File No. 419.11H23/29.
The Secretary of State to Minister Price.
Washington , October 20, 1913 .
Sir: The Department has received Mr. Wicker’s No. 507 of September 26, transmitting a note from the Foreign Office in further relation to the case of William T. Harrington.
You will request the Foreign Office to permit you to inspect the evidence which it has collected with regard to this case and to make a digest thereof, which, if you are able to obtain it, you will forward to the Department together with an expression of your opinion, as far as you may be able after investigation to form an opinion, as to the credibility of the witnesses who gave such evidence and particularly [Page 1246] as to the two American witnesses named, whom you will interview if practicable, and endeavor to persuade to furnish you with sworn statements regarding their knowledge of the case.
Should the Panaman authorities evince any unwillingness to comply with the above request, you will recall to their attention the fact that the Legation furnished them free access to the testimony collected by this Government in the so-called Cocoa Grove disturbance of July 4, 1912. With this precedent in mind it would seem that there should be no difficulty in obtaining their permission to inspect and digest their evidence in the Harrington case.
I am [etc.]