File No. 322.112St8/6.

Minister Hartman to the Secretary of State .

No. 114.]

Sir: Referring to my telegram of May 22, 1915, and other telegrams relating to the arrest and imprisonment at Manta of M. D. Strong, an American citizen, for alleged complicity in the robbery on April 12, 1915, of a train carrying Government money to pay troops, I have the honor to make the following report:

My first information of the occurrence was derived from a telegram from Consul General Goding, dated April 22, which reached me on the morning of April 23. This telegram advised me

that a citizen of the United States named Strong and certain British subjects are under arrest on suspicion of being implicated in the robbery of a train on the 12th day of April. They have been denied telegraph communications. For full details I suggest you confer with British Minister.

I immediately called on the British Chargé d’Affaires, and after consultation with him prepared and presented to the Foreign Office my memorandum dated April 23, 1915, duplicate copies of which memorandum being herewith enclosed.12

As to the succeeding steps taken in the matter, I respectfully inform the Department that all the vital history of the case up to the time of my telegram of May 22, announcing the orders for the release of Mr. Strong, will be found in my note No. 136 (with enclosures), presented May 22 to the Foreign Office, duplicate copies of which being herewith enclosed.

However, I ought to say that I am purposely omitting to report the contents of two notes received from the Foreign Office, because they contained nothing responsive to my request for information and were entirely useless to me.

I probably ought also to inform the Department that I had several personal interviews with the Minister for Foreign Affairs in relation to the case, to which no reference is made in said note No. 136, as there appeared no reason therefor. And I ought further to say that I believe the Minister for Foreign Affairs acted in good faith and endeavored to comply with my request for proper information; but the Governor of Manabí, encouraged by the Minister of the Interior, [Page 377] who is a bitter foe of the United States, had immediate control of the situation and prevented the information from being furnished.

Before closing this despatch it is both just and proper that I express my sincere appreciation of the prompt and efficient work of our Consul General and Mr. Geo. D. Hedian, our Consular Agent at Esmeraldas, without which no adequate presentation of the case could have been made.

I regard the report of Mr. Hedian as having been largely instrumental in convincing the Ecuadorian Government of the justice of Mr. Strong’s cause.

I have [etc.]

C. F. Hartman.
[Inclosure.]

[Untitled]

No. 136.]

Mr. Minister: Respectfully inviting the attention of your excellency again to my note No. 131, of May 12, 1915, to your excellency’s note No. 91, of same date, in reply thereto, and to my memorandum of April 23, 1915, all relating to the arrest and imprisonment at Manta of Mr. Strong, an American citizen, I now have the honor to submit to your excellency the following facts and observations:

On April 23, 1915, I presented to your excellency a memorandum, wherein, after reciting a telegram from Mr. Goding, American Consul General at Guayaquil, and repeating certain information received by me from Hon. Lucien J. Jerome, British Chargé d’Affaires at Quito, I respectfully asked your excellency’s Government for “immediate information,* * * including the nature of the proof which the Governor or other authority has against them (him) giving a complete detail narrative thereof.”

In conformity with your excellency’s usual courteous and just conduct, your excellency assured me that the authorities in Manabí would be ordered to furnish the desired information promptly, which would, when received, be promptly transmitted to this Legation; and I have no doubt that such orders were given in accordance with your excellency’s prompt and courteous assurance. But the authorities in Manabí, responsible for the arrest and imprisonment of Mr. Strong, have totally ignored the orders of your excellency’s Government and, up to this date, have failed or refused to furnish the information requested of them. I make the foregoing statement with great confidence, for I place so much reliance in the promise of your excellency that I am certain that if the complete detailed narrative of the case, including “the nature of the proof which the Governor or other authority has against him” had been furnished to your excellency’s Government in obedience to its orders a copy thereof would promptly have been delivered to me in compliance with your excellency’s assurance above mentioned.

After waiting patiently for nine days for the information requested without having received it, I reported the matter to my Government at Washington and asked and obtained permission to have an investigation made immediately through the American Consular Service. And accordingly, on May 2, 1915, Mr. George D. Hedian, American Consular Agent at Esmeraldas, was ordered to undertake the work of investigation.

In compliance with that order, Mr. Hedian left Esmeraldas on May 4 for Manta. He completed his investigations and his report, bearing date May 12, 1915, has been delivered to this Legation. For the information of your excellency, I am enclosing with this note a copy of that portion of Mr. Hedian’s report which records the history and result of his investigation.

Accompanying his report, Mr. Hedian has transmitted to the Legation a copy, consisting of 84 pages written in Spanish, of proceedings and testimony taken in the case, which I am herewith submitting to your excellency for inspection and use in connection with this note, at this time, with the request that the same may be returned to this Legation after its examination by your excellency, and should your excellency so desire, a copy thereof will be hereafter [Page 378] supplied for the files of the Foreign Office. I also have the honor to enclose for your excellency’s information the following:

1.
Extract from letter written by Mr. M. D. Strong (the imprisoned American) to this Legation, written from Manta under date of May 2, 1915.
2.
Extract from letter from British Vice Consul at Manta to Mr. Cornwall, dated April 19, 1915.
3.
Extracts from a letter written by Mr. C. H. Aylesbury to Mr. Jarvis, dated April 21, 1915.
4.
Spanish text of a telegram prepared and signed by Mr. M. D. Strong, and directed to this Legation, which was refused transmission by the telegraph agent in Manta, and which reached this Legation May 8, by mail.
5.
Telegram from British Consul Wilson to Honorable L. J. Jerome, British Chargé d’Affaires, dated April 22, 1915.

A careful examination of the report of Mr. Hedian, and of the copy of proceedings and testimony taken in the case, and herewith presented for examination, and of the other papers and extracts enclosed, when taken in connection with the deliberate failure of the prosecuting officers in Manabí to obey the orders of your excellency’s Government and furnish the desired information as requested, inevitably leads to the following conclusions:

1.
That the arrest and imprisonment of Mr. Strong was inspired solely and only by the malice and prejudice held against him by the Governor of Manabí.
2.
That the officials in Manabí, to whom orders were given by your excellency’s Government to furnish promptly the information above mentioned, have ignored and disregarded said orders in contempt of the dignity and authority of your excellency’s Government, and in derogation and denial of the rights of a friendly government and country.
3.
That there is no testimony in the record presented which even remotely connects Mr. Strong with the commission of or participation in the crime charged, or any other offense.
4.
That more than thirty days have elapsed since his arrest, and, so far as this Legation has any information, no formal charge has been filed against him, and no final decision rendered by the 3rd Judge of Letters of Manabí, who is conducting the investigation.
5.
That the refusal to admit Mr. Strong to bail is an additional proof that the malice of the Governor against him is the sole and only motive for his arrest and imprisonment.
6.
That, by reason of such animosity and malice on the part of the Governor toward Mr. Strong, and of the great influence of said Governor over and upon the courts and juries of the country, it is impossible for Mr. Strong to obtain justice in said courts.

Even the Judge of the Court, conducting the inquiry, has failed to decree that he finds grave presumption of the guilt of Mr. Strong, which the law of Ecuador requires before the accused can lawfully be imprisoned.

So far as the record herewith presented shows, there is not a word of testimony connecting Mr. Strong with the crime, or any crime, directly or indirectly, and no court in the world, where actual justice is administered, would hesitate a moment to discharge him on the showing made. In short, his detention, in the absence of any testimony against him, is a travesty on justice and a reflection on the good name and fame of the Government of Ecuador, brought about by the local officers in Manabí.

While it is true that telegraphic communication with Manta has been interrupted, yet, had the prosecuting authorities been so disposed, the report requested could have easily been furnished by them, and sent by mail by this time; because Mr. Hedian left Esmeraldas on May 4, proceeded to Manta, completed his report on May 12, and mailed it to this Legation. So there is no justification for the delay on the part of the authorities in Manabí.

In view of the foregoing conclusions and arguments, which appear to me to be incontrovertible from the history of the case as presented, and which will, I have no doubt, appeal to your excellency’s high sense of justice, it becomes my duty to respectfully express the earnest hope of my Government that your excellency’s Government will find it compatible with its high conception of justice and public duty to promptly issue orders to the proper authorities in Manabí for the immediate release and final discharge of Mr. Strong. I need not assure your excellency of what you are already well aware, that if I believed Mr. Strong guilty of any crime or complicity in crime against your excellency’s Government, I would decline to intercede in his behalf; for I regard [Page 379] it to be the duty of every foreign resident of Ecuador to obey the laws and respect the dignity and authority of your excellency’s Government.

It is my further duty and pleasure to assure your excellency that the granting of this request, so manifestly just and proper, will be appreciated by my Government as additional proof of the friendliness of your excellency’s Government toward the Government and people of the United States.

I avail myself [etc.]

Chas. S. Hartman.
  1. Not printed.