When Gambi's men went through their new prize, they made a startling discovery. Papers aboard the ship revealed that Picornell had become a traitor, and was trying to feed information on insurgent and filibuster plans to Spain.23 Gambi had plenty of time to peruse them, if he could read, for the return voyage to Barataria for the Santa Rita and her prize took more than three weeks thanks to heavy weather, and those aboard were almost drowned when the seas threatened to overwhelm her.24
The Eagle, heavily loaded with merchandise taken from her own prize, came along the Santa Rita near Grand Terre.25 They reached the island on April 9, and by the next day their arrival was known in New Orleans.26 As soon as the collector at the customs house learned of it, he asked Patterson to take them, and the commodore readily dispatched Lieutenant Thomas Cunningham and a gunboat.27 A few days later near Cat Island, Cunningham came up with the Eagle at anchor alongside Lameson's newly fitted out Presidente, each under the flag of Cartagena, and in Laméson's papers was his old privateering commission.28 Cunningham took both ships, along with the Santa Rita/Mexicana/ Nonesuch, and set out for New Orleans. Gambi was back aboard the Eagle, having relieved Amigoni, who was at Barataria looking after some storm damage to the Nuestra Señora de Rosario.29 Unfortunately, Cunningham's small crew found it impossible to keep the prisoners in check. By the time the little flotilla reached the city, all but two of the privateer crewmen had simply run away over the side, and only two crewmen remained from the prize ship.30
They returned to a city hearing echoes of trouble some hoped had disappeared. The privateering problem had not evaporated with the destruction of Barataria. Part of the problem lay at Cartagena. The Spaniards had struck back effectively at independence movements everywhere else, but the city held out. Encouraged by the assistance of Aury, Beluche, Jannet, and other corsairs, the ruling elite maintained a welcoming climate for adventurers and privateers. Sauvinet had visited in the summer of 1814 to investigate moving there permanently, most likely acting as a representative of Humbert, Toledo, and others seeking a united front against Spain. Latour had considered relocating there before he became caught up in the war, but a friend advised him to be cautious. "This country is not yet stable," he told Latour. Moreover, as Sauvinet found, "the system is totally changed with regard to foreigners, they are very suspicious of them." Still, American privateers were an important source of revenue, and Cartagena continued to hand out commissions in its port and to print more for extralegal distribution elsewhere.31
The instability at Cartagena dogged its affairs for the next several months. But Aury and other corsairs found plenty of opportunity meanwhile. By early 1815 the privateers of the Gulf were active in a small way, sometimes boarding vessels waiting at the Balize or in the channel. Within days of the announcement of peace, however, Morphy observed with disgust that four suspect ships had passed down the river, destined, he was convinced, to be armed at Barataria by some of the "Captains and Old Sailors." A person he trusted had told him of a meeting held by what he called "the main associates of the pirates," at which the assembled discussed raising Cartagenan colors and attacking Florida. While Morphy tried to learn more, on March 26 he warned Apodaca to put out a warning. With the war with Britain at an end, the war with the privateers and filibusters was about to resume. 32
The customs people, too, realized soon enough that, as collector John Williams put it, "the Barataria Trade is not yet done." The citizens, too, were ready to revert to their old ways. One of his inspectors told Pierre Duplessis early in April that "on the part of the enemy we have to contend with, we behold an extended and organized system of Enterprise, of Ingenuity, of indefatigability and of audacity favoured by a variety of local advantages & supported always by force of arms." It seemed a disgrace that "the old & notorious offenders who have so lately been indulged with a remission of the punishment they merited are already making arrangements to recommence their former nefarious pursuits."33 Sales of smuggled goods began to take place openly on the lower Lafourche by May if not earlier, though no one seemed to suspect the Laffites of direct involvement. There were even rumors of American merchant vessels being taken, a violation of the one rule the Laffites had strictly observed.34 Collector Duplessis appealed to the secretary of the treasury to seek assistance from the navy in quelling this lawlessness. He complained bitterly that "the crimes of these men are hightened by their ingratitude to the government" for its recent clemency.35
Patterson's response was to promise that additions to his command—including the Dorada, which he had purchased at auction and renamed Firebrand—would enable him to protect the coast from "the pirates of Barrataria" and those sailing under Mexican and Cartagenian colors. He wanted the authority to use his discretion in dealing with vessels under lawful commissions, but if he found such corsairs acting in cooperation with the Baratarians, he promised to take "effectual measures," even at the cost of damage to legitimate privateers.36
Indeed, the question of legitimate privateers proved challenging, thanks chiefly to the Cartagenan commissions. Dick complained that he and the federal court operated in "peculiarly embarrassing" circumstances at times, trying to avoid all interference with those colonies of Spain that claimed to be independent, and at the same time repress the smugglers and illegal corsairs. "Much of this difficulty has arisen from the very improper conduct of the government of Carthagena," he said, citing its habit of distributing blank letters of marque. It was all but impossible for the court to distinguish genuinely commissioned privateers from pirates. He tried to be impartial, as did Judge Hall, but at times he feared impartiality favored the smugglers too much.37
Prosecutor Dick got his chance to test the limits of that impartiality when he immediately started proceedings, libeling the Eagle for illegally outfitting in the United States and her prize merchandise for violating customs laws, which also applied to the Santa Rita.38 Dick was not fooled by the Eagles pretended Mexican commission.39 Indeed, Gambi had initially told him that she sailed under two letters of marque, including one from Cartagena, which was prohibited by international law. Gambi and Lameson posted bond for themselves and their ships, pending adjudication.40
The court was in a mood to act quickly. On May 16 the grand jury indicted Gambi, Amigoni, John Robinson, and Romain Verry for piracy. Amigoni had escaped capture, but the marshal arrested the rest and brought them before the bench for arraignment. They heard the indictments read to them, entered pleas of not guilty, and were remanded into custody for trial two days thence. The grand jury also issued indictments against Toledo for illegally fitting out the Eagle, and Pierre Lameson for the same with the Presidente.41 Spanish authorities in the city met the news with guarded pleasure, especially regarding Gambi, "the cruelest and the greatest assassin among all the pirates."42
The court heard Gambi's trial on May 18. The witnesses called in his defense included Humbert, Toledo, and even collector Pierre Duplessis, while the prosecution relied on the four captured crewmen.43 Gambi was an experienced dissembler. Besides the sobriquet "Vingt cinq"—it meant "Twenty-five" but was also a pun on his name Vincent—he sometimes did business under the name of Juan or Jean Roux. Indeed, three months later he would tell a notary that Roux was his real name and Gambi an alias, and with a man this shifty none could say for sure.44 Now he claimed that the Eagle had a valid commission from the Mexican junta when she left New Orleans, and actually produced it in court. He consistently protested that he was only a passenger, and that he had been ill ashore when the Eagle took the Santa Rita, which was the only act listed in the piracy indictment.
But through testimony from the printer, Dick revealed that the commission had been printed in New Orleans at Toledo's order, and was not delivered to him until well after the Eagle had sailed. Toledo had somehow gotten the commission to Gambi after his arrest. Dick also demonstrated that prior to the trial Toledo had lured the two captured Spanish crewmen from the Santa Rita to the office of a notary, telling them they were seeing the Spanish cons
ul. There Toledo promised each of them $15 if they would make a statement of the affair based on his "suggestions," and they had done so. But they refused to take an oath before the notary, and now in court they swore that they were not present when their supposed testimony was written down and notarized. "These frauds were so palpable, so shame-less, and so base as to fill every mind with indignation, and to call down odium and contempt upon their fabricator Toledo," Dick argued. 45 Yet that same day the jury returned a verdict that "as there has been no positive proof that the Prisoner was in any other capacity, on board the Schooner Eagle, than [that] of a Passenger, the Jury find him not guilty." Dick entered a nolle prosse for the remaining indictments, seeing that further prosecution with such a jury would be pointless.46 He also had it in mind that by doing so, he might persuade the other men under indictment to become witnesses against Gambi if he could find a new charge to justify resurrecting the case.
Illicit activity at Grand Isle began to increase. Indeed, even while Gambi was awaiting trial, Duplessis got a report that "the notorious pirate Vincent Gemby" had led two dozen men on a quick trip to Barataria to begin fitting out another vessel.47 Soon the Cleopatra, a prize taken by Beluche's privateer La Popa under genuine Cartagenan commission, was taken in tandem with another corsair by the Firebrand in the Dorada s first act after her change of personality.48 A vessel believed to belong to Sauvinet brought a prize into Grand Terre early in July.49 A few weeks later the authorities caught the Eugenia trying to fit out as a Cartagenan privateer not far from New Orleans. And that same month a privateer operating under a Mexican commission brought a prize into New Orleans, where Dominique bought her and began outfitting her as a privateer to be called the Mexicain.50
For his part, Toledo had posted bond April 15 with Livingston as his surety, and his trial, originally scheduled for a few days later, was deferred to July on motion of Livingston.51 A jury acquitted him, too, regarding the testimony against him to be circumstantial, though Dick felt no doubt of Toledo's guilt. In his defense Toledo denied—probably honestly—that he had any share of ownership in the Eagle, and argued as proof that since his arrival in New Orleans he had lived entirely on the charity of friends and simply had no money to outfit a vessel. 52 During the trial Livingston got permission to remove some Spanish documents from Toledo's court file, claiming they were not material.53 Most likely they were the ones captured with the Eagle and the Presidente, documents that not only revealed Picornell's treachery but also could have implicated some of the "associates," including Livingston, as Toledo's backers. Indeed, Patterson's sudden support for the return of some proceeds from Barataria to Jean Laffite very likely reflected the fact that sometime this summer he, too, had felt the lure of the "associates'" ambitions, and had become one of them.
After the trials and acquittals, the fight over the vessels and their cargoes commenced. On April 30 the court ordered an inspection of the Eagle to determine her value as a legitimate prize taken by Cunningham.54 By May 20, when no one had come forward to demonstrate ownership of the vessel, Judge Hall pronounced any pretended owners like Amigoni to be in contempt, and decreed the ship to be awarded to sale and distribution by default. The same process was applied to the Presidente.55 Meanwhile on May 31 Morphy filed a claim on behalf of the Spanish owners of the Santa Rita, and Amigoni filed his own claim to her as a legitimate prize under his supposed commission. Livingston represented him, demonstrating that he was now clearly the attorney of choice for the corsairs and smugglers.56
The resulting litigation continued for months, delaying trials and requiring testimony from Mexico. Pierre Laffite appeared among the witnesses, and even the acquitted Gambi gave testimony, though the court noted that his was to be used "subject to all exceptions as to competency and credit."57 It finally ended in February 1816, when the court dismissed Amigoni's claim and ordered the Eagle sold.58 Meanwhile Amigoni attempted to protect some of his cargo by claiming it as merchandise belonging to the Mexican insurgents and put aboard the Eagle at Boquilla de Piedras by order of General Morelos.59 However, the court finally returned the goods taken aboard the Santa Rita and the Eagle to the original owners, less a one-third share going to Cunningham for their recovery.60 Later that month Lameson lost the Presidente unequivocally, while the prize goods he had on board when captured were turned over to Morphy for return to their owners.61 Fully a year after the litigation began, Livingston would renew Lameson's and Amigoni's claims, but to no avail, and he finally withdrew them.62 Long before then, at the auction of the Eagle s cargo, Livingston bought some of the bargains on offer.63 When the marshal sold the Presidente at auction after removing her armament, the buyer was none other than Pierre Laffite.64
Livingston complained that this "vexatious business" fully occupied his time. He needed the work, however, for he found himself heavily in debt, with two plantations not paying their way and a new lumber business that did no better. It was this need for money that had helped lure him into the "association," and when its plans took a new direction that fall, they consumed more of his time.65 These opportunities came at some cost, however, for by now he was so closely and openly attached to the Baratarians that he found his reputation at risk. When he and fellow "associate" Abner Duncan served as defense counsel in the trial of one allegedly unlawful privateer, Duncan became so convinced that their client was a pirate that he withdrew from the case. Collector Duplessis condemned Livingston, "the legal protector of all the Pirates & smugglers who infest this District," for remaining on the case "as usual true at his Post." Duplessis took his complaint against Livingston to the secretary of the treasury in Washington, averring that "if these wretches had not this zealous advocate to support them there is every reason to believe they could ere long be driven from the Country."66
Duplessis had to contend with another problem caused by the smugglers and pirates. By aligning themselves loosely with genuine independence movements, they were doing injury to those causes by association. He must punish piracy without punishing honest revolutionaries. "An act of revolt or rebellion against a sovereign must not be confused with an act of Piracy," the secretary of the treasury advised him. Any merchant vessel that had not committed an offense against the law of nations governing piracy, that carried a lawful cargo and conformed to United States law, was entitled to enter American ports regardless of the flag it sailed under. What such a vessel could not do was enlist crewmen other than natives of its own country, fit out to convert from a merchant vessel to a corsair, or take on weapons. Mindful of Toledo and the rest, the secretary also reminded Duplessis that no military enterprise could be raised or launched from American territory against a nation with which the United States was at peace. At the same time, however, a 1795 treaty guaranteed Spanish subjects and their vessels protection in American waters. As Spain had not recognized the independence of her New World colonies in revolt, the United States must continue to regard these Spanish subjects as entitled to the protection of that treaty. 67
Meanwhile attorney Dick waded through the diplomatic and legal morass trying to get to Gambi. Thanks to testimony provided by the minor defendants whom Dick had released on nolle prosse findings, he secured another piracy indictment from the grand jury on July 15. Despite the new evidence, however, and the fact that Livingston called no witnesses for the defense, the trial on July 18 ended in yet another acquittal, meaning that in six months "Vingt cinq" had escaped from three separate indictments for piracy.68
Coincidentally, as Gambi was about to face another trial, the Laffites came to a decision. They had been remarkably quiet during the past months, no doubt anxious not to hurt Jean's efforts to reclaim their property or secure restitution, but now one of them must go to the East to pursue their interests. They needed to buy and outfit a new ship or two away from prying eyes in New Orleans, especially after the loss of the Eagle and the Presidente. Baltimore was the place for that. Humbert had contacts with backers in Philadelphia and Baltimore, and more would-be supporters of the Tam
pico enterprise made those cities their headquarters. In Washington the Laffites could approach higher authorities with their case for reparation for their losses to Patterson, money they might need to fund their own involvement in the plans for Humbert and Mexico. The "associates" in New Orleans were at risk of being compromised. If the brothers were to prosper, they needed other backing as security, and commissions more authentic than Toledo's. Pierre being the man of business in New Orleans, the trip fell to Jean.
A seaborne letter could take almost a month to reach the East and the brothers planned for the journey well in advance, corresponding with those on whom they hoped to call. The trip would be costly, but thanks to the court's award of the proceeds of the sale of the Fly and the Wasp, Jean could travel with a substantial government draft that would be negotiable in Philadelphia, the center of American banking even after the demise of the first National Bank a few years earlier. If the draft was not sufficient for their needs, major purchases such as ships or rigging could be made on letters of credit from their associates in New Orleans, or paid for on delivery with money provided by them or the Mexican Congress if all went well. For out-of-pocket expenses of passage and hotels they had little cash in hand, however, especially after spending $415 to buy a slave to help Marie with the house and a family about to grow even more.69 Jean would have to manage his hard money carefully. Two days before Jean was to leave, the parish court rendered a judgment against the brothers for $164 for a debt due to a creditor. Rather than pay the just debt, Jean appealed his half the next day, and then he and Pierre signed a joint promissory note while the appeal was pending.70 It was a means of postponing the debt while husbanding the cash on hand for the journey.
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