No. 305.
Mr. Schuchardt to Mr. Hunter.
Piedras Negras, Mexico, March 29, 1873. (Rec’d April 10.)
Sir: Dr. A. Adams, an American resident of Zaragoza, (San Fernando,) a Mexican town thirty-six miles from here, communicates to me that he has received information through Ramon Perez, a Mexican of that place, that from three to four hundred Indians are encamped in the cañon San Rodrigo, about two days’ riding north from Zaragoza, and one and one-half days from the Remolino, and in a direct line probably not over sixty miles from the Rio Grande; that the said party is composed of Lipans, Mescaleros, and Comanches; that they had recently returned from a campaign into Texas, bringing a large drove of horses and mules with them. The said Ramon Perez also saw in the camp of these Indians a boy, which he thinks is German and about eight years old, but to whom he was not allowed to speak. The Lipan who had the boy in possession said he had bought him from the Comanches. Dr. Adams says that there is no chance to rescue the boy through the Mexican authorities; the moment a request would be made by them on the Indians, they would leave the neighborhood of the settlements. The Mexican, Ramon Perez, who has gone again to the Indian camp, is authorized by Dr. Adams to ransom the boy from the Indians if possible. This he considers the only way to recover him, and in case Perez does not succeed in that, he will try to bring at least such information which may lead to the discovery of the home of the unfortunate boy. Washa-lo, an old Lipan who carries on trade all the time between the settlements and his tribe, [Page 709] told that he and his brother were present when five different tribes of Indians made a treaty with the whites at a place at which to arrive it took him twelve days’ riding; that he had received there from the whites money and provisions, and also a paper in which was stated that he and his brother had been present at the treaty. Washa-lo is known among the Mexican people as a story-teller, and they doubt a great deal of what he says when he comes in from time to time.
The colonias militares, (military detachments for the defense of this frontier of Mexico,) which had been called away at the outbreak of the late revolution, have not been re-established yet.
I am, &c.,
United States Commercial Agent.