White Pine news weekly mining review. [volume] (East Ely, Nev.) 1910-1920, 1910-10-30
WHEN BANKS FAIL
DOWN IN MEXICO
THOSE CONNECTED WITH INSTI-
TITIONS THAT GO TO THE
WALL ARE COMPELLED TO
TRACE MEXICAN JUSTICE.

When a bank fails in Meexcio all
the officials connected with it suffer
more than the depositors. The de-
positors may lose their money, but
the hand of the Mexican law descends
heavily upon every one of import
ance connected with the failed bank
and slaps him into Jail before the
paste is dry on the notice that is
stuck on the closed door.
Two American banks in the City
of Mexico have failed lately, and
two more or less complete sets of
banking officers are in Jail down there
now. A few of the prisoners have
been admitted to bail. but only after
having been imprisoned for consider
able time. Those who have not gain
ed Temporarily liberty are enduring
hardships that in a way are as de-
structiye of life and health almost as
the convict camp of the south.
There is as much argument about
getting bail in Mexico as there is in
trying to obtain liberty. The court
holds numerous sessions that take up
several hours each day for two or
three weeks and listens to the argu-
ments on both sides as TO whether the
culprit shall be bailed out or not. The
decision, of course, rests entirely with
the judge, and he never is easy 10
convince. The proceedings are es-
pecially slow. because they are never
taken down i'm shorthand. If the de-
PENDANT or any wi ness is to be ex-
amined the questicIs which the law
yers propose asking them are written
out first and submitted to the Judge.
In a day or two he decides what
he will not permit to be asked.
When a person who is to be inter-
rogated is brought before the court
all his answers to the questions are
recorded in long hand. Before the
session ends for the day the person
testifying has to read over the record
of what has been asked and his an
swers. Then he signs il. all the
lawyers sign 1t; if there is an inter-
prefer officiating in the case, he signs
it a so and last of all. the public
notary afixes his seal and then writes
out a formal declaration of the cir
cumstances, which he signs. The
whole thing is then tied together with
red tape and attached to the file of
papers that has begun to accumulate.
As all is written in long hand. the
stack of documents in an important
and long drawn case will weigh,
in charge of the clerk of the court.
sometimes 200 pounds. They are left
but the notary is. to a great extent,
responsible for them. The notary. by
the way, is not the casual official that
he is in the United States. He must
have been admitted to the bar. and
must have taken a two-year course in
the College of Notaries. After a
case is closed the documents are filed
away in a big granite building-one
of the largest and h%andsomest of the
public edifices in the City of Mexico
which is devoted entirely to the stor-
age of notarial archives.
But while all this is going on the
accused person is in Jail. Being in
Jail is no joke in the City of Mexico.
These American bank officers and
their associates who have been arrest
ed are confined in the great municipal
prison of Belem. Belem is Spanish
for Bethlehem. and the prison was
an orphan asylum and school in the
/ udlS Vi l0e NlttIOyS. II 10 an Ait
castle-like structure of gray stone and
concrete, three stories in height.
With its court yards and all, together
with the new building of the Grim
inal court connected with 1t it covers
a space of about two New York city
blocks. As a rule there are about
5000 prisoners in Belem year in and
year out. Nine-tenths of them are OF
the lowest class, the ~barefooted
blanketed peon, whose only charac-
teristic that distinguished him from
the. animal being that he walks erect
and has the power of speech. These
prisoners and the place in which the,
are confined are indescribably dirt.
and unsanitary. The prisoners them
selves are herded in regiments of
thousand in great halls at night ant
sleep on the stone pavements there
1ney are so crowded many times tina
they have to lie spoon fashion t
make room for all. BY day they 81