[Inclosure.]
Mr. Schuchardt to
Mr. Hunter.
Commercial Agency of the United States of
America,
Piedras Negras,
Mexico, July 21,
1872.
No. 81.]
Sir: Compelled by the circumstances, and
called on by a distressed family to act without delay in the
below-described case, I had the honor to send to the Department the
following telegram, through the agency of the postmaster at San
Antonio, Texas:
United States Commercial
Agency,
Piedras Negras,
Mexico, July 21, 1872.
Honorable Second Assistant
Secretary of State, Washington, D. C:
Abraham Gonzalez kidnapped, in United States territory, by
Pedro A. Valdes, now occupying Laredo, Mexico. Instructions
to commander of Fort Mcintosh, Laredo, Texas, respectfully
requested to demand person and property of Gonzalez from
Valdes.
WM. SCHUCHARDT,
United
States Commercial Agent.
I have the honor to inclose herewith a copy of the letter of Rafael
Gonzalez, the brother of Abraham, who was kidnapped, and translation
of said letter. This is the second time that Pedro A. Valdes, since
he is a refugee in the United States, organized expeditions in that
country to invade Mexico for the purpose to commit depredations in
the defenseless villages of this country, and he seems to think that
he can violate the laws with impunity of the country which gave gave
him an asylum, and under whose flag he returns for protection when
he comes back from his raids into Mexico. Most of the men who
composed his command when he evacuated this place are a scourge for
this Texas frontier.
On May 27, while Valdes was prisoner in San Antonio, Texas, for
violation of the neutrality laws, and enticing United States
soldiers to desert, a party of his followers organized, in Eagle
Pass, Texas, an expedition, crossed over to Mexico, and committed
depredations in the villages of this district. These men had in
their possession seven horses, which were stolen from a ranch on the
Texas side on the 26th of May, together with a number of mares and
colts. The herder of these animals was murdered on the 25th of May,
which acts were attributed to Indians, but the direction of the
tracks of the stolen horses, which were followed by the owners, did
not confirm the idea that Indians had committed these crimes, but
rather that these roaming Mexicans, who call themselves exiles,
despise honest work, and have no means to support themselves, had
committed them.
I am, &c,
[Translation.]
Mr. Gonzalez to
Mr. Schuchardi.
Rio
Grande, July 20,
1872.
Sir: Having on the left side of the Bravo,
on a ranch called de los Garzas, twenty-five miles below Fort
Duncan, in Maverick County, a train of carts and oxen in charge of
my brother, Abraham Gonzalez, for which carts and oxen I have paid
the corresponding duties in the custom-house of Eagle Pass, Pedro A.
Valdes had come to said place, with a force organized in the State
of Texas, and has kidnapped my brother, carrying him off, mounted
and armed, probably for the purpose that my brother could not notify
the United States authorities that he (Valdes) was organizing an
expedition in Texas with the object to rob the villages of Mexico,
as he has done different times already, violating by that the
neutrality laws. As this criminal act, committed on the 14th
instant, on the person of my brother, Abraham Gonzalez, is in
violation of the laws of the United States, I apply to you, as agent
of the same, that you may take the convenient steps, without delay,
which the case demands, for the purpose that my brother might be
demanded from said Valdes, who is in Laredo, Mexico, before he
leaves that place, because I am afraid that another criminal act
might be committed besides that committed already, and I wish the
prompt demand which the United States authorities will make for the
liberation of my brother. Your obedient servant,
