Notorious Tales

Several United States travelers thought the risks of illegal trading and smuggling past the migration boundary was well worth  the problem with the Spanish.  Some got caught  - Baird, McKnight, and Chambers in 1812 were arrested and jailed in Santa Fe for 8 years.

Chouteau of the St. Louis fur trading family was chained up and held in Santa Fe for 48 days until Pedro Maria de Allande, the governor and well known angliophobe, took all Chouteau's furs valued at $300,000.  de Allande then made him kneel before him and kiss the paper which stated his crimes.  He then threw Chouteau out of the country.  Chocteau reentered the fur trade the next year but without his partners who had quit.  One partner, De Mun even emigrated to Cuba, where he became a successful cigar manufacturer.

Probably the most notorious story concerns Ezekial Williams, a veteran Indian fighter from Boonslick Country and first captured by the Indians in 1813.   He was picked up by the Spanish police in 1814.  Prior to that, Williams had the forethought to hide the furs he had so there would be nothing to ransom.  He was indeed released from jail within a few months.  When he returned a year later for his hidden furs, one of his partners was killed and Williams was the prime suspect.  A sensational trial followed and Williams was acquitted.

Following that trial, Williams was soon sued by another partner's widow for her share of the furs and that was settled out of court, but he was soon sued again for bigamy which pretty much ended Ezekial's career and money.

Next time...3 For the Money