File No. 312.52/258.
The Spanish Ambassador to the Secretary of State.
Washington, May 3, 1914.
My Dear Mr. Secretary: I beg to inform you that I received a telegram last night from Sr. Joaquin Armendaiz, who is now at Alpine, Texas, in which he states that the Constitutionalists at Monterey have demanded 40,000 pesos from him as a payment to avoid the confiscation of his property. It is absolutely impossible for him to pay this sum and he asks me to appeal to you for protection.
Sr. Armendaiz has never taken any part in the politics of Mexico; he has already suffered greatly in his interests at the hands of the Constitutionalists, and if this last demand is enforced, it means financial ruin to him.
I beg you therefore to interpose your good offices on his behalf, and to make the necessary representations to the Constitutionalists, in order to prevent the confiscation of the property of my compatriot.
Believe me [etc.]