No. 498.
Mr. Bayard to Mr. Romero.
Washington, December 15, 1886.
Sir: Referring to your note of the 8th instant, relative to the case of Marcus E. Mayer, alias Charles Bourton, charged with obtaining money in the City of Mexico by the fraudulent sale of tickets for the operatic [Page 870] performances of the company of Madam Adelina Patti, I have the honor to inform you that this Department, while desirous of aiding in every proper way the execution of the treaty of the 11th of December, 1861, is not, in my judgment, authorized to advise or instruct the police in the various localities named in your note to exert vigilance in the apprehension of the fugitive.
As has already been pointed out, the provisions of section 5270 of the Revised Statutes are deemed sufficint for the purpose of obtaining the fugitive’s arrest, and unless some other way is prescribed by treaty those provisions contain the only method prescribed by the laws of the United States for the institution of proceedings in extradition. Under that law extradition proceedings are initiated, like any other criminal prosecution, by the issuance of a warrant of arrest by a competent magistrate upon evidence required by statute of the commission of the offense charged.
The arrest of the fugitive upon this warrant is the duty of local police authorities, over whom this Department exercises no supervision, and whom it is not competent to advise or instruct. Accept, etc.,