File No. 125.29781/43.
[Untitled]
Sir: I have the honor to transcribe herewith the text of the telegraphic report received from Mr. Fabela, regarding the charge against the Consular Agent at Parral, and two other Americans, for passing counterfeit money. The text in translation is as follows:
The Officer in charge of the Department of Foreign Relations, Juarez City: At 3:20 p.m. today, when I received your dispatches Nos. 252 and 253 of this date, Messrs. Edward A Powers, F. C. Hopkins, and E. F. Johnson were set at liberty on your sole bailbond, pending investigation of the question of their release, as provided by law, it being understood that proceedings were taken against these gentlemen because they appeared in the inquiry which took place in this court in regard to the counterfeiting of bills issued by the general treasury of the State, which [fact] has been fully proven by means of the juridical and expert examination of approximately $18000, which serve as the material evidence (corpus delicti) of the counterfeiting, and because there are sufficient data at hand to warrant holding the said Powers, Hopkins, and Johnson guilty of having placed them in circulation in this city. This is a crime for which the law prescribes corporal punishment, the proceedings having been entirely in accordance with the legislative provisions recommended in Circular No. 5 of the Department of Foreign Relations under date of August 14, 1886, and of the consular law of November 26, 1889, the first of the persons mentioned being Consul of the United States, he having been arrested but not yet imprisoned because he was granted yesterday at 5 p.m. a period of 24 hours within which to secure the papers of the Consulate and appear before this [Page 659] Court to be detained, only the latter two persons having been interrogated up to the present. All of which I communicate to you for your information, in compliance with the military order which you transcribed to me in the second of your aforementioned dispatches. All of which I bring to the knowledge of your department in pursuance of Circular No. 5 of August 14, 1886.
From what I can discover from this distance, it appears that Mr. Powers, as representative of the Alvarado Mining Co. in Parral, made an agreement with the Constitutionalist authorities to buy their Mexican money from them at a rate of about three for one. That, ignoring this agreement, they came to El Paso and purchased a large sum of Constitutionalist money at a low rate and took it to Parral and put it into circulation, and that it turned out to be counterfeit. It is a fact that large quantities of counterfeit Constitutionalist currency has been discovered here, and there are several indictments have been made in the courts here.
I have [etc.]