File No. 9160/50–51.

Chargé Sands to the Secretary of State.

No. 36.]

Sir: Referring to my No. 32 of November 14,1 acknowledging the department’s No. 56, concerning the assault by the civil and military governor of Zacapa et al., upon two American negroes, Simon Shine and George Milliken, I have the honor to report that I have communicated to the minister of state for foreign affairs the contents of your cabled instructions of November 16.

His excellency considered the sum of $5,000 indemnity to each of the injured negroes excessive, and wished to consult the President before giving me a reply on that one point. He seemed perfectly willing to agree to the department’s terms on all other points.

Gen. Ariz, the official who committed this assault, has informed me that while he is perfectly willing to comply with the orders of President Cabrera in this matter, he can bring witnesses to prove that he had nothing to do with the beating of the two negroes, and he states also that he can, if necessary, discredit Shine and Milliken as witnesses, and show that they might have signed the documents affirming the truth of statements concerning subjects upon which they have not and can not have any knowledge.

As the letter from Shine to President Roosevelt seemed to me to fall within the claim of Gen. Ariz, I questioned him carefully concerning the authorship of the letter and his knowledge concerning the statements to which he signed his name.

Shine admitted that he had not written the letter, but had signed it, and said that he had no knowledge of the statements it contained concerning misconduct in his office.

Later he stated that the letter had been written for him by the consular agent at Livingston, Mr. Reed, but has now again relapsed into a stubborn silence concerning the letter in question. I am convinced that Shine’s and Milliken’s statements concerning the assault on them are truthful, and that Shine had nothing to do with the composition of the letter to the President which he signed.

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I have requested the consul general at this capital to cooperate with me in this matter, and cross-examine Shine, as I consider it unfair to proceed with this claim against the Government of Guatemala as long as there can be any doubt as to the man’s reliability as a witness.

I have also requested the consul general to bring this matter to the attention of Mr. Reed; to use an affidavit or other official statement made by an illiterate person as a vehicle for one’s own opinions or for accusations against a superior officer which one fears to make over one’s signature, appears to me to be a matter of sufficient gravity for the consul general to require an explanation.

I am, etc.,

W. F. Sands.
  1. Not printed.