At this time, too (1535), Juan Castellanos,
the island's attorney at the court, returned with his own family and
75 colonists. Yet scarcely had they had time to settle when they were
invited to remigrate by one of Ponce's old companions.
This was Sedeno, a perfect type of the Spanish adventurer of the
sixteenth century--restless, ambitious, unscrupulous. The king had
made him "contador" (comptroller) of San Juan in 1512 and perpetual
"regidor" (alderman) in 1515. In 1518 we find him in prison under
accusation of having brought a woman and child from a convent in
Sevilla. He broke out of the prison and escaped in a ship. In 1521 he
was in prison again for debt to the Government. On this occasion the
judge auditor wrote to the emperor: " ... It is said of the
comptroller that he has put his hands deep into your Majesty's
treasure. He is the one who causes most strife and unrest in the
island, ... everybody says that it would be well if he were removed."
In 1524 Villasante accused him of malversation of public funds. In
1531 he appears as Governor of Trinidad, accused of capturing natives
of the neighboring continent, branding them and selling them as
slaves. In 1532, reinstated in his post as comptroller, he leaves
Alonzo de la Fuente as his deputy and goes on an expedition to conquer
Trinidad. In 1535 he complains to the emperor that the authorities in
San Juan have not assisted him in his enterprise, and in the following
year the governor and crown officers address a complaint against him
to the empress, saying: "Sedeno presented a schedule authorizing him
to bring 200 men from the Canary Islands to make war with fire and
sword on the Caribs of Trinidad, and permitting him, or any other
person authorized by him, to fit out an expedition for the same
purpose here.
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