board of commissioners to ascertain and settle private land claims in the State of California; that after said Tompkins became a member of said firm the exclusive business of affiant was to attend to land claims; that affiant imperfectly understood the Spanish language, but still, that he understood it sufficiently to read and interpret title papers; but having a very large and lucrative practice, preferred, as a matter of expediency and justice to his various and many clients, to keep interpreters of the Spanish language constantly in his employment; that being the partner who had most intercourse with the California land-holders, he was very frequently called into the country and country towns, on which occasions it was his custom to take an interpreter with him. That in 1850 and 1851 he was well acquainted with F. H. Sanford, esq., who represented himself as a native of Georgia ; that in 1851 affiant was keeping house in the city of San Francisco; that on visiting said city said Sanford was in the habit of staying at the house of the affiant; that in 1851 said Sanford told affiant that he was in great pecuniary distress; that from time to time affiant gave 145

him small pecuniary assistance; that in 1852, and, as affiant believes, in the latter part of said year, without any data to fix the exact period, affiant met said Sanford in the town of Benicia that said Sanford expressed his thankfulness to affiant, and desired additional pecuniary advances; that said Sanford being an educated, and, as affiant believes, a pure man, without hesitation afforded him the assistance desired.

Affiant further says that at the same time he went to the office of said Sanford, esq., in Benicia; that he found from conversation with said Sanford that he was partially deranged on account of domestic troubles, but, as affiant believes, perfectly sane on every subject not connected with his family affairs; that in his office was a desk, a table, bed, trunk, and a box; that said box was a common tea box, as it is commonly called, being of wood and painted; that affiant's attention. was particularly called to the said box and trunk at that time, and more particularly since; that said Sanford told affiant in said office that he had in his possession an important paper, being the title paper to the Romero grant in Contra Costa county; that he (Sanford) had taken possession of the same after a trial at law had in the pueblo de San José, because a debt was due to him by the party who was entitled to the title papers; that affiant was at that time the attorney for several of the colindantes or adjoining rancheros, and for that reason felt a deep interest in ascertaining boundaries claimed by the said Romeros;

that to the best of his ability he read the said title papers; that 146 by his experience and examinations of similar documents he

knew the signature of Micheltoreno; that the grant was a concession to the Romeros in full and absolute property for the sobrante between various ranches which made an absolute definition of its boundaries; but, that affiant, being diffident of his knowledge of the Spanish language, sent for his interpreter, Mr. Gutierrez, who he is now informed lives in the city of Havanna, Cuba; it may be that affiant is mistaken and that Adolf Sellman is the one who was interpreter ; that he is informed said Sellman now lives in the mission of San José. But affiant felt deeply interested in said title because of its connection

with the surrounding ranches; that after an examination and the interpretation of the title papers fully made to affiant-Judge Swan, of Benicia, was present at a portion of the conversation-Mr. Sanford proposed to place in the hands of affiant the said title papers, with the remark that affiant could make much money out of the same; that affiant's reply was that he neither thought it decorous or just to obtain a fee for the production of title papers under such circumstances; that affiant, about five years ago or more, told one party interested in said ranch of the existence of said papers; that he is informed and

verily believes that every exertion was made to obtain the same 147 by that party, and, as he is informed, without success; that he was informed of the great pecuniary embarrassment of said Sanford; that he has been informed that the trunk and box of said Sanford containing all his papers have passed into other hands; that said Sanford left for Georgia in the latter part of 1852, as affiant verily believes; that affiant saw said Sanford just before he left for the States, and that said Sanford told him (witness) that he was just returning to his family in the State of Georgia; that said affiant does not know personally what became of the trunk, box, and papers of said Sanford, but has learned that the same may be in the possession of the Hon. Jos. Winston, or of Mr. Richmond, his former landlord, who seized upon his goods for rent due; that no telegraphic dispatch would reach either of them from this city; that both of them live in the northern portion of this State; that affiant has written to both of said parties, both by mail and express, in order to ascertain whether either of them have said box and trunk or papers; that he has not yet had sufficient time to obtain an answer from either, but expects to hear in a few days; that affiant went on Monday last, in company with Mr. J. M. Tice, to Benicia to find said papers, trunk, &c., that being the last place of residence of said Sanford; that they made diligent search for the same

148

and often heard of the existence of them, and found what had become of the signboard of said Sanford, but was unable to find said papers, all of which more fully appears by the affidavits procured by affiant in Benicia and filed herewith.

Affiant further says that the title papers examined by him were a considerable bundle of papers sewed together, commencing with the original petition by two or 3 brothers Romero, (affiant does not know which,) followed by the intermediate reports, and concluding with an absolute grant of the land in full property in accordance with the petition; that the same was on ordinary Spanish stamped paper, unglazed; that said final concession was in the usual form of Mexican grants and was for the sobrante, containing 5 leagues poco mas y menos, of the adjoining ranches of Moraga and Bernal, Guillermo Welch, Lorenzo Pacheco, and others.

Affiant further says that the final concession was a long document and signed by Micheltoreno, much longer than any paper now on file in the said cause in the surveyor general's office signed by Micheltoreno; that he has examined the papers in the surveyor general's office and that they are not the same papers heretofore examined by affiant.

Affiant further says that said Sanford told deponent a few days be

fore he left for the States that he had left the same title papers of the Romero ranch, together with his other papers, in a bundle in his trunk or box at Benicia, where deponent could find them if ever he should want them.

149

Deponent further says, I have carefully examined the docket of land cases before the land commissioners, &c., and do not find no Sanford's name as connected with any land case; and he told deponent that the Romero ranch was the only land title with which he was ever connected.

Sworn to before me this 25 Sept., '57.

Filed Nov. 20, 1857.

C. B. STRODE. JNO. A. MONROE,

U. S. Commissioner.

J. EDGAR GRYMES,
Dep. Cl'k.

Deposition of Wm. McDaniel, admitted as deposition by stipulation on p. 241.

On application before the hon. the district court of the U. S. for the northern district of the State of California, to open the decree in the case of the Romero grant for land in the county of Contra Costa, Wm. McDaniel, a resident of Benicia, being first duly sworn, says that he assisted C. B. Strode for several hours in an endeavour to find the trunk and box or papers of T. H. Sanford, left in this town; that although they several times heard of the same as being or 150 having been here after Mr. Sanford left, yet after an earnest and diligent search the same could not be found; that information apparently tending to a discovery was all that could be found by communicating with persons in the northern portion of this State; that I have ascertained that a telegraphic dispatch could not reach the parties alluded to; that he has no interest in the result and does not know what the result of titles will be, but can safely say he deems it of importance to consult with the witnesses, Hon. J. Winston and J. Richmna, and further says not.

WM. M'DANIEL. Subscribed and sworn to before me this 22nd day of September, A. D. 1857.

WM. S. WELLS, Notary Public Solano County.

Filed Nov. 20, 1857.

J. EDGAR GRYMES,

Deputy.

Deposition of Edw. L. Stetson.

State of California, district court U. S. northern district of California. On motion to open decree on the Romero claim in the county of Contra Costa, E. L. Stetson, a resident of Benicia, being first duly sworn, says that in the year 1851-1852 he was well acquainted with F. H. Sanford, an attorney at law; that he

151

met said Sanford in Sacramento, as well as he can remember, in 1852; that said Sanford informed affiant that he was about starting home, but that his clothing and papers were retained in Benicia for a small debt, and that all he needed was enough to get his clothing back; that he knew the furniture in the office of said Sanford in Benicia; that he feels certain that he has seen the trunk and box of said Sanford since he left, which he believes was about the last of 1852; that from common rumor he is informed said Sanford is dead; that affiant has assisted C. B. Strode in a careful search for said trunk and box, but without success; that he knows an earnest and active search has been made for the same.

Further he says not.

EDW. L. STETSON.

Subscribed and sworn to before me this 22nd day of September, A. D. 1857.

WM. S. WELLS, Notary Public, Solano County.

Filed Nov. 20th, 1857.

J. EDGAR GRYMES, Deputy.

152

Deposition of Thomas M. Swan.

United States district court in and for the northern district of the State of California.

To open the claim on the Romero grant in the county of Contra Costa. Thomas M. Swan, being first duly sworn, on oath states that he has been a practicing attorney in, and is now the county judge of, the county of Solano.

That in the years one thousand eight hundred and fifty-one and fifty-two he was acquainted with T. H. Sanford and Charles B. Strode.

That said Sanford left the State of California for the State of Georgia some time in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-two or three, as deponent was informed by said Sanford and verily believes. That some time therebefore deponent was present at a conversation between the said Sanford and the said Strode, in the office of the said Sanford in the city of Benicia, county of Solano, relative to the title papers of some rancho in the county of Contra Costa, the particular purport of which deponent cannot recollect save the general matter of conversation. That prior to the departure of said Sanford from this State he had for some time been absent from the town

of Benicia, and during the absence of said Sanford from Beni153 cia a trunk and box containing clothing, family portraits, and

valuable papers were detained by John B. Richmond, the former landlord of said Sanford, for rent over due and unpaid by said Sanford, and that deponent, for the purpose of releasing the clothing and other articles of said Sanford, paid sixty dollars in the scrip of the county of Solano as rent to said Richmond.

[REC. CLXXX, D. T. 1862.]—5

THO. M. SWAN.

Subscribed and sworn to before me this 22nd day of September, A. D. 1857; words and "other articles," "trunk and box," first being interlined.

Bernard C. Whitman, being first duly sworn, on oath states that he is an attorney-at-law, and a resident of the town of Benicia, in said county of Solano, and was a resident of said town during the years one thousand eight hundred and fifty, fifty-one, two, and three; that in the years one thousand eight hundred and fifty and fifty-one, or a portion thereof, deponent knew F. H. Sanford, then formerly from the State of Georgia, as an attorney in said Benicia; that some time during the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-one said Sanford left the town of Benicia for the purpose, as he, said Sanford, avowed, of going to the northern portion of the State of California; that subsequently, on two or three occasions, deponent saw said Sanford in the town of Benicia, and toward the close of the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-two deponent saw said Sanford in Benicia, when he informed deponent that he intended to depart from the State to his former residence in the State of Georgia, and was then on his way to San Francisco to take the steamer for Panama "en route" for the Atlantic States; and further told your deponent that he, said Sanford, desired deponent to take charge of certain valuable papers which had been deposited with him, Sanford, in his capacity as an attorney-at-law, which deponent then and there agreed to do, but never so did, for that since Sanford never afterwards spoke to deponent on the subject, or deposited said papers. with deponent.

155

That deponent is informed and believes that said Sanford did, on or about the time last mentioned, depart from this State for the State of Georgia, and deponent has heard and believes that Sanford arrived in the State of Georgia, and there lived some time; and recently deponent has been informed and believes that said Sanford is dead, and such is common rumor upon the subject.

Deponent knew said Sanford quite well during his residence in this State, and was of the opinion, from the peculiar conduct of said San-, ford on sundry occasions, that at times he was hardly sane, though deponent may have been induced to such belief from communications to him made by said Sanford relative to his troubles and difficulties. And further deponent saith not.

BERNARD C. WHITMAN.