File No. 15778/25–27.
Chargé Weitzel to
the Secretary of State.
American Legation,
Panama, November 17,
1908.
No. 386.]
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge receipt of
your No. 125, dated October 23, 1908, relative to the assault made by
natives of Panama on sailors of the U. S. S. Buffalo on September 28, last.
In pursuance thereto I sent a copy of the instruction with a note, under
date of the 12th instant, to the secretary for foreign affairs, making
formal demand for the punishment of the assailants, including the
police, for indemnity to the injured, and for an apology to the
Government of the United States.
My note has not as yet been acknowledged, but for the purpose of
completing the record of my action in the matter before turning same
over to Mr. Squiers, who is expected to arrive tomorrow, I am
transmitting herewith inclosure 1, copy of said note.
I have, etc.,
[Inclosure.]
Chargé Weitzel
to the Minister for Foreign
Affairs.
American Legation.,
Panama, November 12,
1908.
No. 156.]
Sir: I have the honor to address your
excellency in the matter of the encounter between the sailors of the
U. S. S. Buffalo and natives of Panama, which
took place in this city on September 28, 1908, and which resulted in
the death of Charles Rand and the serious injury of Joseph Cieslik,
both of them American seamen.
A prompt and searching investigation of the facts conducted by
authorized representatives of my Government disclosed that the
assault was made without provocation on our unarmed men by citizens
of your excellency’s Government, and that the treatment of the
sailors after arrest by the police authorities of Panama was in the
highest degree reprehensible.
In response to my dispatch to the Department of State at Washington
reporting the occurrence in detail, I have just received an
instruction, serial No. 125, dated October 23, 1908, a copy of which
I am pleased to transmit herewith for your excellency’s
information.
My Government, deeply solicitous for the perfect security of its
citizens and representatives in foreign friendly lands and
unalterably determined to maintain the salutary policy of
enforcement of a strict and absolute compliance with its purpose in
that respect, instructs me to make these representations’ to your
excellency’s Government, and to enter a claim for such measure of
redress as will be amply compensatory to the persons aggrieved or to
their dependents, sufficiently exemplary for the grave offense, and
strongly deterrent against similar occurrences in the future.
Accordingly in pursuance to the instruction of the honorable the
Secretary of State of the United States, and with all due respect
and courtesy, I hereby make formal official demand, which is none
the less firm, insistent, and peremptory for that I hold your
excellency and your excellency’s Government in the highest esteem,
that there be immediate and adequate punishment of all parties,
including police authorities as well as private persons, who were
concerned either by criminal acts or negligence in the death of
Charles Rand and the maltreatment of Joseph Cieslik. And I also
demand prompt and full compensation for the death of Mr. Rand and
the injury to Mr. Cieslik, and, finally, an appropriate apology to
my Government for the insult offered to the uniform
[Page 477]
of its naval representatives by the
police officials of the Government of Panama.
With renewed assurances, etc.,
