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judge, against the opinion of Mr. Romero, on the ground of insufficient evidence. This circumstance highly displeased President Barrios, who habitually considered Mr. Romero responsible for everything that passed in Soconusco.
After the return of General Barrios, Mr. Romero continued his labors in the formation of the coffee plantation called "Cafetal Juarez," counting upon the good-will of Barrios, repeatedly expressed in letters bearing date February and March, 1874. Various reports reached the ears of Mr. Romero that Barrios had stated that the said plantation was in Guatemalan territory, and that the cultivation should, therefore, not be permitted; but the Guatemalan president denied in his letters the truth of these reports. On the 9th of May, however, the alcaldes of the Guatemalan town of Tajomulco proceeded to the "Cafetal Juarez" with 200 Indians, and, after reading an order from the political chief of San Márcos, Guatemala, cut down with their machetes all the young coffee-trees, and carried off prisoners to Guatemala the two men in charge of the plantation, one of whom was kept four days in the public prison of San Márcos. Mr. Romero was naturally averse to believe that this destruction had been ordered by President Barrios. He immediately informed General Barrios by letter of the outrage committed on his estate, and received a prompt reply disavowing the act, and giving assurance that orders had been sent to the Indians in question to abstain from further molestations.
The mayordomo of Mr. Romero, named Fermin Maldonado, on his return from his imprisonment in San Márcos, received information that a party of the Indians who had committed the former outrage had
