File No. 337.41/4. The Chargé d'Affaires of Great Britain to the Secretary of State. No. 149.] BRITISH EMBASSY, Kineo, Me., July 22, 1912. SIR: With reference to your notes Nos. 1540 and 15511 of the 20th ultimo and 1st instant respectively, I have the honour, under_instructions from His Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, to express the cordial thanks of His Majesty's Government for the readiness of your Government to instruct your Naval authorities in Cuban waters to offer protection to British lives and property during the late disturbances on the island. I have [etc.] (For H. M.'s Chargé d'Affaires) ARCHIBALD KERR. ASSAULT UPON THE AMERICAN CHARGÉ D'AFFAIRES. File No. 123.G35/41. The American Chargé d'Affaires to the Secretary of State. [Telegram.] AMERICAN LEGATION, Habana, August 27, 1912. On entering Hotel Miramar this evening to dine I was assaulted from behind without warning or provocation by a reporter of La Prensa, who had been excluded from the Legation and Department of State for lying statements and is notorious for having figured in many unsavory incidents. He knocked me senseless, and while in this condition he attempted to inflict further injuries. Saved from serious injury by Bell. Reporter immediately arrested. Have received telephonic message from President Gómez, who is in the country, and calls from Secretary of State and other officials, who express regret and make spontaneous promise of serious prosecution. In view of demoralizing effect of failure to press prosecution of assailant of Tarler in August, 1908, and hostile attitude of part of press towards United States at this time, I venture to recommend that Department express interest in proper prosecution. GIBSON. File No. 123.G35/41. The Acting Secretary of State to the Minister of Cuba. No. 57.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, August 28, 1912. SIR: The Department is in receipt of a telegram from the American Chargé d'Affaires at Habana stating that while entering the Miramar Hotel on the evening of August 27 he was assaulted from behind, without provocation or warning, by a reporter of La Prensa Not printed. who had been excluded from the Legation and from the Department of State of Cuba because of false statements and who is said to be notorious as having figured in many unsavory incidents. Mr. Gibson was knocked senseless and while in this condition an attempt was made by the assailant to inflict further injuries. This Department expects the Cuban Government to take prompt and energetic measures adequately to punish the offender. Accept [etc.] File No. 123.G35/47a. HUNTINGTON WILSON. The Acting Secretary of State to the American Chargé d'Affaires. [Telegram.-Extract.-Paraphrase.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, August 28, 1912. Accept the Department's congratulations for the very good work done by the Legation. In regard to your August 27, the Department has communicated with the Cuban Legation expressing its regret at the vicious and uncalled-for assault upon you August 27 and has requested that the Cuban Government take prompt and vigorous measures adequately to punish the offender. You will so inform the Cuban Government. WILSON. File No. 123.G35/48. The American Chargé d'Affaires to the Secretary of State. No. 402. AMERICAN LEGATION, Habana, August 29, 1912. SIR: Referring to my telegram of August 27 and to my subsequent telegraphic correspondence' in regard to the assault made upon me on the evening of the 27th instant, I have the honor to report as follows: On leaving the Department of State on the 12th instant I was accosted by a number of Cuban reporters including one Enrique Maza, a reporter on the newspapers La Lucha and La Prensa of this city, who most insistently demanded that I inform him as to the subject of my conversation with the Cuban Secretary of State. I stated courteously but firmly I was not at liberty to discuss the matter and that they would have to secure any information they desired from Mr. Sanguily. This statement was accepted with perfectly good grace by all the reporters excepting Maza, who was very insistent and detained me for some minutes in conversation. Later in the day he called at the Legation stating that he had been sent by Mr. Sanguily, who was willing that I discuss with him the subject of our morning's conversation. Knowing Maza's character as I did, I was quite confident that Mr. Sanguily had not sent him to see me without advising me by telephone or otherwise. However, as Maza was in the employ of La Lucha, one of the editors of which 1 Not printed. had been extremely fair in his dealings with the Legation, I was most desirous not to give him offense in any way and explained to him repeatedly and with great patience that it was utterly out of the question for me to discuss official business of the Legation in the press; that there was nothing at all mysterious or ominous connected with my visits to Mr. Sanguily but that the Legation made a general practice of leaving the discussion of official matters to the Cuban Department of State. This conversation took place within the hearing of the policeman on guard at the Legation, who remarked upon my extreme patience in dealing with so insistent and impertinent a caller. Later in the day Maza again accosted me at the Department of State, and upon my third refusal to discuss matters with him, announced that he proposed to write an article for that evening's edition of La Prensa giving his imagination full sway. He did not overstate his intentions in the least as his article published in La Prensa contained a statement attributed to me in which I confirmed a number of statements which had been previously made to La Prensa to the effect that the American Government considered that President Gómez had brought Cuba to the brink of ruin, that we would not permit his reelection, and that I had contradicted statements made to the press by Mr. Sanguily. This statement was filled with such deliberate and vicious falsehoods that I felt obliged to inform La Prensa as to Maza's conduct and to state that he would not again be received in the Legation. This was evidently the reason for his attack upon me although he was careful to await pretext which would be more likely to insure him popular sympathy. On Tuesday evening (the day upon which the Reilly and Donovan and Phillips claims were paid) I joined Mr. Bell at the Hotel Miramar where we customarily dine. As I got out of my cab I noticed Maza standing on the far side of the large room through which one must pass to enter the garden restaurant. Mr. Bell was waiting for me at the door in company with a young Cuban official with whom we exchanged a few words. While we were speaking to the latter Maza crossed the room towards us and took his stand at one side of the door through which we had to pass in order to enter the garden. As Mr. Bell and I crossed the threshold Maza called out to me in an insolent tone, but without pausing I merely turned my hand and told him I had nothing to say to him. Without saying a word he quietly followed us, passing behind Mr. Bell, who had been between us, and without a word or warning of any description dealt me a blow on the side of the head which knocked me down and rendered me unconscious for several seconds. While I was in this condition he sprang upon me and endeavored to inflict further injuries, from which he was prevented by the prompt and vigorous efforts of Mr. Bell, who managed with considerable difficulty to pull him off and throw him on the marble floor before the arrival of the police on duty at the corner and the idly curious crowd. I had by this time regained my feet and informed the policeman who I was, and asked that Maza be promptly detained and held until the police should receive instructions from the appropriate authorities. I immediately telephoned to Dr. Patterson, the Sub-Secretary of State, informing him what had happened, and asked that he lose no time in seeing that proper steps were taken against Maza. This he promised to do, with many expressions of regret. Although decidedly uncomfortable from the effects of the blow and fall, I remained to dine with Mr. Bell at the Miramar, where in the course of the evening I received calls from the Secretary and Sub-Secretary of State, the Chief of Police and a number of others, who called to express their regrets and to assure me that the Government intended to make an example of Maza for what they all termed a cowardly and unprovoked attack. I was considerably astonished the following morning to note that when Maza was taken to the police station and arraigned before the Correctional judge on duty he was promptly released upon his own recognizance. I promptly communicated this information to the Secretary of Justice, who ordered the case referred from the Correctional Court to the Court of Instruction. He also ordered that the charge be changed from one of simple breach of the peace to assault upon a public minister. Although these steps were taken by 8 o'clock in the morning it was not until 5 o'clock in the afternoon that Maza was again arrested, and this time he was again released on $500 bail, the minimum in cases of this sort. The Chief of Police has since explained to me that on hearing of the assault he promptly sent word to the Correctional judge that this was an extremely serious offense and that he should deal very severely with the prisoner. After sending this message he considered that such action was so much a matter of course that he had reported it to me as a fact. The judge however took a different view of the case and sent an insulting message to the Chief of Police to the effect that it was quite the same to him whether the individual assaulted was the American Minister or a Cuban of the lowest class, and that he would do exactly as he pleased in his own court. This Judge Almagro has on various occasions been notoriously incorrect in his proceedings and the Chief of Police informs me that he intends to prefer charges against him on account of his conduct in this case, It appears that the assault was witnessed by several employees of the Hotel Miramar, who have already given their testimony before the Audiencia, which will have charge of the case. All testimony has now been taken except that of Mr. Bell and myself, which we are ready to give as soon as authority is granted by the Department to that end. I may add that Maza has long been notorious for his participation in unsavory incidents of this sort and disturbances of the peace. He has been employed upon practically every newspaper in Habana but has been so entirely unreliable and disreputable that he has lost one position after another. He has been forbidden to enter several other legations in Habana, and the Department of State, as a result of wilfully false statements which have been put in the mouths of foreign representatives and the Cuban Secretary of State, and also for his extreme insolence. As I stated in my telegram of Tuesday evening, it seems to me highly desirable that the case against Maza be vigorously pressed. The failure to press to a prompt and satisfactory conclusion the case against Yarini (the assailant of Mr. Tarler) in September, 1908, produced a most demoralizing impression, which has been steadily manifest ever since my arrival in Habana. The incident is frequently mentioned in conversation and in the press to show that Cubans may with impunity offer violence to American representatives or residents, and that the force of public opinion upon the Cuban courts is sufficiently strong to save them from any punishment. The extremely hostile attitude of a portion of the Cuban press inciting, as it does, to violence against the Legation may readily encourage the irresponsible elements here to attacks upon members of this and other legations, and only prompt action with a view to making an example of this man will effectively disabuse the public mind that the United States is unable or indifferent as regards the forcing of proper respect for its representatives abroad. I have [etc.] HUGH S. GIBSON. File No. 123.G35/39. The Acting Secretary of State to the American Chargé d'Affaires. [Telegram.-Extract.-Paraphrase.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, August 30, 1912. I have this evening impressed most earnestly upon the Cuban Minister the necessity for the Cuban Government to realize its duties and responsibilities in this matter and have plainly indicated to him that this Government is shocked at the seeming acquiescence of the Government of Cuba in the attacks upon the Legation, to be inferred by its silence thus far, and that this Government expects that the Government of Cuba will promptly and adequately deal with the situation. WILSON, File No. 123.G35/49. The Minister of Cuba to the Acting Secretary of State. No. 37.] [Translation.] LEGATION OF CUBA, Washington, August 31, 1912. SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge receipt of your courteous note No. 57 of the 28th instant, in which you inform me that the Chargé d'Affaires of the United States in Cuba, on entering the Hotel Miramar in the evening of August 27, was assaulted by a reporter of La Prensa who struck him with intent to do him bodily injury; and that the Department of State of the United States expects that the Cuban Government will promptly take energetic measures to punish the offender. In reply, Mr. Secretary, I reiterate to you my regret, already verbally expressed to the Department of State, at so deplorable and unjustifiable a deed, and at the same time I inform you that my Government has instructed the Public Prosecutor's Office to bring action for the public trial and punishment of the aggressor in accordance with the penal laws of Cuba, which in cases like this are as severe as those |