File No. 23814/11.
Ambassador Reid to
the Secretary of State.
American Embassy,
London, March 18,
1910.
No. 1216.]
Sir: On receipt of your cable instruction of
the 13th instant I immediately took steps to investigate whether the
commissioner of assize at Leeds had taken the course reported to you
through the American consul general in London.
The first information which I received from the consul at Leeds, which
was confirmed by the press reports, led me to believe that the
commissioner of assize had merely withheld sentence on the ground that
Alfred Lumb should leave the country within a certain period and that
the court itself had made no reference to the prisoner’s going to the
United States.
On receipt, however, of a copy of the transcript of the court records it
became evident that the commissioner, in addressing the prisoner, said,
“Are you ready, if I let you go, to be bound over to go to America?” to
which the prisoner replied, “Yes,” and thereupon the commissioner stated
that he was prepared to release prisoner on his recognizance and his
brother’s for the sum of £50 each.
I have accordingly to-day addressed a note to the foreign office in
which, after bringing the facts to the attention of Sir Edward Grey, I
request him to take such steps as may be necessary to prevent the
consummation of the order.
I have, etc.,
[Inclosure.]
Ambassador Reid
to the Minister for Foreign
Affairs.
American Embassy,
London, March 16,
1910.
Sir: My attention has been called to
reports published in the Yorkshire Evening Post of the 8th and 9th
instant to the effect than one Alfred Lumb, a British subject, has
been indicted for uttering counterfeit coin and for silvering with a
certain liquid pennies and a halfpenny so that they would resemble
current silver coins, to which indictment the prisoner pleaded
guilty.
It appears that having asked prisoner whether in the event of his
discharge being granted he would be ready to be bound over to leave
the country and to go to America, and the prisoner having answered
in the affirmative, the commissioner announced that prisoner would
be released upon entering into a recognizance of £50 to leave the
country within one month, the prisoner’s brother entering into a
like recognizance that the prisoner would go within the stated
period.
If the reports that have appeared in the Yorkshire Evening Post are
not incorrect, it would appear that the commissioner of assize was
unaware of the provisions of the United States immigration act of
1875, section 3, providing that “it shall be unlawful for aliens of
the following classes, namely * * * whose sentence has been remitted
on condition of their emigration”—this provision being intended to
put a stop to a practice in certain countries, whereby, on sending
such persons to the United States, the authorities were able to
avoid the trouble and expense of taking care of their own
criminals.
The immigration act of February 22, 1907, provides that persons inter
alios who have been convicted of or admit having committed a felony
shall be excluded from admission to the United States. Lumb would
therefore, if his identity were discovered, not only be denied
admission but would, on his arrival, be deported.
In bringing the matter to your attention, I wish to point out, in
order to avoid similar cases in the future, what will, I think, have
occurred to you, that the commissioner of
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assize, in postponing a sentence upon the
express condition that the prisoner should go to America, was
unwittingly violating international comity, in requiring by his
sentence that the prisoner before him should attempt to violate the
laws of the United States.
My Government feels confident that if the facts of the case prove to
be as stated you will take such steps as may be necessary to prevent
the consummation of the commissioner’s order.
I have, etc.,
