Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, Transmitted to Congress, With the Annual Message of the President, December 6, 1880
No. 656.
Mr. Baker
to Mr. Evarts.
Caracas, December 23, 1879. (Received January 15.)
Sir: Referring to the latter part of my dispatch No. 177, which I recommend you to carefully re-examine in this connection, I inclose herewith:
- 1st.
- A copy of a letter from Mr. John E. Wheelock.
- 2d.
- A printed letter of his to the Trinidad Chronicle, sent me as an inclosure of said letter.
* * * * * * *
Mr. Wheelock, in his printed letter, relates a certain alleged outrage on him of an aggravated character, by, as he puts it, a “civil officer of the Venezuelan Government.”
* * * * * * *
I bespeak your special and active attention to this case.
* * * * * * *
I am, &c.,
Mr. Wheelock to Mr. Baker.
Sir: I have the honor to inclose you herewith my letter to the Trinidad Chronicle, containing a brief description of the infamous action of a civil officer of the Venezuelan [Page 1029] Government, by which I was the sufferer. The proceedings as I have described them are strictly true in every particular, and in no way exaggerated.
I claim $50,000 as a small compensation for what I have been compelled to endure, and I most earnestly and respectfully request your assistance in enforcing this claim against the Venezuelan Government.
I am now on my way to New York, and my address will be at 66 Willow street, Brooklyn, N. Y.
I have, &c.,
[From the Trinidad Chronicle, apparently of November 15, 1879.]
To the Editor of the Trinidad Chronicle:
Sir: You may have heard ere this of the violent outrage perpetrated upon an American by a civil officer in the service of the Venezuelan Government, and located in the mining district of Nueva Providencia. But as the facts of the case have been greatly misrepresented by those who are now greatly interested in hushing up the matter, I thought a curtailed description of this unprecedented and almost tragical occurrence, from the victim himself, might not prove uninteresting to your readers.
What is known as the Caratal mining district, which is the scene of the event which I wish to describe, is located about 200 miles southeast of this town of Bolivar. In the month of June last I visited these mines, as I had frequently done before, and remained there until the 13th of September. On that day I was ready and expected to start for this town en route for New York.
On Saturday morning early, being the 13th of September, 1879, I was arrested on complaint of an Italian (who has since been discovered to be a fugitive from justice from Demerara) of having robbed him of $1,200. The civil officer who made the arrest is known here as a “commissary,” and his duties combine somewhat, I believe, those of a sheriff and justice of the peace. The arrest took place in the little mining town of Chilé, about one mile from the quarters of the Italian, with whom and at whose invitation I had been stopping some time previous to the arrest. This Italian was temporarily in charge of a mill and mine called Eureka, and at his urgent invitation I had been stopping with him as his guest at Eureka. The mill and mine were not being worked.
After the arrest at Chilé, my arms were tied tight behind me, and with an escort of three or four péons as guard, I was sent back to Eureka, the Italian and the commissary following a short distance behind. The commissary, by the way, is a full-blooded negro, and an ex-revolutionary general. On the way my arms were tied so tight that they became painful. I repeatedly requested the guard to slacken the cords, but without avail, until one of them asked me what I would give him to loosen them; I told him $5. He slackened them up a little and I gave him the $5. A short time after this he dropped a little way behind, and another of the guard came up and drew the cords tighter than ever. A few moments after a third one came up to me and asked what I would give to have them loosened again. I thought this was getting rather monotonous, and as we were then not far from our destination I concluded to “grin an’ bear it.”
Arrived at Eureka, I was taken into the room where the safe was; the commissary then procured an interpreter, as he only speaks Spanish, with which language I am not very familiar. He then asked me if I had slept on the previous night in the room adjoining the one in which the safe was? I replied in the affirmative. After several more questions (through the interpreter always) he told me that I was accused of robbing the safe on the previous night, and demanded to know where the money was. He had previously searched my trunk and everything I had. Of course, as I knew nothing about any robbery I could not tell him. He then had some conversation with the Italian, who speaks Spanish very fluently, at the conclusion of which the latter got up and left the room. This civil officer of the government then ordered my arms to be re-tied tight behind me; then I was raised up, and by the cord which tied my arms I was suspended from a peg in the wall, my feet being some distance off the floor. The pain was excruciating. I was continually told that if I would say where the money was, I would be set free as I knew nothing about it, I could not tell. It is impossible for me to say how long they kept me suspended in this manner, as every moment seemed an age to me; but they lowered me and raised me many times. They then changed the manner of torture; stretched a rope across the room with a peculiar slip-noose or lasso in the center; raised my body up and thrust me through this [Page 1030] slip-noose until it passed around me a little below the breast, then the rope was hauled tight, and I was left suspended in this manner. The agony was awful; I could only draw less than a half a breath; I could not speak, but every two or three minutes two of the péons would rush forward and raise me up, thus relieving the pressure and enabling me to speak. Then the civil officer would, always say to me: “Tell where the money is and we will let you go perfectly free and unmolested.” After repeating this many times, and I always being compelled to give the same answer, that, as I did not know I could not tell, this negro officer gave some rapid orders to his men, accompanied by fierce oaths.
I was then taken down and, with my arms still tied in a very painful manner behind me, I was led out into the forest about a half mile from any house, all under the direction of this same officer, who allowed no one to accompany us but the péons and the interpreter, that there might be no witnesses.
On reaching a suitable spot in the woods, a rope were stretched across between two small trees, and in the middle of this rope were arranged two small peculiar slipnooses, and in these were placed my bare ankles; the rope was then pulled taut, raising me up until my head was off the ground!
I had thought previously to this that they had nearly exhausted even Spanish ingenuity in inflicting physical torture, but all I had passed through was as nothing compared to what I was now compelled to endure. Suspended with my head down, the rope cutting deep into the flesh of each ankle, my arms tied so tight behind me that they were swollen and purple, I was kept in that position suffering from an awful thirst until my brain spun round and insensibility was coming to my relief.
I was then lowered down for a few moments until I recovered somewhat, when the same questions and answers passed between us and the whole operation was gone through again. This was repeated many times, varied by such changes as only people with the same blood as the old Spanish inquisitors could devise, such as jerking the rope continually while it was buried in the flesh of my ankles, and I was suspended head downward, striking me with the backs of their swords, &c.
But I have no disposition to dwell longer upon the awful agony I suffered or the excrutiating torture that was inflicted upon me by this officer of the Venezuelan Government; suffice it to say that all the human frame could endure was imposed upon me on that awful day.
If any suitable instrument had been accessible or opportunity had offered, I would certainly have taken my own life, as I believed that they would, after finding my inability to give them any information, take my life, as the surest means of preventing any action on the part of the United States, and I thought I would rather die before any more torture than have to die immediately afterward; and the péons standing by while I was suspended by my ankles and guessing what was passing in my mind, would extend their swords toward me with the question: “No quiere matarse?” (“Don’t you want to kill yourself?”) and then would draw back their swords, laughing all the while as though it was rare amusement. But I need have had no fear that they would wish to get rid of me to prevent any action on the part of the United States Government, for their opinion of the United States is about the same as ours of Lapland or of Patagonia.
The characteristics of the lower grade of officials are total ignorance and inhuman: brutality. They present a great contrast to some of the personages occupying the higher offices of the government, who are men of intelligence, education, and progressive ideas. The President of this very state, for instance, is a man of as much refinement as you will meet among the cultured classes of any country, and he appears to have the best good of his country at heart, but he needs must find it a very difficult matter to bring the masses up to appreciate his own elevated ideas and progressive sentiments.
It was late in the afternoon before this civil officer of the Venezuelan Government and his péons had satisfied their curiosity as to how much torture a North American could stand and still live; but when they thought they had reached the limit their operations upon me ceased, and I was conducted to the nearest jail and kept there a few days until the judge of the district gave the case a full investigation, when I was discharged with a full assurance from the judge that there was nothing whatever against me, not even a suspicion. Though the prosecuting witness repeatedly perjured himself, this was so clearly shown that I could not be even held for trial.
I should have mentioned that while I was being led away to jail the Italian followed me a short distance and offered for $600 to clear me right then and there! I had very foolishly, a few days before, while at this place, allowed him to see that I had several hundred dollars in my possession, and from this carelessness arose all my troubles, as I will explain. This Italian, as stated above, is known to be a fugitive from justice in Demerara; he was about to be discharged for misconduct from the employment of the mining company at Eureka; he was all prepared to leave the country, but he was heavily in debt, and as he supposed he could not leave the country with the [Page 1031] money lie had received as salary from the mining company, he concluded (or at least this is almost the universal opinion) that he would spread the report that he was robbed, and as he knew I had some money with me he thought I would pay handsomely to keep out of jail, and so he would kill two birds with one stone. He failed in extorting $600 from me, but the mining company shortly afterward removed him from Eureka and he fled at once from the mines, taking, as it is generally supposed, all his money with him, for very few people believe that there was any robbery at all, but simply a well contrived though dastardly attempt to blackmail and to avoid the payment of his just debts.
After my speedy and honorable discharge, and as soon as I was able to travel, I came to this town to lay my case before the American consul, Mr. John Dalton, who forwarded a statement to Washington and made a demand upon this government for satisfactory damages as compensation for the horrible outrage.
I claim $50,000 as compensation, and I certainly would not undergo the same ordeal again for twice that amount paid in advance.
Ciudad Bolivar, November 13, 1879.
The foregoing statement has been sworn to in my presence by the above-signed John E. Wheelock, which I attest.
[seal of the consulate.]
United States Consul.