New-York tribune., 1877-11-08
THE CLAIMS MEXICO DISPUTES.
FRAUD AND PERJURY CHARGED IN REFERENCE 10
COTTON AND A MINING CLAIM.


WAsHINGTON, Nov. THE claims against which
the Mexican Government has charged fraud and
perjury, and the payment of which 1t is asked shall
be suspended until an investigation be had,
thoso of Benjamin We'll and the La Abra Mining
Company. The claim Of the former is for the value
Of 800 bales of cotton, alleged to have been cap
tured by the Liberal Mexican troops in
1SG4, on the way from Aleyton, Texas,
to MatamoIas. Ii is asserted that, upon
the evidence as it stood before the CON-
mission, the time OF departure Of the cotton from
Alleyton. and the distance Of that point from the
Rio Grande are set forth with irreconcIable differ
enccs by different witnesses for the claimants that
the point Of alleged crossing is misdescribed geo.
graphically to the extent Of 300 miles, and located
where there are neither roads nor ferries that no
body of troops is specified as the capturing
party; and that, as there was no pTetence
that the cotton was passed by the Mexican Custom
House. it would if it had crossed the border al
legged been liable to seizure as smugged. Upon the
evidence now said to be at hand it is asserted that
Well, in his cotton Transactions, was acting only
the agent of the Confederate State of Louisiana,
which State-or the United States, its successor
should be the claimant that such small lots Of cotton
as he did have used in the purchase of supplies
and munitions Of war in aid OF the Rebellion, and
that the United States for this reason should not
have supported the claim: and lastly, that the evil
dence of his partners and the claimants own state
ments, his books, papers and business correspond
ence, covering the period Of the alleged capture.
which are produced show conclusiyely that he
never had any such amount of cotton, and never
lost any that ne did have by seizure III Mexico.
The other claim recalls the celebrated Gardner
case Of 1850, it being for the cost with interest Of
mines works and ores in Durango, from which the
company claims to have driven by the Mexican
authorities in March, 1865. Upon the case as it
stood before the commission it was asserted by
Mexico that the stockholders had not proved
American citizenship, that the company had
purchased worthless mines long since aban-
doned by MeXicans at a small, but still
extravagant, price; that beyond this there is
no evidence except the simple affidavit Of
the president Of the company of any definite ex-
penditure no books, reports being produced, and
the presidents affidavit not giving the items of
pense receipts for the same, or proof of any pay
ments on stock that the Investment, such as it was
WAS made at the height of the war with the French
but that notwithstanding tins there is 10 definite
evidence Of the Interference with the company by
the troops which is alleged to have occurred
in 1866 and 1867; that the company's
agents were inefficient and their methods
too expensive to make even good ores pay the cost
abandonment Of the mines, when their funds were
exhausted, and not. alleged, the hostility of the
troops, and local authorities and that the mines
Ores and works exist to-day as they did at that
time untouched by the Mexican authorities 1t
was further asserted, that 1t was absurd TO
say that threats of two subordinate civil
officers commanding the company to pay its work
men should have caused the abandonment Of the
mines, the last of which threats is alleged to have
been uttered in July, 1867, in which very month
the chief of these officers, the project or local
mayor, was dismissed from Office by tho
Mexican Government, and now appears a witness
for the company The following Spring after
the restoration of peace when it is also
alleged in the same breath that the committee kept
on working the intervening nine months, and mined
over thousand tons Of ore, from twenty Of
which the superintendent swears that, early
in 1868, he extracted $4,000; that It Is not
shown that the company ever complained to
the higher political authorities, although it
alleges they had issued proclamations inviting
Imsricans TO the country; that it is not even al
legged that it complained " the courts, although 1t