Statement of the Swiss chargé to the Secretary of State, at interview, July 28, 1892.

memorandum.

That in company with an attaché of the legation, Mr. Georg, he went yesterday morning to the summer resort on the Chesapeake known as Bay Ridge; that while at the refreshment counter Mr. Georg inadvertently stepped in front of a man and woman who had been there, but upon discovering his mistake he apologized, stepped back, and took his refreshments at another part of the counter; that later the man and woman alleged that she had lost her pocketbook, and searched [Page 523] around for it; that some ten minutes after he had left the stand Mr. Georg was approached by a policeman and charged with having taken the pocketbook of the woman; that Mr. Georg then informed the policeman of his official character as a member of the Swiss legation, and the policeman refrained from further action at that time; that in a few moments the policeman was joined by the man and woman, and the latter insisted that Mr. Georg was guilty, and urged his arrest, whereupon the policeman proposed to arrest him; that Mr. Georg again denied the charge, and again claimed his exemption from arrest on the ground of his official character as a diplomatic officer, but without avail; that Mr. Georg then asked to be taken to the place where the chargé then was, in the same building, that he might be identified, but the policeman refused; that Mr. Georg then requested the policeman to send for him a telegram to the Department of State informing of the facts, but this he also refused; that Mr. Georg then wrote a telegram to the Department of State, giving the facts, and gave it, with 50 cents to pay charges, to a boy to send, but, as the chargé is now informed, it was never received; that Mr. Georg was then taken in a carriage to Annapolis, under guard of the policeman, and brought before the chief officer of police; that he thereupon informed the chief officer of police of his official character, and again protested against the arrest, at the same time declaring his innocence; the police then proposed to search him for the lost pocketbook, against which he again protested, and only submitted to the search under force; the search not discovering the pocketbook in his possession, the chief officer of police proposed to release him, but he demanded before his release that the chief officer of police should draw up a protocol setting forth the facts of the case, which was also refused, and he was thereupon released; that the time of Mr. Georg’s confinement, from his first arrest at Bay Ridge until his release at Annapolis at the police station, was about two hours; that Mr. Georg was informed by the police that the name of the woman was ——, but she refused to give her address to Mr. Georg after the chief officer of police had refused to interrogate her for it.