No. 506.
Señor de
Zamacona to Mr. Blaine.
Washington, July 25, 1881.
Mr. Secretary: In amplification of my note of the 19th of April last, and referring to that of the Department of State of May 3, both of which had reference to the abuses frequently committed by Texas police officers, who cross the frontier and exercise jurisdiction in Mexico, I now have to inform you that this legation has recently been advised that similar abuses are again being committed at various points on the line which separates Mexico from the United States.
According to reports received from the custom-house at Palominas, Mexico, and from the Mexican consul at Tucson, a sheriff, accompanied by three men, crossed the dividing line on the 3d of February last (having come from Tombstone, Ariz.) and, without complying with the formalities prescribed by the extradition treaty, captured a fugitive criminal and returned with him to Arizona.
In view of these facts, the Government of Mexico has instructed me to present a formal demand for the punishment of the officers who shall be found to have been guilty of such irregularities, and to state, in its behalf, that the desire on its part, to secure the adoption of penal and repressive measures, is inspired not only by a sentiment of wounded national dignity, but by solicitude for the re-establishment of respect [Page 838] for law and treaty in the frontier districts of both countries, this being a matter in which both republics are equally interested.
I reiterate to you, &c.,