!

the house of the lady who was with him, and who was the virtuous, kind and hos-
1
pitable wife of the gentleman of that house.
I then remarked to him, that I could not believe all that story to be true, because
I observed that his manners, and his bad language, did not show him to be such a
man as he would have me believe. He said, it was true, he was an ignorant man,
without any kind of education, but the reason was that his grandfather was without
education, and had neglected him (Mina) in that particular, and therefore had sent
him to travel, to improve his manners. I remarked to him, I did not know that
there was any Governor of that name in Mexico. He said, he did not know where
his father was, or whether he was Governor or not, for he had only heard it from
his grandfather; his father was in some high employment, and he thought it was
Governor. I then asked him where was the place at which he had resided; he could
not give me any answer. I asked him where his mother lived in (the city of) Mex-
ico: I knew from his answer that he had never been in Mexico, and told him so.
He said, he had been there, and that all he had stated was true; but he had been
suffering so much from the loss of his friend and his money, that he was almost out
of his senses. Then I asked him to give me some proof that he was a Mexican.
He asked, What proof? I asked him for his passport. He replied, he had none. I
then asked him for his certificate of baptism, which all of my countrymen carry
with them. He said his passport was in his friend's power, and he did not know
what had become of it, and the certificate of baptism was in his trunk, with many
other documents, which had all been taken away. I then told him I would write
to the American Consul, and send him the letters he had given me for his family;
which were directed to the care of the Consul at Vera Cruz. He then told me he
would write another letter to his mother, and I prepared paper and pens for him.
When he was about commencing, the lady told me that she wished to attend to
some business, and would call again in one hour, to take him back with her,
if I thought that would be time enough. I told her it would, and she went out.
Mina then asked me to write the letter, because he was ashamed to write before me,
as his handwriting was very bad. I told him I was busy, and that he could write
himself to his own mother, because it was rather her fault (that he could not write
better) he then said, if he had thought of it before, he would have brought the
letters without sealing them, until he had seen me. I saw one of the letters that
he had, and as the paper was thick, and sealed with a wafer, I told him I could open
it, and he might write a postscript. He asked me to have the kindness to open it
for him. I put water on the wafer, and left it until the wafer was soft, and then
opened it. He said, he was very glad to learn that manner of opening letters, and
that he would never write on thick paper, or seal with wafer. He wrote the post-
script and sealed the letter again, and sat down, waiting for the lady. I was then
employed in my business for more than an hour and a half, and the lady did not
come, at half past three o'clock. I think it was more than two hours after she left
my office. I was then called to go to dinner, and I asked Mina if he would come
with me and take dinner: it being a custom in my country, that when a person is
called to dinner, he invites the stranger with him; but it is customary also, that the
stranger never accepts such invitation, because it is understood merely as an act
of politeness. But Mina accepted the invitation, and went with me. I was ashamed to
take him home, because he was so dirty that he looked like a beggar; but as he came
to see me with a lady who appeared to be very respectable, and she herself brought
him in her own carriage, I thought I could take him, making this apology to my
mother and sisters. My family were at table, waiting for me. We sat down, and
in a few minutes after, the waiter told me that a lady whose name was Mrs. Chap-
man, was in the parlour, asking for Mina. I went down stairs into the parlour, and
told her that we had waited in my office for her till half past three o'clock, and as
she did not come, I had invited Mina to take dinner at my table; and I would feel
much honoured if she would accept a place at the table, as we were just begin-
ning. She thanked me, telling me she had dined, and would wait willingly until
Mina was done. I went up stairs to ask my elder sister, who could speak a little
English, to be company for her till Mina was done. I came down stairs with my
sister, and introduced her to Mrs. Chapman.
[Adjourned.]

Col. Cuesta in continuation.

1

Thursday Morning, February 23.

As it was very warm, I asked Mrs. Chapman if she would take any refreshment. I believe she asked me for a glass of water. I asked her if she would not prefer a glass of cold lemonade; she said she would, and I ordered the lemonade to be brought into the parlour.

She said then, that her child was taking care of her horse at the door. I went out, and brought him into the parlour, leaving a servant with the horse. I caused some sweetmeats to be brought for the child—I do not recollect whether or not they brought him any wine. I went up stairs to tell Mina to make haste, the lady was waiting for him; he followed me down stairs. Mrs. Chapman got up to go, and in doing so, she told my sister she would be glad to see us at her house; my sister reciprocated her politeness by the same offer. I accompanied the lady to her carriage. When she was in, I observed that Mina was without his hat, and told him he had forgotten it. He made his excuse, saying that his head was disturbed, and he did not know what he was doing. As soon as he got his hat, they went away in the carriage. That very night I was informed that Mr. Taylor was no longer Consul at Vera Cruz, and that he was then at New Orleans. In a day or two after I wrote to him, and sent Mina's letters to Vera Cruz by the first vessel. On the same day I wrote a letter to Mina. These are copies of the letters to Mr. Taylor, and to Mina. (Copies produced and read.)

(Mr. Cuesta here produced and read the copy of a letter written by him to Mr. Taylor, late Consul of the United States at Vera Cruz, communicating what Mina had narrated, and making inquiry as to the truth of the story. The date of the letter 19th May, 1831. Mr. Cuesta also produced a copy of the following letter to Mina, the original of which had been found among Mina's papers on his arrest at Boston, and was now shown by Mr. Reed to Mr. Cuesta and identified. The date was torn off the original, which was postmarked Philadelphia, May 20. The copy was dated 19th May, 1831.

No. XXII.

Muy Sr. Mio-Me han informado que el Sr. Taylor se halla en Nuevà Orleans, le he escrito y luego qe reciba contestacion avisaré áv, lo mismo que cuando reciba las de Mexico. Salude v. à la Sña Chapman de mi parte, y celebrando se mantenga v. sin novedad quedo su atento servr. q. b. o. m.

To Lino Amalio Esposimina,

ESTO. CUESTA.

Care of Mrs. Chapman. Andalusia P. O., Bucks County, Penna.

Translation.

Sir, I have learned that Mr. Taylor is at New Orleans. I have written to him, and as soon as I receive an answer from him or from Mexico I will inform you. Present my respects to Mrs. Chapman, and believe me, &c.

Col. Cuesta continued.

I never received the answer from his family, nor from Mr. Taylor, because I was told that this gentleman was in New Orleans, and probably he was somewhere else (at the time). A few days after I had written to Mina, I received his answer written in very bad Spanish, in a kind of spelling peculiar to himself, and not to be found in any book; a copy of which this is. (Copy produced and read.)

No. XXIII.

Andalusia, Mayo 21, 1831.

Muy Sr. Mio, Reiví la de V. S. con todo placer, y fecha de el 19 de el corriente, en del qe do infromado de lo ql V. S. me comunica e mas he encontrado una contradicion, hi detremino pasar a comunicarle a V. S. bervat: mente, para ql V. S. me diriga votre de el particular.

le participo haberen Contrado una presona de mi á mistad la ql me ha asistido prefectamente.

Reciva U. S. Espreciones de la Sa. Chapman y permita me V. S. ponerme alas ordenes de su Sa. Madre y demas familia de su Respetable morada. y se lelva se man

L

tenga V. S. Sin. novedad y ordene á su atento servidor q. B. S. M.—Lino Amalio Esposimina.

Sr. Dn. Estanislao Cuesta.

Col. Cuesta continued.

I could not then, nor can I yet, understand the meaning of that letter. But according to what had past between us before, I interpreted it in this manner; he was afraid the lies of which his story was made up, would very soon be discovered, and wanted to make me believe he had found the friend he mentioned, and therefore he would not want my services; and this made me think him an impostor. A few days after in the afternoon he came to my house with Mrs. Chapman, and met my sister. They asked for me, my sister told them I was sick in bed, and they could not see me; and they went away. Eight or ten days after, I met Mina in Chesnut Street, opposite the State House; he stopped me, and saluted me; I told him, I would not be spoken to by him, and he must never stop me in the street again, nor come to my house; that his conduct was very wrong, and if he thought to deceive me, he was very much mistaken. A few days after, when I went to my office, I found a letter on my table, directed to Mina's father; I think the address was in Mina's hand; the letter was written on thick paper, and sealed with a wafer. I knew in a moment what that meant; and asked one of my clerks, who brought that letter there. He said that Mr. Le Brun brought it, asking him to have the kindness to send it by the first opportunity, without saying from whom the letter was. I put it among other letters to Mexico, and sent them by the first opportunity.

A few days after, Mr. Page, the tailor at the corner of Chesnut and Sixth streets, sent to request me to inform him whether I knew Mina. I told him I did not know him, nor any thing about him. In about half an hour the same person came back, and requested me, in Mr. Page's behalf, to know what I thought of Mina. I told him, I did not think any thing good of him, and I believed him to be an impostor.

On the 20th of June I left the city with a part of my family, and was absent until the 10th or 12th of September. A very few days after, a person came to my house, and said he was an officer of the police; and came to see me from a magistrate, to know if I could tell him where Mina was, and whether I could describe him. I believe this officer is now in this house. I told him I did not know where Mina was, and had not taken notice of his appearance; I gave a description, however, which I believe he wrote down. Some days after, this person came to my office with a certificate, signed by Mr. Montolla, and asked me if that signature was genuine. I told him it was not, and showed him the signature of Mr. Montoya, and the seal of the Mexican legation, which was entirely different from that on the certificate. He then asked me to lend him a letter of Col. Tornel, who had been the Mexican Minister before Mr. Montoya was Chargé d'affaires. I gave him the letter he asked for. Some time after I received a letter from Mrs. Chapman, dated

at Erie. (Letter produced and read.)

No. XXIV.

Erie, November 29th, 1831.

WORTHY AND MUCH RESPECTED SIR, Pardon the liberty I take of addressing a letter to you, and under the most distressing, the most agonizing circumstances, do I write. Alas! alas! kind Sir, my pen almost refuses to perform the painful task of informing you, of my melancholly situation; I am a prisoner! Oh! Sir, little did I think once, that I should ever be compelled to address a letter to any one from the gloom of a prison! and that under circumstances the most appalling! Ah! from what a height have I fallen! But yesterday, I had, and enjoyed all that heart could wish; blest with competence, surrounded with a lovely family, enjoying the society and smiles of a husband I loved; what more could I wish? what more had this world to bestow?

But, alas the cruel spoiler came! and in one hour, all, all is blasted!! All my hopes and prospects are vanished! and, O! my husband, who once would have stepped forth to protect me, and sympathize with me, is now no more! his head lies low under the clods of the valley, unconscious of the sufferings of his family! O! how enviable is his lot to mine! While my bleeding heart is torn with a thousand pangs by the death of the kindest, the best of husbands, as if this was not enough to com

plete my sufferings, in order to put the finishing stroke to them, and dart the last pang to my already too much agonized bosom, I am charged, am arrested, on the false, the cruel suspicion of" being thought accessary to the death of my husband." Was it not for conscious innocence, and the happiness of my dear babes, (those living remains of my much beloved husband; they were ever very dear to him, and are for his sake, as well as their own, very dear to me likewise,) life would be intolerable. O that Heaven would plead my cause! and though I have acted very foolishly, very imprudently, yet may God in his infinite mercy, restore me again to my bereaved, my distressed little family. When I reflect, that there is a probability that my poor, dear husband was poisoned, and that myself am suspected of having assisted in the horrid, the atrocious crime, I am paralyzed! I am distracted! but I am innocent; however dark and unfavourable, circumstances may appear against me. I have been infatuated with a mysterious stranger; a base Imposter! I have been decoyed and duped by him; so, that without due consideration of consequences, which might result from such a step, (believing him, alas! to be a grateful friend to my deceased husband, self, and children,) I precipitately married the cruel monster; and plunged myself and fatherless children into irrepairable ruin! The remorse, chagrin, and shame I felt, on account of having been so dreadfully duped in my marriage with that accomplished Villian, are not to be described; for I very soon learned that he was a vile Impostor! And ah! I then feared the worst of consequences. Alas! thought I, perhaps I shall be thought to be an accomplice with him: And where is the innocent person, who would not be filled with fear, if united to so vile a wretch, as I was? My dear little sons having offended him one day, he said "he would never caress them any more;" declaring at the same time, that "he never forgave injuries!!" but that he delighted in revenge! I acknowledged my unhappy marriage to Mr. M'Elwain, and gave him several papers written by Mina. Very soon after this I received a letter from Mr. M'Elwain, informing me, that Mina was arrested in Boston. Though conscious of innocence, I apprehended that it might be possible, that I might be arrested; and oh! the dread I was under of the horrors of a prison! and I equally dreaded the thought of being obliged to appear in Court. Full of these apprehensions, I determined to leave my home for a while, presuming by so doing, I might avoid the evils which I so much feared; but this, I fear, has proved an unfortunate step; I fear it is construed as an evidence of my guilt; I presume it has been the cause of exciting the public mind to such an unprecidented degree against me; for the public journals teem with nothing but cruel invectives.

I never kept a boarding house, before I was married, as was stated in the Philadelphia Bulletin, with much more that was false.

I came to Philadelphia in the autumn of 1813; commenced teaching a school the same autumn; and likewise commenced learning music and French with Mrs. Le Brun the same autumn; and in 1814, I entered Mrs. Le Brun's Boarding School as a teacher of the English branches, where I remained 3 years; Mr. and Mrs. Le Brun know something of my character; and I trust they are among those who believe me innocent; and those who now have no compassion for me, if they but knew the truth of my story, their very souls would weep blood. While I write, my eyes are bathed in tears, and my heart is overflowed with sorrow, occasioned by my unparalleled sufferings! and O! my dear children! what will become of my poor, dear children!! Is there no redress for a heart-broken mother, who would now only wish to live for the sake of her children?-Ah! kind Sir, tedious as my narrative is, I beg that your dear mother may be made acquainted with it; she is the mother of a numerous family; she will feel tenderness for me, who am a mother likewise; she will likewise feel sympathy for my poor aged mother, who is now 83 years of age, she has been the mother of 14 children, I am her youngest surviving child; alas! what must she feel on my account? I fear she will be like the patriarch Jacob on the loss of Joseph; "his afflictions were so great that he refused to be comforted." My Father is deceased; he was a revolutionary officer, Col. Zenas Winslow; his native place was Brewster, Barnstable Co. Cape Cod. his respectability, as well as my character, might be ascertained by addressing a few lines to Gen'l. Cobb, or Doc. Sampson, who reside at Brewster, and are well acquainted with me and my origin. Oh! worthy sir, may I not hope, that when your dear mother and trust sympathizing and kind hearted sisters, take into consideration, the manner in which I have been so dreadfully duped, and so completely ruined! and by whom?-By an ungrateful

wretch, one whom I for the sake of charity and humanity had been fostering as my own child! May I not hope that they will kindly, nay, zealously, stimulate you to step forward and be a friend to the wretched widow, and the ruined orphans?—He, whom I befriended, has caused our destruction! And now, Sir, if you kindly befriend us, if it is not in my power ever to make you a suitable return, (for I am now in a destitute and forlorn condition;) I will invoke Heaven to smile propitiously on you and yours; and my much injured babes would lift their innocent hands to Heaven, and fervently crave the choicest blessings that Heaven can bestow, to rest upon your head, and surround your path. I have not heard a word from my poor dear children since the 20th of Sept. when I left home. I sigh with a broken heart, and mourn with bitter grief, on account of them; they are not only rendered pennyless; but are deprived of the caresses of their fond parents, who ever doted on them. The favour I am about to ask of you, is great; yet I hope, with your humanity, not too great for you to grant: it is this; that you will have the goodness to have an interview with John Campbell, Attorney at Law; he resides in 6th st. near Race, and consult with him respecting my case; I trust he will do all in his power, to befriend me; and if he should think it necessary that an able Advocate should be employed to aid him in pleading my cause, may I not humbly hope that you will grant me the great favour of employing one for me?—And I do beg, with many tears, that you will condescend to call on me with Lawyer Campbell, immediately on my arrival at Doylstown, which, I presume, will be as soon as 8 or 10 days from now. With much confidence that you will forgive me for asking so much of you, and a humble reliance that you will comply with my requests, I now proceed to give you an account of him who has been the foul destroyer of my peace, my happiness.

Mina had been but a few days at my house, when he, together with myself and husband, wrote letters to his family in Mexico; myself and son Wm. calling with him on you with the letters, that they might be forwarded to Mexico. His dignified demeanour at my house, and your respectful behaviour to him, while at yours, inspired me with the belief that he really was the son of Governor Mina, as he had already stated; and while he was at the table, dining with you, your sisters kindly entertaining me in the parlour, the conversation soon turned on this stranger; speaking with much pity and sympathy on account of the misfortunes which he had sustained; your sister Romania said to me, "This young man (Mina,) is very rich in his own country." Had any doubts remained relative to his claim of being the Governor's son, this statement, together with your own grateful expressions for the kindnesses I, and my husband had bestowed on him, would have been sufficient to destroy them. He returned with me and my son to Andalusia, where he was again welcomed by my kind husband, who now, with myself, believing him to be a person of distinction, treated him with the greatest hospitality; and during frequent indispositions at our house, we bestowed upon him the utmost care & attention, which he appeared to receive rather as his due, than as a kindness. We even went so far in our indulgences to him, as to order suits of clothing for him at the corner of 6th & Chesnut, his second suit was a suit of mourning, he having received the news of the death of his sister. Thus were we deluded by him. He evinced an extraordinary attachment to Mr. Chapman, myself, and to all our children, frequently saying he had found a father, a mother, three sisters, and two brothers in a strange country. I continued daily to give him lessons in the English language, for which he expressed much gratitude, saying to me one day, in the presence of Mr. Ash, who was then a pupil of mine likewise, that he would give me $6000 if I would teach him to speak the English language fluently in three years. He frequently spoke of the great opulence of his Grand-father, saying that he owned a silver mine, and that his father was an only son, &c. &c., I presume he told you much the same interesting stories in Spanish, and that yourself was duped by him likewise; or else, methinks, you certainly would have informed me if you had suspected that he was an Impostor. If he succeeded in deceiving you, (one of his countrymen,) and numbers of respectable gentlemen, both to the south and north, is it to be wondered at, that I, an unsuspecting female, was deluded by him likewise?-Would to God, that you had, timely enough, discerned his being an impostor to have saved the father of my children, and myself and lovely babes from ruin! from destruction!! For alas! when the sad news was breathed to me by Mr. Watkinson, (his tailor,) that he had received information from you, that you believed him to be an Impostor, I was then, ah! I was then unfortunately married to him! You will say I ought to have been inexorable, so soon after my