exicans in the robbery of a
railroad train, but of which he declared himself entirely innocent.
Whether innocent or guilty, he was entitled to a fair trial. Our party
took the matter in hand, supplied the man with proper pecuniary means,
interested our local consul in his behalf, and brought the matter to the
attention of the American minister to Mexico, finally obtaining
assurance that justice should be obtained for the prisoner.

Though these places of confinement are conducted with apparent
looseness, still the escape of an inmate rarely takes place unless it is
connived at by the officials. The bullet is very swift in Mexico, as
already instanced, and a man who attempts to escape from legal restraint
is instantly shot without the least hesitation on the part of the guard,
no matter for what he may be confined, even though held only for a
witness. In well-authenticated cases, where it was considered desirable
to get rid of an inmate without the form of a trial, which perhaps
might compromise some favored individual, opportunity was afforded the
prisoner to escape; the temptation was too strong, he could not resist
it; but scarcely had he broken the bounds before the fatal lead laid him
low in death. The place was pointed out to us on these prison walls
where the head of the Indian patriot Hidalgo was exposed upon a spear
point by the Spanish governor of the place, until it crumbled to dust by
the action of the elements.

Quite a pretentious theatre of stone is in course of erection just
opposite the little Plaza de Mejia Mora. The dozen large stone pillars
of the facade were already in place, and there are other evidences that
when finished it will be a spacious and elegant structure. We say when
finished, but that will not be this year, or next, probably; building,
like everything else in this country, is slow of progress. The
significant Spanish word _manana_ is on everybody's lips, and expresses
a ruling principle, nothing being done to-day which can possibly be put
off until to-morrow.

The somewhat singular name of the city is from _guanashuato_, an Indian
word in the Tarrascan tongue, which signifies "hill of the frogs," a
name given to the place by the aborigines because of a huge rocky mound
which resembles a frog, and forms a prominent object in the immediate
environs. With their idolatrous instinct the early natives made this
peculiar rock an object of worship, and, it is said, offered human
sacrifices a