer to “your knowledge?— A. Yes; on La Orientala, a Venezuelan man-of-war, belonging to the party called the Yellows.

35. Q. After the cargo was taken out of the Virginius, where did she then go?—A. She proceeded from there to Laguayra and took in some troops there, and we took some beef-cattle on board, on the hoof; and then we proceeded to a place called Cumana, and Barcelona, and put these troops ashore—Venezuelan troops. From Barcelona we went back to Laguayra and Puerto Cabello.

36. Q. What, if anything, did you have to do with’ a Venezuelan gunboat at Puerto Cabello?—A. I went on board the Orientala at Puerto Cabello; the Virginius towed us out of the harbor. I was to superintend the repairs on the Venezuelan gunboat at St. Thomas.

37. Q. By whose request or order did you goon board that gunboat?—A. General Quesada’s.

38. Q. In what language did he speak to you; or, if through an interpreter, who was the interpreter?—A. He spoke the Spanish, and the interpreter was named Socarraz, I think. On that man-of-war with me there was a man by the name of Varona. He went on board with me. He was not the General Varona reputed to have been shot at Santiago. He was a Cuban.

39. Q. How many guns had that man-of-war?—A. I think she mounted eight guns.

40. Q. About what was her tonnage in American measurement?—A. About 500 or 600 tons.

41. Q. After you went on board of her where did she go, and what did she do?—A. The Virginius towed, her out of the harbor of Puerto Cabello, and after we had been out some few hours we came across this Mosquito fleet, as I term them, of the Blues. They commenced loading the guns on board the vessel I was on, and they fired one shell, and the Virginius afterward took them in tow, and towed them to Laguayra. I proceeded in the Orientala to St. Thomas.

42. Q. How many schooners were in that Mosquito fleet?—A. There were five or six, as near as I can recollect.

43. Q. Were they schooner-rigged, and were they armed?—A. I cannot say positively, but I think they were armed. Most of those schooners are armed with one gun amidships.

44. Q. At or about the time the gun was fired from the steamer on which you were, did you see the Virginius?—A. Yes, sir.

45. Q. What was she doing?—A. She was lying still.

46. Q. How far from the steamer you were on?—A. Probably three-quarters of a mile.

47. Q. Was it clear weather, and could you see her distinctly?—A. Yes, sir.

48. Q. Did you see what flag she was flying?—A. Yes, sir.

49. Q. Describe it.—A. I saw her flying the American flag, and afterward the Venezuelan flag for a short space of time.

50. Q. Do you know whether General Quesada was on board of her at that time?— A. I was not on board of her myself; but my opinion is that he was on board of her.

51. Q. Did you see the Virginius subsequent to the capture of the Mosquito fleet?— A. Yes; at Puerto Cabello, after I returned from St. Thomas.

52. Q. Had you, previously to that time, seen anything of a Venezuelan flag on the Virginius?—A. The flag was made in her cabin. I did not see them making it, but I was told that it was making in there. A party said that he saw them buy the stuff at Puerto Cabello.

53. Q, Did you ever see any other flag flying from the Virginius besides the flag of the United States and the Venezuelan flag?—A. No, sir.

54. Q. Did you ever see any other flag on any of the small boats belonging to the Virginius?—A. I saw the Cuban flag on one of her quarter-boats.

55. Q. When was this?—A. This was prior to the turning over of the balance of the men-of-war that were in charge of the Blues. They turned over two ships, one called the Guzman Blanco, a side-wheel steamer, formerly called the London, and another one that was built in London for them, a propeller; a very large one. I forget her name. They were turned over to the Yellows.

56. Q. In what port was the Virginius lying at the time you saw the Cuban flag on one of her small boats?—A. Puerto Cabello.

57. Q. Was this before or after the Virginius towed out the Venezuelan man-of-war on which you were?—A. Before.

58. Q. Was it before the Virginius transported the Venezuelan troops along the coast to Barcelona?—A. I think not.

59. Q. Who was in the small boat at the time you saw the Cuban flag?—A. General Quesada, and some other Cubans, one or two, and Ambrose Rowlands, I think, and a man by the name of Miller. They pulled the boat. There was some other one, but I recollect only those two. One of them belonged to me—both, in fact.

60. Q. Did you see the flag on the boat yourself?—A. Yes, sir.

61. Q. Where did the boat go when it had this Cuban flag upon it?—A. They rowed out to a small island or strip of land near by.

62. Q. Did you see the small boat return to the Virginius?—A. I did not.

63. Q. How soon after this did you go on the Venezuelan man-of-war?—A. I cannot tell the exact time.

64. Q. Did you have any interview with any of the consuls of the United States in respect to the Virginius?—A. I did, with Dr. Lacombe, in Puerto Cabello.

65. Q. Did you make any statements to him in respect to the Virginius; and if so, what were they?—A. I related to him the facts of the taking of this ammunition on board from the Billy Butts, and I told him that my opinion was that she was engaged entirely in unlawful trade or traffic. This was prior to the affair with the schooners.

66. Q. What, if anything, did the consul say to you in reply?—A. He gave me but very little satisfaction. The communication we had was altogether verbal. He said she was “all right.”

67. Q. Had Captain Shepperd left the Virginius before you left her?—A. Yes, sir.

68. Q. Who then took command of the Virginius as captain?—A. Marguiz was the man who was recognized as the captain. He was the only man that seemed to get clearances for her; so he told me himself. Mr. Camacho was the man that I always considered to be the captain of her.

69. Q. Did you ever see Consul Lacombe and General Quesada together?—A. Yes; I saw them at Puerto Cabello in the Hotel de Commercio. I boarded there quite a while after I left the Virginius.

70. Q. State what you saw or heard at that time, if anything.—A. They spoke in Spanish. I saw Quesada give him, Lacombe, some money, but how much I could not tell, nor for what purpose; but I know it was gold.

71. Q. In whose control did you believe the Virginius to be while you were on board of her?—A. Under the control of the Cubans, after we got on board the cargo from the Billy Butts. After Captain Shepperd left the ship I considered Camacho to be in control of her as the real navigator.

72. Q. What control, if any, did General Quesada appear to you to have over the Virginius?—A. Well, I did not see him assume command at all while I was on the ship.

73. Q. What relation did it appear to you that Quesada had to the Virginius?—A. I considered him as the owner of her.

74. Q. From what things, or act, or deed did you consider him to be the owner?—A. From a conversation that took place on the day that Captain Shepperd left: from remarks that I overheard. If my memory serves me right, Quesada gave Captain Shepr perd to understand that he had the papers of that ship, and owned them.

75. Q. In what language was that conversation carried on?—A. The conversation was partly in Spanish and partly in English. I overheard some of it; I was sitting on the rail of the vessel at the time.

76. Q. With whom was Quesada having that conversation?—A. I could not remember the names of all of them; the whole party that went out with us—the Cubans; it was a general conversation.

77. Q. Did you ever see any documents or papers relating to the ownership of the vessel?—A. No, sir.

78. Q. By whom were you discharged from the Virginius?—A. I never was discharged, because I never went back to her again after I left her to go on board the Venezuelan gunboat.

79. Q. For what wages did you ship in New York?—A. Eighty dollars a month, I think.

80. Q. Were you ever promised any greater sum as wages?—A. I was told by Mr. Marguiz that if we did run the blockade we would be amply compensated for it.

81. Q. Where, and by whom, were you first paid any wages after you went on board the Virginius, and sailed from New York?—A. I was paid by the Cubans, in Puerto Cabello, by Mr. Arredondo, who went out with us on the ship from here. He came on board from the Virginia Seymour.

82. Q. Where was it you were paid?—A. In Puerto Cabello.

83. Q. Before you went on board the gunboat, or afterward?—A. Afterward.

84. Q. Did he pay you any portion of your wages earned on the Virginius?—A. He paid me the whole. He did not pay me anything for my services on the Venezuelan gunboat, but he did pay me in full for my services on the Virginius.

85. Q. At what rate of wages did he pay you?—A. Eighty dollars a month, with 20 per cent, off for gold.

86. Q. Why did he pay you?—A. I asked him for my money. I told him I wanted nothing more to do with the ship at all, and asked him for my money, and he went to Quesada and got the money, and came and handed it to me.

87. Q. Did you see him get the money from General Quesada?—A. He went into his room and returned with the money.

88. Q. How came you to apply to Mr. Arredondo to pay you, rather than to any other one of the Spaniards aboard?—A. From the simple fact that he spoke English.

89. Q. Who paid you for your services on the Venezuelan gunboat?—A. I don’t think I ever got anything. I went in the custom-house there with General Oquinda.

90. Q. Where did you go into the custom-house?—A. At Laguayra; and they were speaking Spanish together; and then they took me before some of their officials there— the Venezuelan officials; then to Caracas, with a diligence, the capital of Venezuela. They gave me $4 or $5 in gold there. What their talk was I didn’t know, because I didn’t understand the language.

91. Q. That was all you ever got?—A. That is all.

92. Q. Did you ever endeavor to get any pay for your services there?—A. I asked them, but could not get any.

93. Q. Did you ever ask anybody on board the Virginius for your pay?—A. I asked Guzman Blanco.

94. Q. What did he say?—A. He knew nothing about it.

95. Q. Did you ask anybody on board the Venezuelan gunboat?—A. No, sir.

96. Q. Anybody who were described as Cubans?—A. No.

97. Q. Did you get some pay before you sailed?—A. Yes.

98. Q. From whom?—A. I don’t know whether it was from I. K. Roberts or Patterson; I don’t know which of the two.

99. Q. How much?—A. I don’t know how many days I had worked.

100. Q. Who was Patterson?—A. He used to be a purser in Marshall O. Roberts’s employ some years ago, but he acted as business man for him. I understood him to be.

101. Q. In connection with this vessel?—A. Yes, sir.

102. Q. You considered him acting for Marshall O. Roberts, did you %—A. For young I. K. Roberts, I believe, sir.

103. Q. You had a conversation with Captain Shepperd after the man came aboard, off the Highlands?—A. Yes, sir.

104. Q. Did you ever have any other conversation with Captain Shepperd, with reference to the Virginius, her use or destination?—A. Yes, sir; I had conversation with him a number of times.

105. Q. Can you tell us when they were, and where they were, and what was said in each?—A. O, it was during the voyage, or the cruise, we conversed together. We was very intimate—Captain Shepperd and myself.

106. Q. If you can tell us any specific thing, do so; and if you cannot, say so.—A. Can’t tell any specific thing.

107. Q. When Captain Shepperd—he left under a disagreement with the—A. With General Quesada.

108. Q. Did you hear the cause of that disagreement stated?—A. Couldn’t say positively about that. I heard a portion of it, as I said before, but the exact words I couldn’t say. Captain Shepperd gave me to understand himself that Quesada owned the ship.

109. Q. He didn’t tell you that he left because Quesada owned the ship, hot for some other reason?—A. He left because they would not tell him where the ship was going. That is the reason he quit. I heard him say that himself.

110. Q. Captain Shepperd, then, did not from the outset expect to go to Cuba?—A. Couldn’t tell.

111. Q. Did you not gather so from him?—A. I gathered that he did calculate.

112. Q. Did calculate to go to Cuba?—A. Yes, sir.

113. Q. Did you gather that he left because she expected to go somewhere else afterward?—A. No, sir; Quesada would not give him any information as to where the ship was going—wouldn’t give Captain Shepperd. That is the reason he left.

114. Q. Where did Camacho come on board?—A. He went out with us.

115. Q. Came aboard at the Highlands?—A. Yes, sir.

116. Q. You mentioned that General Quesada and others went ashore at Laguayra?— A. At Laguayra.

117. Q. They came back aboard the Virginius before she sailed, didn’t they?—A. Yes, sir.

118. Q. Did they come with you to Puerto Cabello?—A. I think they did, sir.

119. Q. This Venezuelan gunboat, was it a sailing-vessel or steamer?—A. A steamer.

120. Q. Was it a side-wheel?—A. No; twin screws.

121. Q. At the time the Mosquito fleet was captured did the Virginius have any guns mounted on board?—A. Don’t think she had.

122. Q. She took no part in the capture more than lying by?—A. No, sir; no more than lying still.

123. Q. There was only a single gun fired from the gunboat?—A. That is all.

124. Q. Then the others surrendered?—A. Yes, sir.

125. Q. Now, this Venezuelan flag, flying on the Virginius during that temporary engagement: how long was it up?—A. Well, I don’t think it was up more than ten minutes.

126. Q. During that time was there an American flag also flying?—A. I didn’t see any.

127. Q. There had been prior to that?—A. I think so.

128. Q. Was the Venezuelan flag hauled down subsequently?—A. Yes; it was hauled down. I saw it when it was run up and when it was hauled down.

129. Q. Then was the American flag run up again?—A. Yes, it was—well, I couldn’t be positive about that.

130. Q. Was that during this engagement?—A. Yes; as we fired the shot.

131. Q. What was done as you fired the shot?—A. The Venezuelan flag down on the Virginius.

132. Q. As you fired the shot?—A. Yes.

133. Q. When did you first see the Virginius after your return to Puerto Cabello; I mean when by the month?—A. I don’t recollect the month.

134. Q. Was it 1870 or 1871?—A. I think in 1870; the latter part of 1870.

135. Q. Who told yon that the Venezuelan flag was made in the Virginius’s cabin?—A. Some of the crew; I don’t recollect who.

136. Q. When was it that you saw Lacombe and Quesada together, when money was passed from Quesada to Lacombe?—A. Well, I was boarding at the hotel; the month I couldn’t give.

137. Q. After your return from St. Thomas?—A. Yes, sir.

138. Q. How much?—A. I couldn’t tell you.

139. Q. You could tell whether $5 or — A. O, it was more than that; it was $20 gold-pieces; how many of them I couldn’t say. Of course I couldn’t go up and look.

140. Q. What has been your occupation since that time?—A. Engineering, sir.

141. Q. Where?—A. Running to Savannah—different ports—New Orleans, &c. I have not been to sea recently.

142. Q. Where, if anywhere, are you now employed?—A. Not engaged at present, sir.

143. Q. Where were you last employed?—A. At John Roche’s iron-works.

144. Q. How long ago?—A. About two months ago—in that neighborhood.

145. Q. Been out of employment for about two months?—A. Yes.

146. Q. How came you to make this statement here?—A. Well, sir, I done it on this account: I thought the Virginius was doing wrong——

147. Q. No matter about that. How came you in communication with anybody?— A. I went to the Spanish consul.

148. Q. Any agreement for compensation with you?—A. No, sir.

149. Q. Any understanding that you would be compensated?—A. No, sir; except I am to be paid for my time.

150. Q. How much time has that been?—A. Well, Saturday—

151. Q. Well, you have been employed in getting these other parties, have you not?—A. Yes, sir.

EDWARD GREENWOOD.

Subscribed and sworn to before me this 26th day of November, 1873.

JOSEPH GUTMAN, Jr.,
United States Commissioner, Southern District of New York.

And now I, Joseph Gutman, jr., a duly appointed commissioner of the United States circuit court for the southern district of New York, in attestation, do hereby certify that the foregoing questions and answers, after having been written out as above, were read to the foregoing witness, and were in my presence signed by him; and in attestation of the verity and solemnity of all of the foregoing, I do hereby attach my signature and seal of office this twenty-sixth day of November, in the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.

[seal.]

JOSEPH GUTMAN, Jr.,
United States Commissioner, Southern District of New York.

[Inclosure 9.]

Affidavit of John McCann and Matthew Murphy.

Southern District of New York, ss:

John McCann and Matthew Murphy, being severally duly sworn, depose and say: That they are seamen by business; that about October 3, 1870, they went on board the steamer Virginius, in the port of New York, with the intention of going on her as sort of passengers to Mobile, Ala., having been informed that the crew of this steamer had signed articles for Mobile, Cedar Keys, and Havana; that they, both of them, know personally Thomas Anderson and George W. Miller, who were seamen on this steamer during this voyage; that they have heard read the affidavits of Anderson and Miller, dated 24th December, 1870, and all the statements therein made in respect to what was done on the Virginius are, as they believe, correct and true; that they, the said McCann and Murphy, remained on board the steamer after Captain Shepperd left her at Puerto Cabello.

And these deponents further say that the Virginius went from New York to Curaçoa, from Curaçoa to Laguayra, and at the latter place General Quesada, with three or four Cubans, left the steamer, which then went on to Puerto Cabello, where she arrived about October 24, 1870; that not many days after she reached Puerto Cabello, General Quesada and his staff came there in the Venezuelan steam gunboat called the Oriental, which was flying the Venezuelan flag; that soon after this gunboat came in General Quesada came aboard the Virginius, and not long after the cargo of the Virginius was placed, a part of it in the fort at Puerto Cabello, and a part placed on board this Venezuelan gunboat Oriental.

And these deponents further severally say that about the time the cargo was taken out of the Virginius nearly all the sailors and stewards of the Virginius left her, and one engineer by the name of Greenwood, but these deponents both remained on the Virginius; that the places of the sailors and stewards who went away from the Virginius were filled by sailors and stewards taken from the Venezuelan gunboat Oriental.

And these deponents further severally say, that after taking the cargo out of the Virginius, one Marquez, who was the chief engineer of the steamer from New York to Puerto Cabello, was nominally made captain, but, being an engineer, he did not understand navigation; and the sailing-master was one Camacho, who came on board the Virginius from the Virginia Seymour with General Quesada, in the harbor of New York; that the Virginius then ivent from Puerto Cabello along the coast of Laguayra, where she took on board a lot of people who were said to be Venezuelan soldiers, and carried them to Barcelona, where they got off, and the Virginius returned, touching at Laguayra and Puerto Cabello.

And these deponents further severally say, that after General Quesada was on board the Virginius took in tow the Venezuelan gunboat Oriental, before spoken of, and proceeded with her out to sea; that when the Virginius first started with the Venezuelan gunboat in tow she hoisted the American flag; that when not very far out at sea there was sighted a fleet of schooners said to belong to the party of “Blues,” in Venezuela, each of them armed with one pivot-gun; that when they came in sight of the schooners the Virginius hauled down the American flag and ran up the Venezuelan flag, which was red, yellow, and blue, with seven stars; that pretty soon the gunboat Oriental fired on the schooners, and they have to, and then the Virginius hauled down the Venezuelan flag and ran lip the American flag again; and then General Quesada mounted up on the wheel-house of the Virginius and, striking his breast, said something which meant like this: “Americano, we take you into protection;” that then the gunboats surrendered, the Virginius taking five in tow, and the gunboat Oriental two in tow; and all went to Laguayra, where the Virginius left the schooners lying under the fort; and the Virginius coaled up at Laguayra, and then went to Curaçoa. And these deponents further severally say that the first money they could get for their services on board the Virginius was after arriving, as just stated, at Curaçoa; that at Puerto Cabello they could get nothing: and when they left the steamer, or tried to leave her, the consul of the United States told them they must go back, and the military of Venezuela drove them to the ship, but that at Curaçoa the men said that the articles had been broken, because the Virginius had carried the Venezuelan nag, and they insisted on being paid and discharged, and these two deponents were paid and sent to St. Thomas by the consul.

• his
• JOHN + McCANN.
• mark.
• his
• MATTHEW + MURPHY,
• mark.

Sworn to and subscribed by their marks before me, (the said affiants being unable to sign their names,) and being first read over and explained by me to the said affiants, who acknowledged that they fully understood the contents thereof, this 22d day of November, 1873.

H. J. BEGLY,
Notary Public, Kings County, New York.

[lnolosure 10.]

Deposition of Thomas Gallagher.

United States of America,
Southern District of New York, ss:

To all to whom these presents shall come:

I, Joseph Gutman, jr., a commissioner of the United States circuit court for the southern district of New York, duly appointed and commissioned, and dwelling in the city of New York, send greeting:

Know ye that, on the twenty-fifth day of November, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, before me, at my office, No. 29 Nassau street, in the city of New York, appeared as a witness Thomas Gallagher, a mariner, formerly on board the steamship Virginius, produced by the consul-general of Spain for the district of New York, in the United States of America; and that I was attended at the same time by Sidney Webster, esq., counselor at law in said city, representing the aforesaid consul-general of Spain, and by George Bliss, esq., attorney of the United States for the southern district of New York, attending by the direction of the Secretary of State of the United States; and that the aforesaid witness, having been first duly cautioned by me to declare the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth in respect to the matters concerning which he should be interrogated, and having then been duly sworn by me, according to the laws of the United States, did, in answer to the interrogatories addressed to him in my presence, voluntarily, freely, and solemnly declare and depose in my presence as follows, that is to say:

1. Question. What is your age, occupation, place of birth, and present citizenship?— Answer. My age is forty-one; my occupation is ocean-steamship fireman; I was born in Ireland, and am not a citizen of the United States.

2. Q. Did you ship on board the steamer Virginius in October, 1870 on her voyage from this port; and, if so, for what voyage did you sign shipping-articles?—A. I shipped on her on the articles. I didn’t read the articles, and when I asked Captain Shepperd some questions in regard to the articles, he made some joking remark, and told me he would see me as far as a crow would fly in a certain place before he would tell me any more, and so he verbally told us we were going to Cedar Keys and Mobile, to run between there and Havana, and mentioned at the same time that we might call in to some port or ports in the Caribbean Sea.

3. Q. Who was Captain Shepperd?—A. He was captain of the Virginius at the time, represented himself as such, and acted as such.

4. Q. Do you remember at what place you signed shipping-articles?—A. Signed shipping-articles at the foot of Leroy street and West street, New York City, aboard the steamer Virginius, in the cabin.

5. Q. Who, besides Captain Shepperd, do you remember was present at the time you signed articles?—A. Chief engineer.

6. Q. What was his name?—A. Marguiz.

7. Q. Who first suggested to you to ship on the Virginius?—A. A man by the name of Quigley, a water-tender, who was on the ship working on her when she came from Washington to New York, that I had been acquainted with previous. He asked me to go; he wanted me to come with him, and he introduced me to the first assistant engineer, Mr. Greenwood here, and I got a job.

8. Q. At the time you signed shipping-articles, and before the steamer departed out of the port of New York, was anything said to you about a voyage to Curaçoa; and, if so, what?—A. There was nothing said to me about the voyage to Curaçoa whatsoever, or any other place. I had no idea only she was going to run between some port of Florida and Cuba, I didn’t care which. That is what I understood.

9. Q. After the Virginius left the port of New York what port did she first make?— A. Curaçoa.

10. Q. In what capacity did you serve on that voyage?—Served as fireman.

11. Q. Who was captain on the voyage?—A. Captain Shepperd was captain.

12. Q. Who was first engineer?—A. Marguiz was chief engineer. That is, first, I understood you.

13. Q. Do you know where Marguiz was born, or of what country he was a citizen?— A. I have heard it said that he was born in Poland. I never heard whether he was a citizen of this country. I could not tell anything about his citizenship.

14. Q. You mean of this country, the United States?—A. The United States; I could not tell where his citizenship was.

15. Q. Do you remember the day in October, 1870, on which the steamer set sail from New York?—A. Yes, sir; I have a distinct recollection of it. I can’t say the day of the month. I did know, but I forget it.

16. Q. Had she, to your knowledge, any passengers on board when she left the wharf at New York?—A. No, sir; I didn’t know that she had any passengers at the time she left the dock, but she did before she left the port.

17. Q. State who, and tell what happened.—A. We left the dock and went down the bay, and she stopped in the bay, and a tug-boat came alongside of her, and put some, what appeared to me, Cuban gentlemen aboard of the Virginius, and some boxes-along with them. These boxes, I considered at the time that they had arms in them, such as revolvers and rifles.

18. Q. How many of these Cuban gentlemen, as you call them, were there, if you know?—A. I could not say the exact number, but I should judge there were more than ten, and somewhere between there and twenty; I think it was nearer twenty.

19. Q. Can you give the names of any of them?—A. There was one of them represented to me as General Quesada; there was another by the name of Varona; there was another by the name of Comancho. There were others whom I forget; I did know their names, but I have forgotten.

20. Q. Do you know the name of the tug?—A. I disremember the name of the tug.

21. Q. How long after the Virginius arrived in Curaçoa did she lie in the harbor before leaving?—A. The exact time I can’t say, but she remained there some days—a few days. She remained there until a schooner arrived in there.

22. Q. What was the name of the schooner?—A. That I can’t say. This schooner came from New York, and came in there from Curaçoa, and left there very suddenly out of the port. I understood the authorities were going to lay seizure on her, to examine her papers. The schooner went away first after coming in, and the Virginius followed her down the coast, where there was some salt-works. We came alongside of her in the evening and we banked our fires. The officers of the Virginius asked us-firemen to assist in discharging the contents of the schooner into the Virginius, and we said we wanted to get pay for it. So, finally, they made an arrangement that they would pay us, and we helped all the freight—most of the freight was ammunition and arms—in the schooner, and there was provisions, a heavy load—a large schooner; then, after that, they gave us orders to get up steam and to get under way, and we refused to do so. We wanted to know where the steamer was going to. They told ns she was going to Laguayra. We refused. We wanted to know the destination of the ship. We believed that she was going to Cuba to run the blockade; that we considered she would not take any heavy arms and ammunition if she was not going there, and they said “No.” So, finally, they asked us what we wanted. We said we wanted to be paid, if we would run the risk to go to Cuba; and they told us to go to the forecastle and consult among ourselves what our demand was, and to tell them. We done so, and came back and told them we wanted $150 in gold each to run the ship in there—to work it; and, finally, they agreed to give us $150 in gold, and then there was a written agreement drawn up, in the presence of myself and two other firemen, in the cabin of the ship, to that effect, they guaranteeing that they would give us $100 in gold each for the run, and our wages to continue at the same time.

23. Q. Who did the talking at this time in behalf of the crew?—A. At the first time that we went aft we all went together, and each one had the privilege of speaking. I made some remarks, and one or two other men. Then, on another occasion, me and another man went aft; the other man was George Miller; and then, afterward, Captain Shepperd sent for me specially, and General Quesada sent for me on another occasion, and they talked about the crew and everything relating to the affairs of the ship that interested us. They talked it over to me, and wished me to advise the crew what was right, and they wanted me to get their discharge.

24. Q. At this time who told you where the steamer was going?—A. Captain Shepperd, and one of the Cubans told me in the name of General Quesada. The general was present, and he interpreted his words to me, and pledged his honor that she was going there.

25. Q. What was the name of the person who interpreted General Quesada’s words to you?—A. His name I don’t know. I recollect him good, and if I heard the name I would know it; that was the man who paid us off.

26. Q. Where did General Quesada and Captain Shepperd tell you the steamer was going?—A. They said she was going to Laguayra direct. They admitted, at the same time, that she might run the blockade, or that she might run into Cuba—we used to call it “blockade”—but that she was not going there directly, and that, whenever she would be going to leave any port to go direct to Cuba they would let us know.

27. Q. After this conversation in the cabin did the steamer get under way and go to Laguayra?—A. Yes, sir.

28. Q. What happened at Laguayra within your own knowledge? Did Quesada leave, or what happened?—A. No; there was nothing unusual. Some of them went ashore—some of the officers—and we stopped there for some time; the exact time I don’t remember that we stopped there.

29. Q. After leaving Laguayra where did the steamer go?—A. I believe we went—I am not positive, but I believe we went to Puerto Cabello.

30. Q. How long did the steamer at that time remain there?—A. I believe she stopped about a week at Puerto Cabello at this time. She left there and returned again, and went up the coast.

31. Q. Please state what happened at Puerto Cabello at the first time the steamer was there.—A. We discharged the arms and ammunition. They were put into a fort there from the Virginius. They were put ashore into the fort at Puerto Cabello.

32. Q. A part of it was put there, and what was done with the rest?—A. The bulk of it was, put ashore at the fort.

33. Q. What was done with the rest?—A. Kept aboard. They always had some arms aboard.

34. Q. Was any of it put into another steamer?—A. No, sir; I don’t know of any being put into another steamer.

35. Q. After putting the cargo out of the Virginius she took on board what?—A. Venezuelan troops, and carried them down the southern coast of Venezuela to Barcelona, and left them there, and then the Virginius returned to Puerto Cabello. I am not sure whether she went then to Curaçoa before she towed out a man-of-war or not. I am not positive whether she towed out the man-of-war before she went to Curaçoa, or went to Curaçoa first. I have a kind of recollection that she went to Curaçoa and got coal, and then came back to Puerto Cabello and towed out a man-of-war.

37. Q. What man-of-war was this?—A. I don’t mind what her name was, but I know saw her—a gunboat, like. She belonged to Venezuela. She was a Venezuelan man-of-war. It was stated that she belonged to Guzman Blanco. The Virginius towed the steamer out of the harbor of Puerto Cabello, and between Puerto Cabello and Curaçoa we met some schooners. I understood these schooners belonged to the opposite party in Venezuela. We towed the Venezuelan steamer out to sea, and we met some schooners, and this Venezuelan steamer fired a gun, and hove these schooners to, and these schooners surrendered. I heard at the time that General Quesada asked the captains of the schooners to surrender to him, and that they would have the protection of the American flag. That is what I heard, and the schooners did surrender, and the Virginius took them in tow. I don’t know the exact number that she took in tow. She took two, I know, in tow to Laguayra. I believe the Venezuelan war-steamer took the balance of the schooners in tow.

38. Q. After the Virginius arrived at Laguayra, with these schooners in tow, what did she next do?—A. She went to Curaçoa, and from there, to Puerto Cabello, and from there back to Curaçoa again, where I left her. I am not certain whether she called at any intermediate ports in the mean time.

39. Q. While you were on the Virginius what flag did she fly?—A. She flew the American flag, excepting on one occasion; during the time she was assisting the capture of these schooners the Venezuelan flag was run up on the Virginius.

40. Q. Did you never see the Virginius fly any other flags but the United States and the Venezuelan?—A. I never did see the ship fly any other flags. I saw one of the ship’s boats flying the Cuban flag. I saw one of the Virginius’s small boats fly the Cuban flag.

41. Q. Please state distinctly when and where you saw a small boat of the Virginius fly a Cuban flag, and who was in the small boat at the time. A. It was at Puerto Cabello, and General Quesada and Varona were in the small boat at the time, and a portion of the crew of the Virginius—Ambrose Rollins and George Miller, two of the crew, were in her.

42. Q. At this time did General Quesada and Varona go directly from the Virginius into the small boat?—A. Yes, sir; they did.

43. Q. Do you know where they went at the time the small boat had the Cuban flag?—A. They went toward a man-of-war that lay outside the harbor a short distance; a Venezuelan man-of-war.

44. Q. Was this the same Venezuelan man-of-war that the Virginius towed out to sea and captured the schooners?—A. No, sir.

45. Q. Do you remember the name of this Venezuelan man-of-war?—A. I do not.

46. Q. Was this before or after the cargo was taken out of the Virginius and part of it placed in the Venezuelan fort at Puerto Cabello?—A. It was after the cargo was taken out.

47. Q. Was it before or after the Virginius towed the Venezuelan war-steamer to sea and the schooners were captured?—A. Previous to the time they captured the schooners.

48. Q. Did you see, with your own eyes, the Venezuelan flag flying on the Virginius at the time of the capture of the schooners?—A. Yes, sir.

49. Q. On what part of the ship or on what mast was the Venezuelan flag flying?— A. Flying at the main; flying aft. She had no mainmast.

50. Q. At this time did you see the flag of the United States also flying?—A. No, sir; I did not.

51. Q. Was General Quesada on board the Virginus at the time the schooners were captured?—A. He was; I saw him.

52. Q. Where was he standing, if you remember?—A. He was standing on the port quarter-deck.

53. Q. Did you hear him express any words at the time; and, if so, can you say what they were?—A. I heard his voice, but I could not understand what he said, for he spoke in Spanish.

54. Q. Who did he appear to be addressing?—A. The captains of the schooners.

55. Q. The captain of one of the captured schooners?—A. Yes, sir.

56. Q. Who was in command of the Virginius at the time of this capture?—A. I believe Marguiz was captain.

57. Q. Had Captain Shepperd left her?—A. Yes, sir.

58. Q. But you have testified that Marguiz was the chief engineer?—A. Yes, sir.

59. Q. How was he captain?—A. Captain Shepperd was discharged, and then the chief engineer was made captain. He took command, or was made captain by the Cubans; by General Quesada.

60. Q. Was he competent to navigate the steamer?—A. That I can’t say.

61. Q. Was there any other person on board, to your knowledge, who appeared to be sailing-master or navigator?—A. Yes, sir; one Cuban, by the name of Camacho.

62. Q. Is it not true that Marguiz was only a paper captain, and Camacho the real captain?—A. That I believe to be the fact.

63. Q. I refer now to the time of the capture of the schooners, and ask who was chief engineer at this time?—A. Marguiz was chief engineer then, and all the time that I was on the ship.

64. Q. At this time was Marguiz both captain and chief engineer?—A. Yes, sir.

65. Q. Who gave orders on deck at the time of the capture?—A. Well, I thought that Quesada had more to say than any one else; that the ship was under his control at that time altogether.

66. Q. Did you ever sign any other articles for the Virginius except those you signed in the port of New York, to which you have referred?—A. I never did.

67. Q. Did the schooners which you captured belong to the party of Guzman Blanco?—A. I understood they belonged to the opposite party.

68. Q. To which party did the Venezuelan steamer belong which you towed out to sea?—A. Guzman Blanco.

69. Q. What flag did this steamer fly when towed out and at the time of the capture of the schooners?—A. I can’t describe the flag particularly, but I think she flew the flag of the party called the “Yellows.” I understand that that party to which the schooners belonged was called the “Blues.”

70. Q. Why did you leave the Virginius?—A. I considered it was not safe to stop on her any longer; after Captain Shepperd left the ship I could not say who controlled the ship. And there were outside parties on the ship that interfered with the men and discipline of the crew that I considered had no right to do it, and they done so.

71. Q. Who were those “outside parties?”—A. Quesada was the principal one.

72. Q. To what nationality did these “outside parties” belong?—A. Cuba.

73. Q. Did you ever report to any American consul that the Virginius had worn or carried a Venezuelan flag?—A. I did.

74. Q. To whom?—A. I believe his name was Faxon, in Curaçoa—the American consul.

75. Q. Who was with you, if any one, when you spoke to Consul Faxon about the flag?—A. Stephen Cox and Edward Luby.

76. Q. Where were you when the conversation took place?—A. In the American consul’s office at Curaçoa.

77. Q. State, if you can, what took place at this time, in as nearly the words as you can now remember.—A. I asked the American consul on that occasion for to compel the engineer of the ship to discharge me; that I had asked my discharge off of the ship from the chief engineer, and he had denied it me. I refer to Chief Engineer Marguiz. Marguiz denied me. He told me that I could get my discharge and what wages was coming to me, but that I would get no three months’ extra pay for being discharged in a foreign port, when he didn’t discharge me, when I was leaving by my own free will; that I could not claim no three months’ pay; and I thought differently to that, and I went and saw the American consul, and asked him for my discharge to him; and I likewise told the American consul that I considered that the ship had broken the laws of the United States, and that if I was captured by the Spaniards on her that I could not get no protection on that account from the United States Government; that the ship done enough to condemn her; that she was little better than a pirate, or words to that effect. And I stated to him what the ship did do; that she hoisted the Venezuelan flag on one occasion—took down the American flag and hoisted this other flag; that she assisted in capturing these schooners belonging to the Venezuelan party; that she had arms and ammunition aboard of her; that she had two brass guns mounted on her deck at one time; that she was going to run into Cuba, to run men and munitions there; and that I claimed my discharge on this account, and I wanted protection from him. He told me to go aboard the ship and stop there until I would hear from him, and that he would attend to it and give me every protection. I left his office then, and that same evening I was arrested and locked up that night by the police of Curaçoa, I understood, for making this complaint against the ship, and sent aboard the next morning, and was kept confined to the ship until the American consul came aboard and discharged me.

77½. Q. What did the consul say to you, if anything, when you told him what flags the Virginius had used and what business she had been in?—A. At the time that I told the American consul this he made no reply to me on that day, but in the course of some time after, after a week or so, he wrote a letter for to be read to the crew, and the engineer read this letter, and the consul stated in this letter, according as the engineer read it, that he considered, in looking over all these things that I charged the ship with, that she hadn’t done anything that was wrong. That was it. And that this thing of her hoisting the Venezuelan flag, that it was represented to him that it was a mistake that was made by some of the crew, that hoisted it through a mistake, and that it was only up for a very short time, he said, and that as soon as they took notice of it they took it down. That was the way it was represented to him by the officers of the ship, and he considered it was not any serious matter; and he finally stated that he could not comply with my request to discharge us on these charges.

78. Q. Did you get your three months’ extra pay?—A. Yes, sir.

79. Q. From whom?—A. Well, I can’t tell you exactly now. I will tell you the circumstances how we did get it. It was paid, but we didn’t get it all.

80. Q. Paid by whom?—A. Paid by the American consul, two months’ pay; three months’given, but the consul takes one month’s. And then out of our two months’ he deducted, our passage-money on a schooner from Curaçoa to Saint Thomas. That was $13, I believe, each. And he sent this money of ours, this extra pay, he sent it by the captain of the schooner to the consul in Saint Thomas; and the consul in Saint Thomas—it was gold, and he changed it into silver, and there was something made out of that. That reduced it for us, and he paid $20 apiece out of our money, though he admitted at the time that he should charge us nothing, though as the other consul did not act right he could do no better.

81. Q. For what did he pay $20?—A. For our passage from Saint Thomas to New York on the Merrimac.

82. Q. Did you, or the crew, to your knowledge, make any representation in writing in respect to the Virginius?—A. I made no representation in writing, and I don’t know of any of the crew that did. But I want to explain: he took a note of what I told him, and I made an affidavit to it, and the other two men that was with me done the same.

83. Q. Do you know what the consul did with this affidavit of yours?—A. I don’t know, sir.

84. Q. How many of the crew or engineers or firemen of the Virginius were discharged at the same time with yourself?—A. All the firemen and coal-passers and one water-tender were discharged along with me.

85. Q. Why, if you know, did the consul come on board the Virginius at this time to discharge you?—A. Well, to examine all the crew with reference to these charges that I and the other two men made against the ship. He brought each one of the crew separately, and questioned them with regard to the ship, and the voyage, and everything relating to her.

86. Q. And after this examination, he discharged you and the other persons to whom you have referred?—A. Yes, sir.

87. Q. Then, I understand you to say that when you made the first representations to the consul, at his office, he told you he would attend to it, and that subsequently he came on board the Virginius, and that Marguiz read a statement to you, which he said was prepared by the consul, in which the consul refused to discharge you?—A. That is correct.

88. Q. How, then, and by whom were you discharged?—A. We were discharged by the chief engineer and the American consul both.

89. Q. Had not the chief engineer, previously to this, refused to discharge you?—A. Yes.

90. Q. Do you know where the Virginius got firemen and crew to take the places of those who left?—A. I don’t know.

91. Q. At the time you were discharged was General Quesada on board the Virginius?—A. I believe he was not; at least 1 did not see him.

Being cross-examined by George Bliss, United States attorney, he says:

92. Q. How large a number of persons, independently of those you call passengers, were on board the Virginius when she left the port of New York?—A. I don’t know the exact number; I should judge there was in or about thirty.

93. Q. Was there any mate?—A. There was a mate.

94. Q. What was his name?—A. That I disremember.

95. Q. More than one mate?—A. Second mate.

96. Q. Remember his name?—A. His name was Griffiths.

97. Q. Does that include the firemen and coal-passers that you have spoken of?—A. Yes, it includes all the ship’s company.

98. Q. Did any of them except the captain leave before you did?—A. No, I believe they did not; not to my knowledge.

99. Q. Did any other persons, after the vessel left the port of New York, come aboard of her to remain, prior to the time of your leaving the vessel?—A. Yes, sir; General Quesada and a number of—

100. Q. I say after you left New York?—A. No; there did one come aboard.

101. Q. Who was he?—A. Varona.

102. Q. When did he come aboard?—A. I think it was in Puerto Cabello.

103. Q. Where did the captain leave?—A. Puerto Cabello.

104. Q. Did he leave before the landing of the guns in the fort there?—A. No, sir.

105. Q. He left after?—A. After.

106. Q. He left before the schooners were captured?—A. Yes.

107. Q. How many schooners in all were captured?—A. I don’t know the exact number; I should judge there was five or six.

108. Q. You referred once to going to Puerto Cabello at a time when the crew wanted to leave. Was that the time that you have spoken of when you made the complaint to the consul?—A. No, sir.

109. Q. There was another time?—A. Another time after that when I went to the consul, at the time when a portion of the crew wanted to leave first; it was in Puerto Cabello.

110. Q. Just fix the date.—A. I can’t say whether it was previous to carrying those Venezuela troops, whether it was before we took those troops on board, or after returning from the expedition.

111. Q. But it was before they captured the schooners?—A. Yes, sir. The sailors and the steward and the waiters, they left at that time.

112. Q. Then they did leave?—A. Yes, sir.

113. Q. Did they come back again?—A. No, sir.

114. Q. The sailors, the steward, and the waiters left?—A. Yes, sir.

115. Q. All of them?—A. All of them, I believe.

116. Q. Were their places supplied?—A. Yes, sir.

117. Q. By whom?—A. Well, by some sailor-men that was picked up there.

118. Q. What became of those men who left; do you know?—A. They remained for some time in Puerto Cabello, until the consul got a ship and sent them to the States.

119. Q. Why did they leave; do you know?—A. Well, they thought that the ship was going to run into Cuba, and they thought they would run too much risk. There was Spanish men-of-war watching us all the time, and they were afraid if they were captured they would be dealt with in a very severe manner.

120. Q. Who discharged them?—A. They went to the American consul and got their discharge through him from the captain of the ship.

121. Q. Who was the captain at that time?—A. I believe Shepperd was captain at the time.

122. Q. Where do you say it was that you saw this small boat with the Cuban flag?— A. In the harbor of Puerto Cabello.

123. Q. You said outside parties interfered with the discipline of the vessel?—A. Yes, sir.

124. Q. You described them as Cubans. Can you name any of them?—A. General Quesada.

125. Q. Any others?—A. —No, I cannot name any other.

128. Q. How did you know they were Cubans?—A. Well, they admitted themselves to be such.

127. Q. Can you tell the date when you were discharged, about f—A. No, sir; I disremember.

128. Q. Can you tell the year, or the month, or anything?—A. I think it was in December, 1871.

129. Q. About how long were you aboard the Virginius, in all?—A. We was between two and three months, or ten weeks, I think.

130. Q. You think it was in December, 1871?—A. Yes, sir.

131. Q. Was it in 1870?—A. 1870; yes, sir.

132. Q. You spoke of being arrested by the police. Had you been doing anything?— A. No, sir. I had been doing nothing wrong that I know of.

133. Q. Had you been creating any disturbance f—A. No, sir; I was sitting down in the house with a company of two or three others that I knew, and we were playing a game of cards quietly.

134. Q. Who came and arrested you?—A. A police-officer.

135. Q. Then you were taken aboard. Were there any of the officers of the vessel along when you were taken aboard?—A. No, sir.

136. Q. Were you taken at once aboard the vessel?—A. No, sir; taken and locked up.

137. Q. And then taken aboard the next day?—A. Yes, sir; in the morning.

138. Q. You said after you made the complaint to the consul and he told you to go aboard and he would see to it, that at some time he came aboard and examined the crew one by one?—A. Yes, sir.

139. Q. Was that before the letter was read out from him, saying that he could not discharge you?—A. I ain’t sure; it was in or about the time, close, and I cannot say whether it was before the letter was read to us or not. I do not remember now.

140. Q. Was the consul present when the letter was read?—A. No, sir; he wasn’t aboard the ship at the time. The letter was read, I believe, previous to the time that the consul came aboard, but I ain’t positive. As soon as he finished reading the letter, the Marquiz told you that he would discharge you and give you your three months’ pay?—A. Yes, sir.

141. Q. Did he give you any reason why he did it?—A. Yes; he said he didn’t wish to have any man with him that was dissatisfied or didn’t want to sail with him.

142. Q. When youleft to go to Saint Thomas, where was the Virginias?—A. She was at Carasa.

143. Q. She had remained there, had she?—A. Yes, sir.

144. Q. How long was that after the discharge? How long after the discharge did you leave to go to St. Thomas?—A. Immediately after; the same day.

145. Q. What occupation are you now engaged in?—A. I work as a fireman, but I ain’t working since I have been out in the Acapulco.

146. Q. What capacity were you in her?—A. Fireman.

147. Q. How long ago?—A. November 3.

148. Q. Of this month, this year?—A. Yes, sir.

149. Q. Where are you now residing?—A. I can’t give you the number of the house, as it is only a few days ago that I went in it. What is the number of the Mohawk House?

150. Q. Is it the Mohawk House?—A. No; but it is the next house to it.

151. Q. On Greenwich street?—A. On Spring.

152. Q. What have you been doing since you left the Virginius?—A. I have made my living by working as a fireman all the time since; not as as a fireman all the time, but I have worked aboard a steamer in the fire-room all the time.

153. Q. What vessels have you been aboard?—A. I have been aboard the Rising Star, Ocean Queen, the Cortes. I have been aboard the steamboat City of Lawrence, and there are others that I can’t call to mind.

154. Q. Have you been to Cuba since then?—A. No, sir.

155. Q. Been down in those regions at all?—A. I never was in any of them places, that is, Caraso or Puerto Cabello, since then.

156. Q. Have you been down in the Caribbean Sea?—A. I have been in Aspinwall.

157. Q. That is all, is it?—A. That is all.

158. Q. How came you to make this statement? How came you to be brought here?—A. Well, this gentleman here knowing that I was on the ship along with Mr. Greenwood, he told me that he had been down here.

159. Q. Who is this gentleman here?—A. Greenwood.

160. Q. Greenwood brought you here?—A. Yes, sir, he brought me here.

161. Q. Was Greenwood on board the Virginius with you?—A. He was.

162. Q. In what capacity?—A. First assistant engineer.

163. Q. Any inducement held out to you to make a statement?—A. No, sir; no more than that I would be recompensed for the loss of my time.

164. Q. You were promised to be recompensed?—A. Yes, sir, so that I should be at no loss.

165. Q. No amount fixed?—A. No, sir.

166. Q. How much time have you lost?—A. Up to the present; yesterday was the first day I came; I consider from yesterday.

167. Q. Only a couple of days?—A. That is all.

168. Q. How do you know what was in those boxes was ammunition, guns, &c.?— A. There was two brass howitzers, and there was one of the boxes broken, and I saw the rifles, and I saw cartridges and revolvers in another box. I saw shell and fixed ammunition.

169. Q. You spoke of Marquis as being a paper-captain, and Camancho as the real captain; why is that?—A. Because we considered that he was chief engineer, and I thought that he could not hold the two positions at the same time, and I thought that he was not qualified to be captain. I considered that he did not understand navigation, and I heard it rumored around the ship that this Camancho was the real captain. I saw him giving orders.

170. Q. You heard Camancho giving orders?—A. I did.

171. Q. What kind of orders?—A. Giving orders to the mate. And when we were working, discharging this freight out of the schooner into the steamer, he was present there, and he was giving orders to us and every one around that was working.

172. Q. You speak of one Varona as coming on board at Laguayra or Curaçoa?—A. Yes.

173. Q. And you also speak of Varona as coming aboard off the highlands from a tug. Those were two distinct persons?—A. Yes, I believe they were two distinct persons, and I suspected——

174. Q. No matter what you suspected. You said something about Marquis’s birth. What did you say about where he was born?—A. I said I heard that he was born in Poland.

175. Q. From whom did you hear of it?—A. Well, I heard it amongst the crew— couldn’t give the name of the party.

176. Q. You spoke of a Cuban flag as being on one of the small boats. What is a Cuban flag?—A. Well, I disremember now, but yellow was the principal color in it. There was yellow and blue, I think, and white. How the colors were arranged I can’t tell you. I can’t describe the Cuban flag.

177. Q. How did you know that the flag you saw in the boat was a Cuban flag?— A. Well, I heard everybody on board the ship say it was a Cuban flag.

178. Q. Had you ever seen a Cuban flag before?—A. No, sir; I had not.

179. Q. Have you ever seen one since?—A. No, sir.

180. Q. Can you describe what that flag was?—A. I cannot.

THOMAS GALLAGHER.

Subscribed and sworn to before me this 26th day of November, 1873.

JOSEPH GUTMAN, Jr.,
United States Commissioner, Southern District of New York.

And now I, Joseph Gutman, jr., a duly-appointed commissioner of the United States circuit court for the southern district of New York, in attestation, do hereby certify that the foregoing questions and answers, after having been written out as above, were read to the foregoing witness, and were in my presence signed by him; and in attestation of the verity and solemnity of all of the foregoing, I do hereby attach my signature and seal of office this twenty-sixth day of November, in the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.

[seal.]

JOSEPH GUTMAN, Jr.,
United States Commissioner, Southern District of New York.

[Inclosure 1]

Deposition of Ambrose Rawling.

United States of America,
Southern District of New York, ss:

To all to whom these presents shall come:

I, Joseph Gutman, jr., a commissioner of the United States circuit court for the southern district of New York, duly appointed and commissioned, and dwelling in the city of New York, send greeting:

Know ye, that on the twenty-fifth day of November, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, before me, at my office, No. 29 Nassau street, in the city of New York, appeared as a witness Ambrose Rawling, a mariner, formerly on board the steamship Virginius, produced by the consul-general of Spain for the district of New York, in the United States of America, and that I was attended at the same time by Sidney Webster, esq., counselor at law in said city, representing the aforesaid consul-general of Spain, and by George Bliss, esq., attorney of the United States for the southern district of New York, attending by the direction of the Secretary of State of the United States; and that the aforesaid witness, having been first duly cautioned by me to declare the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, in respect to the matters concerning which he should be interrogated, and having then been duly sworn by me according to the laws of the United States, did, in answer to the interrogatories addressed to him in my presence, voluntarily, freely, and solemnly declare and depose in my presence as follows, that is to say:

1. Question. What is your age, occupation, place of birth, and citizenship?—Answer. Age, 29; occupation, steamship-fireman; born in England; am not a citizen of the United States.

2. Q. Were you a fireman on board the Virginius on her voyage from New York to Puerto Cabello in the latter part of 1870?—A. I was.

3. Q. Did you see a person on board the Virginius whom you understood to be General Quesada?—A. I did.

4. Q. Did you see General Quesada, while the Virginius was lying at Puerto Cabello, go off from the Virginius in one of her small boats?—A. I did.

5. Q. Were you one of the oarsmen at that time?—A. I was.

6. Q. What flag, if any, did the small boat carry at that time?—A. The Cuban flag; what I suppose to be the Cuban flag.

7. Q. Can you describe it?—A. As near as I can recollect, it was a single star in blue.

8. Q. A single star in blue ground?—A. Yes, sir.

9. Q. How many oarsmen were there at that time?—A. There were six of us.

10. Q. Can you give their names?—A. Well, George Miller was one, and Daniel Shea, and Luby, and myself. I don’t recall the other two.

11. Q. Who beside General Quesada was in the boat as passenger, if anybody?— A. I believe his name was Verona. We used to call him Verona.

12. Q. To what place did you pull the boat at that time?—A. We pulled it round past the fort, and went, I suppose, about two miles after we got outside the fort, and landed the boat high and dry upon the beach. This was, I think, on an island.

13. Q. State what you saw General Quesada do after he golf out of the boat.—A. Well, he went about, I suppose, two or three hundred yards from where the boat was upon the beach, and he had some conversation along with another man. I don’t know who he was.

14. Q. Whom he met?—A. Yes, who he met on the beach.

15. Q. Did he meet more than one that you saw?—A. No; only one—one man. Then there were three or four there besides this man, whoever he was.

16. Q. Were they in any military uniform that you saw?—A. Well, no; had no military about them as I saw.

17. Q. How long-was it before Quesada and Verona returned to the boat, if at all?— A. O, it was fully three-quarters of an hour.

18. Q. Did you then pull Quesada and Verona back to the Virginius?—A. We did.

19. Q. Was the Cuban flag flying on the small boat when you returned I—A. It was lying in the boat.

20. Q. It was not flying?—A. No.

21. Q. Were you on board the Virginius when her cargo was taken out and put in a fort at Puerto Cabello?—A. I was.

22. Q. Subsequently to this did the Virginius transport the Venezuelan troops along the coast to Barcelona?—A. She did.

23. Q. Was it after this that you rowed Quesada in the small boat?—A. No; it was previous to this, to the best of my recollection.

24. Q. Were you on board the Virginius when she towed the Venezuelan gunboat out to sea?—A. I was.

25. Q. Did you row Quesada in the small boat before you towed the gunboat out to sea?—A. I did.

26. Q. Were you on board the Virginius at the affair of the capture or surrender of the schooners?—A. I was.

27. Q. How many schooners do you think there were?—A. Well, to the best of my recollection, there were five, and one made her escape, I think.

28. Q. Do you know whether these schooners were armed—had a gun on board?— A. I couldn’t say now whether they had or not. I believe they had, though.

29. Q. When the Virginius towed the Venezuelan gunboat “out, and at the time of the capture of this Mosquito fleet, did the Virginius have any guns mounted on her deck?—A. To the best of my belief, she had two small pieces.

30. Q. Did you hear or see any guns fired at this time by the Venezuelan gunboat f— A. I did.

31. Q. How many?—A. One; one shot.

32. Q. At this time, what nag was flying on the Virginius?—A. The Venezuelan flag, sir.

33. Q. Were you on the deck of the Virginius at the time?—A. I was.

34. Q. Did you see the flag with your own eyes?—A. I did.

35. Q. Did you see the American flag hauled down?—A. I did.

36. Q. And the Venezuelan flag run up?—A. I did.

37. Q. Did you see General Quesada at that time?—A. Yes; I saw him on deck.

38. Q. Where was he standing?—A. On the poop-deck; on the quarter-deck aft.

39. Q. Did you hear him say anything or use any words?—A. No; I did not.

40. Q. How many of the schooners, if any, did the Virginius take in tow?—A. Well to the best of my belief, there were five.

41. Q. The Virginius took five?—A. Yes.

42. Q. How many did the Venezuelan gunboat take in tow, if any?—A. She didn’t take any, because she went toward St. Thomas.

43. Q. To what place did the Virginius take the schooners she had in tow?—A. The first place we made, after we got the schooners in tow, was Laguayra.

44. Q. And left them there?—A. Yes; and left them there.

45. Q. Where was the Virginius when you left her?—A. At Curaçoa.

46. Q. Were you discharged at the same time with Gallagher?—A. I was.

47. Q. Did you go to see the American consul at Curaçoa about your discharge?—A. Yes.

48. Q. Did you say anything to him?—A. No, sir.

49. Q. Did you hear anybody speak to him?—A. No, sir: I didn’t hear what was passed between them.

50. Q. Where were you at the time of the conversation?—A. I was standing round with the rest of the crew.

51. Q. Where?—A. At the consul’s office.

52. Q. Who went in and had the conversation with the consul, as you remember?— A. I almost forget now who it was, whether it was George Miller or not.

53. Q. Was it George Miller and Gallagher?—A. I don’t know.

54. Q. Were you at any time put, or driven, on board the Virginius by the police, or by the authorities?—A. I was.

55. Q. Where?—A. In Puerto Cabello.

56. Q. Did you hear a statement read on the Virginius by Mar quiz in respect to the discharge of the crew?—A. Yes, sir; I did.

57. Q. Why did you leave the Virginius?—A. Well, I thought, capturing these schooners and things out at sea, I didn’t think it was safe for us to be aboard of her.

Cross-examined by Mr. Bliss:

58. Q. You spoke of that boat as having the Cuban flag; was it flying or tying in the bottom of the boat?—A. This Verona had it in his hand at the stern of the boat.

59. Q. (By Mr. Webster.) Was it flying when you went?—A. Yes, flying when we went.

60. Q. (By Mr. Bliss.) At that time did he have it in his hand?—A. Yes.

61. Q. (By Mr. Webster.) Flying you say?—A. Yes.

62. Q. (By Mr. Bliss.) Did he keep it flying all the time you were rowing to the island?—A. Yes; he had it in his hand all the time.

63. Q. Coming back, it was lying in the bottom of the boat?—A. Yes.

64. Q. You say you were arrested by the police?—A. Yes.

65. Q. What for; did they take you for a deserter?—A. No, sir; we was trying to claim our discharge; we got sick of the ship, but they drove us right aboard.

AMBROSE RAWLING.

Subscribed and sworn to before me this 26th day of November, 1873.

JOSEPH GUTMAN, Jr.,
United States Commissioner, Southern District New York.

And now I, Joseph Gutman, jr., a duly-appointed commissioner of the United States circuit court for the southern district of New York, in attestation, do hereby certify that the foregoing questions ancf answers, after having been written out as above, were read to the foregoing witness, and were in my presence signed by him; and in attestation of the verity and solemnity of all of the foregoing, I do hereby attach my signature and seal of office this twenty-sixth day of November, in the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.

[seal.]

JOSEPH GUTMAN, Jr.,
United States Commissioner, Southern District New York.

[Inclosure 12.]

Deposition of John Furlong.

United States of America,
Southern District of New York, ss:

To all to whom these presents shall come:

I, Joseph Gut man, jr., a commissioner of the United States circuit court for the southern district of New York, duly appointed and commissioned, and dwelling in the city of New York, send greeting:

Know ye, that on the twenty-eighth day of November, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, before me, at my office, No. 29 Nassau street, in the city of New York, appeared as a witness John Furlong, a mariner, formerly on board the steamship Virginius, produced by the consul-general of Spain for the district of New York, in the United States of America, and that I was attended at the same time by Sidney Webster, esq., counselor at law in said city, representing the aforesaid consul-general of Spain, and by George Bliss, esq., attorney of the United States for the southern district of New York, attending by the direction of the Secretary of State of the United States; and that the aforesaid witness, having been first duly cautioned by me to declare the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, in respect to the matters concerning which he should be interrogated, and having then been duly sworn by me according to the laws of the United States, did, in answer to the interrogatories addressed to him in my presence, voluntarily, freely, and solemnly declare and depose in my presence as follows, that is to say:

1. Question. State your age, occupation, place of birth, and citizenship.—Answer. My age is 33 next April; I am a steamship-fireman; was born in Ireland; and am not a citizen of the United States.

2. Q. In October, 1870, did you ship at this port on board the Virginius?—A. Yes, sir.

3. Q. For what voyage did you ship?—A. Mobile, Cedar Keys, and Havana.

4. Q. Who told you that that was to be the voyage?—A. The chief engineer, Marquiz.

5. Q. Did you sign the shipping-articles?—A. I did, but the articles were not read to me.

6. Q. Where did you sign them?—A. On board the ship.

7. Q. Did you write your own name?—A. No, I made a mark. I cannot write my own name.

8. Q. The ship proceeded, did she not, directly to Curaçoa?—A. Yes, sir.

9. Q. Did you pull a small boat of the Virginius from the Virginius to a Venezuelan man-of-war, and was Quesada in it?—A. Yes, sir.

10. Q. What flags did this small boat carry on that occasion?—A. First the American flag, then the Cuban flag, and then a flag of truce.

11. Q. Who asked you to go in the small boat?—A. Mr. Marquiz, the chief engineer.

12. Q. At this time had Captain Shepperd left the Virginius?—A. Yes, sir.

13. Q. Who was captain at that time?—A. Mr. Marquiz acted as captain in port, and one of the Cubans acted captain outside.

14. Q. How many persons were in the small boat, and who were they?—A. General Quesada, Dr. Varona, and another man—I cannot tell his name—a Cuban, our second mate, and me, George Miller, Johnny McCormack, and Ed. Luby.

15. Q. Did the small boat On this occasion take Quesada to the beach, where he had a conference with a person?—A. Yes, sir.

16. Q. Were you on board the Virginius when a small fleet of schooners was captured?—A. Yes, sir.

17. Q. How many were there of these schooners?—A. Eight, sir.

18. Q. Had the Virginius any guns on her deck at the time?—A. Yes, sir.

19. Q. How many?—A. Two.

20. Q. Did you see them yourself?—A. Yes, sir.

21. Q. What flag did the Virginius fly at the time of this capture?—A. American flag, sir. After they took the schooners they put up the Cuban flag, and then pulled that down and put up the Venezuelan flag. They used the three flags in taking the schooners.

22. Q. Did you see Quesada on the Virginius at this time?—A. Yes, sir.

23. Q. Where were you standing?—A. Standing forward; he was standing upon the wheel-house.

24. Q. What did the Virginius do with the schooners, if anything, after their surrender?—A. Took them to Laguayra.

25. Q. How many?—A. Seven; one broke loose and got into Curaçoa.

Cross-examined by Mr. Bliss:

26. Q. You say the Cuban flag was flown during that time?—A. Yes, sir.

27. Q. From what mast?—A. The flag-staff.

28. Q. How long?—A. About half or three-quarters of an hour at the furthest time.

29. Q. Was the American flag up at the same time?—A. No, sir; the American flag was pulled down and those put up.

30. Q. When was the Venezuelan flag flown, before the capture or after?—A. After.

31. Q. Do you know who put the flags up?—A. I don’t; some Cubans.

32. Q. Who gave the orders?—A. Quesada.

33. Q. You are sure of that?—A. Yes, sir; I could not understand the language he used, but I judged from the motion of his hand in respect to putting up and taking down the flags.

34. Q. Do you know whom Quesada met when you went with him to the island?— A. No, sir. He met the commanders of the two Venezuelan men-of-war; those were the men he met.

35. Q. When did you leave the Virginius?—A. On the 11th November.

36. Q. Where did you leave her?—A. In Curaçoa.

37. Q. Anybody leave at the same time with you?—A. The whole crew of the firemen left together.

38. Q. Why did you leave?—A. Because we were not treated right; we had not the same living such as a crew ought to get.

39. Q. You were sent home by the American consul?—A. Yes, sir; but had to pay our own passage.

40. Q. How large was this Cuban flag that was flown on the Virginius?—A. O, as big as that desk.

41. Q. How large was the one flown on the small boat?—A. Not quite as big as the other one.

42. Q. What color was the Cuban flag?— A. A red, white, and blue flag.

43. Q. Red, white, and blue, arranged in stripes up and down or crossways?—A. Crossways.

• his
• JOHN + FURLONG.
• mark.

Subscribed and sworn to before me this 29th day of November, 1873.

JOSEPH GUTMAN, Jr.,
United States Commissioner, Southern District of New York.

And now I, Joseph Gutman, jr., a duly-appointed commissioner of the United States circuit court for the southern district of New York, in attestation, do hereby certify that the foregoing questions and answers, after having been written out as above, were read to the foregoing witnesses, and were in my presence signed by him, and in attestation of the verity and solemnity of all of the foregoing, I do hereby attach my signature and seal of office this twenty-ninth day of November, in the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.

[seal.]

JOSEPH GUTMAN, Jr.,
United States Commissioner, Southern District of New York.

[Inclosure 13.]

Deposition of Adolfo de Varona.

United States of America,
Southern District of New York, ss:

To all to whom these presents shall come:

I, Joseph Gutman, jr., a commissioner of the United States circuit court for the southern district of New York, duly appointed and commissioned, and dwelling in the city of New York, send greeting:

Know ye, that on the twenty-ninth day of November, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, before me, at my office, No. 29 Nassau street, in the city of New York, appeared as a witness Adolfo de Varona, formerly on board the steamship Virginius, produced by the consul-general of Spain for the district of New York, in the United States of America; and that I was attended at the same time by Sidney Webster, esq., counselor at law in said city, representing the aforesaid consul-general of Spain, and by George Bliss, esq., attorney of the United States for the southern district of New York, attending by direction of the Secretary of State; that the afo esaid witness having been first duly cautioned by me to declare the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, in respect to the matters concerning which he should be interrogated, and having then been duly sworn by me according to the laws of the United States, did, in answer to the interrogatories addressed to him in my presence, voluntarily, freely, and solemnly declare and depose, in my presence, as follows, that is to say:

1. Question. What is your present place of residence and occupation?—Answer. Surgeon; 21 Clinton street, Brooklyn, State of New York.

2. Q. Are you connected with any public institution in Brooklyn; and, if so, in what capacity?—A. Surgeon to the Brooklyn Homeopathic Hospital; surgeon to the Brooklyn Maternity.

3. Q. Please state your age and country of birth.—A. I was born in Cuba, Puerto Principe, in 1840.

4. Q. Are you a naturalized citizen of the United States; and, if so, about what was the date of your naturalization?—A. I am a citizen of the United States, naturalized in January, 1872.

5. Q. When did you first come to the United States A. In May, 1847.

6. Q. Where did you study or graduate in your profession as a surgeon?—A. First, in Philadelphia; secondly, in Edinburgh, Scotland; thirdly, in Havana, Cuba.

7. Q. Were you in Puerto Principe when the Cuban revolt broke out at Yara?—A. I was.

8. Q. Did you sympathize or take part in that revolt; and, if so, in what way?—A. I was the founder of the Conspirator centers at Puerto Principe.

9. Q. Did you know Cespedes, the leader of the revolt?—A. I didn’t know him personally at the beginning of the revolution, though I was in communication with him; met him afterward in the field, and then became firm friends.

10. Q. When did you enter into the military service of the revolt, and in what capacity?—A. Immediately on the rising at Yara; I was imprisoned by the Spanish government.

11. Q. This was about what date?—A. This was about the 10th or 12th of October, 1868. I was imprisoned by the Spanish government at Puerto Principe, where I was condemned to death, and pardoned by the first amnesty by Captain-General Dulce, and released on the 29th of November of the same year.

12. Q. Then you went where?—A. Then I went immediately to the insurgent army. I left Puerto Principe for the field.

13. Q. And joined it in what place?—A. Joined Manuel Quesada, who had then landed from Nassau. He had brought in a small expedition of arms and ammunition in a small sailing-vessel. Two or three thousand rifles he brought with him.

14. Q. Do you remember the place you joined him?—A. Yes, sir; joined him at La Gloria.

15. Q. Where is that I—A. About twelve miles from Principe.

16. Q. Toward the coast or in the interior?—A. No; toward the center; in the interior. Then I was made surgeon-general of the insurgent army.

17. Q. How long after this did you remain in this capacity?—A. Before the attack on Las Tumas I requested to be allowed to resign my medical commission, and take a more active part in the military operations. I was then made colonel of the artillery corps, and remained in that capacity until I quit the island with Quesada, which was about January, 1870.

18. Q. In what relation to Manuel Quesada did you leave the island?—A. We were appointed a foreign mission, of which he was the president and I the secretary.

19. Q. A foreign mission to what country?—A. To all foreign countries in general, but more particularly to the United States.

20. Q. Did you, as secretary, know the object of that mission, and by whom it was commissioned, if any one?—A. Commissioned by Cespedes, the executory of the revolutionary body, to purchase arms and ammunition of war, that they might be conveyed to Cuba.

21. Q. Were there any direction’s in respect to enlisting or procuring men?—A. We had the power to enlist men.

22. Q. In the United States?—A. In the United States or any other country.

23. Q. By what means did you come to the United States at that time?—A. We left the coast of Cuba in a small dug-out boat or canoe, crossed the Bahama Channel, and landed at Key Labos, an English island a few miles off the coast of Cuba. There we took an English fishing-schooner, which took us to Nassau, New Providence; there we chartered schooner which took us to Saint Augustine, Fla.; thence by rail we proceeded to New York.

24. Q. About what time did you arrive in New York City?—A. About February, 1870; the latter end of February or the first of March; about that time.

25. Q. At this time was not Marcellas Lemus in this country, sent by Cespedes?—A. He was.

26. Q. Do you know in what capacity he was here?—A. He was acting as minister plenipotentiary from the revolutionary government to the United States in case he might be admitted to act as such; in case a recognition by this Government gave him the power to act as such.

27. Q. As Lemus was here in a diplomatic capacity from Cespedes, what then were the precise duties of Quesada?—A. His duties were to carry out practically the work of purchasing arms and ammunition and conducting men to Cuba.

28. Q. He, then, was to control the material assistance to the revolution?—A. Yes, sir.

29. Q. Now, if you know, will you state what the Quesada mission did when it arrived in New York, first?—A. We interviewed the different bodies of Cubans that had been organized for the assistance of the revolution; tried to get from them the material means—that is, the necessary funds to buy these arms and ammunition.

30. Q. What bodies were in existence at that time, if you remember?—A. I remember the Cuban junta, I think then under the presidency of José Manuel Mestre, and subsequently under Miguel de Aldama.

31. Q. Previously to your leaving Cuba, had any expedition from the United States landed in Cuba?—A. To my certain knowledge the Perit expedition, under General Jordan, and the Salvador expedition, under Raphael Quesada, a brother of Manuel.

32. Q. Did you yourself see the expedition by Peril effect the landing?—A. I did, sir.

33. Q. About how many men were there, and under whose command?—A. I could not state certainly; possibly 200, under the command of General Thomas Jordan.

34. Q. Was General Jordan subsequently, to your knowledge, appointed by Cespedes to any command in the island of Cuba; and, if so, what command?—A. After the removal of Quesada from the command of the insurgent army Jordan was appointed in his place. And when Agramonte was appointed in his place, Jordan left the island and came to the United States.

35. Q. What, within your knowledge, was the first steamer purchased by the Cubans after your arrival here?—A. The Florida; by the seizure of which, I suppose, the Cubans lost between fifty and seventy thousand dollars.

36. Q. Do you know, of your own knowledge, of the purchase of the steamer Virginius?—A. I do.

37. Q. Were you one of the party which went on board the Virginius from the tug Virginia Seymour, and proceeded in her to Curaçoa?—A. I was.

38. Q. In what capacity on that voyage did you act in reference to General Manuel Quesada?—A. In the capacity of chief of staff.

39. Q. Did you leave the Virginius on the Billy Butts and proceed to Cuba?—A. I did.

40. Q. What happened to you in Cuba, and when did you again return to the United States?—A. The Billy Butts left me in Jamaica, and I left Jamaica in a small boat—a boat about two or three tons burden—which left me in the coast of Cuba. I then proceeded from the coast toward the interior in search of the insurgent forces, but met instead the Spanish outpost, and there I was shot through the right lung and left in the field for dead. I was picked up by Cubans, cared for, and returned to Jamaica, also in an open boat; thence to Saint Thomas; from Saint Thomas to New York, arriving about the 26th of December, 1870.

41. Q. With what object did you leave the Billy Butts on this expedition to Cuba?—A. To carry dispatches to President Cespedes. My dispatches were merely a letter of credit, and I was to state verbally that the affairs of Cuba in this country demanded that General Quesada should be appointed the sole agent of the republic in this country.

42. Q. Your object then was to procure from Cespedes the appointment of Manuel Quesada as sole director of the insurrectionary forces in the United States?—A. Yes.

43. Q. Do you know from what funds the steamer Virginius was bought and paid?— A. I do.

44. Q. Please state the character of the funds you procured, as nearly as you can, and the source of your information.—A. The funds were raised by personal subscriptions from Cubans, both rich and poor, in the United States, and placed with the treasurer of the foreign mission, Costello.

45. Q. Did they have a committee or chief managing party for the purchase?—A. Yes; I suppose there was a circle of three, who did all the purchasing of steamers and arms and attended to the outlay of funds.

46. Q. Who composed this committee?—A. I can only remember Martinez and Mora.

47. Q. Please give their full names, if you can.—A. Ramon Martinez and José Maria Mora.

48. Q. Do you remember to have met a person by the name of Patterson, who had to do with the Virginius, at the house of Mora, in the city of New York, in company with Quesada and Shepperd?—A. I remember the name, but I do not remember the person; I remember that he was there from the name, but I cannot picture him to myself. I do not remember the man at all.

49. Q. Was the steamer Virginius bought and paid for with these funds thus collected?—A. Yes, sir.

50. Q. How do you know that?—A. I, by being secretary of the mission, knew the details Of all the transactions which were being made.

51. Q. Do you know what sum was paid for her out of the funds?—A. I do not know to a dollar, hut it was in the neighborhood of $15,000.

52. Q. Was this payment of this sum for the steamer out of the Cuban fund a matter of notoriety among the Cubans at that time?—A. It was known in the small circle of the foreign mission.

53. Q. Was the cargo of the Billy Butts paid for out of the same fund?—A. Yes, sir.

54. Q. Do you know of any arrangement or understanding by which Patterson was to be the nominal owner of the steamer?—A. I do. I knew that that was to be the case.

55. Q. Will you give as many as you can remember of the names of the persons who went on board the Virginius with you and General Quesada?—A. I remember the number was about twenty; I remember the names of General Ausmendi, Pablo, Ygle-sias, Eloy, Camachio, Dr. Bravo, Domingo Mora, (a son of José Maria Mora, of whom I have before spoken,) Lamadriz, (I do not remember his first name,) Francis S. Wilson. There were several others, whose names do not now occur to me.

56. Q. Do you remember an incident on the voyage in the Virginius from New-York to Curacao, when the sail was sighted, and the suggestion was made to Captain Shepperd to capture the vessel? If so, please state what it was, as nearly as you can.—A. Such an incident occurred, I believe, when off the coast of San Domingo. I do not exactly remember the particulars, but I remember that something of that kind did occur, as the sighting a vessel and speaking of trying to capture her. She turned out to be an English or American vessel; she was not a Spaniard.

57. Q. Had you any doubt on the voyage and afterward that General Quesada had a right to control the Virginius as owner?—A. No doubt whatever.

58. Q. Had it been your duty to examine into the matter carefully?—A. As I was convinced of the fact, I do not remember that I examined into it. I was convinced of the fact, and knew that we were prepared to prove it if necessary to assume all authority over the vessel; although I do not remember having made it a subject of special examination, I knew it to be the fact.

59. Q. Was this question of ownership in Quesada conceded in respect to controlling Captain Shepperd?—A. Yes, sir; and we made it known to him as soon as we sailed. We made known to Captain Shepperd that the vessel was really ours, and not Patterson’s or any one’s else. When I say “ours,” I mean belonging to the mission.

60. Q. Who did you understand in New York had most to do with Patterson in procuring her?—A. Jose’ Maria Mora.

61. Q. At Curaçoa, did you have any conversation or interview with the American consul in respect to the Virginius?—A. We saw him and showed him the American papers, &c.

62. Q. Did you see him yourself?—A. I did.

63. Q. You mean that you showed him the American documents of the vessel?—A. Yes.

64. Q. Did you state or explain to the consul at the time the real ownership and business of the vessel?—A. I did not.

65. Q. Did any one?—A. I cannot say that any one did, although I took it for granted that he knew, as everybody knew in Curaçoa.

66. Q. Will you please state when you were first asked to give your testimony in respect to the ownership and history of the Virginius?—A. This morning.

67. Q. By whom?—A. By Mr. Craig.

68. Q. Has there been at any time any suggestion to you, or to any one in your behalf, in respect to any pecuniary compensation for this testimony?—A. No, sir; I am not considering that. I am rendering service. I am merely answering the service of a summons from the President of the United States. I am answering the truth.

69. Q. Will you be good enough to produce the summons handed to you by which you appear?

[Witness produced paper.]

Cross-examination by Mr. Bliss:

70. Q. Where did you finally leave the Virginius?—A. I left her near Curaçoa.

71. About when?—A. When I went on board of the Billy Butts, and have never seen her since.

72. Q. Since your arrival here in December, 1870, have you remained in the United States?—A. I have, sir.

73. Q. Have your official relations to the insurrectionary government ceased or continued?—A. Ceased completely from the moment I intended to become an American citizen.

74. Q. Just tell us when that was.—A. That was immediately on ray arrival.

75. Q. In December?—A. Yes, sir; immediately I made up my mind to do so.

76. Q. When did you become an American citizen?—A. In January, 1872, or thereabouts.

77. Q. Did you terminate your relations by a resignation or anything of that nature? —A. I terminated my relations by a letter to General Quesada to the effect that my relations with him had ceased.

78. Q. In what court were you naturalized?—A. In the city-hall of New York. The special name of the court I do not know.

79. Q. Did you go there more than once for that purpose?—A. I think I have been twice. The thing was all done in one session. I, having all the necessary proof s, complied with all the necessary preliminaries.

80. Q. Did you not file a declaration of intention to become a citizen?—A. I do not remember; really, I do not remember about that.

81. Q. Why did you leave the service of the insurrectionary government?—A. Because I did not agree with the manner in which the insurrection was being carried out.

82. Q. Did the mission of which Quesada was minister and you secretary have written directions or powers from Cespedes?—A. It did.

83. Q. Did those specify that you were to purchase a vessel and arms?—A. They did.

84. Q. And enlist men?—A. I don’t precisely remember that, but I think they did. I think the enlisting of men was included. Yes, the enlisting of men.

85. Q. You spoke of interviewing various Cuban organizations, or organizations friendly to the Cubans; you named only what we should call “Junta?”—A. Yes.

86. Q. Can you name any other?—A. There were several other independent bodies, the names of which I do not remember.

87. Q. Composed of Cubans or Americans?—A. Composed of Cubans only, I think.

88. Q. Do you know, of your own knowledge, of the landing of the Salvador expedition?—A. I do.

89. Q. What did she carry, men or arms, or both?—A. Both.

90. Q. How many men?—A. I do not remember the number.

91. Q. Did you succeed in your mission of communicating with Cespedes when you landed in Cuba after leaving the Billy Butts?—A. I did not; but here I wish to state that whatever is not my own secret, whatever relates to confidences placed in me, I will not tell, but only those things of which I am at liberty to speak.

92. Q. Was Quesada, in point of fact, appointed sole representative of the insurgents in the United States?—A. I hear that he has been recently, but have no personal knowledge of the fact.

93. Q. You state, then, as of your own knowledge, that the Virginius was bought by funds raised by Cubans, and that she was placed nominally in the name of Patterson as owner, when in fact the Cubans owned and controlled her?—A. I knew it from the fact that these transactions were going on in my presence, and were subject of conversation of those with whom I associated.

94. Q. In what you did in connection with the mission and upon the Virginius and subsequent, were you under pay or a volunteer?—A. According to the constitution of the revolutionary government all officers were under pay, but that was merely nominal, we never having received a penny, neither did I ever intend to receive a penny.

95. Q. Were your personal expenses paid, from any source other than your own funds?—A. They were paid from the funds of the mission.

96. Q. Where did those funds come from?—A. They were collected in the same manner as the others. It was all one common case—common treasury.

97. Q. Did you ever talk with Patterson or hear talked in his presence the subject of the putting of the Virginius nominally in his name?—A. I do not remember the personality of Patterson. I can only say that I remember the name and know that a person by his name was present when these things were being talked of.

98. Q. Was the amount of money paid by the Cubans for the Virginius ever spoken of in your presence; and, if so, what amount was named?—A. I remember it being $15,000 or thereabouts.

99. Q. Did you understand that that amount was paid to Patterson or to some other person?—A. That amount was paid by this Patterson to the former owners of the Virginius.

100. Q. Did you ever see in connection with the Virginius an I. K. Roberts?—A. I also remember the name, and think he and Patterson were on board the tug-boat which took us to the Virginius, and that they returned to New York in said tugboat.

101. Q. From what port did the tug-boat start?—A. Started from the North River.

102. Q. On this side or the other?—A. This side.

103. Q. What time in the day did you start?—A. The early part of the afternoon.

104. Q. What time in the day did you board the Virginius?—A. Late in the afternoon.

105. Q. Who first handed to you this paper? [Handing witness the summons.]—A. Mr. Craig.

106. Q. When and where?—A. In his office, on arriving.

107. Q. To-day?—A. To-day.

108. Q. How did it happen that yon came to his office?—A. I made an appointment with him to come this morning to his house, when he first spoke to me of this affair.

109. Q. When did you make the appointment?—A. Early this morning, nine o’clock, he telling me that this was to be handed to me.

110. Q. You consider that you are under obligations to testify in response to that paper?—A. I do, as an American citizen.

111. Q. You mean moral or legal obligation?—A. I think both.

112. Q. You consider that the service of the paper imposes upon you any obligation which would not have existed had it not been served?—A. I consider that the presentation of this paper shows me that the President of the United States demands of me as a citizen to answer the truth to the questions put to me; had it not been handed to me I would not have known that such answers were demanded of me.

113. Q. Without it would you have testified?—A. I would not.

ADOLFO DE YARONA.

Subscribed and sworn to before me this 1st day of December, 1873.

[seal.]

JOSEPH GUTMAN, Jr.,
United States Commissioner, Southern District of New York.

And now I, Joseph Gutman, jr., a duly-appointed commissioner of the United States circuit court for the southern district of New York, in attestation do hereby certify that the foregoing questions and answers, after having been written out as above, were read to the foregoing witness, and were in my presence signed by him, and in attestation of the verity and solemnity of all of the foregoing I do hereby attach my signature and seal of office this first day of December, in the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.

[seal.]

JOSEPH GUTMAN, Jr.,
United States Commissioner, Southern District of New York.