Mr. Allen to Mr.
Hay.
Legation of the United States,
Seoul, Korea, August 20,
1901.
No. 392.]
Sir: Referring to my dispatch No. 359, of June 7, in regard to the
failure of the Korean Government to carry out its instructions in regard
to the matter of the settlement of the case of the violation of the
domicile of Americans at Taiku, I now have the honor to hand you
inclosed a copy of a letter I have received from the Rev. James E.
Adams, of Taiku, in which the writer shows that upon receipt of new
instructions as a result of my interview with the minister for foreign
affairs, mentioned in above-cited dispatch, the governor at Taiku called
him (Mr. Adams) in and began an investigation of the matter.
The governor upbraided the official who had been chiefly instrumental in
causing trouble to the Americans, dismissed him from his office, and
ordered him to personally reimburse the Americans for their money loss.
The man, with his accomplice, fled to escape arrest and they have not
yet been captured.
This action on the part of the governor will have a most salutary effect,
and I anticipate no more trouble to the Americans in that locality.
I have, etc.,
[Inclosure.]
Mr. Adams to
Mr. Allen.
Taiku Korea
August 6, 1901.
My Dear Mr. Allen: I have been waiting a
long time in order to see the end of our business before writing to
you, but as the end seems indefinitely in the future, through the
principal offender having run away, I have concluded to write
anyway. After your last communication to the foreign office they at
once sent down here and ordered the business settled up. The
governor called me in and asked me to give a full account of the
whole affair, which I did. He then called to Noh Chussa and
questioned him. Noh denied taking any bribe in the case. The
governor upbraided him for treating us as he did in the
administration of the case; said that he was unfit for his office if
he knew no more than that about how to treat foreigners who were
here under definite treaty rights, and then dismissed him from his
office. He further adjudicated that, as Noh had been the instrument,
either through his ignorance
[Page 405]
of law or his corruption by bribes, which, was immaterial, of the
maladministration of justice and our failure to be reimbursed in our
losses, and as the tile burner, Soh, now was poor and unable to pay
the bill, Noh himself should reimburse us for the full amount for
which we had sued Soh. He issued an order for the arrest of Soh, in
order to find out more definitely about the bribery charge, and
closed the case. That night both Soh and Noh fled the country: I
have heard nothing more of the matter since. I understand that Noh
went to Seoul and that the governor had dispatched a policeman after
him. So far as the governor’s adjudication of the case was
concerned, we could not have asked for more.
Hoping to see you personally in a month or so and then more
sufficiently thank you for the trouble you have taken in pushing
this matter to a conclusion, I remain, etc.,
