The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1875-04-19
Reporl orBroWsyIlIe CommIllee.

BRowNsyILLE, April lS.-The follow.
iRgis the report Of a committee appoint
cd by q special mass meeting Of the citi-
zcns Of Brownsville. The members Of
the committee were all Americans, and
three are general officers. Col. Haynes,
collector Of port, Col. G. g, Davis, deputy
collector, and Edward Downey, pOstmaG.
ter. The report was unanimously adopted;
Hon, Us Haynes, Chairman, and ". Kelly,
ISecretarycf Mas AeetiRg:
Your committee, to whom was referred
the subject Of the alleged statements Of
Senior Mariscah, Mexican Minister, at
Washington, in regard to the border
troubles on the Rio Grandc, are as much
the work Of the Americans as Of the Mex
leans, and that tho American citizens dis
guised as Indians and MexiCanS frequent
ly raid upon the settlers, and that The
majority Of the parties engaged in these
frequent raids are ex-C Confederate soldiers
who, ruined by the war and deprived OF
the support Of slave labor, prefer the life
they are leading to the earning Of an
honest livelihood,
The committee say they arc satisfied
that Senior MarrisCal has been misinfOrm-
ed as to the true condition OF affairs on
this frontier, and that he has uninten-
tionally, probably, done the American
citizens Of this frontier great wrong
and injustice, as can be easily proved by
most undoubtel testimony. The time
given your committee is too short to pre-.
pare a full reputation Of the unjust as
pcrsions contained in tho correspondence
OF Senior Marriscal, and your committee
would recommend tho appointment Of a
committee 10 collect facts and submit
them To the consideration Of the seCreta-
ry Of State, to refute the charges Of the
Mexican Minister. In the meantime your
committee submit q brief resume OF the
facts which are susceptible Of the clcarcst
proof;
First, That for at least ten years, since
the close Of our civil war, there has not
been single act Of hostility, invasion,
or plundering, or Rllibustering, against
the Republic Of Mexico from the people
Of Texas, nor the act Of single person
ever passing from this to the other side Ol
the Rio Grande with any such intent, and
we challenge any Scintillation Of proof to
the contrary.
Second, That for the last ten years
since the close Of our civil war raids Of
volunteer parties from Mexico to this
side Of the Rio Grande have been Contln-
uous and persistent, and these plundering
parties have drawn from our stock
ranches hundreds Of thousands Of stock.
They have committed murder, robbery,
arson; and against repeated complaints
made 10 tho Mexican authorities for
their rendition to the hands Of Justice
deaf ear has been turned, We cite the
following recent and notorious cases
The robbery Of n store at Penescal and
the murder Of the Morton brothers; the
murder Of Mr.. Fulton, postmaster at
ElshOusc, and his clerk, In lIidalgo
county; The murder Of Vidal In lille by
Ricardo Flores, near ElpastillO; The at
tempted assassination Of Captain King
and q party Of friends, near San Fernan-
do, and the murder Of one Of his friends;
murder Of Alex. Morell In Stapel county,
aud many others which will 10 detailed
hereafter, and, lastly, the recent raid OF
forty or fifty men In q body near Corpus
Christi, which band captured and held
prisoners many persons, including three
ladies, and which finally surrounded the
town Of Roma on their return 10 Mexico
for the pdrpose Of robbery, from which
they were driven by the presence Of Uni.
ted States soldiers. The proofs Of the OK.
tent Of the robberies committed by these
plundering raids except in the report Of
the Frontier Commission to which addi-
tiOnal evidence can be added.
Third, that the charge that these
crimes have been committed by confeder-
ntc soldiers disguised rs Mexicans and
Indians, and rendered desperate by the
lOss Of their slave property is an
IN absurdity on lis face, into which the
Mexican Minister could only have been
led by his ignorance Of this part Of Texas.
In the first place, there were never any
slaves west Of the Neuces river worth
mentioning. The census Of 1860 shows
the total number in this vast region
equal to the State Of Pennsylvania In OK.
tent--to have only numbered $50, while
west OF the San Antonio river the number
did not exceed 5000. There are only
eight Americans who were Cx.Coniederate
soldiers IN The county Of Cameron, and
west Of the Neuces there are probably not
fifty ex-Confederates, and those would
hardly disguise themselves to prey on
their own stock. This charge Is abso-
lutely false, for no American has ever
been caught among the many captured,
nor Is there known to be a single one in
all The frontier States OF Mexico, and we
challenge any proof, or the name Of M
individual subject to the charges.
[Signed. EDWARD D0wNEY,
Chairman Of Committee.
To Col. J. II, Haynes, chairman Of mass
meeting of citizens Of Brownsville,