No. 428.
Mr. Pendleton to Mr. Bayard.
Legation of
the United States,
Berlin, November, 15, 1887.
(Received December 3.)
No. 538.]
Sir: I have the honor to report that in pursuance
of instruction No. 214, of the 5th of May last, in reference to the arrest
and eventual release of three Americans, Charles Schwalb, A. C. Postel, and
Julius Postel, at Zurich, in consequence of a request to that effect by
telegraph from the authorities of the Grand Duchy of Baden, I addressed a
note to the foreign office, under date of May 31, 1887, and that on the 14th
of this present month I received an answer from Count Berchem, temporarily
in charge.
A copy of my note to the foreign office and the answer, with translation of
the latter, are herewith inclosed.
It will be observed that the recital of the facts contained in the response
of the foreign office gives the grounds for the suspicion on which the
authorities of Baden asked the arrest of the parties implicated, and states
that while in view of these grounds of suspicion no valid objection to the
action of those authorities can be taken, nevertheless it is greatly
regretted that an unhappy combination of circumstances subjected these
citizens of the United States to such painful suspicions and to the
consequent sufferings at Zurich.
I have, etc.,
[Inclosure 1 in No. 538.]
Mr. Pendleton to
Count Bismarck.
Legation of the United States,
Berlin, May 31,
1887.
F. O. No. 291.]
The undersigned, envoy, etc., of the United States of America, has the
honor to lay before His Excellency Count Bismarck-Schönhausen, imperial
secretary of state for foreign affairs, the following statement of facts
as they are alleged to exist.
It is represented that on the 27th day of July, in the year 1886, three
citizens of the United States, named, respectively, Charles Schwalb, A.
C. Postel, and Julius Postel, were arrested at the railroad station in
the city of Zurich, in Switzerland, about 10 o’clock in the morning, and
were detained iu custody until 6 o’clock in the evening of the same day;
that they were persons of good character and reputation, innocent of any
crime, or complicity therein, or knowledge thereof, traveling for
improvement and pleasure, and supplied with passports of the United
States; that they had gone to the railroad station for the purpose of
taking their departure from the city of Zurich, and were there arrested
wholly without cause in the presence of a great number of people,
[Page 580]
and were detained as suspected
felons. They were consequently prevented from continuing their journey
for many hours, and, in addition to this great inconvenience, were
subjected to suspicions mortifying to them, and injuriously affecting
their reputation, as if they had been guilty of crime and were justly
subject to arrest and imprisonment as criminals. After being kept in
custody for the whole day they were discharged without any explanation
from the police authorities of Zurich of the cause of their arrest and
detention, except that they must look for redress, if any could be had,
to the power which had demanded their arrest.
When application was made to the Federal Government of Switzerland for
explanation of these grave offenses against the rights and liberty of
these innocent and inoffensive citizens, that Government very distinctly
answered that these three men had been arrested solely at the demand of
the attorney-general of the Grand Duchy of Baden at Mannheim, describing
them as suspicious characters, giving their names and minute description
of their persons, and requiring their arrest and detention, which
demand, under the extradition treaty between Germany and Switzerland,
must be in the first place complied with by Switzerland; that
immediately after the arrest notice thereof was sent by telegraph to the
authorities of Baden, and at 5 o’clock in the afternoon an answer was
received saying the extradition of these men would not be demanded, and
thereupon they were released from custody.
The Federal Government of Switzerland expressed great regret that the
very unpleasant incident had occurred and the wrong had been done, hut
insisted that the authorities of the Grand Duchy of Baden were alone
responsible for it, inasmuch as the police of Zurich acted in entire
good faith, and wholly on the demand of the authorities of Baden in
pursuance of the obligatory provisions of the treaty of extradition
above named.
The undersigned is instructed by his Government to bring this statement
to the notice of His Excellency Count Bismarck, and to request that he
will kindly cause an investigation to be made, and advise the
undersigned of the circumstances connected with this treatment, on the
part of the authorities of Baden, of innocent and respectable citizens
of the United States.
The undersigned avails, etc.
[Inclosure 2 in No.
538.—Translation.]
Count Berchem to
Mr. Pendleton.
Berlin, November 11,
1887.
The undersigned does himself the honor to inform the envoy extraordinary,
and minister plenipotentiary of the United States of America, Mr. George
H. Pendleton, that the case, mentioned in the note of the 31st of May
last, of the three citizens of the United States who were arrested in
Zurich at the request of the grand ducal authorities of Baden, has been
made the subject of searching inquiry, whose result is to be found in
the annexed report. As it appears from this report, the citizens of the
United States in question, Karl Schwalb, A. C. Postel, and Julius
Postel, were suspected of complicity in a theft at Heidelberg, and, in
consequence of this suspicion, a prosecution was commenced against them,
which led to their arrest in Zurich. Although the Grand Ducal Government
has been able to find, on examination of the case, no ground on which
the proceedings on the part of the grand ducal authorities, under the
circumstances, can be objected to, nevertheless it regrets greatly that
the said citizens of the United States have been involved in so painful
a suspicion by reason of an unhappy concurrence of circumstances, and
been exposed thereby to the inconveniences which they suffered in
Zurich.
Whilst the undersigned unites in this expression of regret, he avails,
etc.
[Inclosure 3 in No.
538.—Translation.]
Accompaniment to the
foregoing inclosure.
Berlin, November 11,
1887.
On the 12th July, 1886, a pocket-book was stolen from a Mr. A. Bodenstein
on his journey from Darmstadt to Herrenalb, which contained 650 marks,
in four 100-mark and five 50-mark notes. The theft was committed, as was
supposed, at the railroad station in Heidelberg, and therefore inquiries
were made especially in Heidelberg,
[Page 581]
which were conducted by the grand ducal
prosecuting attorneys of that city. Suspicion of the theft attached
itself to three persons who lived in the hotel “Wiener Hof” at
Heidelberg from the 17th to the 20th July, 1886, whose conduct appeared
suspicious to the proprietor of the hotel, to his wife, and his
servants. It appeared remarkable that the three guests arrived
separately at the hotel, and departed from it separately, and bore
themselves toward each other as if they stood in no connection with each
other, although in fact they were traveling together. The observation of
a waiter appeared particularly to give rise to suspicion, who noticed
that they, in a moment when they were apparently unobserved, divided
among themselves a number of bank-notes of exactly 100 marks each, and
they hurriedly put away their pocket-books and separated as soon as they
were aware that they were seen by the witness. The authorities of
Heidelberg ascertained immediately afterwards that these said guests,
Karl Schwalb, A. C. Postel, and Julius Postel, had left Heidelberg in
the mean time and betaken themselves to Zurich. The grand ducal Baden
prosecuting attorneys at Heidelberg requested the Zurich police to
observe and eventually to arrest the parties concerned, having
communicated the grounds of suspicion. In consequence the arrest took
place on the 27th July of last year. Inasmuch as these grounds of
suspicion were not further confirmed, an answer was sent on the same day
to the inquiry by telegraph of the Zurich authorities, that the delivery
of the prisoners was not demanded, only that before their discharge
their personal description, the object of their journey, and their
money, should be ascertained. This examination removed all suspicion
from them, and the prosecution was thereupon discontinued.
The grand ducal authorities held themselves bound, after suspicion had
been directed against these men, to investigate this suspicion in so
searching a manner, as the city of Heidelberg at that time—July, 1886—on
the occasion of the celebration of the five hundredth anniversary of the
existence of the university, was frequented by a number of swindlers and
pickpockets, whose appearance there made a sharp treatment and a close
watch of all suspicions strangers necessary.
