LETTER XXI. 
MURDER OF THE SWISS CONSUL AT ST. COSME. TACUBA. FESTIVAL OF THE 
VIRGIN OF REMEDIOS. 
Let us return in this letter from the Past to the Present. 
The 28th of August was the festival of the Virgin of Remedios, and, 
accompanied by some friends, I went to an Indian village of that name 
about nine miles from the city, upon the first rise of the western mountains 
from the plain of the valley. In passing through the suburb of St. Cosme, 
(where many of the pleasantest residences in Mexico are situated, sur- 
rounded by tasteful gardens and fountains supplied by the adjacent aque- 
duct,) the house of M. Mairet, the Swiss Consul, was pointed out to us. 
This gentleman was a person of fortune, and lived at St. Cosme in a 
tasteful little bachelor establishment, where, according to the custom of 
this bankless country, he usually kept his money. Most of the dwellings 
in this quarter are strongly built, and the windows are generally pro- 
tected by iron bars, so that it would be difficult for robbers to effect an 
entrance, especially as the occupants usually keep a couple of strong and 
fierce dogs in the patio and on the azotea. 
One day, however, a coach drove to the front gate about noon, and a 
man, dressed in the habit of a priest with broad shovel-hat, descended 
from it accompanied by two others, and stated to the servant who admit- 
ted them, that they were exceedingly anxious to procure from Mr. Mairet 
a skin of parchment, in which article, I believe, he chiefly dealt. As 
soon as they were admitted within the gate, they locked it, seized the ser- 
vant, tied him to a pillar, and gagged him. They then proceeded to the 
house, where they found Mairet alone. They attacked him with knives, 
cut and wounded him severely, and forced him to disclose the place where 
he concealed his money. Having got possession of it, and rifled the house 
of everything valuable, they fled. Poor Mairet died of his wounds; and 
the robbers (but one of whom was discovered, tried and executed,) escaped 
with ten thousand dollars. 
This is one instance only of the crimes that are even yet often com- 
mitted throughout the Republic. 
In the year 1824, during the high times of old-fashioned bigotry in 
Mexico, a murder of the most appalling character occurred. 
