The excavations continued on September 10, 1877, between the empty vault and the wall. A large stone was found, and a piece broken off, disclosing another vault containing what appeared to be a square box. The bishop and the Italian consul were sent for immediately and upon their arrival the orifice was slightly enlarged and a metal box became clearly visible. It was covered with the dust of centuries, but an inscription was seen, in which abbreviations of the words "First Admiral" could faintly be distinguished. The work was stopped at once, the doors of the cathedral were locked and all the principal persons of the city invited to attend the further investigation of the vault's contents. The report of the find rapidly spread through the city, though distorted in some quarters, for one of the workmen hearing the bishop's joyful exclamation, "Oh, what a treasure!" conceived the idea that the box was full of gold pieces and so informed the people that gathered outside. The formal opening of the vault on the afternoon of that day and the examination of its contents are minutely described in the notarial document drawn up on the occasion: "In the City of Santo Domingo on the tenth of September of the year eighteen hundred and seventy-seven. At four o'clock in the afternoon upon invitation of the most illustrious and reverend Doctor Friar Roque Cocchia, Bishop of Orope, Vicar and Apostolic Delegate of the Holy See in the Republics of Santo Domingo, Venezuela and Haiti, assisted by presbyter Friar Bernardino d'Emilia, secretary of the bishopric, by the honorary penitentiary canon, presbyter Francisco Javier Billini, rector and founder of the College of San Luis Gonzaga and of the charity asylum, apostolic missionary and acting curate of the holy cathedral, and by presbyter Eliseo J'Andoli, assistant curate of the same, there met in the holy cathedral General Marcos A. Cabral, Minister of the Interior and Police; Licentiate Felipe Davila Fernandez de Castro, Minister of Foreign Relations; Joaquin Montolio, Minister of Justice and Public Instruction; General Manuel A. Caceres, Minister of Finance and Commerce; and General Valentin Ramirez Baez, Minister of War and the Navy; and the citizens General Braulio Alvarez, Civil and Military Governor of the Province of the Capital, assisted by his secretary Pedro Maria Gautier; the honorable members of the illustrious municipal council of this capital, citizen Juan de la C. Alfonseca, president, and citizens Felix Baez, Juan Bautista Paradas, Pedro Mota, Manuel Maria Cabral and Jose Maria Bonetti, members; General Francisco Ungria Chala, military commandant of this city; citizens Felix Mariano Lluveres, president of the legislative chamber and Francisco Javier Machado, deputy to the same chamber; the members of the consular corps accredited to the Republic, Messrs. Miguel Pou, Consul of H.M. the Emperor of Germany, Luis Cambiaso, Consul of H.M. the King of Italy, Jose Manuel Echeverri, Consul of H.