Mr. Gresham to Mr. Guzmán.
Washington, September 28, 1894.
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge receipt of your note of the 25th instant, requesting that a preliminary warrant be issued for the institution of extradition proceedings against Don Antonio Ezeta for the murder of Don José Guillen on April 15, 1891.
[Page 575]I beg to remind you that on the 11th of August last a preliminary warrant was, at your request, issued by this Department, in order that Ezeta and others might be examined by the proper judicial authorities of the United States for extradition upon the charges of murder, robbery, and arson. It is understood that Ezeta and his associates were, upon the application of your Government, examined, with a view to their extradition, before a United States judge in the city of San Francisco, and that Ezeta was, as a result of that examination, discharged. Your Government must have known at the time of those proceedings of the offense for which you now ask that Ezeta be extradited, and, you might have adduced evidence of that offense before the judge who heard the other charges. Indeed, for aught that appears from your communication, or is otherwise known to this Department, the charge of murdering Guillen was one of those made against Ezeta in the proceedings already had. Whether it was actually made or not, it might have been made, and I do not feel warranted under these circumstances in setting on foot new proceedings against him. In addition to this ground for declining to entertain your request, I may add it is believed that Ezeta, on being discharged, left San Francisco, and is now in Mexico, beyond the jurisdiction of the United States.
Accept, etc.,