Office of the Historian

No. 663.
Mr. Hay to Mr. Baker.

Department of State,
Washington, July 13, 1880.
No. 77.]

Sir: Referring to the previous instructions of this Department in relation to the outrage committed in September, 1879, upon Mr. John H. Wheelock by a civil officer of Venezuela, I have now to inclose for your information a copy of a letter recently received from Mr. Wheelock, communicating the report which reaches him through an apparently trustworthy channel that the so-called “General” Sotillo, the author of the outrage, has not been punished in any way.

In addition to the Department’s last instruction on the subject, No. 74, of June 10, 1880, I have now to direct you not to lose sight of this aggravated case, but to press the claim in such manner as to leave no room for doubt that this government awaits with keen interest the speedy intelligence of the due and exemplary punishment of the delinquent officer at whose hands Mr. Wheelock suffered the indignities and cruelties complained of, as well as the tender of a fitting reparation to the sufferer.

I am, &c.,

JOHN HAY,
Acting Secretary.
[Page 1038]
[Inclosure in No. 77.]

Mr. Wheelock to Mr. Hay.

66 Willow Street,
Brooklyn, N. Y., July 10, 1880.

Sir: I have just received word from Bolivar, Venezuela, that Sotillo, the civil officer who committed the outrage upon me in September last, has not been punished in any way, notwithstanding the assurances of the President of the State before I left there that he should be punished.

Will you be kind enough to inform me whether the Venezuelan Government makes any denial or justification of the outrage, as I have before reported to your Department?

* * * * * * *

Very, &c.,

JOHN E. WHEELOCK.