BarbarousMexico JOHN KENNETH TURNER

182 BARBAROUS MEXICO
ered from the following paragraphs, the most uncomplimentary
in his open letter to Diaz:
"At the velada to which I have alluded, when your name was
pronounced by the orators, it was received with unanimous
hisses and marks of disapproval.
"On the night of the performance given at the Principal
theatre in aid of the Guerrero victims, the entire audience maintained
a sinister silence on your arrival. The same silence prevailed
when you departed.
"If you had occasion, as I have, to mingle with the gatherings
and groups of people of different classes, not all Reyists,
you would hear, Mr. President, expressions of indignation
against you spoken openly on all sides."
Within ten days after the banishment of Barron, a
foreign resident, Frederick Palmer by name, an Englishman,
was lodged in Belem prison, denied bail, held incommunicado
for some days, and finally was sentenced
to one month's imprisonment—for doing nothing worse
than remarking that he thought Diaz had been president
of Mexico long enough.
July 28th Celso Cortez, vice-president of the Central
Club Reyista of Mexico City, was lodged in Belem
prison for making a speech at the club rooms criticizing
members of the Diaz cabinet.
Following came a long list of arrests of members of
the Democratic movement throughout the country. Usually
the charge was "sedition," but never was any evidence
produced to prove sedition as Americans understand
that term. In this movement there was never
any hint of armed rebellion or any concerted violation
of existing laws. In all of these cases I have yet to
learn of any in which reasonable ground for the arrest
existed. In many cases the victims were kept in jail
for months, and in some cases they were sentenced to
long terms in prison. The number persecuted in this