"Findings of Fact.
"In the year 1910, during the time that Gen. Porfirio Diaz was constitutional president of the republic of Mexico, there was a revolution started in Mexico of which Francisco Madero was chief. This revolution resulted in the resignation of Gen. Diaz, who thereupon left the republic of Mexico. Madero's revolution was successful, and he acquired control of affairs in Mexico, and was, thereafter, elected President of Mexico. On February 23, 1913, Francisco Madero, the president of the republic, was assassinated, and Gen. Victoriano Huerta seized the reins of government, and proclaimed himself as in control of Mexico. Venustiano Carranza, then governor of the state of Coahuila, arose in arms against the Huerta government, and there was a military conflict between them. The movement directed by Carranza was successful in the north, and the military forces under Carranza
by the latter part of the year 1913, obtained complete control over the state of Chihuahua. General Francisco Villa was the principal military commander under Carranza, and prominent in the military operations against Huerta. When military control was obtained over the state of Chihuahua, Francisco Villa was named military governor thereof.
"The plaintiff, Gen. Luis Terrazas, is a citizen of the republic of Mexico, and had been, up to the date of the Madero revolution, constitutional governor of the state of Chihuahua. He was at all times an adherent of the Diaz government, and was a soldier of distinction and ability, and a man of great weight and importance in both political and business affairs in the state of Chihuahua and throughout the republic of Mexico. He remained in the state of Chihuahua, at the capital thereof, until the evacuation of Chihuahua by the Huerta forces, then in command of Gen. Mercado. When the Mercado forces evacuated Chihuahua, Gen. Terrazas left with them overland to Ojinaga, where he crossed into the United States. Since said time Gen. Terrazas has been a resident of the United States, and has not returned to Mexico. During his residence in Mexico, Gen. Terrazas acquired great wealth. He owned several very extensive cattle ranches in the state of Chihuahua, on which he owned cattle in excess of 190,000 head. These cattle were on his ranches in Chihuahua at the time he fled from Mexico. The ranches and cattle were taken possession of by the military forces of Carranza and Villa on their obtaining control of the state of Chihuahua.
"Villa, by authorization of Carranza, who was chief of the revolutionary movement, caused to be made and promulgated a decree of confiscation. This decree of confiscation is in the Spanish language. The following, however, is a substantial translation of same:
"Decree Relative to the Confiscation of Property.
"Gen. Francisco Villa, first chief of the Constitutionalist army in the state of Chihuahua, and in conformity with the Plan of Guadalupe, provisional governor of the said state, in pursuance to the extraordinary powers conferred upon me, I have deemed it best to decree, as follows:
"Having sufficient proof relative to the intervention of various capitalists of the state, in the late difficulties that our country has been called upon to decide, producing, on account of natural defense against the exploitations and treasons, numerous victims, among whom are orphans and widows, who mourn the loss of those who were the support of those innocent beings, whose only crime was the enviable patriotism which has sustained the dignity of our country, and there being found also among them, those wickedly enriched, who have defrauded by a thousand means the public treasury during more than half a century of power, by fraud and force, I believe, in justice, that the hour has arrived to render account to public vengeance, instituting in due time the procedures before which there shall be accounted for all the responsibilities that were contracted in the presence of the Mexican people. And as on former occasions it has been fully proved that the possession of their interests has only served to purchase traitors and assassinate rules whose excessive goodness served as an incentive to their evil deeds, it is necessary, in order to save our nation, to uproot the evil, to put in force, among other proceedings for the public good, according as it may appear necessary, confiscation of properties belonging to those wicked Mexicans who have traded in human life, and who are the immediate cause of the shedding of our blood. For said reasons, which justify our attitude before the dignity of the entire world, I decree the following:
"First. That they are confiscable and are confiscated for the public good and for the purpose of providing pensions for the widows and orphans made so by the defense that the Mexican people have made against the enemies of the administration, and in order to meet the liabilities arising from court procedures, and which judgments or decisions in due time will be made known by special courts, which courts for the purpose of restoring fraudulently acquired properties will be established at suitable places, fixing the amount of those liabilities, and assigning as a whole for those purposes, the personal and real properties and securities of every class belonging to the following parties: Terrazas (Luis) and sons, Creel brothers, Falomir brothers, Jose Maria Sanchez, Cuilty brothers, Lujan brothers, J. Francisco Molinar and all their households and other associates who have been interested with them in the dirty transactions and fraudulent co-operations which in former times were called politics.
"Second. A regulative law which shall be enacted at the triumph of our cause, shall determine the relative and equitable distribution of those properties, first pensioning the widows and orphans whose relatives may have defended the cause of justice since 1910; second, there shall be considered the defenders of our cause in the proper division of those lands; there shall be made good, the loss of the treasury on account of frauds committed by the parties mentioned, by failure to pay taxes during the many years that said conditions existed, and also there shall be restored to the legitimate and original owners, the properties which through weight of power were taken from them by said parties, in this manner doing justice to each victim of the usurpation.
"Third. All the confiscated properties shall be administered by the State Bank, which shall keep an exact account, correctly vouchered, of the receipts and disbursements made for said purpose.
"Given at the executive palace, this the 12th day of December, 1913.
"Gen. Francisco Villa
"Military Governor of the State
"S. Terrazas, Secretary
"The purpose of this decree was to divest the title of the persons named in said decree to the property therein specified, and to vest same in the government. The property, or the funds arising from its administration, were to be devoted to the purposes specified in the decree, and the mode of practically realizing these purposes was to be thereafter determined by future legislation. The decree was intended to further the cause of the revolutionary faction promulgating same by raising funds, and also by destroying the resources of its enemies. Possession was taken of the ranches and cattle of the plaintiff under and by virtue of this decree by said revolutionary government.
"On the 19th day of October, 1915, the United States recognized the government of Carranza as the de facto government of the republic of Mexico, and on August 31, 1917, as the de jure government of Mexico. Prior to October 15, 1915, Gen. Francisco Villa refused longer to recognize the authority of General Carranza, and revolted against him. The Villa revolt from a military standpoint, assumed considerable proportions. His forces overran the state of Chihuahua, and drove the Carranza forces therefrom, and from the ______ day of ______ to about the ______ day of ______ he had complete control over the state of Chihuahua and other portions of the republic, and the state was governed by regulations issued by...
