No. 842.
Mr. Romero to Mr. Bayard.
Washington, December 9, 1887. (Received December 10.)
Mr. Secretary: During an interview which I had with yon on the 17th ultimo, in consequence of your note of the day previous, you informed me that a telegram dated El Paso, Texas, October 7, 1887, and published in the Globe Democrat, of Saint Louis, Missouri, of October 8, had been communicated to the Department of State, of which telegram I took, during the said interview, the following memorandum:
James Burnett ran a train as engineer on the Central Railway from El Paso to Chihuahua in October, 1886, and met on the way a drove of asses. He pulled the bell and blew the whistle and reversed his engine. On reaching Chihuahua and oiling his engine, he found the body of a Mexican on the cow-catcher with his head broken. The engineer, the conductor, and the fireman were imprisoned by order of the competent court. The two latter, however, were speedily released, and bail to a large amount was required from the engineer. The superior court after wards reduced the bail to $300. The engineer continued to run his engine in Mexico until a strike occurred, in which he took part, and came to El Paso, Texas. His friends here urged him to pay the amount of the bail and not to return to Mexico. He, however, thought this unnecessary, and continued going to Mexico and returning. Early in September last he was arrested in Mexico and sentenced to ten years’ imprisonment.
As I told you in our aforesaid interview that I would do, I at once called the attention of the Mexican Government, and, in a private letter, that of the governor of the State of Chihuahua to the statements contained in the above telegram, and I have to-day received a reply from the governor, bearing date of the 30th of November last (a copy of which I inclose to you), which shows that the statements communicated to your Department on this subject were incorrect. It appears from that letter that James Burnett was arrested on the 15th of January, 1886; that he was declared to have been properly arrested on the 17th and released on bail on the 30th by the local judge of the State of Chihuahua, his imprisonment having lasted for but fifteen days. On the 17th of August last he was again arrested, because the party who had furnished bail for him, and who had taken part in the strike, withdrew the bail, and the case having been taken before the federal judge of the district of Chihuahua, he pronounced decision on the 15th of October last, ordering a suspension of proceedings, and releasing Burnett on bail until the circuit court should have reviewed his decision.
The report of the governor of Chihuahua contains a simple explanation of what has taken place in this case, and it appears therefrom that the information furnished to the Department of State, viz, that Burnett had been sentenced to ten years’ imprisonment, was not in accordance with the facts.
I have as yet received no reply on this subject from the Federal Government [Page 1257] of Mexico. I suppose, however, that when it comes it will contain the same information that has been furnished by the governor of Chihuahua in the private letter to me.
I think proper, in this connection, to call your attention to the frequency with which wholly unfounded or greatly exaggerated reports are sent from the frontier to the newspapers of this country concerning occurrences that have taken place or are supposed to have taken place in Mexico.
Be pleased, etc.,