Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, Transmitted to Congress with the Annual Message of the President, December 2, 1872, Part I
No. 261.
Mr. Fish to Mr. Nelson.
Washington, October 28, 1871.
Sir: I transmit a copy of a letter of the 30th ultimo, addressed to this Department by Frank E. Macmanus, esquire, district-attorney of the fifteenth judicial district of Texas, and of the report of the grand jury of Cameron County, in that State, to which it refers. These papers relate to the depredations of armed Mexicans on the herds and other property of citizens of Texas near the border. The Department has upon several occasions instructed you to make representation upon the subject to the Mexican government. The communication referred to will be an occasion for another remonstrance in regard to it.
You will be enabled to explain that a presentment of that character may be regarded as an exponent of public sentiment in the region where a grand jury exercises jurisdiction. As such this Government cannot disregard it.
If the Mexican government would adopt efficient measures toward checking the trespasses and robberies adverted to, such a course would be sure to strengthen the good will between the two countries.
I am, &c.,
Mr. Macmanus to Mr. Fish.
Cameron County, September 30, 1871.
Sir: The undersigned has the honor to invite your attention to the accompanying certified copy of the report of the grand jury of this county at the last term of the district court at this place. This report, for the reasons therein stated, reveals only a few instances of the depredations on American property committed by armed bands residing and organized in the territory of Mexico. The State and local authorities are powerless to prevent or punish those parties, who are well armed, equipped, and organized, or even to furnish protection to the inhabitants of the sparsely settled country between the Rio Grande and the Nueces River, who run the risk of their lives in giving information or invoking the protection of the laws of their country against the robbers.
In the hope that the facts revealed in this report may be deemed sufficient to justify an investigation and lead to the adoption of such measures as are necessary for the protection of stock-raisings which is the chief interest of Western Texas, the undersigned, as a public officer, has felt it his duty to specially direct the attention of the United States Government, through you, to the condition of affairs on this frontier.
I am, &c.,
Report of the grand jury of Cameron County, Texas.
Brownsville, Texas, August 28, 1871.
To the Hon. Wm. H. Russell, judge of the district court in and for the county of Cameron, State of Texas:
The grand jury beg leave to report that two-thirds of the time they have been in session has been devoted to inquiring into the wholesale stealing of cattle which has been, and is, constantly carried on to an alarming extent on this frontier. We have had before us fifty or sixty of the leading rancheros, living on the river, many of whom live in the vicinity of the various places where stolen cattle are driven across the Rio Grande into the republic of Mexico, and the facts elicited are such as to convince us that unless the United States Government interposes its strong arm, the stock interests will be so injured as to cause the depopulation and abandonment of all the stock ranches between the Rio Grande and the Nueces.
[Page 345]Undoubted evidence has also been adduced to the effect that all of those depredation have their origin on the Mexican side of the Rio Grande; that it is there the thieve organize and arm, and it is from there that our State is invaded by bands of Mexican citizens sufficiently large and sufficiently well-armed and mounted to defy capture and to contemn attack.
It would appear that the parties engaged in this illicit traffic are protected by the authorities of Mexico, from the well-known fact that no attempts are made to arrest the thieves, and that stolen cattle find a ready sale in open market there.
The jury found great difficulty in obtaining evidence, for the reason that there is no protection afforded the inhabitants by the military, and no State force adequate for the emergency, the witnesses knowing that the giving of information that would lead to indictments is equivalent to signing their own death-warrants; but sufficient information has reached us to warrant us in the statement that the whole section of country as far up the river as Hidalgo County, and as far back as Santa Gertrudes, in Nueces County, is completely under the control of armed thieves whose homes are in Mexico; who carry on their depredations and cross stolen cattle in immense numbers into Mexico in broad daylight, overawing the people into silence regarding their depredations by threatening death to all informers, and protecting the crossing when necessary by force of arms, as in one instance of late occurrence. This took place on the morning of the 29th of July last, after sun-up, at the Calabozo ranch in this county, some twelve or fifteen miles from Brownsville, where a party of well-disposed rancheros disputed the crossing of about one hundred and fifty head of stolen cattle, and were fired on from the Mexican bank by the party in charge, some twenty in number, who had previously succeeded in making their escape to the Mexican bank with a part of their booty. The fire was returned by the rancheros, and it is believed that three of the thieves were wounded.
It is the opinion of this jury that the above engagement, which lasted fully half an hour, is a flagrant violation of the neutrality laws, and a violent outrage against the peace, dignity, and sovereignty of the State and of the United States, and merits the prompt attention of the United States Government. It is broadly asserted that these armed miscreants have allies in these transactions residing in this city. The constant movement of transient persons belonging to the other side of the Rio Grande into and out of this city, renders it probable enough that this is true, but there has been no evidence of the fact presented to our attention in such a manner as to lead to their detection.
The want of an agent or agents on this frontier, duly authorized to represent the interest of stock-raisers at a distance in the recovery of stolen hides and animals, and the active prosecution of the thieves, is felt to be a serious drawback to all movements for their protection. The remedy for this is in the hands of the stock-raisers themselves.
Its frontier position renders this county a sort of outpost for the protection of the more interior counties of the State. The amount of local crime, or the number of criminals permanently resident here, is comparatively insignificant. Our jail is filled with foreign criminals, from whom our people are entitled to be protected by the State or Federal authorities. Instead of this our people are compelled to pay, in addition to the ordinary State taxes, an annual sum equally large for the support and prosecution of offenders for whose existence or crimes this county is in no way responsible. Its relation to the offenses of these criminals arises solely from our geographical position.
If we are to stand on duty as sentinels for the interior portions of the State, we should not be required to pay the State for not performing that duty for us.
The county jail is entirely inadequate for the purpose of keeping these criminals securely; but, for the reasons already stated, added to the destruction of the former jail in the storm of 1867, the financial condition of the county will not admit of an outlay for the improvement of the present temporary building, or the construction of a new one. An appropriation of the State tax for two years would enable the county to erect a jail adequate to the demands of its frontier position. This, and the regular assumption by the State of the annual expenditure of the county for the maintenance and prosecution of foreign criminals, would be an act of simple justice on the part of the legislature, and place the county on an equal footing with others more favorably situated in geographical position.
The sheriff is unable to maintain the prisoners confided to his charge at the rates now allowed by law, when he is compelled to receive at par county scrip that can only be sold at thirty-five to forty cents on the dollar. He must either starve the prisoners or feed them at his personal expense. This demands a remedy at the hands of the county court. The prisoners are better provided for than either the accommodation furnished by the county or the compensation allowed the sheriff, under the circumstances, demand or justify.
Foreman.
The State of Texas, County of Cameron, ss:
I, Robert B. Foster, clerk of the district court in and for the county of Cameron, fifteenth judicial district, State of Texas, do hereby certify that the foregoing is a true copy of the report of the grand jury for Cameron County, impaneled at the August term, 1871. Read in open court August 28, 1871, and ordered filed.
In testimony whereof, witness my hand and seal of said court this 21st day of September, A. D. 1871.
Clerk District Court, Cameron County, Texas.
To stock-raisers.
Brownsville, Cameron County, Texas, August 29, 1871.
Mr.— —:
Sir: The undersigned, at the request of prominent stock-raisers and citizens of this city and county, invites your co-operation in an effort which has been commenced at this place to render effective, for the benefit of the stock-raisers of Western Texas, the provisions of an act of the last legislature, entitled “An act to encourage stock-raising, and for the protection of stock-raising,” approved May 22, 1871. It is stated, on credible authority, that there are at present stored in Matamoras, Mexico, and awaiting shipment, over ten thousand hides of animals bearing American brands, stolen from this side of the Rio Grande.
On the 12th instant, a shipment of hides in bond was made from Matamoras, Mexico, to New Orleans, which reached this port in transitu. This was an attempt to evade the State inspection-law, by securing the protection of the United States custom-house authorities here for (stolen) “bonded” hides. As an experiment, it came near being successful. A search-warrant, issued on proper affidavit, showed that a large number of these hides, bearing well-known American brands of stolen animals, were concealed in this “bonded” shipment. They are detained for the benefit of the owners.
To render any effort made here effective in checking the wholesale robbery of stock-raisers, and recovering the stolen property, thereby depriving the thieves of their main source of profit, and chief inducement to persist in their depredations, it is necessary that you should have an agent at this place, duly authorized to represent you in any proceedings before the courts for the recovery or protection of your property. To this end, the undersigned presents to you the following names of substantial citizens and stock-raisers, permanent residents of this city and vicinity, who will probably consent to accept your agency in consideration of their interest, in common with yourself, in suppressing the depredations on live-stock, which are daily increasing in extent and audacity, and threaten the ultimate impoverishment or extinction of the stock-raising interest of the State. The names suggested are Louis Renaud and Alexander Werbiskie. On the 29th of July last a drove of one hundred and forty-one head of cattle, driven by twenty armed men, residing on the Mexican side of the river, reached the Rio Grande, at a ranch known as the Calabozo, about fifteen miles from here. One hundred and eleven of these had been crossed to Mexico before the neighboring rancheros were informed and assembled to prevent them. The thieves at once opened fire on our people from their position across the river, and a fight ensued, in which forty rounds of ammunition were exhausted. The thieves succeeded in carrying off the one hundred and eleven animals, and their hides are probably in Matamoros awaiting shipment “in bond” to the United States.
The form of an adequate power of attorney, which should be acknowledged before the county clerk, or a notary public, is herewith inclosed for signature, and a prompt answer solicited.
District Attorney, Fifteenth Judicial District, Texas,