A Modern Purgatory — Themes and Context

Fornaro was indicted for criminal libel. This was a logical proceeding, and not unexpected. Agents of the Diaz government, acting ostensibly for Rafael Reyes Espindola, a Mexican Congressman, and Editor of the government paper _El Imparcial_, presented complaints to the Grand Jury. Grand Jury proceedings are secret, and Fornaro, of course, had no opportunity to present his case before that tribunal. It was set forth that in his book, "Diaz, Czar of Mexico," Carlo de Fornaro had criminally libeled Rafael Reyes Espindola, and Fornaro was duly indicted. One of the accusations brought against Espindola in the book was that as Editor he used the government paper with impunity to murder reputations.

Fornaro was arrested on April 23, 1909. He pleaded justification. He was admitted to bail in the sum of $1,000. On June 21, 1909, a postponement of the trial was granted, to permit the defendant in support of his plea to secure, by Rogatory Letters, or Depositions, the testimony of witnesses in Mexico as to the truth of the allegations against Espindola contained in the book and complained against.

Some of the most prominent men in Mexico were among those Fornaro sought as witnesses to prove his cause. There were Francisco I. Madero, who led the revolution against Diaz, became President of Mexico and was killed when Victoriano Huerta assumed the Dictatorship of Mexico; F. Iglesias Calderon, the head of a political party, for thirty-five years a consistent opponent of the Diaz system, and the man who had furnished most of the material for Fornaro's book; Heriberto Barron, a member of the Mexican congress and a prominent journalist in Mexico City, and during the latter part of the Diaz régime an exile from Mexico; and others of equal prominence.

But the plan to secure this evidence failed. The witnesses in Mexico were "not allowed" to testify in Fornaro's favor; there was no opportunity to secure the testimony required by Fornaro, or, even if it had been secured, to get it out of Mexico; and his witnesses were threatened with punishment and retaliation if even by speaking the truth they gave aid to Fornaro.

What testimony was offered in his behalf from witnesses in Mexico was not allowed; his lawyer in Mexico City, Diodoro Battalla, a Mexican who had offered to take this case at the risk of his life, was not permitted to represent him. But a representative of the District Attorney of New York was sent to Mexico, and he was permitted to represent the state of New York in such hearings as were had in Mexico City in an endeavor to secure the evidence necessary to establish Fornaro's guilt.

On October 27, 1909, Fornaro was put on trial. The result was inevitable. Fornaro was convicted. On November 9 he was sentenced to one year at hard labor in the city penitentiary on Blackwell's Island.

After his conviction, Fornaro was held for five weeks in the Tombs prison, first awaiting his sentence, and after his sentence, during a stay pending a decision on his application for a Certificate of Reasonable Doubt, which was denied; and on December 4, 1909, he was taken to the penitentiary on Blackwell's Island to begin serving his term.

Two weeks later, when the news of the sentence had reached Mexico, Rafael Reyes Espindola went to a bull fight. As soon as he was seen entering the stands there was a great outcry against him from the spectators--there were over twenty-five thousand of them; they were calling him "Assassin of reputations." They pelted him with missiles and drove him out of the bull ring in confusion and ignominy. The Mexican newspapers, commenting on the incident, called it "Brutal Justice."

On October 3, 1910, Fornaro was discharged. He had served ten months in prison, which was the full term of his sentence, except for two months off for good behavior, which is provided by the laws of New York.

Within a few weeks after Fornaro's discharge from prison, after the revolution against Diaz broke out in Mexico, on November 20, 1910, Fornaro was offered $25,000 to leave the United States if there was an investigation of the manner in which evidence in his behalf was suppressed or kept from the court.

Fornaro refused it, as he refused the bribe for suppressing his book, and as he refused a pardon which he was told would be granted him unconditionally after his appeal to the Supreme Court had been lost. There never was any investigation into his case.

But the book that caused all the trouble went on. The first edition of "Diaz, Czar of Mexico" had been exhausted, and a second edition was printed. The revolutionists in Mexico still say that this book, in conjunction with Francisco I. Madero's "The Presidential Succession in 1910," were the greatest influences in bringing about the fall of Porfirio Diaz.