No. 201.
Mr. Wing
to Mr. Fish.
United
States Legation,
Quito,
Ecuador, August 28, 1873.
(Received October 2.)
No. 326.]
Sir: Referring to my dispatch 319, concerning the
death of William C. Doval, I desire to make the following statement:
Upon my return from Guayaquil, while lying ill in Ambato, I received a copy
of a publication made by certain American citizens resident in Quito,
offering a regard of $100 for the detection of the author of a shameful
outrage upon the grave of the said Mr. Doval.
I inclose a copy and translation, Nos. 1 and 2, of this document.
So soon after my arrival in Quito as I was able to dictate a note, I
addressed a communication (No. 3) on this subject to the government of
Ecuador.
[Page 385]
After a delay of several days, I received a reply, of which Nos. 4 and 5 are
copy and translation.
On the succeeding day 1 addressed a second note (No. 6) to Minister Leon, on
the same subject. In reply thereto I received his note, No. 7, of date 21st
of August, of which No. 8 is a translation.
It will be observed that Minister Leon seemed disposed to controvert my
statement that the outrage upon the grave of Mr. Doval was the third
occurrence of the kind of which I had informed him during my official
residence in Quito.
On the succeeding day, however, I was the recipient of a note, of which Nos.
9 and 10 are copy and translation, which, to a considerable extent,
precluded the necessity of an answer to Minister Leon’s note of the
preceding day.
On the night of the 22d of August Minister Leon called at my room where I am
still confined with inflammatory rheumatism, and in the’ presence of the
English minister resident, Hon. Frederick Hamilton, stated to me in so many
words that, in his note of the same day, he fully meant to admit that I had
previously informed him of the outrage upon the grave of Colonel Phineas E.
Staunton, assuring me, however, that for the time he had utterly forgotten
the facts in relation to the violation of the graves of Mr. Minister
Coggeshall and Colonel Staunton, some three or four years since.
These facts, the Department will find explicitly set forth in my dispatch No.
29 of September 13, 1870.
I likewise have the honor to inclose copy of a note addressed to me by
Minister Hamilton, in regard to the interview between Minister Leon and
myself, which incidentally occurred in his presence.
Both Minister Hamilton and myself were of the opinion, upon examination, that
Minister Neal’s grave had likewise been desecrated.
I am not sure whether the Department is aware’ of the fact that the bodies of
Minister Coggeshall, of the United States, and of Minister Neal, of England,
remained unburied for more than one year after their respective deaths,
having been simply stored away in a room at one of the hospitals.
This sad office was performed by Minister Hamilton, upon his arrival here in
the beginning of 1868.
On the 22d of this month the police authorities of Quito, going outside of
the municipal limits of the city, presumed to force the gate of the
Protestant cemetery, although I am the custodian of the key thereof, and to
again disinter the body of Mr. Doval, without any notification to
myself.
I immediately wrote a strong note to Minister Leon on the subject. He called
on me, however, before I had found time to forward it to him, and at his
urgent request I finally withheld it, as he promised to stringently rebuke
the police authorities, and attributed their act entirely to an ignorance of
the whereabouts of the key, and the impression which would be made thereby
upon their part.
The chief of police also called upon me and vigorously apologized for the act
of his subordinates.
It seems that they found the coffin of>en, but that the body had its
burial-clothes upon it.
I am thoroughly convinced, however, that these were replaced at the second
opening of the grave, which was occasioned by the fear of the reward offered
by the American citizens, referred to above.
In this opinion I find that all the intelligent foreigners of Quito agree
with me.
[Page 386]
Great feeling hits been occasioned among the foreigners resident in Quito by
the outrage.
I must candidly say that the government of Ecuador has shown great desire to
detect and punish the criminals, and the President has exhibited a warm
personal interest therein.
Colonel Staunton’s tombstone, presented by the Smithsonian Institution,
Williams College, and Ingham University, has not yet been recovered.
I have not received copies of all the evidence taken in the case, but will
forward it so soon as I hold it entire. Trusting that my action will receive
the approval of the Department,
I have, &c.,
[Inclosure 2 in No. 326.]
$100 REWARD.
We, the undersigned, offer a reward of $100 to the person who delivers to
us the authors of the exhumation and robbery of the grave of the
deceased North American, William Doval, in the Protestant cemetary of
the Ejido, leaving his nude body upon the ground.
Any information that can be given, will be received at the house of the
North American minister.
- CARLOS KAISER,
- DR. WILSON,
- FRANCISCO SCHMIDT,
- WILLIAM SAEGER,
- ARTHUR ROGERS,
- FREDERICK WOODHOUSE,
- FREDERICK FULLER,
- S. A. De FOREST,
and all the North American residents of this
city.
[Inclosure 3 in No. 326.]
Mr. Wing to Señor
Leon.
United
States Legation,
Quito,
Ecuador, August 12,
1873.
Sir: On the 16th of last month William C.
Doval, an American citizen resident in this country, died in one of the
hospitals of this city. On the subsequent day he was buried in the
Protestant cemetery. On the succeeding night the gate of the cemetery
was forced, the grave of Mr. Doval opened, the clothing torn from his
person, and his nude body left upon the ground.
In my absence, the American citizens in Quito offered a reward for the
detection of the perpetrators of this foul act of desecration, of the
publication of which I inclose a copy.
The body of Mr. Doval was again interred, and a second time was torn from
its resting-place.
It is with the most painful sensations that I call the attention of your
excellency to the fact that this is the third occurrence of the kind
which I have laid before your excellency during my short official
residence in this capital.
I am not disposed to believe that these outrages were performed by the
common Indians of the country, as general report has it.
I need not assure your excellency of the intense feeling which will not
only arise in my own country, hut throughout Europe, when a knowledge of
these outrages upon the bodies of Protestants deceased in Ecuador
becomes public.
I have been informed that certain clews had been placed in the hands of
the police of this city, which, if intelligently and honestly followed
up, would lead to the conviction of the guilty parties. I cannot learn,
however, that any efficient steps have been taken to that end.
[Page 387]
Moreover, I desire to add that the tombstone over the grave of Colonel
Staunton, one of the most distinguished scientific men of the United
States, was stolen from its pedestal upon the night of the second
desecration of Mr. Doval’s grave.
I respectfully but decidedly request the co-operation of the Ecuadorian
government in the detection of the parties implicated in these acts of
infamy, and for the future I ask that some steps be taken to prevent a
repetition thereof.
With assurances of my very distinguished consideration, I have,
&c.,
His excellency Señor Francisco Javier
Leon,
Minister for Foreign Affairs,
&c.
[Inclosure 5 in No.
326.—Translation.]
Señor Leon to Mr.
Wing.
Foreign
Office of Ecuador,
Quito, August 19,
1873.
The undersigned, minister for foreign affairs for Ecuador, has had the
honor to receive and lay before His Excellency the President of the
republic your excellency’s esteemed note of date 12th of the present
month, in which your excellency informs the undersigned of the outrage
that on two occasions has been committed by the disinterment of the body
of Mr. W. C. Doval, an American citizen, who died in this city on the
16th of July last, and who was interred in the Protestant cemetery in
this city; and also that the marble tombstone on the grave of Colonel
Staunton was stolen from its pedestal.
The undersigned, previous to the reception of the indicated note of your
excellency, was informed by Mr. Arthur A. Rogers of the particulars of
this event, and, in virtue thereof, hastened to give the most stringent
orders to the police authorities to inquire into the facts set
forth.
In effect, these formalities having been completed, it appeared that no
trace whatever existed of the mentioned crime of exhumation except the
forcing of the lock of the door.
The undersigned, doubting the exactness of the assertion in this respect,
and subsequent to the reception of the dispatch which he has now the
honor to answer, ordered anew an examination of the facts, and the
direction of the “procès-verbal,” an authentic copy of which your
excellency will find inclosed.
As this throws no light upon the perpetrators of the grave crime now
being investigated, the undersigned hopes that your excellency will be
satisfied with the activity and zeal of the government in the
elucidation of the affair, which, were it certain, the government would
have deplored like your excellency—a scandalous act of profanation,
committed in the heart of a republic essentially humane and
respectable.
In addition, the undersigned assures your excellency that he has the
impression that, up to the present time, no information has reached him
of any act of this nature, when all possible means would have been used
looking to the punishment of the guilty parties.
With assurances, &c.,
[Inclosure 6 in No. 326.]
Mr. Wing to Señor
Leon.
United
States Legation,
Quito,
Ecuador, August 20,
1873.
Sir: I had the honor to receive your
excellency’s note of yesterday last evening.
I am indebted for the efforts which your excellency’s government is
making to ascertain the perpetrators of the outrage upon the grave of
Mr. Doval.
I am likewise fully persuaded that your excellency’s government regards
such acts of sacrilege with indignation and regret.
May I request, if any further evidence is taken in the premises, that I
be furnished with copies thereof also?
I trust that the search for the culprits will be rigidly prosecuted, and
that the beautiful marble tombstone stolen from the grave of Colonel
Staunton will be found.
In conclusion, your excellency will pardon me for referring to certain
circumstances which will, I am confident, recall to your excellency’s
memory the fact that your excellency has previously heard of similar
outrages.
[Page 388]
On reference to the archives of this legation, I find that in the first
part of the month of September, 1870, (while I was making preparations
for the disinterment of the body of my predecessor, Mr. Coggeshall,) I
was informed that previous to my arrival at this capital the grave of
Colonel Phineas E. Staunton had been violated, and that his body had
been reinterred by certain of the police authorities, and that Mr.
Coggeshall’s grave had also been opened.
I was in the very act of addressing an official note to your excellency
on the subject when your excellency did me the honor to pay me a visit
at the office of my legation, in reference to the arrangements for the
transmission of Mr. Coggeshall’s body to Guayaquil. I then and there
verbally made known to your excellency, through the agency of a
distinguished gentleman now in Quito, what I had learned in regard to
the profanation of the graves of Mr. Coggeshall and Colonel Staunton.
Your excellency immediately promised to give stringent orders to the
police authorities to do all in their power to ferret out the
perpetrators thereof.
I was afterward the recipient of a note from your excellency of date
September 10, 1870, in which I was informed that your excellency had
hastened to put a knowledge of the outrage before the superintendent of
police, in order that he might take the proper steps in relation
thereto.
Subsequently, I informed your excellency, that upon the disinterment of
the body of Mr. Coggeshall, it was ascertained that his wooden coffin
had likewise been broken open, and that a portion of the interior metal
coffin had been cut off and taken away, whilst the remains of the
coffins, with the body inclosed, had been carelessly thrown hack into
the grave, without any regard to position whatever.
In this matter I spoke advisedly, as I, in common with the English
minister and a number of other foreign gentlemen, was present on the
occasion.
Feeling assured that your excellency upon reflection will recall these
facts, and regretting that I am compelled to refer to matters so
unpleasant of themselves,
I have, &c.,
His Excellency Señor Francisco Javier
Leon,
Minister for Foreign Affairs,
&c., &c., &c.
[Inclosure 8 in No. 326.—T
ranslation.]
Señor Leon to Mr.
Wing.
Foreign
Office of Ecuador, Quito, August 21, 1873.
I have had the honor to receive your excellency’s esteemed communication
of yesterday, and in reply, I am happy to inform your excellency that
when possible I shall not fail to forward to your excellency everything
that is discovered about the author or authors of the disinterment of
the body of Mr. Doval, as the police authorities will continue their
investigations.
I have as much interest as your excellency in the detection of this
crime.
With assurances, &c.,
[Inclosure 10 in No.
326.—Translation.]
Señor Leon to Mr.
Wing.
Foreign
Office of Ecuador, Quito, August 22, 1873.
The undersigned, minister of foreign affairs of Ecuador, has the honor to
address his excellency, the minister resident of the United States of
America, with the object of rectifying the idea contained in his
communication of the 19th of the present month, as he did not remember
at the time that other acts of violation of graves had occurred; but now
having inspected the archives of this department, he has seen that in
effect your excellency addressed the undersigned, notifying him that an
act of this nature had occurred in the grave of Mr. Coggeshall, and that
in consequence thereof the government of the undersigned used every
measure in its power to discover and punish the culprits, as was
communicated to your excellency on September 10, 1873.
Thus rectifying the idea alluded to, I am, &c.,
[Page 389]
[Inclosure 11 in No. 326.]
Mr. Hamilton to Mr.
Wing.
British
Legation, Quito, August 24,
1873.
Dear Sir: In compliance with the request
contained in your note of yesterday, I beg to state that in the
interview which took place on the 22d instant between you andf Señor
Javier Leon, minister for foreign affairs, his excellency frankly
admitted that you had personally brought to his knowledge the outrages
perpetrated on the graves of Mr. Minister Coggeshall, and Colonel
Staunton.
As I was present at the disinterment of the body of Mr. Coggeshall, I
remember perfectly well that on arriving at the site of the grave, the
ground had every appearance of having been disturbed, and that upon
removing the earth which covered the coffin, I observed that the upper
outer lid was broken in several places, and that half of the top of the
inner zinc coffin had been completely removed and doubtless stolen, as
no traces of it were to be found in any part of the grave.
I have, &c.,
Hon. Rumsey Wing,
United States Minister Resident in Quito.
