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Show * : ee ee ; oes eae Se eee 80 ee pe Pe Be ei Pe Oo ees ee a es) * edt 9-4. al es Pat PESeee tr eete aly oe FACTS OF NEW MEXICAN HISTORY De Munn and a new party left St. Louis July 15, 1816, and at the mouth of the Kansas river met Chouteau who had come in to the river with his furs. On the way in he had had a very severe fight with the Pawnees, in which one white man and several Indians were killed. Chouteau and De Munn now returned to the mountain s, having in the party forty-five trappers and hunters. The hunters went to the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and De Munn started for Santa Fé to see the governor. Before arriving at the New Mexican capital he learned that Allande was governor and that he was illy disposed toward the fur traders. Indeed Allande ordered Chouteau and De Munn to leave Spanish territory, which they did, Chouteau ~~ %- vd Sn SPE Poe tte eee Ne ae a es . LEADING map OF chart has been is rican 4 be Cain Touned 4in the Map 777 00: : ae a Pa) 8 ad sat dt pe ae ee ee ee ee ee ee er LZ cf wee oem ¥ . intended r 25, 1817, De Munn gives in detail the facts connected with the court-martial at Santa Fé. He says: “After forty-eight days’ imprisonment we were presented before % Court martial composed of six members and a president who was the governor himself (Pedro Maria de Allande). Only one of the sx members appeared to have any information, the others not evel knowing how to sign their names. Many questions were asked, but Particularly why we Stayed so long in Spanish dominions. answered that, being on the Arkansas river we did not consider Ourselves in the domains of Spain, as we had far as the headwaters of said river. The presidenat license to go 4 denied that our sovernment had a right to give such a license, and entered into such a rage that it prevented his speaking, contenting himself with striking his must have fist severalegti mes thie on the table, i , saying : Gentlemen, bag “At such conduct of the presiden t I did not think much of my to : r 7A: 1 call seek er numb a 4S removed Cace u- der A se hia this || under : 3 book, and room. Mr. Chouteau and myself put “What appears the more extraordinar Their they returned to St. Louis, where they arrived in September, 1817. In a letter to Governor William Clark, written from St. Louis, Novembe we in “Half an hour afterward the Lieutenant came in with a written Sentence ; we were forced to kneel down to hear the citure of it, and forced, likewise, to kiss the unjust and iniquitous sentence that deprived harmless men of all they poss essed — of the fruits of two years’ labors and perils. to leave for St. Louis, along with Chouteau, and taken to Santa Fé. dismissed the same taking with him the furs which had been cached. Before it was possible for him to leave, however, he was arrested by Sergeant Bernal, property was confiscated and they were even put in irons in the old jail, which stood in the plaza in front of the old palace. Finally, after @ court-martial, Sentencing them to leave the dominions of Spain, ee sented to the court, but as I knew the kind of man we had to deal with, I never attempted to justify mysel f of any of his false assertions. We were winter. In the following spring De Munn eee Cama Same and De Munn and their hunters proceeding to the headwaters of the Arkansas where they trapped and hunted during the fall and ¢ -_? # MN 100 y is that the governor acknowledged to me afterward in the presence of Don Piedro Piero Don Pedro Bautista Pino] the deputy of New Mexico to the Cortes, and several others, that we were very innocent men; yet notwith- Standing this all our property was kept and we were permitted to Come home, each with one of the worst horses we had.’’”° At the time of the imprisonment Ce na of Chouteau and De Munn, i When Chouteau and De Munn returne d to’ St. Louis, through the Misi ereosman, Scott, they put a elaim for damages. As late as 1836, on heya and the one preferred byin McKnig ht was still being urged. I do Soe al whether it. was ever finally liquidat ed by the Spanish government. be rh ea A S. Gov. /oc., 24th cong., 1st sess., Sen. Docs., Nos. 400 and 424. i 4 Manuscript on file with the Missour i Historical Society, Us., No. i lam Waldo, ish © ie anguage, on . in Whice 135, the following anecdote appears: ‘‘Chouteau, having been "Pp In the city of St. Louis, which in its early history had perhaps Spanish inhabitants than those of any which [of enabled Santa Fé]. him a address go captivated “0 Colonel carried from On one of these His to other nationality, spoke the Spancommunicate freely with the authorities superior powers of conversation the Spanish governor that he would the prison to his house to amuse him occasions, and his frequently and enter- when the governor had favored his toed with a long catalogue of his numerous benefactions in his behalf, he saat and with great earnestness demanded what more he would have. The the bo quietly teplied, ‘Mi libertad, Seftor Goberna dor!’ This so incensed ea Doastful magistrate that the prisoner was quickly ordered back to his vile Las V. “gas, © author of this New Mexico, anecdote was the uncle of Henry L. Waldo, of |