No. 261.
Mr. Boutelle to Mr. Bayard.
House
of Representatives,
Washington, July 14, 1886.
[Received July 15.]
Sir: Acknowledging receipt of your letter of
13th instant, stating that the view presented by me will receive due
consideration, I beg to inclose herewith the affidavit of Stephen R.
Balkam, of Eastport, setting forth the facts of the refusal of the
commander of the cruiser Middleton to permit him to purchase herring at
St. Andrews, New Brunswick, on Friday, July 9, 1886, as referred to in
the telegram forwarded by me to the Department on the 10th instant.
I am, &c.,
[Inclosure.]
Affidavit of Stephen R. Balkam.
I, Stephen R. Balkam, of Eastport, in the county of Washington, State
of Maine, on oath declare that on Friday morning, July 9, 1886, I
was at St. Andrews, N. B. My business was to procure herring for
canning. I am employed by Hiram Blanchard & Son. The Dominion
cruiser Middleton was at anchor near the beacon at St. Andrews. A
boat from the Middleton, commanded by Capt. William Kent, came
alongside of my boat and asked if my boat was American, and where my
boat was owned. I replied that the boat was owned at Eastport, Me.
He then said I could not take any herring, and if I took any would
be liable to be seized. He told me if I wished to get herring I must
get an English boat; that I could not get herring with an American
boat. It had been my practice to buy the herring of men who caught
them in seines, they delivering the herring in the gunwale of my
boat. On the day the Middleton drove me away I was paying $10 per
hogshead for the herring. The men of whom I bought them were
Dominion fishermen. The captain of the Middleton then left me and
went to other American boats and ordered them away. They left
without having procured any fish. I took an English boat in tow that
had taken fish from the seine, towed her into American waters, then
took her fish, and came to Eastport.
Sworn and subscribed before me this 12th day of
July, 1886.
N. B. NUTT,
Justice of the
Peace.
