No. 92.
Mr. Fish to Mr. Hurlbut.
Department
of State,
Washington, January 4,
1872.
No. 56.]
Sir: I transmit herewith, for your information,
a copy of a dispatch addressed to this Department, on the 6th ultimo, by
Mr. Long, consul of the United States at Panama, in relation to the
conduct of the attorney-general for the State of Panama, with reference
to the persons who committed the outrage against the steamer
Montijo.
I am, &c.,
[Inclosure.]
Mr. Long to Mr.
Hunter.
United
States Consulate,
Panama, December 6,
1871. (Received January 2, 1872.)
No. 125.]
Sir: In accordance with instructions from
General Hurlbut, United States minister at Bogota, I have the honor
to inform you that, on the 23d of October last, I addressed a
communication to the Hon. Mateo Ituralde, attorney-general for the
state of Panama, in which I informed him that Thomas Herréra,
Domingo Diaz, and others of the party that committed the outrage
against the steamer Montijo, carrying the United States
[Page 144]
flag, and owned by the
Messrs. Schuber, citizens of the United States, were in this city,
and requested them to have them there arrested, as they had
committed a very grave offense against the rights and property of
American citizens and against the honor and dignity of the United
States. To this communication he has paid a dignified silence up to
the present moment.
Herréra and company are daily seen in our streets, free to come and
go as they please. They have been summoned by the attorney-general
before him to give rebutting testimony in the Montijo case; as yet
they have not been in any way molested or hindered in their daily
avocations. They treat with contempt the idea that they are in any
way responsible for their acts; and the effort of the
attorney-general is to shield them from any prosecution
whatever.
I have, &c,
