No. 442.

Mr. S. L. Phelps to Mr. Bayard.

No. 238.]

Sir: Inclosed herewith is a copy of a letter addressed by me to the minister of foreign relations in regard to the assassin of Owen Young.

[Page 599]

Mr. Urrutia, in interviews, has uniformly stated that he was expecting replies to inquiries made by him of the court at Pacasmayo. If such have been received they have not been made known to me.

I have, &c.,

S. L. PHELPS.
[Inclosure in No. 238.]

Mr. S. L. Phelps to Mr. Urrutia.

Sir: I have had the honor to speak with your excellency several times, asking for information concerning the action of the courts at Pacasmayo relative to the assassination of Owen Young at the hacienda of Tecapa, and I feel it to be an imperative duty to insist upon prompt and vigorous action, which has hitherto been wanting on the part of the Government of Peru, to secure the punishment of the criminal.

Dispatches from my Government reveal an anxiety and clear purpose in respect to his condemnation and to the indemnification of the dead man’s family. It should be apparent to your excellency how simple the investigation really is, the search for the man being confined to one hundred men in the Government service, one of whom commits a brutal and wanton murder in the presence of more or less of his comrades. The men are all soldiers, and therefore known to their commander. He and they are all accomplices while concealing the perpetrator of the crime and failing to give information regarding him. Had it been the real purpose of the authorities at Pacasmayo, civil or military, to bring the man to trial, he would have been condemned by court-martial long since for his more than brutal crime.

I greatly regret the need there is to use urgent terms, but I feel that the case is perfectly clear and that all the circumstances attending the crime call for its fullest satisfaction, while the safety of foreign residents in Peru will be greatly jeopardized should the assassin escape the penalty of death.

I avail, &c.,

S. L. PHELPS.