n Spain, complained that a great injustice had been done to her and to
her other children by the transfer of Pedro's entire fortune to his
widow and thence to the latter's second husband, and she applied to the
Spanish courts for relief. The result was a series of lawsuits, which
scandalized the Spanish courts for a term of years. In these suits many
prominent Cubans were involved, and nearly the whole population of the
island took sides for one or the other of the parties. Street brawls
occurred over it, and the violence culminated in a physical scuffle in
the aisle of the cathedral, between Gonzalo de Guzman and the Alcalde of
Santiago, in which the latter had most of his clothes torn from his
back, and for which Guzman was required to do penance.

The King had given his assent to the Guzman marriage, and was unwilling
to withdraw it, or to censure Guzman for taking and striving to retain
all of Pedro's estate. Nevertheless he remonstrated with the litigants
for the fury of their controversy, which he truly told them was not only
a disgrace to the island but was also a grave practical injury to it.
The conflict continued, however, until all the resources of the law
courts were exhausted. By that time many of the lawyers were
considerably enriched, but a still large part of the estate was
confirmed in the possession of Gonzalo de Guzman and his wife. All this
militated against the confidence with which Guzman had been regarded,
and hastened steps for the subjection of him to the fate of his
predecessors.

We have seen that Guzman had been commissioned to investigate the
administration of his predecessor, Altamarino, and that he had performed
that congenial task with energy and zeal. Now came his own turn to
undergo the same treatment. It was only a little more than two years
after his accession to the governorship that the King or the Crown
officials in Spain concluded that it would be well to have his affairs
looked into. For the performance of this work Juan Vadillo was selected,
in the autumn of 1528. He was a notably efficient man. He had been
employed for some time by the crown as a debt-collector in Cuba,
Hispaniola, Jamaica and Porto Rico, and had been highly successful in
that work; wherefore it was thought that he would subject Guzman's
administration to a particularly thorough examination.

He declined, however, to accept the commission; for a variety of
reasons. One was, that he had thitherto taken his ord