Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, Transmitted to Congress, With the Annual Message of the President, December 3, 1888, Part II

No. 819.
Mr. Whitehouse to Mr. Bayard.

Legation of the United States,
Mexico, November 12, 1888. (Received November 20.)

No. 182.]

Sir: Late on the 10th instant I received your telegram of same date, which reads as follows:

Formally request extradition Shields and Wilson.

Although I was not in possession of any of the papers usually required in making such formal requests, and was informed of nothing further in the case since I reported my action in my No. 178, of November 1 last, I at once drafted a note to Mr. Mariscal, making as formal a request as I could under the circumstances, and myself handed it to the minister, giving him verbally the necessary explanations.

I explained to Mr. Mariscal that according to the best of my belief the crime for which Shields and Wilson had been arrested had been committed in a border State, and as they were also in jail in a border State, article 2 of the treaty of 1861 seemed to apply to their case, and the extradition ought consequently to be effected between governor and governor or commissioners without difficulty, unless complications with which I was unacquainted had arisen.

Mr. Mariscal promised me that he would telegraph immediately to the governor of Coahuila, asking him if application for extradition had been made to him, and directing him to act (when such application was made) in accordance with the treaty stipulations. He also promised me to inform me as soon as an answer arrived.

Since my last dispatch (No. 178, of the 1st instant), in which I in formed you of the telegram received from Marshal Rankin, from San Antonio, Texas, stating that he would be in Muzquiz “in four days,’ and of my communication to Señor Mariscal, I have had nothing further concerning the case, and had supposed he (Rankin) had been able to secure the prisoners without further trouble.

It would appear strange that if Rankin had any difficulty in convincing the governor of Coahuila as to his right to take possession of the prisoners that he did not communicate the fact to this legation, or that the Mexican Government should have received no intimation of such a difficulty, as Senor Mariscal assured me was the case.

At present I am at a loss to understand whether your telegram of the 10th was suggested by the receipt of my No. 178, or owing to some to me as yet unknown complication in the case.

Up to the moment of mailing this dispatch I have heard nothing from Mr. Mariscal.

Trusting that I shall be considered to have acted in full conformity with your wishes and intentions in the matter,

I am, etc.,

H. Remsen Whitehouse.

[Inclosure in No. 182.]

Mr. Whitehouse to Mr. Mariscal.

Legation of the United States,
Mexico, November 10, 1888.

Sir: I am in receipt of a telegram from the Secretary of State instructing me to formally request from your excellency’s Government the extradition of the prisoners Shields and Wilson, at present held by the courtesy of the Mexican Government in jail at Muzquiz.

As your excellency is aware, these men are accused of murder committed in the United States.

The United States marshal, Mr. Rankin, duly authorized by the Attorney-General of the United States, to receive and escort these men, is at present in Muzquiz, and I would again earnestly request of your excellency that, on the presentation of his official papers to the governor of Coahuila, the marshal may be allowed to take possession of the prisoners.

I have, etc.

H. Remsen Whitehouse.