No. 489.
Mr. Foster
to Mr. Fish.
Legation of
the United States,
Mexico, August 22, 1874.
(Received September 8.)
No. 173.]Sir: In my dispatch No. 160, June 27, I
communicated the intelligence of the murder of John W. Dunbar and Adolphus
Straus, American citizens, at Mazatlan, in the month of May last. According
to the facts furnished me by the consul at Mazatlan, the murders were of an
aggravated and shocking character, and of such flagrant boldness as to call
for the most active and vigorous measures of the local authorities. But the
consul informs me that much indifference was manifested by the police and
officials, and that, although a few arrests were made, as he anticipated,
all have been released and the murderers are unpunished and at liberty.
In view of the fact that so many murders and personal outrages of American
citizens have been reported to me without, up to the present date, a single
punishment by the courts, notwithstanding the earnest representations of
this legation and the various consulates in this country, I felt that the
two occurrences above stated required my prompt and decided remonstrance
with the Mexican government. I accordingly, on the 11th instant, addressed
Mr. Lafragua the note, of which I inclose herewith a copy, and to which I
ask the attention of the Department of State.
I have nothing new to report officially in regard to the murder of Mr.
Alexander Saunders in the State of Nuevo Leon, and of Rev. John L. Stevens
at Ahualulco, in the State of Jalisco, both of which have been the subject
of dispatches to the Department. Notwithstanding some of the murderers of
these American citizens were arrested and placed upon trial under the
summary law of 1869, which requires a speedy trial and
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execution within a brief period, and that
eight and five and a half months have elapsed, I have not, as yet, been
informed that any punishments have taken place. I have repeatedly, in
personal interviews, directed Mr. Lafragua’s attention to these cases, and
especially in that of Rev. Mr. Stevens, expressed to him the interest
manifested by yourself and by the public in the United States. In my last
interview on the subject, on the 8th of July, I made inquiry as to the
progress of the trials, and stated that, from the information furnished me
as to the apparent indifference of the local authorities, I feared that no
adequate punishment would be inflicted upon the murderers. Mr. Lafragua
promised to communicate at once with the State authorities and advise me of
the result. But up to this date I have no further information from him on
the subject; neither have I, at the hour of closing this dispatch for the
mail, received a reply to the inclosed note of the 11th instant.
I am, &c.,
[Inclosure in No. 173.]
Mr. Foster to Mr.
Lafragua.
Legation of the United States,
Mexico, August 11,
1874.
Sir: I beg leave to bring to your excellency’s
attention the fact, that under date of the 16th of May last, the consul
of the United States at Mazatlan advised me of the murder of two
American citizens at that place. He states, that on the 5th day of May
of this present year, John W. Dunbar, an American citizen, resident in
San Francisco, California, was seized in a street of Mazatlan, and
confined in a house; and that on the morning of the next day his dead
body was found on a vacant lot in the outskirts of the city, stabbed
with knives, and robbed of all his money and valuables.
The consul also informs me that on the 14th of the same month, Adolphus
Straus, an American citizen, was kidnapped in the same city in open day,
between 4 and 5 o’clock in the afternoon, taken to a vacant house in the
heart of the city, robbed of jewelry and other valuables he had in his
possession, amounting to about $3,000, and murdered, there being found
upon his dead body fifteen wounds inflicted with knives or poniards.
I did not bring these fearful murders to your excellency’s attention at
the time, as the consul advised me that he had made complaint to the
local civil authorities; that he was urging them to vigorous measures
for the arrest and punishment of the criminals; and that notwithstanding
an apparent reluctance on the part of the police in the latter case,
some arrests had been made, and the investigations were progressing. I
deemed it best not to question in advance the zeal or disposition of the
local authorities to administer strict and speedy punishment upon the
perpetrators of these crimes against Mexican society as well as against
American citizenship. But on the 16th of July last the consul informed
me that his fears had been realized, and that the murderers of both
Dunbar and Straus were all at liberty.
During the short time that I have been in charge of this legation, I have
been officially informed by the consuls of my Government, resident in
different localities of the republic of Mexico, of the death of thirteen
American citizens by violence and outrage, some of them murders of the
most horrid character and revolting to our common civilization. In
addition to these I have also received official intelligence of several
brutal assaults and personal outrages upon American citizens, not
resulting in loss of life. In some of these cases I have felt it my duty
to bring the facts to the attention of your excellency’s government, and
in others direct information has been given by the consular
representatives of the United States to the local authorities. But I am
sorry to state that up to the present date I am not aware that there has
been one single punishment inflicted for all this long list of murders
and personal outrages. It is, therefore, with the most sincere regret,
and under the most urgent conviction of the duty which I owe to the
dignity and honor of my Government, and to the safety of the lives and
persons of American residents and travelers in this country, that I
earnestly remonstrate against the apparent indifference and negligence
of the local authorities to punish crimes and injuries inflicted upon
American citizens by Mexicans, and call upon the federal government of
Mexico to use, in an effective manner, its influence and its authority
to protect the lives of my countrymen, and to punish those who murder
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and maltreat them. I do
not lose sight of the turbulent state of society, which, in past years,
has made it difficult for the federal government to exercise full
authority to repress and punish crime. But, happily, during the
administration of the present chief magistrate of Mexico, peace has
prevailed, and the supremacy of the government has been and is
acknowledged throughout the republic. So, also, the State and local
governments, with few exceptions, are exercising uninterruptedly their
functions, and the judiciary is everywhere installed with the full force
of law, and its mandates respected and obeyed. Especially has this state
of affairs existed in the localities where the murders of American
citizens referred to have occurred.
Such being the peaceful condition of the country, I am constrained to
express to your excellency my conviction, in view of the fact that so
many murders of American citizens have taken place in so short a time,
without a single punishment, that the federal government of Mexico
should adopt some effective measures to counteract the prejudices and
hostility of the people and the indifference of the local authorities
toward the rights and persons of American citizens which, unfortunately,
is apparent in certain portions of the republic. I must at the same time
express my appreciation, both of the marked consideration which your
excellency has at all times shown to the representations which I have
made in behalf of my countrymen, as well as of the desire expressed by
your government to secure the punishment of the criminals who have
outraged Mexican society and defied American citizenship. These friendly
manifestations give assurance to my hope that vigorous and effective
measures may be adopted to put an end to this grievous catalogue of
crimes.
I improve this occasion to reiterate to your excellency the high
consideration and esteem with which I am, your obedient servant,
