File No. 4992/21–26.

Chargé Fletcher to the Secretary of State.

No. 761.]

Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the department’s instruction No. 344 of August 13 last on the subject of the extradition of Horace G. McKinley, inclosing certified copies of the evidence in the case and the record of his indictment and conviction in the United States district court for the district of Oregon, and instructing this legation to take the proper steps to obtain the provisional arrest and detention of McKinley with a view to his extradition for conspiracy to defraud.

As I have already reported by telegraph, McKinLey was arrested at Mukden upon request of the legation by the Chinese authorities, and orders have been given to surrender him to the authorities of the United States.

Upon receipt of the department’s telegram of the 11th instant, confirmed below, I requested the Chinese Government to hold McKinley in their custody at the expense of the United States until the arrival of the agent of our Government to receive him, and have to-day received a note from the foreign office stating that my request will be complied with.

I inclose copies of correspondence with the foreign office and confirm the telegrams exchanged with the department relative to this case.

I have, etc.,

Henry P. Fletcher.
[Page 132]
[Inclosure 1.]

Chargé Fletcher to the Prince of Ch’ing.

Your Imperial Highness: On March 12 of this year Mr. Rockhill wrote to Your Imperial Highness asking if your Government would extradite a fugitive from justice named Horace G. McKinley, who had been convicted of conspiracy to defraud the United States Government, and who had taken refuge, it was supposed, in China. On the 19th of March Your Highness replied to this note saying that all American convicted criminals who have taken refuge in Chinese territory, except those guilty of a political offense, would be extradited; but as to the man in question you would have to wait until my Government had informed you of what crime he is guilty, and had given you the details of the whole case, that you might have written evidence upon which to act.

In this connection I now have the honor to state that I have received from the Department of State a copy of all the evidence in the case and a record of Mr. McKinley’s indictment and conviction, and that I have been instructed to request his immediate provisional arrest and detention wi-th a view to his extradition for conspiracy to defraud.

I understand that Mr. McKinley is now in Mukden. It becomes my duty, therefore, to request that telegraphic instructions be sent to the local authorities at that place directing them to arrest the said Horace G. McKinley and hold him in confinement with a view to his extradition as soon as the evidence shall have been examined and your Government convinced of the nature of his crime.

I avail, etc.,

Henry P. Fletcher.
[Inclosure 2.]

Chargé Fletcher to the Prince of Ch’ing.

Your Imperial Highness: Referring to my note of the 2d instant, in which, acting under instructions of my Government, I requested the arrest with a view to his extradition of Horace G. McKinley, I beg to thank the ministers of Your Highness’s board for their promptness in directing the Mukden authorities to arrest and hold the fugitive, as reported to the acting Chinese secretary of this legation by the secretaries of your board.

In accordance with Your Imperial Highness’s note of March 10, I now have the honor to request his extradition upon apprehension, and to submit herewith a brief resume of the facts of the case against the fugitive. In this resume I have included only the facts necessary to show: (1) That McKinley was indicted for conspiracy to defraud the United States Government of certain public lands; (2) that he was regularly tried and convicted of this crime, and upon conviction gave bail in the sum of $4,000 to appear in court for sentence; and (3) that when summoned before the court for such sentence he failed to appear, having fled beyond the jurisdiction of the court.

In order that Your Imperial Highness may have all the facts of the case, I send herewith, also, the complete record thereof, including all the evidence, but I trust that the resume will prove sufficient to show to Your Highness that the man is a fugitive from justice and that he stands convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude, viz, not one of a political nature.

I avail, etc.,

Henry P. Fletcher.
[Inclosure 3.]

Ministers of the Foreign Office to Chargé Fletcher.

Your Excellency: With reference to the case of the fugitive McKinley we acknowledge the receipt of your dispatch of the 4th instant, in which you sent [Page 133] us a résumé of the case, showing that McKinley has been convicted of an ordinary crime and could, therefore, be handed over to the American authorities.

While we were in the act of preparing a telegram to-send to the governor at Mukden, we received a telegram from that official stating that the fugitive had been arrested on the previous day, and was being temporarily held in custody by the police authorities.

This board thereupon telegraphed the résumé presented by you to the governor, and informed him that he could consider the crime committed by the fugitive as falling outside the class of political offenses, and that he could, therefore, turn him over to the American authorities, as we had agreed to do.

As soon as we shall have heard anything further from the governor we will communicate further with Your Excellency, but in the meantime it becomes our duty to send you this informal letter for your information.

(Signed)
  • Na-t’ung.
  • Yuan Shih-k’al
  • Lien-fang.
  • Liang Tun-yen.
[Inclosure 4.]

Chargé Fletcher to the Prince of Ch’ing.

Your Imperial Highness: I have the honor to inform your Imperial Highness that I have just received a telegram from my Government directing me to request the Imperial Government to be kind enough to hold the American criminal, Horace G. McKinley, recently arrested at Mukden upon request of this legation, in the custody of the Chinese authorities until the arrival of the agent of my Government, who is being sent from the United States to receive the fugitive and conduct him back to the United States. The agent will leave San Francisco on the 24th instant, sailing on the steamship Manchuria, and may be expected to arrive within a month after that date.

I am directed to state also that my Government makes this request for the detention of the fugitive by the Chinese authorities with the understanding that he shall be held in custody by them at the expense of the United States.

I avail, etc.,

Henry P. Fletcher.
[Inclosure 5.]

The Prince of Ch’ing to Chargé Fletcher.

Your Excellency: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your dispatch of the 12th instant, in which you informed me that you had received telegraphic instructions from your Government to the effect that the American criminal, Horace G. McKinley, who was arrested in Mukden, should be held in custody by the Chinese local officials until the arrival in China of the specially deputed agent of the United States, who should receive him and take him back to America.

In accordance with your request we telegraphed to the governor of Fengt’ien, and have now his answer, stating that he had done as directed.

A necessary dispatch.

[Seal of the Waiwu Pu.]