Accordingly, by employing great diligence,
I had them arrested; and the master-of-camp, Don Geronimo de Silba,
having judged one of them in the first instance, by name Captain
Juan Lemoedano, and sentenced him to the gallows, he appealed to me;
but I have not been able as yet to examine his case because of lack
of the time necessary for it. The case of another, namely, Captain
Don Fernando Becerra, against whom there is apparently less proof,
has not yet been sentenced by the said master-of-camp, for he is
yet hearing evidence in it. From the investigations of this, guilt
is found against Don Juan Manuel de la Vega, ex-commander of the
ships of this line to Nueva Espana (son of Doctor Manuel de la Vega,
ex-auditor of this Audiencia), whom, according to the sufficient proof,
I ought and do condemn to be beheaded and his head exposed to [public]
view, and to the loss of one-half of his property. Nor is there any
necessity, for this [severity], to collect the evidence in the suit
brought against him for the loss of the galleon "San Marcos." He
was commander of that vessel when Don Juan Ronquillo fought with the
fleet of these islands against that of the Dutch at Playa Honda. He
appealed from this sentence to the royal Audiencia, where the case is
now proceeding--very slowly, because of the superfluous justification
that he is presenting. This has been an affair where it is desirable to
manifest great rigor; for otherwise the other correction that I have
tried to apply for the honor and defense of this royal house will not
be sufficient.
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