File No. 15778/76–77.
[Inclosure.]
Minister Squires to the Minister for
Foreign Affairs.
American Legation,
Panama, July 10,
1909.
No. 233]
Your Excellency: I have the honor to refer
to the correspondence between your excellency’s Government and this
legation, with regard to the case of the officers of the U. S. S.
Columbia who were brutally clubbed by the
Panaman police at Colon about June 1, 1906, an attack which was
entirely unprovoked, for which an indemnity of $5,000 was demanded
by my Government as compensation to the officers concerned for the
injuries complained of, to which no satisfactory reply has been
received or indemnity paid; also respecting an encounter which took
place on September 28 last between the Panaman police and sailors
from the U. S. S. Buffalo, which resulted in
the death of one sailor and the wounding of another, for which an
apology and adequate indemnity was demanded by this legation, acting
under cable instructions of the President of the United States, to
which no satisfactory reply has been made. I received a note from
your excellency’s distinguished predecessor, Mr. Arango, containing
a statement of the result of an examination of certain members of
the national police on duty in Panama at the time, in explanation
and denial of the attack; but your excellency’s Government has made
no apology, expressed no regret, nor offered in any way to
compensate those who may be dependent on the murdered man (Rand) or
to compensate the wounded sailor (Cieslik) for his sufferings and
injuries.
[Page 489]
Another conflict took place between the national police and Americans
at Colon May 10, 1909, resulting in the death of two Americans; one
was killed by a rifle ball supposed to have been fired by the
police, and the other by a stone thrown by parties unknown. Both
were bystanders; one was standing on a balcony some distance
off.
At the time of the riot in Colon, about Christmas, 1906, when serious
results were barely averted, I suggested to Mr. Arias, then minister
for foreign affairs, that the rifles be taken away from the police;
that rifles in the hands of men untrained and undisciplined in the
use of firearms were a constant menace to the community; that
persons far removed from the scene of trouble were likely to be
injured or killed. My suggestion was never, to my knowledge, given
heed or attention, and what I predicted at the time actually
happened in the last riot of May.
I am particularly instructed by my Government to emphatically bring
these cases to the attention of your excellency’s Government,
demanding an apology for each case, the punishment of the police,
and the payment of an indemnity to the injured or relatives of the
deceased; and I am further instructed to say that the shocking
accumulation of these incidents call also for such substantial
reform in the personnel and discipline of the national police, and
such peremptory admonition to them by your excellency’s Government,
as shall prove to be effective guarantees against a recurrence of
the unendurable brutalities of the character above described.
Your excellency is doubtless aware of the provisions of article 7 of
the treaty of 1903, making incumbent upon the Government of the
United States to assume, under given circumstances, the police
control of Panama and Colon and the territories and harbors adjacent
thereto.
I have the honor to express to your excellency the hope that these
representations made under the express instructions of my Government
shall, within a reasonable time, have all the effect that is
expected; otherwise my Government will scarcely be able to avoid
giving careful consideration to its duties and rights under the
above quoted article of the treaty of 1903.
I avail, etc.,
