Extract from " Special Order No. 2." "All the precautions for preventing desertion, required by memoranda No. 5, must henceforth be rigidly enforced, with the addition of stopping all liberty on shore to watch-officers; neither will market boats be allowed, except to receive provisions on the wharf while in this port." "To Commodore JONES: "SIR: The undersigned, committee from the several companies of volunteers now in this place, not being able to discover who is the actual commandant of the post, respectfully request that you will take into consideration the enclosed resolutions, and give us the earliest information on the subjects therein mentioned. "Very respectfully, yours, &c., * "W. CHIPMAN, } "C. C. RANDALL, Committee. "WM. RYAN, "MONTEREY, October 16, 1848." * 14th. "Received from the hands of the above committee at the head of wharf in Monterey, between 6 and 7 p. m., Saturday, October 14, and answered the same evening. "On board the Ohio, 9 p. m. "T. AP C. JONES." "Whereas we, the undersigned, members of companies A, B, and D of the first regiment of New York volunteers, having been, as we believe, credibly informed that the portion of the regiment already disbanded have not received that satisfaction of their claims to which they are by law entitled: Therefore, resolved "1st. That by certain acts of Congress passed during the late war, all volunteers who have been in actual service are entitled to certain rights and immunities, among which are bounty, scrip, and mileage. "2d. That the above mentioned regiment was received into the service of the United States upon precisely the same footing as other volunteer regiments. 3d. That we have signed no articles, instruments, or papers by which we can be legally debarred under any circumstances whatever from any rights, privileges, or benefits arising from the said acts of Congress. 4th. That we therefore insist that, upon our discharge, we receive bounty, scrip, and mileage. "5th. That, considering the delusive promises that were held out at the organization of the regiment, and the service through which the said companies particularly have passed, to deprive us of our just demands would be an act of gross injustice, to which we shall submit only so long as the means of redress are beyond our reach. "JOSEPH VAN BUSSUM, "JOHN HART, "NICHOLAS MCDONOGH, "PIOCOPIO BOCHM, "And two hundred and twelve others, of companies A, B, and D, "1st regiment New York volunteers.' “FLAG-SHIP OHIO, "Monterey Roads, October 14, 1848. "I have to acknowledge the receipt of your communication of this date, (but by mistake dated the 16th,) accompanied by a series of resolutions relating to your present and past condition as a portion of the 1st regiment of New York volunteers raised in the early stage of the late war with Mexico for service in the Californias. "By special command of the Executive of the United States, regulating the military and naval service, no officer of the one can exercise any con trol over the other, except by special orders from the President. Every interest of the United States as a belligerant in Upper California, civil as well as military, was committed first to General Kearny, and by him transferred to Colonel R. B. Mason, the present civil and military governor of so much of Upper California as the late treaty of peace cedes to the United States. "Governor Mason having found it necessary to remove his headquar ters to another point, has, I understand, appointed Colonel H. S. Burton as his successor at Monterey. "I have not the means of judging of the grounds of complaint or grievances expressed in your resolutions; and if I had, it would not be my province to express an opinion, inasmuch as I have no power or authority whatever to act in the premises. "At its organization, and before you left the United States, many were the surmises and conjectures as to the true condition in which the regiment to which you belong would find itself at the close of the war, it being generally understood that Colonel Stevenson's regiment was gotten up rather as a party of armed emigrants, than as a regiment of volunteers for purely military operations. Nevertheless, I have never doubted but that the 1st regiment of New York volunteers will eventually be put on a footing of equality in all respects with the most favored volunteers of the war; but this can be only done by legislative or executive authority, and for which sufficient time has not elapsed since the termination of the war for instructions to reach this military department. "Under these circumstances, my personal advice to the volunteers who, as they justly say, have passed through some particular' service, and, as we all know, under peculiar and trying circumstances, is, to preserve the reputation which they have acquired as brave soldiers, by conducting themselves as good citizens, and patiently awaiting the decision of the government at Washington, where only the power rests for redressing real grievances or supposed wrong. "Very respectfully, &c., "THOS. AP C. JONES. "To Messrs. CHIPMAN, RANDALL, and RYAN, "New York Volunteers." Question No. 20.-Will you now turn to despatch No. 52, and read it to the court? Answer. I have turned to it: it is dated April 9, 1849, and is noted to have been received 1st June, 1849. And thereupon the court is adjourned until to-morrow morning, at halfpast 10 o'clock. DECEMBER 25, 1850-Half past 10 o'clock a. m. The court met pursuant to adjournment. Present: the president, all the members, and the judge advocate. 'The accused is in attendance. The record of the proceedings of yesterday is read and approved. The judge advocate states to the court that he has no witness in at tendance to examine to-day, and respectfully moves the court to adjourn until to-morrow morning. And thereupon the court is adjourned until to morrow morning, at half. past 10 o'clock. DECEMBER 26, 1850-Half-past 10 o'clock a. m. The court met pursuant to adjournment. Present: the president, all the members, and the judge advocate. The accused is in attendance. The record of the proceedings on yesterday is read and approved. The judge advocate states to the court, that he will suspend for the present the offer to read in evidence the despatch No. 52. Purser Samuel Forrest is recalled by the judge advocate, and examined on the part of the prosecution, as follows: Question 1.-Have you now the original papers referred to in your evidence, when last examined before this court? Answer. I have them here. Question 2.-State now what amount of the military contribution fund you paid to the accused, and when and where, and produce the voucher for such payment or payments? Answer The voucher No. 1 I now produce is for a payment of $500 to Commodore Jones, July 25, 1848. In fact, the money was paid to Colonel Burton, by Commodore Jones's order, on or about that date; but afterwards, at San Francisco, Commodore Jones told me the money had been, or was to be, refunded to him by Captain Folsom; and this voucher, No. 1, was substituted for that which I had taken from Colonel Burton. The voucher No. 7 is for a payment of $1,500 (same date) to Mr. Penrose, commissary of the army at La Paz, made by the order of the accused, and for which his voucher was afterwards in like manner substituted. The papers are read as follows: No. 1. U. S. SHIP OHIO, La Paz, July 20, 1848. SIR: You are hereby directed to pay to me out of the military contributions placed in your hands, the sun of five hundred dollars. TO SAMUEL FORREST, Special Agent. THOMAS AP C. JONES. U. S. SHIP OHIO, La Paz, July 20, 1548. Received from Samuel Forrest, special agent, the sum of five hundred dollars, in full of the above order. THOMAS AP C. JONES. No. 7. U. S. SHIP OHIO, La Paz, July 20, 1848. SIR: You are hereby ordered to pay to me, out of the military contributions placed in your hands, the sum of fifteen hundred dollars. THOMAS AP C. JONES. To SAMUEL FORREST, Special Agent, &c. U. S. SHIP OHIO, La Paz, July 20, 1848. Received from Samuel Forrest, special agent, the sum of fifteen hundred dollars, in full of the above order. THOMAS AP C. JONES. This is a voucher, No. 9, for $2,500, which I paid to Mr. Woodside, November 6, 1848, under the circumstances stated in my previous examination. The paper is read as follows: No. 9. U. S. SHIP OHIO, Monterey, November 6, 1848. SIR: You are hereby ordered to pay to me, out of the fund for military contributions, the sum of two thousand five hundred dollars. THOMAS AP C. JONES. TO SAMUEL FORREST, Special Agent, &c. MONTEREY, November 6, 1848. Received from Samuel Forrest, special agent, the sum of two thousand five hundred dollars, in conformity with the above order. THOMAS AP C. JONES. This is voucher No. 12, for $7,312 18, dated December 8, 1848, which sum I paid to Commodore Jones, either to him or to some one authorized by him. I do not recollect the details. This was at San Francisco, on board the Ohio. The paper is read as follows: No. 12. U. S. SHIP OHIO, San Francisco, December 8, 1848. SER: You are hereby ordered to pay to me, out of the funds for military contributions, now in your hands, the sum of seven thousand three hundred and twelve dollars and eighteen cents. TO SAMUEL FORREST, Special Agent, &c. THOMAS AP C. JONES. DECEMBER 8, 1848. Received from Samuel Forrest, special agent, the sum of seven thousand three hundred and twelve dollars and eighteen cents, in conformity with the above order. THOMAS AP C. JONES. These are all the sums I paid to Commodore Jones. The voucher No. 12 closed the account. Here are other vouchers, showing how the rest of the fund was disposed of. Question 3.-Have you now the original papers touching the sales of gold-dust made by you for the accused? If yea, produce and read them to the court. Answer. I have them, and read them as follows: AA.-Memorandum of California gold purchased by Thos. Ap Catesby Jones, United States Navy, at Monterey and San Francisco, between the 1st of November and 21st day of December, 1848. ... No. 1 contains...100 ounces, at $12 50 per ounce..... ... $1,250 00 1,250 00 1.443 75 1,250 00 441 00 4,103 00 610 50 2,634 00 1,200 00 879 04 616 08 666 75 4,000 00 20, 144 12 "Shipped on board the Ohio, bound for Mazatlan, Mexico, in the care of Samuel Forrest, esq., one thousand eight hundred and eight ounces (Troy) seventeen pennyweights of California gold, mostly of the fine or Juba river gold, of the best quality, which stands me about $11 25 per ounce 'Troy. "Should Mr. Forrest, on the Ohio's arrival at Mazatlan, find such gold in demand there-and that any portion, or the whole of my ship ment, according to the annexed statement, can be advantageously exchanged for coin, upon such terms as to net not less than $14 per ounce on board the Ohio, and as much more as he can get-I must beg the favor of him to so convert my adventure, and bring the proceeds back to me: $20,000 may be brought back in silver, and the residue in doubloons-counting the latter at not more than $16 on board. "THOS. AP C. JONES. "SAN FRANCISCO, December 23, 1848." This is a duplicate, except that it has the following memorandum, made by me, and delivered to the accused, as stated in my former evidence. The three bags contained the bags and canisters specified in the memorandum above. I think there were canisters, but am not positive. I think this transaction occurred on the day of the date of these papers. "Three large bags, said to contain the above ounces of gold dust, have been placed in the iron chest of this ship, marked C. J." |