tives from the colony arrived at Chihuahua City where they
related stories of oppression and brutal cruelty. One of them reported
that upon arriving at the colony the Negroes "found themselves in the
worst form of bondage, with no hope of ever securing liberty," and
that no letter informing friends of their condition and their
suffering was ever permitted to reach the United States. He said he
was one of a party of some fifty who had stolen away in the hope of
making their escape. The other Negro declared that he was the sole
survivor of a party of about forty which had likewise run away from
the settlement, but had been overtaken and slain by a band of Mexican
guards in the employment of the colonizing company. The consul of the
United States at Chihuahua sent immediate notice of the affair to the
State Department.[12]

E. C. Butler, charge of the United States in Mexico, was immediately
notified and directed to call upon the Mexican government to
investigate the affair.[13] Meantime the consular officers of the
United States began an investigation of their own which tended to
convince them that the extravagant rumors regarding the cruelties
perpetrated against the Negroes were totally unfounded. On June 24,
the consul at Piedras Negras, Jesse W. Sparks, forwarded a report
which he respectfully suggested should be given to the public "in
order to contradict the terrible stories of murder and bad treatment
of these Negroes ... and deter other Negroes who contemplate
colonizing in Mexico." It was based upon a sworn statement made by the
purported leader of the runaways, a deposition of another of the
colonists, and information received through a traveller from New York
City, who claimed to have visited the colony, as well as through a
civil engineer who was in the employment of the Mexican International
Railroad. From the information furnished by these witnesses Sparks
drew the conclusion that the Mexican colonization company had lived up
to its contract, that the Negroes had not been cruelly treated while
at the colony, and that the report concerning the murder of a portion
of the band[14] attempting to escape was absolutely false. The Mexican
soldiers alleged to have slain the Negroes were in fact a relief party
sent out by the company which, being acquainted with the barren and
desolate nature of the country which would have to be crossed in
reaching the United States, surmised that the lives of the colonists
were in