[Untitled], the 17th day of December, A. D. 1866

[Untitled]

State of Texas, county of Cameron:

Personally appeared before me, the undersigned authority, Charles D. Stocking, to me known, who being duly sworn by me, upon his oath did declare and say that he is an American citizen; that on the 3d day of December, A. D. 1866, he left Tampico, in the republic of Mexico, for the port of Brazos Santiago, in county and State aforesaid, on board the American schooner Mary Bertrand, J. B. Tompkins, master; that previous to sailing the vessel was regularly cleared at the custom-house of the port of Tampico, and that the officers of the said custom-house did load and put on board the said Mary Bertrand twenty thousand dollars, contained in nine wooden boxes covered with grass matting; that the said loading and putting on board of said specie by the said Mexican authorities was open and public and in view of the bystanders then and there being; that the affiant knows that the said specie, thus being put on board the Mary Bertrand by the Mexican customs authorities of Tampico, was in payment of a lot of arms sold to the Mexican government by A. A. McGaffey, a citizen of the United States; that subsequently, to wit, on the 9th day of December, 1866, the said schooner Mary Bertrand was wrecked in a storm and cast upon the coast of Mexico a few miles below the mouth of the Rio Grande, and the said twenty thousand dollars were removed from onboard to the shore. Afterwards the same were taken to Bagdad, as part of the wreck, for safety. Affiant further declares that the Mexican authorities have seized the said specie and have now possession thereof.