Page:History of California, Volume 3 (Bancroft).djvu/455

Rh for obvious reasons, cannot be printed; indeed, I have neither space nor plausible pretext for presenting more than the brief outline necessary for historical purposes.

The amours of Castañares and Ildefonsa, a daughter of Captain Miguel Gonzalez, were more or less notorious in Monterey for some time before the persons more directly interested chose to make trouble. Doña Ana, wife of Castañares and daughter of Rafael Gonzalez, administrator of customs, began to agitate the matter in February 1836, and was prosecuted by Herrera for slander. Doña Ana wasted no sentimentality on such a subject as her husband's faults, and for a time had exerted herself to separate the guilty pair, and thus prevent scandal. She was more than a match for all the others combined in energy and shrewdness, and had provided herself with abundant proofs, including the lovers' letters. She had even piloted no less a personage than Governor Gutierrez to a point where with her he overheard Ildefonsa's confession of her guilt, together with the cheering admission that when she had resisted on account of her friendship for Doña Ana, Castañares had threatened to remove that obstacle to their felicity by the use of poison. The case lasted from April to June, and was then dismissed by Herrera, who in May had begun another prosecution against Castañares and Ildefonsa for adultery. On May 28th, the guilty couple were arrested. Castañares was locked up in jail and Ildefonsa deposited, as was the custom, in the house of a respectable citizen. The 30th of July Herrera withdrew his suit and consented to the liberation of the prisoners, on condition that Castañares