No. 4.
Mr. Baker to
Mr. Gresham.
Legation of
the United States,
Managua, February 9, 1894.
(Received March 5.)
Sir: I herewith transmit a petition forwarded to me
by Consul S. C, Braida, of Greytown, Nicaragua. The petition briefly sets
forth the unsettled condition of affairs in the Mosquito Reservation; and
the signers respectfully ask that a United States war vessel be sent to that
coast for the pretention of American interests. Consul Braida earnestly
indorses this application.
Respectfully submitted, etc.
[Inclosure in No. 4.]
Petition addressed to Consular Agent B. B.
Seat.
Bluefields, Mosquito Reservation,
Nicaragua. [undated.]
Dear Sir: News having reached here that
Honduranean troops are at Cape Gracias á Dios, Nicaragua, and as war
exists at present between the Governments of Nicaragua and Honduras, we,
as citizens of the United States of America, having at stake our lives
and our properties, hereby appeal through you to our Government at
Washington to furnish as quickly as possible a man-of-war for our
protection.
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Honduras is noted for its cruel warfare, and if the Mosquito Reservation
should fall into its hands, over a million dollars of property belonging
to citizens of the United States would be pillaged and plundered and
many lives sacrificed.
We therefore pray unusual haste be made to afford us the protection we
ask for.
Please transmit this by dispatch boat leaving for Greytown, and urge
Consul Braida to cable at once to the Department of State, and should
the wires to the interior be down, we authorize Consul Braida, at our
expense, to charter a conveyance for Port Limon, to cable from that
port.
We are, respectfully,
(Twenty seven signatures follow.)