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Nieto conducted Zuniga's residencia hearings
Source: The Governorship of Spanish Florida #122
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Reluctantly Corcoles appointed the constable Juan Ruiz to act as juez de residencia, and on January 12, 1707, posted notices in five conspicuous spots in Saint Augustine, announcing residencia hearings. [Note: Residencia de Zuniga 1707] The constable posed 33 questions concerning Zuniga’s administration. 1. Had the former governor obeyed the law? 2. Had he played favorites in making appointments? 3. Had he administered justice fairly? 4. Had he collected fines properly and deposited the money in the public treasury? 5. Had he seduced married women whose husbands were away fighting the English and the Indians? 6. Had he fathered the child of an attractive mulatto woman in Saint Augustine? 7. Had he sold pole wood allocated for the defenses of the Florida capital? Other questions concerned 8. the treatment of the Indians 9. handling of supplies for the garrison at Fort San Marcos 10. illegal trade practices 11. conduct during the siege of 1702 12. the care of the poor and the needy 13. attention to defense and his other activities as governor. The witnesses who appeared before Ruiz told different stores. Some had no answer for the constable’s 33 questions and indicated they had no way of ascertaining the facts. Others were less restrained, despite the fact they had little evidence on which to base their statements. From gossip or hearsay many witnesses glibly substantiated the tales of Zuniga’s amorous adventures that had been circulating in the colony. Invariably, however, those testifying gave conflicting versions or disagreed on minor points that could have built a strong case against the governor. A convincing defense of Zuniga by his residenciado, Bernado Nieto Carbajal, only added to the confusing maze of claims and counterclaims. Nieto pointed out—with supporting testimony—that the governor had administered justice fairly, punishing all criminal offenses in accordance with the law, even to the point of exiling one resident found guilty of stealing flour and bacon from a royal warehouse. Zuniga, argued Nieto, had always provided for his colonists, although at critical times it had been necessary to trade illicitly to keep his province from perishing. Supply ships had been delayed as long as 18 months, and then when a supply vessel finally put in at Saint Augustine, the food on board proved to be inedible, “putrefied with cockroaches.” If Zuniga was guilty of obtaining supplies illegally, his acts were necessary to keep the Floridians alive. In addition the governor had attended to widows and orphans (a chronic problem), and despite lack of funds, had strengthened the fortifications of Saint Augustine. He had treated the clergy “with courtesy, benevolence, and attention” and had maintained high morale among the residents of Saint Augustine huddled beneath the walls of Fort San Marcos during the siege of 1702. Faithful to his instructions, the governor had made a personal visitation of Guale and had dispatched a lieutenant to Apalache to make a similar inspection there. Zuniga had also take the residencia of his predecessor, Laureano de Torres y Ayala. [Note: Defensa del gobernador don Joseph de Zuniga y Cerda por capitan Bernardo Nieto de Carbajal, Feb., 1707.] If Nieto’s defense was persuasive, it was not persuasive enough to bring about Zuniga’s exoneration. From the testimony taken in the colony and from the residenciado’s statements and counter-testimony, Ruiz drew up eleven charges. First, in a case involving a Negro slave who had murdered an Apalache Indian, the governor had assessed a fine of 30 pesos rather than administering corporal punishment as required by law. Then, instead of depositing the 30 pesos in the treasury, the governor had given the money to the chaplain of Fort San Marcos to say Mass for the dead Indian and his assailant (who had died in the meantime). [Note: Sentencia de la residencia se tomo a el Maestro del Camp General Don Joseph de Zuniga y Cerda, Gobernador y Capitan General de las Provincias de San Agustin de la Florida, 8/1/1710] Another charge involved the infantry squad captain, Juan Lorenzo, who had whipped his wild 13-year-old daughter Marianna and put irons on her feet. As punishment Zuniga fined Lorenzo and placed Marianna in a foster home. The governor, claimed the punctilious Ruiz, was at fault for not imprisoning the squad captain as prescribed by law. [Note: Auto sobre los grillos de la hija de Juan Lorenzo, 6/22/1705] The remaining charges covered a wide range of activities. Disgracing his office, Zuniga had carried on lurid affairs with various women in Saint Augustine in a manner somewhat resembling David’s affair with Bathsheba. Zuniga had not punished certain “public sins” such as drunkenness, indecent dancing, and adultery, which had appreciably lowered moral standards in the colony. In Indian affairs his abuse of Lorenzo de Santiago, chief of the Tama, had caused the defection of that tribe. At the same time Zuniga had neglected to keep the weapons of his soldiers clean and in good repair and had provided the garrison with wet powder and useless supplies. Buildings, bridges, and earthwork defenses had deteriorated during his tenure in office, and he had not taken proper precautions to prevent the loss of two supply ships to four English men-of-war that entered the Saint Augustine harbor in 1702. Tempestuous Marianna figured in still another charge when she fled her foster home to seek new thrills in English Charleston; Ruiz held the governor responsible for her flight. Finally, the meticulous juez de residencia charged Zuniga with illicit trading and with showing favoritism toward a certain Captain Lorenzo Arias. [Note: Sentencia de la residencia se tomo a el Maestro del Campo General Don Joseph de Zuniga y Cerda, Gobernador y Capitan General de las Provincias de San Agustin de la Florida, 8/1/1710] AN32 His task completed, Ruiz submitted the eleven charges to Governor Corcoles for review and sentence. After consideration of the documents the governor found Zuniga guilty of all but three charges—those involving the Tama Indian chief, Zuniga’s alleged adultery with the women of Saint Augustine, and his handling of “public sins.” On the other eight Corcoles was convinced of Zuniga’s guilty and levied a total fine of 1,104 pesos 4 reales. AN34 The largest assessment, 500 pesos, was for furnishing wet powder and bad-quality supplies to his soldiers; the smallest, 27 pesos, was for his action in the Apalache Indian murder case. [Note: Sentencia de la residencia se tomo a el Maestro del Campo General Don Joseph de Zuniga y Cerda, Gobernador y Capitan General de las Provincias de San Agustin de la Florida, 8/1/1710] AN33 With the review completed in Florida, Zuniga’s fate lay in the hands of the Council of the Indies, but this body could not act immediately. Claiming that no ships called at Saint Augustine to carry the documents back to Spain, Corcorles kept the residencia files in Florida a year and a half after he had pronounced sentence. [Note: Gov to king 1/8/1708 and 4/18/1708] It was not until late in 1709 that he sent the trunk of papers to Havana, where a ship might be more easily found to take the papers to Cadiz. [Note: Gov to king 12/12/1708] But even in this busy seaport there was some delay, and it was not until July, 1710, that the residencia files reached the Council tables. [Note: The residencia documents arrived in Spain early in July in the care of a certain Agustin de Jevallos.] Review of his case in Spain proved advantageous to Zuniga. After examining the testimony, the Council rejected the findings of Ruiz and Corcoles, absolved Zuniga of guilt on all eleven counts, and reduced his fine to 100 pesos, probably a token payment to help defray the costs of his case. [Note: Sentencia de la residencia se Zuniga 8/1/1710] This decision might have ended the matter once and for all, but… embarked upon a rigorous campaign to malign Corcoles [8/17/1713] (Tepaske GSF)
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