Minister Pearson to
the Secretary of State.
American Legation,
Teheran
,
January 9,
1905
.
No. 98.]
Sir: Since the date of my dispatch of December
6,a the status of the
Labaree case has completely changed. From its then confused and critical
plight, the case has emerged into a definite and a measurably
satisfactory condition.
After receiving the authorization of the Department to demand an
indemnity and to press for settlement, I made on the 29th of November a
formal and unequivocal presentation of our demands, requiring a
categorical answer within five days and the payment of the indemnity in
cash in gold within thirty days. The Persian Government at first
refused, but at the end of fifteen days accepted all our demands, and at
the end of thirty days the indemnity payment is in hand.
The murderer is in jail for life and a special commissioner sent by the
Shah is in the field with orders to capture the accomplices, dead or
alive.
I inclose a memorandum presented by me on December 20, which sets forth
the conditions on which the indemnity was reduced from $50,000 to
$30,000.
And also copy and translation of the reply of the minister for foreign
affairs.
Also copies of letters from Mrs. Labaree, * * * which explain fully the
proceedings, the conditions, the arguments, and the motives which led to
the result.
I am sure that the President and the Secretary of State will share in my
regret that perplexing and conflicting conditions made it expedient to
accept less than the full $50,000, which the Persian Government agreed
to pay in cash and had set apart at the time for the purpose.
I knew that my government expected an indemnity that would be at once
exemplary and deterrent, and that it would concur in my belief that the
higher the indemnity the greater the security of our citizens in foreign
lands.
But under my instructions I felt obliged to defer in a measure to the
urgent wishes of the widow and her advisers, though I took care that the
$20,000 abated should not be thrown away, but should serve as a [Page 723] guaranty for the performance
of the conditions in regard to punishment and as a guaranty against the
usual methods of taxation and torture.
As it is, after being reduced by two-fifths, the indemnity is still three
times greater than the maximum ever heretofore paid by the Persian
Government for the murder of a private person. * * *
My difficult task was to obtain the concession that “the amount of the
indemnity should not be recovered by special tax or by other device or
pretext enacted from the innocent inhabitants of the province.”
In this, finally, I succeeded, and this satisfied Mrs. Labaree’s scruples
and removed the foundation of her fears. * * *
* * * * * * *
I am, etc.,
[Inclosure
1.—Translation.]
memorandum.
In the matter of the murder of Benjamin W. Labaree, an American
citizen.
The Persian Government having agreed to the demands of the American
Government requiring—
- 1.
- The imprisonment for life of Mir Ghaffar, the principal
murderer.
- 2.
- The arrest and punishment according to the measure of
their guilt of his accomplices in the murder.
- 3.
- The payment in cash for the benefit of the widow and
orphans of the deceased of an indemnity in the sum of
$50,000 gold.
And the President of the United States desiring to set a salutary
example to prevent similar crimes rather than to exact harsh and
inconvenient terms of the Persian Government, and considering the
unbroken friendship that has subsisted between the two governments
in the past has instructed Richmond Pearson, envoy extraordinary and
minister plenipotentiary of the United States, to accept the sum of
$30,000 instead of the sum of $50,000, the full amount of the
indemnity conceded by the Persian Government on the following
express conditions, to wit:
- 1.
- If Mir Ghaffar shall be permitted to escape from prison by
the negligence or connivance of Persian officials.
- 2.
- Or if the leading accomplices, notoriously identified as
participants in the crime and living within the jurisdiction
of Persia, shall not have been captured and punished
according to the measure of their guilt before March 9,
1906.
- 3.
- Or if the amount of the indemnity or any part thereof
shall be levied by special tax, or by other device or
pretext exact it from the Christian population residing in
Urumia or elsewhere in Persia, then and in any such event,
so much of the indemnity as is hereby remitted, to wit, the
sum of $20,000, shall immediately become due and payable
just as if no reduction had been made in the total amount
conceded by the Persian Government, it being the purpose and
intent of both governments in concluding this form of
settlement to prevent as far as possible the recurrence of
similar crimes.
Signed on behalf of the United States by Richmond Pearson, envoy
extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary, the 20th day of
December, 1904, corresponding to the 12th of Shavval A. H. 1322.
[Inclosure
2.—Translation.]
The Minister for Foreign
Affairs to Minister Pearson.
Ministry for Foreign Affairs,
26th of Shavval, 1322
.
3d of January,
1905
.
Your Excellency: I have considered the
draft memorandum, which you presented to me several days ago,
containing the conditions for bringing to a conclusion the case of
the murder of Mr. Labaree.
[Page 724]
In order to settle the question of the indemnity of $30,000, which
the Government of the United States has demanded for the support of
the widow and orphans of Mr. Labaree, I have now to place in your
hands a draft on the Imperial Bank of Persia for this amount.
With regard to the imprisonment of Mir Ghaffar and the punishment of
the persons implicated with him in the crime, the Persian Government
will, after the necessary inquiries, in accordance with this draft
memorandum keep Mir Ghaffar in perpetual confinement.
With respect to the other persons implicated in this murder, whoever
of them shall be found residing within the government and
jurisdiction of Persia shall, by the 9th of March, 1906, be arrested
and brought to trial and punished according to the measure of their
guilt.
With reference to the demand, contained in your memorandum, that the
Persian Government should not, either as a tax or on any other
pretext, collect the sum of the indemnity to be paid to the heirs of
the late Mr. Labaree from the Christians resident in Urumia, I beg
to inform your excellency that the Persian Government never had and
has not thought of taking this sum by force from persons innocent of
the crime. It is, however, only consistent that should it be proved,
that Christians were implicated in this murder, they will not be
held exempt from the punishment which the necessities of justice may
demand.
I avail, etc.,
[Inclosure 3.]
Mrs. Labaree to
Minister Pearson.
Urumia, Persia
,
December 6, 1905
.
Sir: Two days ago a telegram was received
from you by Doctor Cochran stating that, backed by our government,
an indemnity of fifty thousand dollars [had been demanded] for the
widow and children of Mr. Labaree. Being the person most interested
in this matter, I beg leave to state to you, as the representative
of our government, my views in regard to the case. This has not been
done earlier simply because in all communications between the
missionaries of this station and the representatives of both the
American and British Governments no suggestion or reference has
hitherto been made to a money indemnity, and so far as we in Urumia
are concerned no request for such an indemnity has been made.
As my opinion differs somewhat from that of my fellow missionaries
and of Captain Gough, the British consul at present in Urumia, on
account of the recent disturbances, I feel that I have a right to be
heard on the subject. At the same time if the mission of which I am
a member, and the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions, as well as
our own government, feel that my judgment in the matter is wrong, I
shall submit my judgment to theirs, wishing, however, to have my
protest recorded.
I fully believe, of course, that when an American citizen has been
ruthlessly murdered and that murder was possible because of criminal
laxness in government, as was the case in the death of my husband
last March, those dependent on him for support are entitled to
receive a sum of money from the guilty government that will suffice
for such support. I believe, however, that the great mission cause
to which my husband and I dedicated our lives—and which has become
even dearer to me because of the terrible sacrifice I have been
called upon to make for it—I believe that this may receive serious
injury if my children and I accept an indemnity for this murder. The
matter would not be understood by the great mass of the people in
this district who would inevitably know of it, as the Persian idea
of “blood money” is so different from our civilized understanding of
an indemnity. Thus serious and lasting injury might be done to the
mission cause for which we have already sacrificed so much, that I
prefer to waive my rights as an American citizen rather than to see
this cause suffer.
If, however, as Captain Gough and the gentlemen of our mission
station claim, I have not the right to refuse such an indemnity for
myself and my children, I wish, in the strongest terms, to enter two
protests.
- First. The amount demanded of the Persian Government is too
large—not too large when one tries to measure the awful
suffering and distress caused by the crime, and the value of the
noble life so ruthlessly sacrificed; but too large in proportion
to indemnities paid under similar circumstances by the Chinese
Government, and too large in proportion to the prevailing
customs and ideas of this country. It would, of course, be
arrant nonsense for us or our government to conform to the rules
here, by which the “blood money” paid for a Christian life is 33
tomans and the highest possible indemnity for a Moslem life is
1,000 tomans. But the disproportion between these sums and also
between sums paid by other governments under similar
circumstances and the sum of $50,000 asked for in this case is
such that all the American missionaries agree with me in urging
that the amount be very considerably diminished.
- Second. The Persian custom of raising such a sum is so unjust
and cruel that the suffering and injustice produced thereby
would be vastly out of proportion to the relief and help
afforded by the indemnity. If the government officials
themselves, guilty because of their criminal carelessness and
those who directly and indirectly took part in the awful
crime—if these could be made to feel the full force of the
consequences of their misdeeds by the payment of a large sum of
money, there would be nothing more to say in the matter. But,
according to the customs of the land, the money will in all
probability be levied on certain landowners, who will in turn
force it in the most cruel manner from their poor, distressed
eyats, and the suffering and distress, especially in this
district where the murder was committed, will be awful beyond
description. This will be more than likely to fall with cruel
force upon many of the people who are most closely connected
with us and who share with us the dangers, anxieties, and
sorrows of our exposed position. I therefore most earnestly
protest that, if it be right and necessary to press the demand
for an indemnity, the very strongest measures possible be taken
by our government to see that this money should not be extorted
from the innocent and already distressed and suffering
population, Moslem and Christian.
I am, etc.,
[Inclosure 4.
Notes of an interview on the 28th of December,
1904.
[In response to an invitation Mr. Pearson called, at 2
o’clock this afternoon, upon the minister for foreign affairs at his
private residence.]
After the usual informal remarks, the minister said: “I have troubled
you to come to see me to-day that we may talk over the arrangements
which have been made to bring the Labaree case to a conclusion. I
have shown the memorandum which you presented to me at our last
interview to His Majesty the Shah, who has been graciously pleased
to accept the therein proposed.” Continuing, he said that the
government considered that, in view of the necessity for a thorough
investigation into all the circumstances connected with the murder,
it had given orders that Mir Ghaffar should be brought to Teheran,
and that he was now on the way from Tabriz and would arrive in three
or four days, and when the other criminals were arrested they would
also be brought to Teheran, put upon their trial, and if found
guilty be punished. His excellency, moreover, added that if in the
course of the investigation it should be proved that any Christian
had incited or been in any way implicated in the murder he would be
placed in the same position, tried as others, and if found guilty be
punished.
Mr. Pearson, in replying to these remarks, said there could be no
objection to the trial taking place in Teheran, or that if there
were sufficient evidence to prove the complicity of a Christian in
connection with the commission of the crime, he saw no reason why he
should not be, as others, put upon his trial.
He then asked the minister whether in conformity with his request,
made on the 24th instant in writing, instructions had been sent to
the authorities in Tabriz and Urumia to recognize the official
position of Mr. Norton as the special representative of the American
Government sent to Persia to investigate the circumstances of this
case and to help to bring it to a satisfactory conclusion, for it
was important that Mr. Norton’s position should be clearly
understood.
The minister replied that up to the present no instructions had been
sent, and asked when Mr. Norton arrived and where he was at the
present time.
Mr. Pearson replied that Mr. Norton had been in Persia three weeks
and was now in Urumia. He further asked whether the new governor of
Urumia had yet reached his post, and if not when he might be
expected to take up his new duties.
In reply to this the minister said he had no more information than
that he was nominated about a fortnight ago. Continuing, he said the
condition contained in Mr. Pearson’s memorandum formulating the
terms on which a settlement could be effected, that the indemnity or
any part thereof should not by any special tax be collected from the
Christians in Urumia or any part of Persia, the government accepted;
but it would not by this admission bind itself not to levy any tax
for special or ordinary income on either Christian or Moslem, which
might be necessary in the future.
To this Mr. Pearson replied that in such case the government was
within its right in collecting the ordinary revenue of the country,
and that he had no desire to interfere with that; but his object was
to prevent the burden falling on people who were innocent of any
participation in the crime.
His excellency asked if Mr. Norton would come to Teheran after the
accomplices were arrested.
To this Mr. Pearson replied that it was only now that he heard the
trial was to take place in Teheran, consequently he had not thought
about such a contingency, but it was probable [Page 726] that before these accomplices were
arrested he would have time to take the matter into consideration
and communicate with Mr. Norton.
Mr. Pearson then asked when his excellency thought the indemnity
would be paid, for it was possible that Mrs. Labaree might wish to
take her children to America. In reply he said that they were now in
agreement on the three points, viz., that Mir Ghaffar should be
imprisoned for life, that the accomplices should, if within Persian
territory, be arrested and brought to trial at Teheran, and that the
indemnity of $30,000 should be paid. He would, moreover, in replying
in two or three days’ time to my memorandum containing these terms,
state when the indemnity would be paid.
Mr. Pearson then expressed his satisfaction at this favorable
termination of the case, and said that it would be a source of
gratification to his government.
Before leaving, the minister wrote a telegram to be sent to the crown
prince at Tabriz, instructing him to recognize the official position
of Mr. Norton, and render him any assistance he might require in
making his investigations, and assisting in bringing the case to a
conclusion, and asking him to communicate such instructions to the
authorities in Urumia. His excellency said he would send off the
telegram at once.
John Tyler,
Interpreter of the American Legation,
Teheran.
[Inclosure 5.—Telegram.]
Minister Pearson to Consul Norton.
American Legation,
Teheran
,
December 14,
1904
.
Telegram received. Persian Government has agreed to our demands
unconditionally. Special commissioner with plenary powers and
stringent order from Shah to capture accomplices, should arrive in
Urumia within ten days.
Most important that you ascertain and report effective steps be taken
to this end, and that you identify and locate and collect
uncontrovertible evidence to prove guilt of accomplices. If you have
no Department cipher, Major Gough will encipher your telegrams and
send accounts here for payment. Telegram here for you; shall I mail
or wire it?
[Inclosure 6.—Telegram.]
Minister Pearson to Mrs. Labaree.
American Legation,
Teheran
,
January 3,
1905
.
Sterling equivalent to $30,000 indemnity for yourself and children
was paid to me to-day. Execute power of attorney agent here to
receive amount. Agreement expressly provides against any special tax
or other device or pretext to reimburse government and requires
swift punishment of all guilty. Your letter received; am answering
fully.
[Inclosure 7.—Telegram.]
Minister Pearson to Mrs. Labaree.
American Legation,
Teheran
,
January 4,
1905
.
Imperial Bank will pay you $30,000 gold, or draft for face value on
New York or 38,400 tomans; 6 per cent interest if deposit remains
one year. Your option must be made known within thirty days from
this day.
[Page 727]
[Inclosure 8.—Telegram.]
Minister Pearson to Mrs. Labaree.
American Legation,
Teheran
,
January 5,
1905
.
Received to-day from Department following telegram:
“Pearson, Minister, Teheran:
“The indemnity should be remitted to the Department. An administrator
must be appointed in the locality and state where Mr. Labaree was
domiciled. Probate court there will make distribution and will
appoint guardian of infant children with bond and approved security
to protect estate of children.
“Loomis.”
Suggest that you write fully to Secretary necessary facts and your
preference for legal guardian. Assume your portion will be paid
according to your directions. Inform Secretary whether your husband
left will naming executor.