File No. 861.00/2712
The Consul General at Christiania ( Letcher) to the Secretary of State
[Received 10 p.m.]
[1145.] Referring recent telegrams relayed for Poole, have received in [un-]official information from British Legation that Norwegian Foreign Office has communicated telegram from Petrograd dated September 11 reporting from Moscow as of 6th instant that Red Guard were besieging American Consulate General demanding surrender to them three French and five British subjects who had taken refuge there. Also reported that Norwegian Legation had protested to Commissar and representative was being sent to Moscow to render such aid as possible.
Personal letter from Poole dated September 4 concluded with the following:
I am making a desperate effort to bring some staying influence to bear on the Bolsheviks but I fear that sad things may have happened even perhaps before this letter reaches you. Thank God we have got out all the Americans who would go!