Office of the Historian

No. 272.
Mr. Benjamin to Mr. Frelinghuysen.

[Extract.]
Legation of the United States,
Teheran, February 15, 1884. (Received March 29.)
No. 57.]

Sir: I have the honor to report that my attention was called officially to a repetition of the outrages at Hamadan in November. * * * Anxious to obtain official evidence as to the cases, and also to satisfy myself that our citizens at Hamadan had conducted themselves with discretion, I felt it my duty to dispatch our dragoman, Mr. Keün, to Hamadan. He went on the 18th January, and returned on the 12th instant. * * * His conduct at Hamadan was vigorous and effective, and [Page 400] merits the commendation of the Department. But the story of what occurred there, together with all the evidence he obtained, forms along narrative, which is not yet complete. As soon as matters are brought to a successful termination I shall report these transactions in full. In the mean time I beg to submit to the Department the accompanying letter and petition, forwarded to me by our citizens at Hamadan.

* * * * * * *

I have, &c.,

S. G. W. BENJAMIN.
[Inclosure in No. 57.]

Mr. Hawkes and Mr. Alexander to Mr. Benjamin.

Hamadan, February 1, 1884.

We, the undersigned, declare that from the time we came to Hamadan the authorities thereof have been continually troubling us by unjustifiably arresting, ill-treating, and fining our servants and employés, by fining people who rent us their houses, by violently preventing the Jews and Armenians from sending their children to school, by inciting people against us, by preventing, or trying to prevent, carpenters, blacksmiths, and others from working for us, and by doing all that could be done, openly and secretly, to oblige us to leave this city.

  • JAS. W. HAWKES,
  • E. W. ALEXANDER.