Petition of Captain Caleb for pardon.
[Translation.]
Mr. Secretary of Justice:
George Caleb, a native of the State of Massachusetts, United States of
America, and a citizen thereof, respectfully represents: That in December of
the year last past he came to Lower California in command of the American
schooner Adriana, of which he was a part owner, in the acquisition of which
he had invested the savings of years and had pledged his credit, and that on
his first voyage he was arrested, with his vessel, in Mexican waters,
accused of smuggling, imprisoned, tried, convicted, and sentenced to lose
his vessel and to five years’ imprisonment, after having expended for the
maintenance of the crew of his vessel the freight which he had earned.
It would be useless to recapitulate the facts which have brought me to the
prison in which I am languishing and perishing, and besides, to do so I
should have to criminate others, and thus, besides being a prisoner, I
should become an informer.
But, sir, I am fifty-six years of age. I have a family to support. I have
lost everything I possessed, besides my credit, and the ten months
imprisonment which I have suffered has reduced me to such a miserable state
of health, that the doctors (who generally give hope to their patients) will
not say that I will recover.
The ends which the legislator had in view have been sufficiently answered by
the severe punishment which I am suffering, without its being aggravated by
the death to which I shall be exposed if I am kept in prison during the
whole time to which I have been sentenced, and I have faith that the
President will look with humane eyes upon my position, and will exercise the
holy prerogative which the law gives him to pardon offenses committed
against the federal laws.
I beg you to pardon me for the smuggling committed in December of the year
last passed in transporting goods from the schooner Adriana, in the bay of
Pulmo, to Los Frailes, in Lower California, and that I may receive the mercy
and pardon which I implore.
GEORGE CALEB.
La
Paz, October 25, 1883.
[Page 353]
[Inclosure 3 in No. 753.]
Mr. Morgan to Mr.
Fernandez.
Legation of the United States,
Mexico, February 7,
1884.
Sir: I have been instructed by the Department
of State at Washington to bring to the consideration of your honor’s
Government the case of Capt. George Caleb, of the American schooner
Adriana.
Captain Caleb, as the correspondence between this legation and the
department for foreign relations shows, was on a voyage with his vessel
from San Francisco to La Paz, Lower California. Having reached the Gulf
of California, he was, on or about the 1st of January, 1883, arrested by
Mexican officials and, with his vessel and crew, taken to La Paz, where
they, as well as the vessel itself, were prosecuted for smuggling. The
goods which it was said it was the intention of Captain Caleb to smuggle
were condemned, as was also his vessel. The crew were discharged and
Captain Caleb was condemned by the court at La Paz to live years’
imprisonment. The case was appealed to the court at Culiacan, where the
judgment of the lower court was affirmed. He is now in confinement.
My Government has been informed that Captain Caleb has applied to his
excellency the President of Mexico for a pardon, and it is with the view
of obtaining executive clemency in his behalf that I have been
instructed to bring his case again before you.
Captain Caleb is a man advanced in years and infirm. He was ill when he
was taken prisoner, and is, I am informed, now in a suffering state of
health. So infirm is he that from the day of his arrest, through the
humanity of the authorities at La Paz, he was permitted to lodge in a
private house, and after his sentence, and when he was sent to the
common jail, such was his condition that the authorities removed him
thereupon and again allowed him to remain in a private dwelling.
He has a family entirely dependent upon him for support. All the property
he had was his interest in the schooner Adriana, and, that vessel having
been confiscated, he is now destitute. His ruin is therefore complete,
and if the balance of the sentence to which he has been sentenced be
remitted, he and his family would be dependent upon his daily labor for
his daily bread. Surely this would appear to be punishment enough for so
trifling an offense as he was found guilty of.
But it is not probable that he will survive his imprisonment. He has been
in confinement now for more than a year. Assuming him to be guilty of
the offense which he is charged with having committed, my Government is
induced to believe that the ends of justice will have been sufficiently
met by the punishment he has already borne, and that by the exercise of
his prerogative in the case his excellency the President of Mexico will
afford a strong proof of his friendship to the Government of the United
States and at the same time be guilty of no measure of injustice to the
Government of Mexico.
There are circumstances connected with this case which would seem to
insure the favorable consideration of his excellency the President to
the application of Captain Caleb for pardon, which I have been
instructed to join in. When the Adriana was first boarded by Mexican
officials she was lying at anchor, and there was nothing to indicate
that she had been engaged in an illicit trade.
It was after the Mexican officers had left her that they discovered a
small vessel heading for the coast. They intercepted her and found on
her a trifling amount of merchandise which her crew said had been
transshipped from the Adriana. This vessel was seized and conveyed to
where the Adriana was anchored, and both vessels, with their crews, were
taken in custody to La Paz. Both vessels were prosecuted and both were
condemned. But only Captain Caleb and the crew of the Adriana were
prosecuted.
The crew of the Mexican vessel, whose guilt was certainly equal to that
of Captain Caleb, have never been punished.
Considering all the circumstances of the case, I hope that his excellency
the President will find it in his power to comply with the appeal of my
Government in support of the petition which this aged, infirm, and
unfortunate man has made for a remission of the punishment which he has
been subjected to.
I renew, &c.,
