No. 477.
Mr. Foster
to Mr. Fish.
Mexico, April 15, 1874. (Received April 27.)
Sir: In my dispatch No. 119, March 7, I communicated the details of the assassination of Rev. John L. Stephens, a Protestant missionary, at Ahualulco, in the State of Jalisco, and the prompt action of the Mexican government towards the punishment of the assassins.
Up to the present date seven of the guilty parties have been tried and condemned to death, from which sentence they have appealed to the supreme court. Twelve or fifteen more persons, charged with complicity in the crime, are under arrest, awaiting trial, including the cura of the parish of Ahualulco.
President Lerdo, in a recent interview given to the Protestant missionaries resident in this city, declared it to be his determination to use every means in his power to secure the punishment of the assassins of Mr. Stephens, to protect the Protestant missionaries in the free exercise of their labors, and to maintain religious toleration throughout the republic.
I am, &c.,