No. 260.
Mr. H. H.
Morgan to Mr. Frelinghuysen.
Legation of
the United States,
Mexico, September 4, 1884.
(Received September 15.)
No. 896.]
Sir: On the receipt of your dispatch No. 603, July
7, 1884, in regard to the case of Howard’ C. Walker, imprisoned at
Minatitlan, charged by the Mexican authorities at that place with having
stolen wood, Mr. Morgan addressed a dispatch to our consular agent at
Coatzacoalcos on the 19th of July, 1884, in which he requested to be
informed of the present condition of the case of Mr. Walker.
About the 20th of August last Mr. Albert Langner, consular agent of the
United States at Tehuantepec and Salina Cruz, called at the legation and
gave to Mr. Morgan a draft of a dispatch which he said had been given to him
by Mr. Hoff, our consular agent at Coatzacoalcos, and which had been
addressed to Mr. Hoff to Mr. Morgan on the 30th of July last. The original
of the dispatch in question, which Mr. Hoff said had been forwarded to the
legation, has never been received.
The facts connected with Mr. Walker’s case, as reported by Consular Agent
Hoff, appeared to Mr. Morgan to be tantamount to a denial of justice, and he
therefore considered it necessary to again call the attention of the Mexican
Government to the facts connected with the same and request that the
necessary steps should be taken by them to obtain for Mr. Walker a trial, or
in default thereof that the bond of $40,000 which had been exacted of him
should be annulled and he be set at liberty.
In the note which Mr. Morgan addressed to Señor Fernandez upon the subject
you will observe that he ignored the contention of the Mexican Government,
as expressed in Señor Fernandez’s note to him of the 28th of May, 1884 (see
inclosure 4, in Mr. Morgan’s No. 820, June 2, 1884), that diplomatic
intervention would not be admitted in the case of Mr. Walker, as it did not
appear from the register of the department for foreign affairs that Walker
had been matriculated as a citizen of the United States. In this connection
Mr. Morgan complied with the instructions contained in your dispatch, No.
595, June 23, 1884.
I have now to inclose a copy and translation of Señor Fernandez’s reply,
received to-day.
[Page 378]
The under secretary of state in charge of the department for foreign affairs
simply calls my attention to his note to Mr. Morgan of the 28th of May last,
in which he informed him “that it did not appear on the register of
matriculation that the said Walker was a citizen of the United States, and
that this circumstance prevented my (his) accepting the ulterior official
intervention of his excellency in the premises.”
I am, &c.,
[Inclosure 1 in No. 896.]
Mr. Morgan to Mr.
Hoff.
Legation of the United States,
Mexico, July 19,
1884.
Sir: I have to request that you inform me of
the present condition of the case of Howard C. Walker, imprisoned at
Minatitlan charged with having stolen wood.
I am, &c.,
[Inclosure 2 in No. 896.]
Mr. Hoff to Mr.
Morgan.
In reply to your communication of July 19, received to day, asking the
present condition of the case of Howard C. Walker, I beg to say that I
consider it desperate for the following reasons:
Howard C. Walker was placed in jail on March 19, 1883, on the accusation
of José Teran of having stolen wood and shipped the same on hoard of
Norwegian hark Circassia.
Although he has repeatedly demanded a trial of his case he has never
received one, nor has any proof whatever been produced by Teran to
substantiate his charges. By an order of the court the vessel was
discharged during the month of March, 1883, to ascertain if any of the
wood claimed by Teran was on board of said bark, and after a careful
examination of the marks of every log, not one was found such as claimed
by Teran.
Mr. Walker is the shipping clerk of Mr. R. H. Leetch and put the cargo on
the Circassia under his order. The work was done as usual in the day
time, and a receipt for the timber put on board was taken by Walker from
the captain for Mr. R. H. Leetch. Walker was never notified by Teran or
by the court or by anyone that there was any claim against the wood, and
it was not until after he had been in jail for several days that he knew
the nature of the accusation against him.
As a matter of fact, the accusation is false, as was shown by the
official examination of the wood above spoken of, which proved it all to
be the property of Mr. Leetch, but this very fact has produced the
deplorable results against which he has already protested before me (as
appears by the copy of protest which I forwarded to you), for his
accuser, knowing that, should the case come to trial, Walker would be
cleared and he himself punished for making a false accusation against
Walker: thus he has made every effort to postpone the trial. Meantime,
Walker remains a prisoner under $40,000 bail, which is excessive. It was
not until his health was entirely broken down and his life imperiled
that any bail was accepted. Since he left the jail he has been confined
to his home, and much of the time to his bed, his lungs having been so
seriously affected that he is at present, and has been for some time
past, suffering daily from hemorrhage of the lungs.
Under the law as administered here there seems to be no hope that a trial
will be reached, for by taking advantage of the right to recuse the
judges, and putting every possible obstacle in the way of the trial, the
ease is no nearer completion than it was sixteen months ago. Meantime,
should his health improve, Mr. Walker may at any time be ordered back to
jail, as bail was only admitted on the account of his ill health.
The bail is clearly excessive, as the whole wood in dispute, that is,
what was claimed, is not worth more than $2,500 at the outside price,
and never was.
[Page 379]
[Inclosure 3 in No. 896.]
Mr. Morgan to Mr.
Fernandez.
Legation of the United States,
Mexico, August 26,
1884.
Sir: I have again to call your honor’s
attention to the case of Mr. Howard C. Walker, the circumstances of
which are fully related in my notes to your honor of the 13th of March
and 15th of May, of the present year, respectively.
Since your honor’s note to me of the 15th May I have received further
information concerning the condition of this unfortunate man.
He was accused, as I have heretofore informed your honor, of having
stolen a number of logs of wood, which were said to have been laden on
the Norwegian vessel Circassian.
The vessel was unloaded, and no timber with the marks which it was
alleged Mr. Walker had stolen were found thereon.
Nevertheless he was still kept in prison. His health failing, he was
released, and he remained at liberty for some months, when he was
remanded to prison, where he remained another series of months, when,
his health again failing him, he was released upon furnishing a bond of
$40,000. I am informed that the property which he is alleged to have
taken was never worth $2,500.
He has endeavored repeatedly to have his case tried, but in vain. The
authorities will do nothing. He cannot leave the country if he desired
to do so, because his bond would be forfeited if he did, and his friends
would be forced to pay $40,000.
He has been under arrest since the 19th of March, 1883, and he has never
been able to obtain a trial. This is tantamount to an absolute denial of
justice. It is even worse than this in my judgment.
It is the wanton exercise of power in the authorities under whose
jurisdiction he is punished for a crime which the records, as I am
informed, show he was never guilty of.
On the 17th of March last your honor informed me that you had asked
information upon the subject from the governor of Vera Cruz, and on the
28th of May last you informed me that that official had in his turn
asked for information thereof from the superior tribunal of justice of
that state, since when I have heard nothing from your department upon
the subject.
I have therefore to request that your honor’s Government will take the
necessary steps to secure to this citizen of the United States a trial,
or in default thereof that the bond exacted of him be annulled, and he
be set at liberty.
I renew, &c.,
[Inclosure 4 in No.
896.—Translation.]
Mr. Fernandez to
Mr. H. H. Morgan.
Department of Foreign Affairs,
Mexico, September 3,
1884.
Mr. Chargé d’Affaires: I have had the honor to
receive his excellency Mr. Morgan’s note which he addressed to this
department under date of August 26 last, referring to the case of Mr.
Howard C. Walker.
In my note of the 28th of May of this year I informed Mr. Morgan that it
did not appear on the register of matriculation that the said Walker was
a citizen of the United States and that this circumstance prevented my
accepting the ulterior official intervention of his excellency in the
premises.
In calling your attention, although with regret, to my statement referred
to I renew to you the assurances of my attentive consideration.
