No. 334.
Mr. Porter
to Mr. Jackson.
Washington, August 23, 1886.
Sir: Your dispatch No. 291, of the 10th instant, communicating Mr. Mariscal’s reply of that date to the inquiries you were instructed to make touching the murder of Francisco Resures (heretofore erroneously called Arresures) has been received.
Mr. Bayard’s instruction No. 233, of the 14th instant, has anticipated a reply to Mr. Mariscal’s three points that Resures was not a citizen of the United States; that he was surrendered upon a regular demand of extradition, and that he was attempting escape from his guard when shot.
Mr. Mariscal, quoting from the telegram addressed to him by the authorities of the State of Coahuila, says:
The chief of the Coahuila Guards of Public Safety officially requested him (Resures) from the American authorities (lo pidió oficialmente á autoridades Americanas).
No information has yet reached this Department to show that Mondragon, or any other officer of the State of Coahuila, made the formal application for extradition contemplated by the treaty, with the indispensable evidence to “establish,” as Article I provides, the “feet of the commission of the crime” charged against the alleged fugitive. If Señor Mariscal can obtain satisfactory proof of the official demand which he asserts was made, it is in the interest of justice, both municipal and international, that it should be produced. The execution of a compact between nations for the mutual extradition of fugitives from justice is too important a matter to be left in doubt or fall into discredit through proceedings in contravention of its letter and spirit. It is alleged by the Texan extraditing magistrate that the application was orally made without production of evidence to sustain the charge. If this be so, a clear case of kidnapping is made out against all concerned in the forcible deportation of Resures, and the treaty of extradition cannot be invoked to cloak the act whereby the unfortunate man was delivered into the hands of Mondragon.
I am, &c.,
Acting Secretary.