File No. 4992/21–26.
Chargé Fletcher to
the Secretary of State.
American Legation,
Peking, October 17,
1907.
No. 761.]Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the
receipt of the department’s instruction No. 344 of August 13 last on the
subject of the extradition of Horace G. McKinley, inclosing certified
copies of the evidence in the case and the record of his indictment and
conviction in the United States district court for the district of
Oregon, and instructing this legation to take the proper steps to obtain
the provisional arrest and detention of McKinley with a view to his
extradition for conspiracy to defraud.
As I have already reported by telegraph, McKinLey was arrested at Mukden
upon request of the legation by the Chinese authorities, and orders have
been given to surrender him to the authorities of the United States.
Upon receipt of the department’s telegram of the 11th instant, confirmed
below, I requested the Chinese Government to hold McKinley in their
custody at the expense of the United States until the arrival of the
agent of our Government to receive him, and have to-day received a note
from the foreign office stating that my request will be complied
with.
I inclose copies of correspondence with the foreign office and confirm
the telegrams exchanged with the department relative to this case.
I have, etc.,
[Page 132]
[Inclosure 1.]
Chargé Fletcher
to the Prince of Ch’ing.
American Legation,
Peking, October 2,
1907.
Your Imperial Highness: On March 12 of this
year Mr. Rockhill wrote to Your Imperial Highness asking if your
Government would extradite a fugitive from justice named Horace G.
McKinley, who had been convicted of conspiracy to defraud the United
States Government, and who had taken refuge, it was supposed, in
China. On the 19th of March Your Highness replied to this note
saying that all American convicted criminals who have taken refuge
in Chinese territory, except those guilty of a political offense,
would be extradited; but as to the man in question you would have to
wait until my Government had informed you of what crime he is
guilty, and had given you the details of the whole case, that you
might have written evidence upon which to act.
In this connection I now have the honor to state that I have received
from the Department of State a copy of all the evidence in the case
and a record of Mr. McKinley’s indictment and conviction, and that I
have been instructed to request his immediate provisional arrest and
detention wi-th a view to his extradition for conspiracy to
defraud.
I understand that Mr. McKinley is now in Mukden. It becomes my duty,
therefore, to request that telegraphic instructions be sent to the
local authorities at that place directing them to arrest the said
Horace G. McKinley and hold him in confinement with a view to his
extradition as soon as the evidence shall have been examined and
your Government convinced of the nature of his crime.
I avail, etc.,
[Inclosure 2.]
Chargé Fletcher
to the Prince of Ch’ing.
American Legation,
Peking, October 4,
1907.
Your Imperial Highness: Referring to my
note of the 2d instant, in which, acting under instructions of my
Government, I requested the arrest with a view to his extradition of
Horace G. McKinley, I beg to thank the ministers of Your Highness’s
board for their promptness in directing the Mukden authorities to
arrest and hold the fugitive, as reported to the acting Chinese
secretary of this legation by the secretaries of your board.
In accordance with Your Imperial Highness’s note of March 10, I now
have the honor to request his extradition upon apprehension, and to
submit herewith a brief resume of the facts of the case against the
fugitive. In this resume I have included only the facts necessary to
show: (1) That McKinley was indicted for conspiracy to defraud the
United States Government of certain public lands; (2) that he was
regularly tried and convicted of this crime, and upon conviction
gave bail in the sum of $4,000 to appear in court for sentence; and
(3) that when summoned before the court for such sentence he failed
to appear, having fled beyond the jurisdiction of the court.
In order that Your Imperial Highness may have all the facts of the
case, I send herewith, also, the complete record thereof, including
all the evidence, but I trust that the resume will prove sufficient
to show to Your Highness that the man is a fugitive from justice and
that he stands convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude, viz,
not one of a political nature.
I avail, etc.,
[Inclosure 3.]
Ministers of the Foreign
Office to Chargé Fletcher.
Foreign Office,
Peking, October 9,
1907.
Your Excellency: With reference to the case
of the fugitive McKinley we acknowledge the receipt of your dispatch
of the 4th instant, in which you sent
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us a résumé of the case, showing that McKinley
has been convicted of an ordinary crime and could, therefore, be
handed over to the American authorities.
While we were in the act of preparing a telegram to-send to the
governor at Mukden, we received a telegram from that official
stating that the fugitive had been arrested on the previous day, and
was being temporarily held in custody by the police authorities.
This board thereupon telegraphed the résumé presented by you to the
governor, and informed him that he could consider the crime
committed by the fugitive as falling outside the class of political
offenses, and that he could, therefore, turn him over to the
American authorities, as we had agreed to do.
As soon as we shall have heard anything further from the governor we
will communicate further with Your Excellency, but in the meantime
it becomes our duty to send you this informal letter for your
information.
(Signed)
- Na-t’ung.
- Yuan Shih-k’al
- Lien-fang.
- Liang Tun-yen.
[Inclosure 4.]
Chargé Fletcher
to the Prince of Ch’ing.
American Legation,
Peking, October 12,
1907.
Your Imperial Highness: I have the honor to
inform your Imperial Highness that I have just received a telegram
from my Government directing me to request the Imperial Government
to be kind enough to hold the American criminal, Horace G. McKinley,
recently arrested at Mukden upon request of this legation, in the
custody of the Chinese authorities until the arrival of the agent of
my Government, who is being sent from the United States to receive
the fugitive and conduct him back to the United States. The agent
will leave San Francisco on the 24th instant, sailing on the
steamship Manchuria, and may be expected to
arrive within a month after that date.
I am directed to state also that my Government makes this request for
the detention of the fugitive by the Chinese authorities with the
understanding that he shall be held in custody by them at the
expense of the United States.
I avail, etc.,
[Inclosure 5.]
The Prince of Ch’ing
to Chargé Fletcher.
Foreign Office, October 16, 1907.
Your Excellency: I have the honor to
acknowledge the receipt of your dispatch of the 12th instant, in
which you informed me that you had received telegraphic instructions
from your Government to the effect that the American criminal,
Horace G. McKinley, who was arrested in Mukden, should be held in
custody by the Chinese local officials until the arrival in China of
the specially deputed agent of the United States, who should receive
him and take him back to America.
In accordance with your request we telegraphed to the governor of
Fengt’ien, and have now his answer, stating that he had done as
directed.
A necessary dispatch.
[Seal of the Waiwu Pu.]
