Trial and Execution of Balboa
Balboa, after the interview of Arbolancha with Ferdinand,
received a letter from the King, written in August, 1514, informing
him that Pedrarias had been instructed to "treat him well." With
this assurance Balboa had therefore resolved to make his
adelantadoship a reality by exploring the coasts of the South Sea
regardless of the Governor.
By secretly obtaining supplies from Cuba, Balboa nearly brought
about his own downfall, but the situation was retrieved by Bishop
Quevedo, who persuaded Pedrarias (very possibly Dona Isabel was here
a factor) to become reconciled and give to the courtly Balboa his
eldest daughter, Dona Maria, in betrothal. The arrangement, whatever
may have been the motive of Pedrarias in countenancing it, in nowise
changed his feeling toward Balboa — an instinctive jealousy and
suspicion. To Balboa, on the contrary, the arrangement was not
unpleasing. He still loved Careta's daughter; Dona Maria was at
school in Spain; his marriage with her could be deferred. Pedrarias
meanwhile could not well oppose the passage of the Adelantado, his
prospective son-in-law, to the latter's province on the Pacific.
What Balboa needed was ships. These, to the number of four
brigantines, he built from the forest on the northern side of the
sierra below Adá; and thousands of impressed Indians carried them in
sections over the ridge to the waters of the river Balsas (Sabana?),
which flowed into the Gulf of San Miguel. But the timbers proved
rotten, and the work of shipbuilding had to be done all over again.
Done, however, it finally was; and Balboa stood exultant on the
beach of Isla Rica gazing seaward. The nights at this season were
clear, we are told, and a certain great star rode in the heavens
above. Now it seems that just after Balboa's discovery of the
Pacific, a Venetian traveling astrologer who was in Santa Maria had
pointed out to him the star, telling him that when it attained in
the heavens a definite point he was to beware, as mortal peril faced
him. The crisis safely passed, he would be Fortune's child — "the
greatest lord and captain in all the Indies, and withal the
richest." Turning to friends who were with him, Balboa on one
occasion spoke of the star and ridiculed the astrologer. "Have I
not," he said, "three hundred men and four ships and the
countenance, officially, of Pedrarias!"
From time to time news had reached Darien that, as Balboa had been
superseded by Pedrarias, so the latter was to be superseded by Lope
de Sosa, acting Governor of the Canary Islands. Such news, now that
Balboa was on working terms with Pedrarias, was not welcome to him,
for a change in governors might cause him delay. So the Adelantado
remarked to his notary that it would be well to send to Adá to
ascertain whether Lope de Sosa were yet arrived. If he were, then
Balboa could not put to sea too soon. If he were not, some much
needed iron and pitch might be obtained, and the preparations could
be continued. Four men composed the party to go to Adá: Andrés
Garabito, Luis Botello, Fernando Múñoz, and Andres de Valderrábano.
They were to make their visit by night and to gather information
from the servant who would be found in Balboa's house.
But the crisis foretold by the astrologer and registered by the star
had come. Garabito under a dissembling exterior hated Balboa for
having admonished him against attempted familiarities with Careta's
daughter. He had even written to Pedrarias that Balboa cared naught
for Doña Maria, to whom he was betrothed, and meant at the earliest
opportunity to renounce the Governor personally as well as
politically. Furthermore, the remark of Balboa about a speedy
putting to sea had been overheard by a sentry, who, mistaking it for
treason, had so reported it to Garabito or Botello. Finally, the
period within which the Adelantado was to be ready for sea, under
agreement with the Governor, had been much exceeded and Pedrarias
would not extend it; and when Balboa's chief financial backer,
Fernando de Arguello, wrote advising a putting to sea at once, the
letter was intercepted.
Garabito and Botello on their nocturnal visit to Ada were both
apprehended, and what they related to Pedrarias deeply implicated
Balboa in disloyalty and intrigue. How the story roused Pedrarias,
primitive Spaniard that he was, to a cold fury, distinctly appears
in the counter measures which he took. To Balboa he penned a
beguiling letter, inviting him to come to Adá. To Francisco Pizarro
— the model subordinate, the ever-dutiful one—he at the same time
gave orders to gather a force, meet Balboa, and arrest him. The
Adelantado came. Warnings he received, but he disregarded them.
Before he had crossed the sierra he was met by Pizarro's force. The
leader himself stepped forward and made the arrest. "It is not
thus," said Balboa, smiling sadly, "that you were wont to come forth
to receive me, Francisco Pizarro."
Balboa's trial was conducted by the alcalde mayor or chief judge,
Gaspar de Espinosa, and the Adelantado's entire record, from the
days of Enciso and Nicuesa, was admitted against him. Even so he
would have been allowed an appeal to the Crown, had it not been for
the Governor, who would not assent to it.
At Santa Maria, in the plaza, a scaffold and block were prepared,
and early in the morning of a day in January, 1519, Balboa was led
forth in chains. Before him walked the town crier exclaiming:
"Behold the traitor and usurper!" " 'Tis false!" retorted Balboa,
"never have I been disloyal!" With this, he mounted the scaffold and
received the sacrament. His head was then cut off upon a hatchment
cloth and stuck upon a pole. The same day, until past nightfall,
were beheaded in ghastly succession Valderrábano, Botello, Múñoz,
and Arguello. Pedrarias, it is said, witnessed the executions from
behind the shelter of a lattice; while as for Garabito, he reaped a
not uncommon reward of treachery in the salvation of his own life.
Thus the third voyage of Columbus, the voyage for pearls, brought
about, as a first great result, the occupation of that part of the
mainland of America now known as the Isthmus of Panama and the
discovery of the Pacific Ocean. As its second great result, it
brought about, though less directly, the occupation of Mexico, a
tale which remains to be told.
Back to: The Spanish Conquerors
