File No. 18942/13–24.
Minister Heimké to the Secretary of State.
Guatemala, May 31, 1909.
Sir: Referring to my dispatch No. 185 of the 19th ultimo, acknowledging the receipt of the department’s telegram dated the 17th of that month, directing me to make full investigation into the murder of the African-American citizen William Wright, on December 15 last, at Cayuga, Department of Izabal, Guatemala, by a mob of natives of this country, and reporting in my above-named dispatch that I had taken the first steps toward making the investigation in question by requesting Mr. Kent, the American consul general at this capital, to draw up an interrogatory for transmission to Mr. Reed, our consular agent at Livingston, with an instruction requiring that officer to call before him anyone whose sworn testimony might serve to fix the responsibility for the murder of Wright, I have the honor now to transmit herewith a copy of a communication1 addressed to me by Consul General Kent, dated the 13th instant, transmitting to me an affidavit from the following-named persons, who had testified before Consular Agent Reed as to their knowledge of the murder of William Wright and to the corrupt connivance of Sr. Alberto García, the jefe político at Livingston, at the escape from punishment of the parties guilty of the before-mentioned crime, copies of which affidavits I inclose for the information and consideration of the department, to wit:
Inclosure 2 is the affidavit of Reginald Austin, a British subject, who declared that Juan Fonnegra, formerly superintendent of the United Fruit Co.’s banana plantation, Cayuga, where Wright was murdered, had admitted to him (Austin) that he (Fonnegra) had paid Sr. Alberto García, the jefe político at Livingston, $100 gold for his (Fonnegra’s) release from prison after he had been arrested at Livingston in connection with the murder of Wright.
In the affidavit of Susana Rodriguez (inclosures 3 and 4, copy and translation) she declared that she was an eyewitness to the murder of William Wright, in which affidavit, however, she gives only the name of Raimundo de la Cruz as one of the parties whom she recognized among the murderous mob.
Inclosure 5 is the affidavit of Charlie Davis, an American citizen, who declared that he also had been an eyewitness to the murder of William Wright on the night of December 15 last by a mob of from 15 to 18 natives, who had clubbed Wright until he had fallen to the ground, among whom he recognized one Raimundo (presumably Raimundo García) and the before-mentioned Juan Fonnegra.
Inclosure 6 is the affidavit of George Walton, an American citizen, who testified to the fact that from an investigation made by him and by other employees of the before-mentioned banana plantation to ascertain whether Wright had met an accidental death or whether he had been murdered, Wright had been clubbed to death and did not die in the manner stated by Fonnegra, to the effect that Wright had met his death by falling into a railway cut.
[Page 351]Inclosure 7 is the affidavit of Milledge Russell, an American. citizen, who testified that he was present when, on the night of December 15 last, there had been some trouble between the murdered Wright and a native named Peña, whom Wright had assaulted with his lantern in a gambling dispute, and that after Wright had left the shack where he had thrown dice with Peña, one Raimundo García appeared and asked him (Russell) for the whereabouts of Wright, shortly after which Russell had heard a row in a crowd of from 15 to 20 natives, and that on his way home, in passing the tool house of the plantation, he saw the dead body of Wright; that afterwards, in company with George Walton, he returned to the tool house to look again at the dead body of Wright.
Inclosure 8 is the affidavit of Beverly Dennis, an American citizen, who testified that he saw the dead body of Wright on the morning after the murder; that he had heard a number of the dead man’s friends ask how Wright had met his death; and that Juan Fonnegra replied by saying that Wright had had a row with a native who had chased him (Wright) with a machete; and that, becoming frightened, Wright had run over a cliff and killed himself; and that when he (Dennis) remarked that anyone who would say that Wright had met his death by falling over a cliff lied, and that he was clubbed to death, Juan Fonnegra told the comandante that he (Dennis) did not know what he was talking about, and requested the comandante to arrest him; that he was then arrested and confined in the tool house for several hours.
Inclosure 9 is the affidavit of Philip Bowen, a native of Jamaica, Bahama Islands, who testified that he was present at the banana plantation Cayuga on the night of December 15 last, when he saw Wright pursued by a crowd headed by Raimundo García and Juan Fonnegra; that he saw Raimundo García strike Wright with a pistol; that he had seen Salvador Campos, alias Pajarito, strike Wright on the chest with a club while the latter was running, and that the mob pursued him and continued to strike him until he fell to the ground, and that later, when he saw Wright again, he was on the ground, dead. Bowen concluded his testimony by saying that, later, one Septimus Murrey, a native of Jamaica, had remarked in the presence of Juan Fonnegra, that he (Murrey) knew all the circumstances surrounding Wright’s death, whereupon Juan Fonnegra had told Murrey, “You are discharged; pack up your things and get out of here,” which he did.
In the affidavit of James A. Wilkinson (inclosure 10) he testified that he was awakened from sleep on the night of the 15th of December last by the sound of lashes and poundings, and arising and dressing quickly, he went out to see what was taking place, and, approaching a crowd that seemed to be beating an individual, he arrived just as one of a mob had struck Wright the last blow, after which he saw Wright on the ground, dead. Wilkinson concludes by testifying that he knows two of the ringleaders in the attack on Wright, one of whom is named Raimundo, the foreman of Juan Fonnegra, and the other, whose name he does not state, he describes as a person who had four fingers missing from his left hand.
Inclosure 11 is a letter addressed to Consular Agent Reed by Mr. V. M. Cutter, manager of the Guatemala division of the United Fruit [Page 352] Co., dated Puerto Barrios, May 11, 1909, in response to an inquiry regarding the character of the murdered William Wright, in which letter Mr. Cutter informed Mr. Reed that Wright had been in the employ of the United Fruit Co. for about a year and a half; that he seemed fairly steady and industrious, of a rather quiet nature; and that he had never known Wright to drink to excess or of making any disturbance when he had been drinking, up to the time of his death.
Now, as Consul General Kent has properly said that while the foregoing affidavits are inartistically or crudely drawn, they point in the indisputable fact that Wright was deliberately and cruelly murdered by a mob of natives; and this testimony, taken in connection with the repeated, though futile, efforts of Consular Agent Reed to bring the parties guilty of Wright’s murder to trial, has convinced me that the investigation which I was instructed to make into this affair is as complete as it has been possible to make it, and that I have found the facts surrounding the murder of William Wright to be as reported to the department by Consul General Kent in his dispatch No. 280, of March 26 last. And while there is but one affidavit which charges Sr. Alberto García, the jefe político at Livingston, with connivance at a frustration of the administration of justice by his acceptance of a sum of money from Fonnegra to procure his exoneration from the charge of murder that had been lodged against him, and I am morally certain that Sr. García’s guilt, when coupled with the notoriously bad character of that official, although bribery, as a rule and under ordinary circumstances, is one of the most difficult charges to prove.
Therefore, acting under the instruction contained in the department’s serial No. 71, of the 4th instant, I have this day addressed a note to the minister for foreign affairs (copy inclosed), in which I have brought to the attention of the Government of Guatemala the matter of the murder of William Wright; the unceasing efforts of Consular Agent Reed to induce the authorities to have the criminals brought to justice, personally calling the attention of the jefe político, Alberto García, to positive and well-supported testimony to prove that a man named Raimundo García had organized the mob which murdered Wright, who had himself struck Wright on the head with a revolver; that Juan Fonnegra, superintendent of the Cayuga banana plantation, who had sent the mob to Wright’s house, had endeavored to cover up the crime by falsely declaring that Wright had met his death by falling into a railway cut; that these two men had been arrested, but were immediately released, the judge of the first instance, Licentiate Ramírez, stating that there was no evidence against them; that Consular Agent Reed had at once given Judge Ramírez the names of two eyewitnesses of the murder, but that they were not called upon to testify, nor could Mr. Reed ever succeed in having them summoned; that evidence had been given by John Wallace and others implicating Juan Fonnegra in the affair; that when, on the 15th of January last, Judge Ramírez ceased to be judge of first instance at Livingston, the dossier in the case had disappeared; that Consular Agent Reed had since then repeatedly called on the jefe político at Livingston to have Fonnegra cited and cross-examined as to the circumstances of the before-mentioned murder and his connection with the same, but that in spite of the repeated promises [Page 353] of that jefe político to comply with Mr. Reed’s request Sr. Alberto García had never done so; and I stated that, in addition to these facts, it had come to my knowledge that the release of Fonnegra from prison and the failure of the jefe político at Livingston to have him brought up for examination when requested by Consular Agent Reed to do so was because the said jefe político had received a sum of money from Fonnegra to procure his exoneration from the charge against him, adding that I should hesitate to give credit to an accusation of this nature against so high an official were it not for the many well-founded complaints which have been made against this jefe politico, both in Livingston and at Champerico, for arbitrary, illegal, and dishonest acts and for his well-known hatred of foreigners, which he takes no pains to conceal; and I concluded by saying that, acting under instructions from my Government, I demanded the immediate dismissal of Sr. Alberto García from the post of jefe político at Livingston, as well as the arrest, trial, and punishment of the persons guilty of the before-mentioned crime and of all the officials to whose want of action it is due that the ends of justice have been frustrated in the present case.
I will advise the department of the action of the Government of Guatemala on the subject matter of my note to the minister for foreign affairs, the tenor of which I trust will meet the approval of the department.
I have, etc.,
- Not printed.↩