De L'hoste, Father, Breuilpont, France, to Archbishop Anthony Blanc, New Orleans, Louisiana, 1853 April 27

De L'hoste has received two letters from Charles Daron, one in December, 1848, and the other in October, 1852. In neither one did he mention where he was living. De L'hoste had learned that Daron left New Orleans and did not know whether he had left the state. This, together with the report that he had declared bankruptcy did not allow de L'hoste to leave him a charge which would become burdensome and for the renewing of which, after Mrs. Destrem 's death, de L'hoste would have needed to require elements of security which were lacking. De L'hoste asks Blanc to have Daron accept the resources De L'hoste has with the consul for the sale of those of his lands which have regained one-twentieth of the value they had lost. Daron paid $6 in taxes. In a letter in 1848, Daron said he had looked for de L'hoste's name in the list of owners of land destined to be sold for taxes and had not seen it. De L'hoste has been told that his property which cost almost 10,000 piastres is only worth around 600. De L'hoste received in October 1852 a letter from Daron informing him that his land had resumed its value, that money was abundant and asking de L'hoste to send Mrs. Destrem's will with a new power of attorney with more extensive terms. Formerly Daron had done nothing to get Mr. Zamora to pay back the amounts de L'hoste had let him have in notes from the sale of Mrs. Destrem's slaves, or advances made for his children in Paris for board, clothing, etc. or for advances to his son Robert Daron . Daron did not even reply to these things in his letters. He talked only of the 5,000 francs Zamora paid as a loan and not of larger sums he owed de L'hoste. DeL'hoste quotes a passage from Daron's letter of December 8, 1848 in which he tells of a method of having a friend buy the lands sold for taxes, and receiving a legal title, could give it to one or more buyers. To carry it out de L'hoste could put 100 piastres in the hands of Bishop Blanc. De L'hoste sent this letter and the last one to the French consul. De L'hoste's lands were not taxed because they had no value. For the 17 years that de L'hoste has had these lands, Daron has been paid $6 for taxes; he wants de L'hoste to turn over 100 piastres to Blanc. Blanc knows that since de L'hoste has been in Paris, he has had charge of the Zamora sons. The father wrote them from the baths at Bagnères de Luchon a letter in which he ordered them to secretly leave de L'hoste's house, in order not to render an account of important securities. De L'hoste on discovering this letter, went in haste toward the Pyrennes where a very surprised Zamora gave him an account of 5000 francs. Since them de L'hoste does not know what has happened. P.S. In 1848 Daron wrote that since he no longer lived in New Orleans, he could no longer look after de L'hoste's interests and would like to turn them over to someone else. De L'hoste believes his counsel was a sham and a trap. De L'hoste had three letters from Daron, the first in 1846, the sencond in 1848, and the third in 1852. The first was his acceptance. De L'hoste sent the other two to the Consul. These letters prove that Daron did only two errands for him: one to the tax collector and the other to the two notaries who hold de L'hoste's titles. :: VI-1-e A.L.S. French 3pp. 4to.