New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1868-11-13
NIEXICO.
THE rATONI MURDER-CANToS HEAklN S,,rI DE-
FORE THE MEXICAN CONGRESS-rIE SIIUN-


Mvxrco. Oct 2Q.-Tho late hearing OF the case u
c. Co,'to heforo the full tribunal Of Congress-
,nust occ,,nv a peculiar and lasting place III any
..- ,f Nf.vico Canto was a soldier OF the "ON-
or,r,ert in command at Durango, Wheic' one mum
;,oorIy two months ago, he took ont OF ms lodg-
;,cs Cen. Patoni q released OrtegalSt Oh honoiaple
,enntation. and had him barbarously aSSasslnated'
T,yo very respectable witnesses declare that he NM
se,f confessed having perpctrated tins murder Oy
secret orders from the Government ms the OoV-
,,,,nont yehementy denied and gave orders for his
strictest confinement CantO, claiming his privilege
90 member elect of Congress to be heard by that
LILY he was brought to the capital week ago,
,,nder close guard Congress- in solemn
state. heard the deposition of his chief ac-
cuser the wife of Gen. Paton and listened
70 statement equally impressive from the Ups
of Gov PalaciOs of Durango, who j0urneyed from
that State with the prisoner purpose to prosecute
him before the bar of Government; Canto replied
bv his lawyers with defense exceedingly lame lls
Commission of the Murder was patent and evident
pubic curiosity Centered upon the question: us
10 the suggested or alleged completely oi NE Govern
IDcnt Siugularly the prisoner now replies 10 ihe
accusation of Gen. Donate Guerra. VINO cOnlhatieu
uudrr him. tlat he made no such statement as ihal
Inc Government had given him secret orders Inc
facts of the murder as elected before the Jury oI
Congress are as follOWS: 49,, 49,
III h,D ars that Patoni who had asked ana re-
ccvrd am unconditional release rom prison. S.afleu
for his homo I'm Durango The moment tli@t ne AZ
Tyef of y1Catecns Gen. Canto informed the Govern
mont tult he was coming 10 DURANGO, where ne
wonld be- completely watched. Mrs: Paionl declared
I'm letter to one OF her friends thai her husband was
watched during his journey 10y men IN masks; bui
these NAV have been robbers merely. Pat0nl arrived
i'm DURANGO on the nth of August. AZ SOclock next
mornins he was tom from the arms OF his t0rebodng
wife a.d conducted to suburb, where uhkhoNIn 10
fhc scrpilg city, he was taken by body Oh sOHlclS
and ssasSnatcd The night OF IMoms arIlNai
CautO was at evening party with the Governor Oh
DURANGO. and hearing OF Patonls WHEREABOUTS ne
iirpl
lodged should be secured. Next morning the pOti-
cal chief of the place was called to visit the
suburb of ANalcO, where he recognizes the corpse OF
Patoni, with f0ur shots IN ms skull; one III. me
shoulder, and the facedsiguTed by balls; me Heht-
ON being questioned declared that he knew nothing
Obout the murder and would help justice to md ont
the criminal. However, the case begins to clear. III
j. found that GalindO. Felipe, ana 0thci olcels Vi
CantO's division, along with eight soldiers CONDUCT
cd PatOni out of the city, and hred upon NM III is
said, though not Yet brought IN evidence; Vnat lhe
soldiers manifested unwillingness to do the deed OF
murder. lie fell wOunded he was again shot at
One BecerTa. an officer, seeing him in convuslons
discharged his pistol in the dying mans face, The
body was taken to the hospital, where MIS-. fatohl
threw herself upon it and rent the ar with her cries.
CantO declined jurisdiction asserting that he was
deputy TO Congress 1t Is known that Cant0
before leaving the house of the, Governor
whittier he had been called after the murder,
Lad nm interview with sergeant of the same cOmpa
NV as GalindO the officer charged with Patonls as
sassnatiOn in Mexico an ohGgT Named ieilDe dt
appeared before the Minister OF war WIN eter OF
CautO referring to more particular instructions from
which IL was manifest that CantO had ordered the
shooting of PatOnl, because he feared the publc
peace would he jeopaTdiZed: in fact he knew Iat0n
had cOnnvanee with the l.aguna people, who threat
ened TO break ont in open revolt CantO was put
under guard and Gen. Guerra appeared on the scene
with orders to hold him prisoner. Guerra, wounded
in his military honor. then confronted HIM ana asked
him whether he, ms the subordinate OF Canto. had
been under orders of worthy man or an assassin !
Canto replied that he the only person responsible
in the affair of the murder, and that he had acted IN
virtue of orders of the Government, at the
same time pointing to paper upon his table which
lie said contained instructions that should one day
be A Lieutenant Colonel under Canto dep9sed
that CantO gave verbal orders 10 Mayor OallndO tI
shoot PaOni and had said that he did so by instruc
tons FROM the Ministry. Pembert witnessed tina
the determination to shoot Patoni was made know
PalaciOs Lieut. Col. MARBLES, Major Galindo, anC
Others The soldiers of CantO murmuTed against tn
assassination. and. at their urging Cen Gueriaseem
10 have upbiaided the murderer. His attorneys be
fore Congress seem to have denied IN his behalf thai
he ever SAID to Guerra that he was responsible for the
murder and received Government orders. Major
GalindO. who conducted the murder was killed in a
quarrel among party of officers shortly after the
deed and. it is supposed by secret order of CanO 1t
does not appear yet in evidence but it seems TO have
been known IN Durango, that drunken officer had
contaminated and shot by PatOn during the war,
had been avenged. This AedO was believed TO have
been friend of CantO, for the murderer alludes 10
him strongly in connection with PatOni in letter
which he wrote to the Secretary of War asking for
the secret instructions which the Government de-
clares il could have given him, since his letter
arrived after the murder. 10 question as to
whether CantO could have escaped from Durango.
Coy PalaciOs replied that he had been safely watched,
and that had he escaped the public indignation
so greatly reused against him that he would, III all
probability be caught and hung up to tree to die
like dog rnmor comes from Mazatlan that the
Judge who took the first evidence IN the case has
been assassnated, but this appears wholly unworthy
Of belief.
Congress by unanimous vote has declared Canto
unfit to be a member of Congress, and has done all
that it had right to do in giving him over 10 the
ordinary tribunals of justice. Government decides
that the competent tribunal for Judging his case is
the Court of Letters IN Durango. where the murder
committed. He will, th ,refOTe be sent back TO
Durango. under guard Of course the murder of
PatOni has eDgendeTed every conceivable suspicion
one that CantO will escape his deserts by legal
pivance /; another that he will be rescued the
road. But in all likelihood he will be tried,
fenced and shot, to judge from present APP
pearanoes He bears his confinement cOOlly, as
most Mexican criminals of his class would
under similar circumstances. His character be-
fore the murder was bad and Mrs Patoni
speaks OF him bandit. But it is not neces-
BaIy for CantO to bear this stigma TO prove him
villain by antecedcnt. CantO would to have
been long time liz the Mexican army, and to have
acquired a dreadful experience from revolutions
Before now he was thought man for desperate
work. A Mexican Minister IN years gone by, is sand
TO have tolerated him than Deedful but it
was never calculated, perhaps, by any one that he
would be the doeT Of so foul deed as the assassina
ton Of Patoni. If any soldier in the Mexican army
could delude himself with the spirit of crime far
to imagine that he could secretly please his Gov
eminent by putting its enemy out of the way, that
man is doubtless CantO. Pat0ni was probably more
honest than any of the opponents OF the Government
who had adopted the cause of Ortega. better man,
doubtless than Ortega and citizen as TO whose pTi-
waite character have heard no word Of reproach he
would have pursued any cause which he adopted
with earnestness But there is yet no reason to be
lieye that PaOni intended TO turn rebel, and while he
might have CHANGED 10 be slippery most of his
fellows when they troubled with demon of re-
VOLT il is charitable TO believe that Patoni would
have had sufficient good sense to have followed tine
manifestation of Ortega in not desiring to harass his
distressed country with further revolutions For the
rest 1t is plain that ~ the trial OF Canto the Govern