CO notary law 24-21-502(6) authorizes a notary to take a deposition or other sworn testimony. But, the procedure is not taught in notary training classes.
It was common for notaries to take depositions during the Old West era. CO had territorial notaries from 1861 until statehood in 1876. Today, this type of work is done by trained court reporters. I bought a used court reporter handbook on eBay for my notary reference library.
The most famous are depositions taken in 1865 by Denver notary Alexander W. Atkins of responses to questions prepared by the U.S. Congress during its investigation of the actions of military officers who attacked the Cheyenne/Arapahoe prairie village on their reservation on November 29, 1864, known as the Sand Creek Massacre. It is now a National Historic Site in Kiowa County.
The deposition preamble reads: Interrogatories propounded to (Colonel) John M. Chivington by the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War, and answers thereto given by said Chivington reduced to writing, and subscribed and sworn to before Alexander W. Atkins, notary public, at Denver, in the Territory of Colorado.
The notarial certificate reads: Sworn and subscribed to before me this 26th day of April, 1865.
ALEXANDER W. ATKINS, Notary Public
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