Note in Spanish under back flap

PRIZE COURT MAIL presented as evidence of a legal seizure of a blockade-runner. ANDERSON / S.C. // AUG / 26 [1861] with matching handstamped PAID 5, magenta manuscript court docket of “A No 7 / HHE” (Henry H. Elliot), the NEW YORK PRIZE COURT commissioner who initialed it as evidence in the case. This was one of the early prize court cases of the Civil War. Addressed to Emilio Puig, Esqr., Care of Spanish Consul, Charleston S.C. Puig was a Spanish citizen and prominent Catalán businessman who lived in Charleston and was involved in Prize Court cases both in 1861 and 1863. He more than once smuggled mail and important dispatches from Charleston to Cuba aboard blockade vessels.  Under the back flap (flap reinforced with archival document tape) is a note in Spanish to Puig signed “Malga” translating, “Emilio, If Mr. Hall is in Charleston, deliver the enclosed letter to him immediately and if he is not, send it without any delay to Aiken, as it is an important letter.”  Victor Malga was a cousin of Emilio Puig. V. Malga & Co. of Havana was in the import / export business and was connected with the W. P. Hall Co. Malga was a brother-in-law of Hall. Their companies were involved in shipping, maritime trade and blockade running in and out of Charleston during the Civil War. William Peroy Hall was born in Cuba in 1835 (1880 census).  Highlighted in an article in La Posta https://www.trishkaufmann.com/files/1QLaPostaCW4.pdf and a longer article in the American Philatelist https://www.trishkaufmann.com/files/FINAL-April-Section-05-KAUFMANN-sm.pdf  $4,000.