Office of the Historian

No. 484.
Mr. Morgan to Mr. Evarts.

Legation of the United States,
Mexico, August 10, 1880. (Received August 26.)
No. 77.]

Sir: Referring to my dispatch No. 62, I now inclose you translation of a note received by me this day from Mr. Ruelas, minister for foreign affairs, from which it would appear that eighteen of the rioters who assisted in murdering the three American citizens in the State of Michoacan on the 14th of March last, among whom are Cayetano Medina and Trinidad Mejia, who appear to have been the ringleaders therein, are in prison at Zitáeuaro, and that the strictest orders have been given that they shall be kept in safe custody; that the case is following the usual legal course, and is awaiting the result of the efforts which have been made on the part of the government to arrest others of these who appear to have been implicated in the murder, and that the superior tribunal of the State has issued orders to the judge of Zitácuaro not to wait for the execution of the orders of arrest above mentioned, but to proceed to a conclusion of the case.

Since my last upon this subject, I have seen a gentleman who lives in the immediate vicinity of the murder, who stated to me in substance what Mr. Ruelas does, in so far as the confinement of the eighteen prisoners is concerned.

I am, &c.,

P. H. MORGAN.
[Inclosure in No. 77.—Translation.]

Mr. Ruelas to Mr. Morgan.

Department of Foreign Affairs,
Mexico, August 9, 1880.

Mr. Minister: With reference to my note of the 5th of June last, relative to the tumult which took place in Anganqueo, State of Michoacan, the 14th of March last, I have the honor to say to your excellency that from the report rendered by the governor [Page 768] it appears that it has been possible to apprehend eighteen individuals of those complicated in the tumult, among them Cayetano Medina and Trinidad Mejia, who appear to have been its originators; all of them are prisoners in the Zitácuaro jail, the strictest orders for their secure custody having been issued; that the case is faking its legal course pending the result of some requisitions which have been made for the apprehension of other persons who appear to be complicated, and that the superior tribunal of the State had issued its orders to the judge of Zitácuaro to hasten the conclusion of the case, without awaiting the result of the said requisitions.

Your excellency will please accept the assurances which I again reiterate of my most distinguished consideration.

M. RUELAS.