Mexicans in jail Petition President

Nº 128

AHSRE 932 (2) F. 300 y 300 bis

San Francisco Call, San Francisco, California

7 de junio de 1908

Mexicans in jail Petition President

Alleged Revolutionists Held in Los Angeles Ask Roosevelt to Prevent Kidnaping.

From the Los Angeles county jail, in which are imprisoned three Mexicans, former leaders of the liberal party, who claim that they are being held political prisioners by this government for alleged crimes committed in Mexico, for which not a shadow of foundation exists, has gone forth a letter to President Roosevelt asking him to intervene in their behalf in order that they may be insured a fair trial without further delay.

Ricardo Flores Magon, Librado Rivera and Antonio I. Villarreal are the three prisoners who charge that they are being held contrary to all rights of freedom and liberty. They were all prominent members of the governing board of the Mexican liberal party and were leaders in a movement of a socialistic nature looking toward the betterment of labor conditions in their native country. Forced, as they claim, to flee from Mexico, they were finally arrested in this country and have been subjected to what they call the utmost persecution.

Friends of the three Mexicans, who have become interested in their behalf, assert that false charges have been trumped up against them one after another, that when free they were followed, attacked by thugs and beaten, and that since they were imprisoned nine months ago in the Los Angeles county jail they have been refused a hearing and have been allowed no opportunity to procure bail. A pamphlet has recently been published describing their case, and is now being given general circulation in an endeavor to give the facts of the matter publicity from the prisoners' standpoint.

The men themselves declare that they are ready and willing to stand trial in California or in Arizona, where they are charged with conspiracy to evade the neutrality law, but fear that the attempt to get them into Arizona is merely a ruse to smuggle them over the line into Mexico, where they would be imprisoned or shot. The communication sent to President Roosevelt asks him to personally interest himself in their case to the extent of seeing that they are accorded a fair trial in Arizona.

Nota de la autora: El artículo termina reproduciendo la carta dirigida por los tres detenidos al Presidente Roosevelt, que se reproduce en el documento nº 126 de este anexo.