When any salvaged property shall be taken up and secured, if it exceeds ten dollars ($10.00) in value, the taker up shall immediately go before a justice of the peace of the county and make an affidavit that the property was wrecked or lost and was in a perishable condition, as he or she believed, and that he or she was not instrumental, directly or indirectly, in causing the property to be so wrecked, lost, or set adrift, or placed in a perishable condition. He or she shall also state on oath an exact account of the quality and quantity of the property, the time that the property was taken up, and that he or she has not secreted or disposed of, directly or indirectly, any part thereof.