File No. 242.112Sm6/16.
The Secretary of State to the British Ambassador.
Washington, March 4, 1915.
Excellency: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 13th ultimo, in which you are so good as to inform me that a representative of the Canadian Government had within a short time previously visited Washington and after discussing the matter with Congressman C. B. Smith of Buffalo, and other gentlemen from that locality, had succeeded in effecting a settlement in the matter of the Fort Erie shooting case, under which the mother of the deceased man received the sum of $10,000 and the wounded man $5,000 as compensation from the Government of Canada for the loss and injuries sustained; and you add that the preliminary steps have been taken to place the men charged with that shooting upon trial in the ordinary course of justice.
In reply, I have the honor to say that the Department is gratified that the British authorities have seen fit to take prompt steps to make a just disposition of this regrettable occurrence by apprehending and bringing to trial the persons who did the shooting and by indemnifying the wounded man and the mother of the man killed.
I have [etc.]