Mr. Pratt to Mr.
Blaine.
Legation of
the United States,
Teheran, June 30, 1890.
(Received August 6.)
No. 469.]
Sir: I have the honor herewith respectfully to
submit for your consideration a copy of the latest communication 1 have
received from Consul-General Stewart relative to the Wright murder case, as
also a copy of my reply to the same, which I trust you will approve.
From what he now writes, you will observe that Colonel Stewart’s views and my
own are identical as to the interpretation of the law of Islam in regard to
the killing of a child “in utero,” and that he
therefore intends, in accordance with my previous instructions, to advance
and press the charge of double criminality against the accused in the
present instance.
I have, etc.,
[Page 673]
[Inclosure 1 in No. 469.]
Colonel Stewart to
Mr. Pratt.
British
Consulate-General,
Tabreez, June 21,
1890.
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the
receipt this day of Your Excellency’s dispatch No. 2, dated 14th June,
1890.
I have already summoned the woman Asli to appear as a witness, but I fear
she will, at the trial, deny her previous statement, as I hear she has
told Dr. Cochran she will give no evidence in the matter.
Mr. Mechlin has just arrived, also Theodore, the late Mrs. Wright’s
brother, and a man who saw Minas running away from Mr. Wright’s house on
the afternoon of the 14th May, just after the murder, with a dagger in
his hand. The other witnesses are en route.
I have summoned Dr. Shedd, to whom Minas confessed the murder of Mrs.
Wright and asked him to pray for his soul, so I shall have ample
evidence.
With reference, to the last part of your letter under reply, I am aware
that, according to Mohammedan law, the causing the death of a child of a
pregnant woman is murder, and this child, having been a son in a
well-formed state, I shall, as directed in your letter, press home this
charge, and have full evidence to prove it. I had, however, intended to
do this previous to the receipt of your letter.
I have, etc.,
C. E. Stewart,
Colonel, Her Majesty’s Consul-General,
Tabreez.
[Inclosure 2 in No. 469.]
Mr. Pratt to
Colonel Stewart.
Legation of the United States,
Teheran, June 30,
1890.
Sir: I have received your dispatch of the 21st
instant acknowledging the receipt of my own of the 14th and informing me
that you had summoned Dr. Shedd and Asli, the alleged paramour of the
assassin Minas, to testify at the latter’s trial.
I am also glad to note the arrival at Tabreez of Mr. Mechlin, Mr.
Theodore, and a man said to have seen Minas escape from Mr. Wright’s
house on the afternoon of the 14th of May, the day the murder was
committed.
These, with the witnesses already subpoenaed, will, I trust, amply
suffice to establish the prisoner’s guilt, even though, as you appear to
apprehend, the woman Asli should deny her previous statements or decline
to give any evidence whatever at the trial.
In closing, I beg to say that I am gratified to observe that your
interpretation of the Mohammedan law on the subject of the killing of a
child “in utero” is the same as my own, and that
you propose to firmly press this additional charge of murder in the
present instance.
I am, etc.,
