Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, With the Annual Message of the President Transmitted to Congress December 2, 1902

Mr. Hay to Mr. Choate.

Department of State,
Washington , February 14, 1902 .

No. 839.]

Sir: I inclose a copy of a letter from Senator Gallinger stating that Harry McGaw Wood went to South Africa in 1900 for Collier’s Weekly, later on became irregularly attached to the Boer forces, was taken prisoner while sick with enteric fever, and has been held a prisoner on Ceylon for over a year.

It is stated that detention on that island is seriously affecting his health, and that his widowed mother, who is 70 years of age, is greatly distressed about him, and asks for his release or his transfer to the Bermudas, which lie in a more healthful climate.

The Department’s instruction of September 30 last and Mr. White’s Nos. 687 and 692, of October 19 and 28 following, will show that Mr. Wood’s release has been heretofore requested by this Government, and that that request has been denied. You will, however, do what you properly can toward Mr. Wood’s transfer to Bermuda.

I am, etc.,

John Hay.

[Inclosure.]

Mr. Gallinger to Mr. Hay.

United States Senate,
Washington , February 8, 1902 .

Sir: My attention has been called to the fact that during the year 1900 Mr. Harry McGaw Wood went to South Africa with Mr. George Parson, staff artist of Collier’s Weekly, to assist Mr. Parson in preparing sketches while with the Boer army for that publication. Some time afterwards both boys became irregularly attached to the Boer army, and it is represented to me that the affair was more in the nature of an escapade than anything else. Later on Mr. Wood was taken prisoner while ill with enteric fever in the hospital at Barberton, and was sent to Ceylon, where he is now confined as a prisoner of war. Mr. Parson returned to this country.

Mr. Wood has a widowed mother over 70 years of age, who has made several efforts in London to secure her son’s release, but without success. The young man has been confined in Ceylon continuously for over a year, and it is represented that the confinement is seriously affecting his health. As can well be imagined, his aged mother is full of anxiety for the welfare of her son, and I have been appealed to to do what I can to secure his release, failing in which it is desired that he be sent to the Bermudas, which is a more healthful place than Ceylon.

I beg to express the hope that through the good offices of the State Department this young man’s release may be secured, and that he may be returned to his home and family.

I have, etc.,

J. H. Gallinger.