Page:Life and Select Literary Remains of Sam Houston of Texas (1884).djvu/576

 person. This paper does not appear to have been placed on record; and if, in truth, it had been recorded in a proper legal sense, still there is no copy said to have been taken from a record, or certified by any legal custodian of the record or of the original document &hellip;

"It has been seen that this document is neither a record nor a copy from a record. The language of the instrument, and that of the certificate of Gonzales, alike contradict any such conclusion. The certificate declares it to be a copy of a private paper, and nothing more &hellip;

"The irregularities connected with this alleged power of attorney seem to me too glaring, and too obviously liable to gross abuse, and tend too strongly to injury to the rights of property, to be tolerated in courts governed by correct and safe rules of evidence." Judgment was rendered in New Orleans in favor of the plaintiff in the suit of Lapsley vs. Spencer, as I have stated, on the 30th May, 1856. After the decision of this suit, it appears that in another of the Lapsley cases remaining on the docket, viz: Lapsley vs. Mitchell and Warren, a commission was taken out by the defendant to take the testimony of Tomas de la Vega of the La Vega grant, and of Jose Cosme de Castenado, the custodian of the archives at Saltillo, with reference to the power of attorney heretofore so frequently referred to, which purported to have been made from La Vega to Williams. These depositions were returned in March, 1857. In that of La Vega the deponent denies ever having signed any such paper as the power; and in that of Castenado, the custodian of the archives, the deponent swears that the alleged power of attorney was — "Signed only by the alcalde, Don Juan Gonzales, and Don Jose Maria de Aguirre, and not by Don Rafael Aguirre or Don Tomas de la Vega, or the assisting witnesses, wherefore the said document can be of no effect; and that in verification of all that he has stated, he refers to the original documents, which exist in the archives under his charge."

This was the first public declaration made from Saltillo of the forgery of the document. Now, suddenly the case assumes a serious and startling aspect, and strikes dismay and terror into the ranks of the conspirators. Orders had been left at the court at New Orleans, that immediately on the receipt of the depositions of La Vega and Castenado there, that copies should be sent to Galveston. There can be no doubt, however, that the parties claiming under the power of attorney, and represented there, knew very well what the import of these depositions would be. Is it, indeed, to be supposed that they, with a property worth $300,000 at stake, which depended on this very muniment of title, should have neglected wholly, and for so long a time, to examine the archives at Saltillo, and inquire what was on record there?

The storm had burst, and the conspirators, in dismay, are compelled to face the loud denunciations of their guilt. Now they have to meet the brunt of the battle. The day of discovery and retribution has come; and collecting together, serrying their ranks, and summoning all their resources, they prepare desperately to resist the judgment that has overtaken them.

Now it is that Judge Watrous is observed to call to his aid all of his confederates. Now it is that the whole corps dramatique is summoned on the