recognize her as an American vessel; but that he clearly understood the object of her mission in the Caribbean Sea, and was personally in sympathy with it; this was at Curaçoa.

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 his 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 posttively whether my suspicions were groundless or not; and stating that if such change were meditated I 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 pat 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 in any 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 not 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, "I am 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, 88:

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, 88:

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, 1873, 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 Mannel 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 Mannal 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 consal 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 instrue tions 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 busness 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 cos! 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, ner 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 Cabelloy 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 wheà the Virginius was engaged; that on several occasions this deponent appeared la fore 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