The El Paso Roberts-Banner Building, built in 1910 by two Deming ranchers, housed the offices of a group of spies under the direction of former police sergeant Powell Roberts. The El Paso Herald estimated that in 1912 there were more than 200 Mexican spies in the city working for at least three different agencies. Never before or after has the U.S. government allowed as many spies to operate openly on its own territory as it did during the Mexican Revolution.